As far as hearing a private conversation, this one had been a whopper.

Tanna spilling her guts—and her fears—to Sutton.

Not to him.

That rankled. No, it just plain damn hurt.

Was he a fool to think they’d made any progress a week ago at Eli’s? Not only in getting her to touch a horse, but in getting her to trust him?

Probably. What had they done after her small breakthrough?

Screwed like animals in a big way. Fletch so high on victory to prove he knew what Tanna needed that he’d mastered her with rough, raunchy, hot, down and dirty sex.

He scrubbed his hand over his face. So he should’ve . . . what? Demanded they talk it out instead of f**k it out? Hell no. That wasn’t him. With Tanna he could be the overtly sexual being that he hid from most women and she accepted that side of him. She’d wanted that side of him. Needed it, actually.

So if she couldn’t talk to you, can you really blame her for talking to Sutton?

Goddamned right he could.

Jesus. What was wrong with him? Could this hollow feeling come from jealousy?

No, not jealousy, not the normal kind, where he wanted to beat Sutton’s face in because Fletch suspected the snarky bastard was trying to sweet-talk Tanna into his bed. No, this jealousy was worse because he’d just realized there was an emotional bond between Tanna and Sutton—and that intimacy was more painful to bear. The bulldogger had a part of Tanna that Fletch couldn’t reach.

That kicked in a feeling of betrayal.

Why couldn’t she let him be the man she needed? In bed and out of bed? Why did she want Sutton’s help? Especially when Sutton Grant was a smug ass**le?

Fletch would really like to boot the boy’s butt back to Colorado.

Nice. Way to get to the real problem with that petty, juvenile chest-beating attitude. Fletch knew that was pointless, but just because he was aware of it didn’t mean he could stop it.

When he glanced across the path to see Harlow staring at him from the barn, he quickly ducked back inside.

This shit was going round and round in his brain with no way to stop it. He needed to clear his head. As soon as he finished this afternoon, he’d go home for a few days to try to gain some perspective.

With Sutton as her confidant, Tanna probably wouldn’t notice he was gone.

Chapter Twenty-four

The following afternoon Kyle was sitting outside on his front deck when Fletch pulled up to his house.

Patches, Kyle and Celia’s blue heeler, greeted him with a happy yip. He crouched and ruffled the dog’s silky ears. “Heya. You’re a good boy. Bit of an attention whore.”

“Celia spoils him rotten. But he’s a great cattle dog, so I can’t complain.”

Fletch looked at Kyle. “Where is the brat?”

“Napping. She’s still tryin’ to do everything, lugging a baby in her belly. Then she’s so tired she falls asleep right after supper.”

“I never pegged Celia as the type who’d nap during the day.”

“Oh, she ain’t.” Kyle smirked. “But I got my ways of coaxing her into bed. And yes. Them are doctor’s orders.”

Fletch laughed. He pointed to Kyle’s beer. “Got an extra one of those?”

“Sure.” Kyle disappeared inside and returned with two bottles. “You wanna sit on the porch?”

“I’d rather walk down by the barn.”

Neither spoke until they rested over the fence separating the yard from the horse pasture.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, Fletch, but I’ll admit you got me a little worried, calling out of the blue in the afternoon, asking if I was busy.”

“Yeah, this bein’ on vacation shit is weird for me too.”

“What’s goin’ on?”

No reason to beat around the bush. Fletch sipped his beer. “Tanna.”

“What about her?”

“Well, we’re . . . you know . . .” Fletch felt Kyle looking at him but couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Not to be a dick, but no, I don’t know the particulars. What’s goin’ on between you two? If Tanna’s been talkin’ to Celia, Celia hasn’t been talkin’ to me about it.”

“Tanna and I are . . . f**k buddies is a crude way to put it, but that’s pretty much all we are.” Or so he’d come to believe in the past day.

“You don’t sound too happy about that.”

“I’m not.” Fletch knocked back another swallow of beer. “I’ve got it bad for her, Kyle. Bad like I’ve never had it for a woman before and I don’t know what the hell to do.”

“Have you told her?”

“Nope. She don’t wanna hear it. She’s all about Muddy Gap bein’ a temporary pit stop in her life. She’s been clear about that from the start.”

“Again, not to be a dick, but that’s how you prefer to run your affairs.”

Fletch snorted. “Affairs. So you’re telling me what goes around comes around and I deserve this?”

Kyle shook his head. “Just making an observation. I’m also wondering why you came to me. Because my wife and Tanna are good friends?”

“No. Tanna’s goin’ through some stuff and I don’t know how to help her deal with it. I offer to talk, but she changes the subject. Then I found out she can talk to that smarmy douche bag Sutton Grant, because evidently he understands.”

“You jealous?”