Grant Brothers Series: The Complete Series

by Leslie North

  “Hello, there, Athena! Just couldn’t wait to get started with us, huh?”

  “Speak of the devil,” Athena muttered to herself at the sound of Nate’s voice. She could hear her girls trailing along behind him, already hyped up to the max by the activities awaiting them for the day. Athena sucked in a deep breath, rolled her shoulders in a futile attempt to release some of the tension building there, and turned to face the group.

  "Hi girls!" she exclaimed, holding out both of her palms so that each girl, in turn, could come and give her a high five. Nate hung back until each of them was done, then sauntered up to her with two cups of coffee in his hands.

  “What? No greeting for me?” he asked, his voice full of mock-hurt that made her skin prickle, “If you’re not careful, Athena, I’m going to start thinking you don’t like me.”

  “I like you just fine, Nate, I’ve just been waiting a while, that’s all.”

  “So what’d you go and get here so early for?” he asked, his face breaking open with his signature wide grin. She felt herself softening and lifted her chin defiantly. There was no way she was going to be one of those girls who melted into a puddle when presented with Nate’s charming smile. Not if she could help it.

  "You're right, Nate, I did get here a little early, but you're also, like, fifteen minutes late. Not a great example to set for the girls."

  “Hey, come on now,” he laughed, falling into step beside her as they hurried to catch up to the running, laughing girls, “that’s not so late. And you’ve gotta give me a little credit, I think.”

  “Credit?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and shooting him a sideways glance that only made him laugh again, “Credit for what, pray tell?”

  She was pretty sure she knew the answer without having to be told. Truthfully, she had been one hundred percent sure that Nate was going to screw this up. It had been the idea of his publicist to have the girls gather in the training barn so Nate could bring them to the field. He had gone on and on about what a good photo op it would be, like it was the most ingenious idea in the world. It had been all Athena could do not to show her revulsion on her face.

  “Shit, for getting them here at all. You may not know this about me, but I don’t have a ton of experience with kids. Count yourself lucky that everyone got here in one piece.”

  "Okay, fine," she relented, "we're lucky. A word of advice, though. Try not to use that kind of language in front of the girls. Little kids have big ears, and they like to repeat the things they hear."

  "Yes ma'am," he answered, raising his hand to his forehead in a little salute. She rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help smiling a little. It was proving much easier to fall into a rhythm with him than she would have thought, given how different their lives were from one another's. There was a familiarity, a holdover from the time they had spent together when they were young, perhaps, or maybe just the connection forged by their mutual love for the rodeo. She needed to be careful. She needed to remember what she was doing here, as well as why Nate had really come home.

  "Okay, girls," Athena said a little louder than was strictly necessary, "unfortunately, it turns out we've got some time to kill before Nate can get started with you. Apparently, there's a bake sale for the Strawberry Fest, and it's got to get going before we can begin. It's part of the kick-off for everything."

  The girls started groaning, and Athena sighed. A group of children and blocks of time when there was nothing constructive for them to do didn't exactly mix well. She was not looking forward to trying to keep them together and in a reasonably good mood until they got the go-ahead for Nate to officially start working with them. Before she could even get an idea going, however, Nate stepped forward and tossed an oversized gym bag on the ground.

  “Hey, girls, before you get to bellyaching, I’ve got an idea,” he said, surveying the group of girls as if he were looking over his troops.

  “Hold on, Nate,” Athena started to say, warning bells going off inside her head. It was true that he’d done okay with the kids so far, but that was just for snapshots of time. Athena didn’t think it had been long enough for him to truly learn how to deal with kids when he didn’t have any real experience with them. Moreover, it didn’t involve him making any kind of decisions for them. If he didn’t know better than to spit out profanity in front of them, her confidence in his ability to think up suitable pastimes was next to nothing.

  “Don’t worry, Athena,” he said, brushing her off without bothering to look at her as he bent to rummage through his bag, “I’ve got this in the bag. Ha! Literally. Here, catch.”

  If she had blinked, it would have hit her in the face. As it was, she caught the football through sheer dumb luck, much to the amusement of the girls. They had stopped their complaining now, each of them caught up in their curiosity over what Nate had in mind. Like it or not, Athena was a little curious, too. When he stood, fistfuls of colorful belts and flags in his hands, she finally understood.

  “Where did you even get this?” she asked, peering at the bag’s contents dubiously.

  “I used to own this field, Moore,” he answered with a grin, “I haven’t forgotten its ins and outs.”

  “Meaning…?”

  “I led the girls to the old equipment shed on our way here, thought they might want to see it. It was always full of stuff like this in my day. Thought I’d check it out and I got lucky. Hit the jackpot.”

  “Really, Nate? Do you think that’s the best idea?”

  “Come on!” he exclaimed, “It’ll be fun! You and I can be the team captains, each take a team. A little friendly competition never hurt anybody, right? Unless you’re afraid of a little pigskin, that is.”

  "Afraid? You're joking, right?" she scoffed, tugging at her ponytail so she could put it right back into place. On some level, she understood that he was baiting her. She knew that taking his bait was what he wanted and was, therefore, last thing on the planet she should do. The problem was, her competitive streak was too deeply ingrained for her to let a comment like that fly. She gripped the ball tighter and fixed on her most intimidating smile.

  “I’m not joking, no,” Nate said, “if you don’t think you can handle it—”

  “Believe me, buddy, I can handle it. It’s just like my girls here like to say; anything you can do, I can do better.”

  This was met with a resounding chorus of cheers from the eavesdropping girls and a raised eyebrow from Nate. Looking at that, Athena couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. It was the good kind of laugh, too, the kind that made your stomach hurt before it started to subside. After a moment or two, Nate began to chuckle as well.

  “Looks like we’ve got a game, then,” he said before handing over half of the belts.

  The game of flag football turned out to be the perfect idea for keeping the kids occupied. Athena split them into teams to ensure that both her and Nate's groups of girls were evenly matched. It was true that she was competitive and had a strong drive to win, but when it came to the kids, she wasn't going to win unfairly. She wanted the teams to be evenly matched, to help her girls learn from a young age that they were capable of anything. It was such an important lesson to learn and one she wanted to reinforce before her girls became teenagers, with all the self-doubt and insecurity that high school delivered.

  Overall, the game went off without a hitch. The girls were just the right amount of engaged to keep them singularly occupied without getting so drawn in that they got angry or mean. There was only one thing about the impromptu game that struck Athena as odd, and it had to do with her, not the kids.

  More to the point, it had to do with her and Nate. Because he wouldn’t touch her. It wasn’t like she expected him to put his hands all over her or anything, it was only flag football, but he wouldn’t touch her at all. Before too much time had passed, Athena started to get the impression that Nate was going out of his way not to touch her.

  It got to be so that it was a side game for her, to see how she could test her
theory. The closer she got to him, the more reckless she became, the clearer it was. Nate was avoiding any skin-on-skin contact with her like the plague. His unwillingness to make any contact at all was funny, but it also made for an awkward game, seeing as taking the flag off of someone was the whole point.

  “What is his deal?” she whispered to herself, half annoyed and half amused as she made a move that made it all but impossible for him not to try and take her flag.

  He didn't take the bait. In fact, he seemed so bent on staying away from her that he was practically fleeing from her. The last straw for Athena was when she got too close, and Nate made a crazy jerking move, almost barreling over one of the kids in the process. He would rather tackle a kid than get close to touching her, and that was something she just couldn't leave alone.

  “Oh, come on, buddy, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” she said with a laugh as she rushed forward.

  Flag football or no, she tackled him. She knew she probably shouldn’t do it as she was tackling him, but she couldn’t help herself. He just seemed so afraid of her! Like they were little kids again, younger than her class, and he was back to being afraid of cooties.

  "Whoa!" he hollered, losing his footing on the damp grass. His arms cartwheeled, then shot forward, grabbing for the closest thing to anchor him and keep him from falling backward. Unfortunately for Athena, that closest thing happened to be her. He locked onto the front of her sweatshirt, only succeeding in bringing her down with him. He landed on his back in the mud and she landed squarely on top of him.

  "Christ, are you okay?" Nate gasped, his hands sliding from the front of her sweatshirt to the sides of her waist. Both of them were breathing hard, him on his back and her straddling him in the middle of the field. If she had wanted to force contact between the two of them, she had certainly succeeded.

  "I... I'm fine," she answered, her face growing hot despite the chill in the early morning air. All at once, she was painfully aware of the feeling of their two bodies connecting. The heat from his skin seemed to be seeping into her own, and her stomach did a delicious little flip of anticipation. Whether she liked it or not, whether she condoned it or not, her body wanted him.

  "Miss Athena?" one of her students called uncertainly, while a handful of the others started to snicker. The sound of the laughter was enough to break the spell of physicality that had come over her, and she hopped up, brushing her hands off on her jeans.

  “Yes, girls,” she answered hastily, unable to make eye contact with anyone, least of all Nate, “everything’s good. Now, where were we?”

  Athena walked away from Nate quickly, not daring to look over her shoulder to see what kind of expression he might be wearing. She had in no way expected the contact between the two of them to be so intense. It was most definitely something she was not prepared to handle.

  Because one thing was for sure. There was absolutely no room for attraction in their competition.

  3

  Nate was more than a little relieved when the game of flag football was over. It was true that he had suggested it, but he hadn’t anticipated his reaction to it. No, scratch that. Not to it, but to her. It wasn’t very far into the game that he’d realized his mistake. He had to have been out of his mind to think that he wouldn’t get distracted while playing a game that involved grabbing at her.

  Then again, he hadn't allowed himself to recognize how attracted he was to her until they were already playing, and by then it was too late. He had done his best to keep from touching her at all, but then she'd gone and launched herself at him. And then she’d been on top of him, her legs on either side of him and her face so close to his they were breathing the same air. He would hardly have needed to move to kiss her and God, did he ever want to do that. He could only imagine how she tasted. He would bet money that she was as sweet as she looked.

  Suffice it to say, he was relieved when the game was over, and he could put a little distance between Athena and himself. Touching her was a bad idea. If he started touching her, he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to make himself stop, and getting it on with the local rodeo darling could ruin everything.

  It wasn't like Nate had all of a sudden been gripped with a burning desire to return to the place where he grew up. It was business that brought him home; business and nothing more. Nate was there in order to solidify a major new sponsor, someone who would surely change the course of Nate's career if he played his cards right.

  It wasn’t just his career that would change, either. It was his life. If he could land this sponsor, he’d have someone he could keep on working with long after his rodeo days were over. When he was just starting out, still practically a baby and full of piss and vinegar, he had hardly looked past the next hour, let alone the next year. Now, though, the future was exactly the kind of thing he thought about. He wasn’t old at only twenty-seven, but his job wasn’t the kind that came with a whole lot of security. Injuries were inevitable, and while they’d been minor so far, they still added up. He wasn’t going to get away with his fly-by-night, bad boy thing forever, and if he happened to get seriously injured before he had plans laid out for the future, well, he’d be screwed. If him getting a security blanket for himself meant cultivating an image that was more family-friendly, he was good with that.

  “Right, which won’t happen if you decide to bang the hometown sweetheart,” he mumbled to himself disgruntledly, “no matter how hot she is.”

  And Athena most definitely was the town's sweetheart. It extended well beyond her skills in the rodeo, too. After his first confrontation with her in the practice barn, Nate had gone home and done some digging on Athena. It didn't take much time for him to get a picture of her. There were plenty of local articles about Athena Moore, the athlete with the heart of gold. Plenty of them were about her physical prowess, but there were a lot more that had little to do with her athletic abilities. From what Nate could gather, Athena had spent more hours volunteering and helping her community in the last month then he had spent in at least the last year. Definitely not the kind of chick you wanted to mess around with on a casual level if you were trying to transition to a good boy image with the public.

  “Just got to do your bit and then keep away from her till you can get the hell out of here again.”

  “Shit, little brother, you talking to yourself again? I thought we cured you of that crazy habit years ago.”

  The comment was followed by a bout of raucous laughter. Nate bristled at the sound and was already rolling his eyes as he turned to greet his brothers. It should have occurred to him that they'd show up, even though Ian had assured him at the house last night that they had no plans for coming out today. Anything and everything having to do with the Strawberry Fest drew the attention of most of the town. He should have been keeping his eyes peeled for them, but he hadn't, and consequently, they'd gotten the jump on him.

  “What are you two bums doing here?” he replied genially, stepping forward to meet them.

  “What are you talking about, boy?” Ian laughed, “We live here, or did you forget?”

  “He definitely forgot,” Jonah said, his face deadpan despite the humor shining through his words.

  "Very funny, assholes. I know where you live. Ian, I’m sleeping in your guest room, for Christ’s sake. Only thing is, some of us don’t show up to a place after saying we’re not going to," Nate answered, punching first Ian, then Jonah in the shoulder good-naturedly. Then it was Ian and Jonah's turn to roll their eyes and just like that, it was like the three of them had never been apart.

  It was always that way with the three brothers—natural and relaxed, no matter how long it had been since the last time they were all together. Not that they were together that often, with all the time Nate spent far away in pursuit of his career. He loved his brothers—he did. What he didn't love was being the youngest of three in a well-known family that had produced well-known sons. Maybe it was simply the lot of the youngest child, or at least the younge
st son, this feeling of displacement. He didn't know about everyone else, but it was something he had felt for as long as he could remember. It wasn't his elder brothers' faults exactly, but that didn't make the matter any less difficult to contend with. Difficult and, at times, downright painful.

  Ian had always been the steadfast one, the eldest son forever doing his best to live up to the legacy of the Grant men who had come before him. It had always been known amongst the Grant clan that Ian would inherit the family land once the time came. The only surprise in the matter was how quickly that time came when they lost their parents. Nate had a feeling that Ian had gone through his own shit coming to terms with having his future so steadfastly decided for him and to have that followed by the tragedy of losing his high school sweetheart-turned-first-wife. But when he’d agreed to take on a nanny to help out with his young son, he’d found a second chance at love. Ian had Katie now, Katie and Andy and a new baby to boot. Their little family was thriving on the land, and Nate knew their parents would have been proud.

  Then there was Jonah, who was a little harder for most people to figure out. Jonah had grown up like Nate in that he knew from the start that he was never going to have any land coming his way. Neither their father nor their grandfather had believed in dividing family land between siblings. They'd been honest about it, though, and Jonah and Nate had spoken from time to time about what they would do with themselves once they were grown with no land to inherit.

  Except that it didn't take long to see what kind of thing Jonah was made for. Jonah had a way with animals since they were boys, a gentleness that most people couldn't muster. It made him something of a savant when it came to training horses. Nate didn't think Jonah had always given himself the credit he deserved, but Nate himself had never doubted Jonah's place in the world. Now Jonah knew it, too. He had his life with his wife, Virginia, and a baby of their own on the way, too. Both of his brothers were living the lives they were meant to live, and he was happy for them. It just didn't change the fact that his place had never been anything near so clear, especially to himself.