Like Amber really cares about me! "It's fine," I say. "They're good to me."
"Really? Like how?"
I turn my back, reaching for a coffee cup and busying myself with the coffee maker. I wish I had the brazenness to tell her that I'm paid fairly with money and orgasms, but I know that would be all over town in the blink of an eye.
Shrugging, I decide not to answer. "How do you take your coffee?"
"With sugar and cream," she says. "So you sleep here, in this house?"
"Of course." I stir in the sugar and cream.
"It's just, I thought with your old house so near, you could have stayed there."
Her mention of Cooper's Cottage riles me up, and I grit my teeth, inhaling long and deep to try to stay calm. I know it's absolutely her intention to poke me in a sore spot. It's just the way she's always been. "That wouldn't be practical."
"So, what are they like? You know…do they talk to you or do they treat you like a servant?"
"They're not monsters," I say, placing her coffee on the table harder than I was intending. Some sloshes over the edge, but I don't wipe it up. I can't bring myself to sit next to her, so I return to stand at the edge of the counter, hoping she'll get the hint and leave soon.
"Don't you hate them for taking your home?" Amber sips her coffee, never taking her slightly narrowed eyes from me.
"If it wasn't them, it would have been someone else."
"I suppose. They're really doing well for themselves, aren't they? No other ranchers around here are expanding the way they are right now."
Shrugging, I pick at the skin around my fingernails.
"So, what are they all like?"
What the hell does she want me to tell her? It's not my place to be confiding in the intricacies of the Bradfords’ personality dynamics. "They're hard-working. Typical ranchers. Up at dawn. You know…your daddy's a rancher!"
"I mean, what are they like? You know…which one is the hottest?"
"They're brothers…twins, and triplets…there's not much to separate them."
"But they must be different…like, which one is the mean and moodiest? I always like the troubled boys."
She's described Scott to a tee, but I'm not going to tell her that. I don't want her fixating on him. He's the one most uncertain about Cash's idea of a polyamorous family unit. The one most at risk of going rogue, and as I gaze at this woman, I realize something that I'm stupid not to have considered before. If Cash doesn't get his way—if his brothers or I resist—then there will be other women coming into this house. Other women with different ideas. Other women to cause friction within our well-functioning unit.
I have a choice to make, and I need to make it soon. Is a traditional relationship with Cash what is going to make me the happiest? When the others find their own girlfriends, one of them could end up with Amber or someone like her, and that prospect fills me with dread.
"All men are moody. It comes with the testosterone and lack of ability to multitask and deal with stress."
"I know something that helps relieve stress." She grins, flashing her pretty, even teeth, but she seems more like a piranha to me than ever.
"I'm sure they get plenty of that in town," I say.
Amber shakes her head, cradling her coffee cup in two hands. "That's just it. No one's been with them. I've asked around. Not even the bar whores. Seriously, the Bradfords live like monks."
Is she serious? They were out last night, and I thought they'd be on the hunt for women, but it seems that I was wrong. I guess they were giving Cash space. Even Scott, who doesn't want this thing between us to succeed, went out of his way to leave, despite being tired from a hard day’s work
I thought he'd be jumping at the chance to find an alternative to me.
"Well, maybe they choose to indulge out of town."
Amber shrugs. "I doubt it. Why would anyone bother driving that far? Men are lazy, even when it comes to sex!"
It's at that moment that I hear the crunch of tires on the driveway outside. The Bradfords are back for lunch early, and Amber is still here.
This is it. They're going to lay eyes on her, and any interest that any of them might have had in me is going to blow away like ash on the wind. I don't even have their lunch ready yet. This is a disaster.
"Is that them?" Amber stands, smoothing her dress as she approaches the window to peer out. She's feigning surprise, but I know it was her intention to bump into them. Her whole intention was to use the excuse of having coffee with me to get an introduction. I don't think I've ever been more furious or less surprised. She always was a queen of manipulation, especially where the opposite sex is concerned.