Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)

by Lyla Sage

It was a beautiful thing to watch your best friend be loved in the way you know she deserves.

He was just so…grumpy. Men who are that good-looking should not be allowed to be such assholes. It was false advertising.

“Hey, pornstache. Nice of you to join us.” “Fuck off, Theodora,” he said without even glancing my way.

One of the most annoying things about Teddy? She was familiar, even though I didn’t want her to be. Don’t think about it.

Of all the places I wanted to be, locked in a closet with Teddy wasn’t anywhere on the list. But I knew there were a lot of people who’d like to trade places with me.

But then, when Emmy and Teddy graduated from college, Teddy wore this dark green dress that just…Never mind. The point is that I know Teddy is pretty. Beautiful, even. But beautiful like a lion or an elk or any other large and dangerous animal. Beautiful to look at, but you didn’t want to get too close because it’d rip your throat out or trample you or spear you to death with its giant horns.

“You know, being compared to a hurricane isn’t a good thing,” I said to her. “Really?” she asked sarcastically. “I don’t know. Powerful, relentless, fierce…” she counted off the adjectives on her fingers. “Destructive, devastating—” I countered. “—ly beautiful?” Teddy said before I could finish. I rolled my eyes so far back in my head that I thought they’d never come back around.

“It’s okay, Gussy,” she whispered, “I won’t tell anyone you think I’m beautiful.

Growing up, it was always Emmy’s goal to leave Meadowlark. She felt stifled here—like our small town was sitting on her lungs. Me? It felt like the only place I could take big, true breaths.

“You are many things, August Ryder, and some of those things aren’t great, I’ll be honest,” I said. “But a bad father isn’t one of them.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you don’t have great people skills?” “Has anyone ever told you to shut up?” “You, usually,” she said with an eye roll. “Shut up.” “See?” Teddy grinned, and it didn’t seem malicious—more like amused.

But as I was walking out, I heard Teddy say, “So when’s the last time you were arrested?” “Never?” Riley said. “Well, tomorrow you’re going to say yesterday,” Teddy said. “Lucky you’re mom’s a lawyer.” Jesus Christ, what had I done?

“It seems like you’re just carrying weight you don’t have to.” “You don’t get it,” I said. “I think I do, actually,” Teddy remarked. “You think that it’s okay for people to depend on you, but you don’t want anyone else to have the pressure of you depending on them.”

We were all connected in our weird little small-town web, but Dusty and Gus’s connection was the weirdest, I think. The woman Dusty was in love with was the mother of Gus’s child. Did they ever talk about that? Probably not. Men. And now Gus was Dusty’s boss and Cam was getting married to someone else. I guess life doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to.

I wondered whether I could taste the sun on her skin. Jesus, Gus. Do you think you’re a poet? Check yourself.

“August Ryder,” I breathed as I sat up. “Are you offering me a mustache ride?” Gus smoothed two of his fingers over his mustache and said, “Saddle up, baby.”

When I curled into his side, I felt his lips in my hair. “You can cry, Teddy,” he said. And so I cried. And cried. And August Ryder held me the whole time.

I’d rather fight with Teddy than be happy with anyone else.

“I know you’re not sleeping with the vet anymore.” Her green eyes bored into mine. “So who the fuck is sucking your neck?” Without thinking, I told my best friend the truth. I didn’t know how to lie to her. “Your brother!” I blurted.

“You’re lucky I’m not like Gus, or I would’ve punched you in the face! Did you think about that?”

Emmy blinked slowly. “Just so we’re abundantly clear—you are”—she gagged a little bit—“sleeping with my brother?” “I thought Luke Brooks would’ve fucked that gag reflex right out of you by now,” I quipped. “Not the time, Ted,”

Teddy shone in this dingy bar. She said hi to everyone as they moved out of her way, making them feel special that they got to bask in her light for however long they were talking to her. If I wanted this thing with Teddy to go anywhere, I’d have to remember that she was built to shine and glow and shimmer, and I couldn’t take that piece of her only for myself. She didn’t shine just for me. I got a different part of her—the part that was comfortable enough to turn down the brightness when we were alone, the part that wanted me to see past what everyone else was blinded by. There were parts of Teddy that would always belong to the world around her, but that didn’t matter because there were also parts of her that were all mine. Mine. That word rang through me like a victory bell. Shit, I wanted that.

I’ve never known what you look like when you’re in love, until today.” I stopped breathing. “It’s okay to love her, Gus. It’s okay to want her. It’s okay to want. You have so much love to give, Gus. I see it in the way that you love our daughter and in the way you care for your family—me included—and I just want you to have someone who can love you back the same way.” Cam’s voice held so much emotion. “And Teddy—our lion—might be the only person I know who loves as fiercely as you do.”

“Luke is my fiancé, my partner, my everything. But you’re my soulmate, Teddy Andersen, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world because of it.”

“I don’t have much to offer,” he went on softly. “Just a quiet life with a grumpy man from a small town, but I can promise to love you every day.” “You love me?” I said. Don’t cry, Teddy. “I do,” he said. “And I want to show you how much I love you every single day. I want to do everything with you. I want you to be part of my daughter’s life. I want you at every soccer game, barrel race, and art show. I want you there when she sneaks into my bed in the mornings”—he kissed one of my cheeks then. “I want to marry you. I want to have babies with you—little copper-headed demons running around wreaking havoc”—a kiss on the other cheek. “I want to sit on this porch with you thirty years from now and look up at the sky and wonder what I did to deserve a life this good. “Wanting used to scare me so much, because I didn’t think I had the space to want anything more than what I’ve got. But wanting a future with you is the easiest thing in the world. And I want it all, with you.”