An uncomfortable feeling took a hold of Lexi’s gut. “We would have gotten there.”

“I know what Jack did was manipulative, but he did it because he loves you. He did it because he was scared. He spent almost a year really getting to know Aidan. Jack brought Aidan into his business. His herd is now affiliated with Barnes-Fleetwood.”

Lexi felt her mouth fall open. “He did what?”

“He’s made Aidan a partner in Barnes-Fleetwood. Junior, but a partner. Jack believes in him. I know that man. I know his heart. He would never have done that if he thought Aidan wasn’t the best thing in the world for you and Lucas. I was mad at first, but I saw you today. You were more alive than you’ve been in years. God, Lexi, I want my daughter back. I spent the afternoon realizing I would have done much worse than Jack to get you back.”

Lexi looked back and thought of all the ways her mom and her stepdads had tried to engage her in the last couple of years. Jack and Sam had moved her from Austin to Dallas. They were wealthy enough to have simply paid for the move, but they had shown up and carried out her furniture and boxes and loaded them into her rented truck. They had driven her and hauled it all out again. Jack had offered job advice. Her mother had tried to get her to come out to the ranch on weekends, and when she wouldn’t, had shown up on her doorstep claiming she needed to shop. They had tried in a thousand different ways, and then Jack had brought the sledgehammer down because he wasn’t a man to give up.

And she’d felt more in the last two days than she had in years.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love Lucas. God, she loved him so much, and he loved her. But they needed Aidan. Aidan pushed them.

Lexi could forgive Jack, but she still wasn’t sure how to handle Aidan.

“I think you need to give this time, baby girl,” her mother said.

“I have a lot of that now. Aidan quit my job for me.”

Her mother smiled. The light joy on her face made her seem years younger. “He’s a Dom all right. Such pushy men, but there’s nothing like a good one. Ask yourself something. Did you love that job?”

“No, but it was mine. What am I supposed to do now?” She knew she was being stubborn. She’d been thinking about quitting the job anyway. She had money in the bank. She could always find another crap job.

“What do you want to do, Lexi? Because it occurs to me that Aidan is offering you a chance. Between Aidan and Lucas, you don’t have to work if you don’t want to. I know that sounds unliberated of me, but given the fact that your stepfathers are multi-millionaires, it’s not like you’ll be on the streets if something happens to Aidan or Lucas. You’re in a unique position, one a lot of women would kill to be in. You can follow your dream. You don’t have to work eight hours a day and then try to get some words on a page. Don’t you see? By making you quit a job you didn’t even like, Aidan is trying to give you what you need.”

“Shouldn’t that be my choice?” Again, she knew she was stupidly stubborn, but damn it, she wasn’t ready to concede yet.

“It is,” her mom said with a sad sigh. “It’s always your choice. Once the Dawson brothers figure out what’s going on with the attempt on your life, you can go back to Dallas and take up your old life. Lucas will follow you. Lucas will do whatever you decide. Jack can get you your old job back, or you can find a new one. You don’t have to see Aidan again.”

Yes, she could always just say no. She could have said no this afternoon when he’d driven his cock inside her, and she’d felt that connection she’d been missing since the day he walked out. Something had fallen into place this afternoon, some sweet sense of peace in a world that had been chaotic for too long.

God, she didn’t want to tell him what she’d done. Was that the real reason she was holding back? When she stopped thinking about the accident, she was happy with them. Lucas was thrilled. He was happier than Lexi could remember him ever being. Was she willing to give it all up so she could pretend it never happened?

“Good lord, here comes trouble.” Her mom’s lips were pursed in a frown, and her auburn hair shook as she looked at something coming across the fair grounds.

“Hey, Lexi,” Bo said, coming up behind her. He had two bags of cotton candy. He opened his mouth, Lexi assumed to say something flirty and smart, but his eyes caught on the same thing her mother was worried about. “Damn. Come on, Lexi. I can find us cover.”

Karen Wilcox led a small group of young women. They were all small town princesses in tight jeans and tops that looked like someone had taken a Bedazzler to them. There wasn’t a natural hair color among them, but damn they knew how to tease that hair. Lexi had to smile because she was sure one of those women had added almost a half a foot to her height with her hair.

“That is so awesome,” Lexi breathed.

They slunk toward her like a bejeweled pack of hyenas. This was the way she used to view the world. Each and every incident was a wild thing, something she could use down the line. The world used to be a surreal carnival. There had been sadness, yes, but even that had lit something inside her. She’d felt with her every breath. Now she could really see just how shut down she’d been.

“I’m going to go get Aidan,” Bo said, backing off a little.

“Don’t you dare,” her mother said with a little laugh. “My girl can handle this. There are only four of them. I got your back.”

“Mother, we are not starting a fight. Jack told you to stop that.” Her mom was famous for taking down younger women in bar fights. There had only been the one, but it was legendary. And Lexi had no intention of fighting with Karen. She greatly preferred the pen to the sword.

There was Karen. She was Blonde Number One. Lexi quickly named them in her head. Blonde Number Two was short with enormous boobs. She named the third Talon because she had the longest, reddest fingernails Lexi had ever seen. And the last was Mouse, a little redhead who looked like she would rather be someplace else. Lexi couldn’t help but notice how Mouse looked at Bo through over-mascaraed eyes.

“Well, well, lookie here. These are the women I told you about. These city slickers have come to grace our little town.” Karen stopped in front of her. She smiled maliciously down at Lexi. She was wearing four-inch heels to a carnival.

Her mother opened her mouth to say something, but Lexi put out a hand, silencing her. “Don’t correct her, Momma. Willow Fork has three whole stop lights. Deer Run makes Willow Fork look positively cosmopolitan.”

“Is she insulting us?” Talon cocked a hip as she looked Lexi over. “She shouldn’t be. I have no idea what Aidan sees in her.”

Bo took a step forward. “That’s Aidan’s fiancée. You need to treat her with some respect.”

“Technically, he hasn’t asked me to marry him again,” Lexi pointed out. She opened the bag of cotton candy. This looked to be an interesting argument. She might need the sugar.

“See, I told you he wouldn’t marry her.” Karen smirked as she slapped Blonde Number Two’s shoulder. “He’s trying to make me jealous. He’s making me pay for marrying someone else.”

Lexi gave her a thumbs-up. “Damn, you figured it out. I told him you were smarter than he thought you were.”

“When did you get to be so mean, baby girl?” But there was a little smile on her mother’s face.

Lexi chose to avoid confrontations when she simply didn’t give a shit about the person confronting her. Oh, she would rail and fight Lucas and Aidan all day. They would find her very stubborn indeed, but if Karen needed this to feel decent about herself, then Lexi didn’t care. If these girls wanted to think she’d been used to make Karen jealous, Lexi was okay with it. The night was nice. She had a little bag of cotton candy. Her body still hummed because the boys had been serious about those multiple orgasms. It was all good.

“Come along,” Lexi said. “We should go join the rest of them. Maybe a ride on the Ferris wheel will fix my broken heart.” Actually, it did sound like fun. And so did those bumper cars. Lexi bet Olivia would be a hell of a driver.

They all turned to go, even Bo, who seemed to feel a need to defend her but gave up when she smiled at him.

“You’re just a big city whore,” Karen taunted. “Aidan was never going to marry you. You’re just willing to do all kinds of things a lady wouldn’t do.”

Lexi stopped and turned. That was utterly unforgivable.

“Lexi,” Bo said calmly, as though trying to figure out just how to handle a dangerous animal.

“It’s all right,” she replied. “I need to make a few things clear to Karen.”

“Are we going to fight now?” her mother asked.

Lexi almost snorted. “No, Momma. Relax.”

“You got something else to say?” Karen seemed ready to throw down. She probably watched way too much reality TV.

“I do. I am entirely insulted.”

Talon’s lips curled up. “I think that was the point. Karen told us all about what you were letting those men do to you in that barn. What a whore.”

“I’m not insulted that you question my ability to attract two unbelievably hot men. I’m really not, but I won’t allow you to call me a whore. A whore accepts money in exchange for her favors. I just accept orgasms. I’m a slut. Seriously, get your lingo down.”

Karen finally looked confused. “What?”

“And while we’re at it, whore is really overused. So is slut. If you’re going to insult your sisters, please expand your vocabulary.”

Lexi was well aware that she was gathering a crowd. Several families stood watching, covering their little one’s ears, but obviously unwilling to miss the showdown between the queen bee and the city girl. She noticed Aidan and Lucas looking in. Aidan started to step forward, but Lucas stopped him, a bemused smile on his face. Lexi took it as permission to go all out.