by Vivian Arend
That meant a whole lot.
Dare made herself a sandwich and wrote up a blog post, careful to schedule it to go off after she and Jesse arrived back in Heart Falls. No use in freaking out her family before it was necessary.
Then she got out her phone and gave Vicki a call.
“I don’t know if you heard, but I’ve already been let out of the hospital, and I’m hanging out at your place. Did you have plans for supper? Because I can get started on them.”
“Give me five minutes and we can talk in person,” Vicki said. “Hanging up before someone catches me on the phone while I drive.”
It was barely three minutes later when the truck pulled into the yard. Dare met her on the front porch and this time there was no hesitation. She wrapped her arms around Vicki and gave her a heartfelt hug.
When she let go, Vicki was grinning. “I’m so glad everything’s good with the baby. Joel told me your plans, and I’m really excited you and Jesse are staying in Rocky.”
“Thank you for agreeing to live in crowded quarters for a while.”
Vicki waved off the comment. “Honestly, this isn’t that crowded. But let’s make sure you’re as comfortable as possible while you’re here. I know you guys are going to move into the rental once Ashley’s moms are gone, but right now I doubt they’ll leave until late September.”
They settled in the living room to talk. “When’s Ashley due?”
“Middle of August.”
Dare considered. “Wow, is she gonna make it that long?”
A soft laugh escaped Vicki. “She really is all stomach, but she’s crazy healthy. She’s planning on a homebirth.”
Dare groaned. “Good for her. That leaves more drugs for me.”
“Right? Although I wonder if it’ll be Travis and Cassidy who need to be doped up.”
So many things that Dare wanted to ask about, but some of them seemed borderline rude. Then again, she didn’t need to know everything about everyone this instant. She could control her curiosity.
It suddenly struck. “Hey, how come you’re home?”
“My schedule is usually all over the place, depending on catering jobs, but I asked for this afternoon off. I wanted to get you settled in.”
“I saw you moved some stuff around in the bedroom. That’s more than enough space.”
Vicki rose to her feet and headed to a cabinet along the wall. “Good. I emptied this out so you can use it as your office.”
It looked like a bookcase with open shelves at the top. The bottom two thirds had a corkboard attached to it, and Dare hadn’t given it much notice until now.
Vicki unsnapped a couple of hooks then pulled a lever, and suddenly the entire wooden face lowered into a desktop, and the corkboard became a sturdy leg.
“Oh, that’s cool.” Dare joined the other woman. Built in along the edge of the cabinet was a plugin and USB port.
“Daniel made it. Brother number three,” Vicki reminded Dare. “It’s been handy to tuck things out of sight, but there’s enough room you can store stuff if you want. If you have a good computer chair, there’s room in the corner for when you’re not using it.”
Perfect. “I’ll bring one back with me.”
They got to talking about other things then, but the whole time Dare kept being brought back to one thought. Why was this so comfortable? Why did she feel as if she’d stepped into a familiar place?
When the topic finally looped back to dinner, Vicki had a suggestion. “I thought we could go over to Blake and Jaxi’s and make a few big batches of food. Even Jaxi won’t say no to a helping hand with a newborn in the house. You okay with that idea? We can give Joel and Jesse a call, and they can join us over there when they’re done for the day.”
It seemed they were jumping in with both feet. “I’m game if you are. I’m an awesome chef’s assistant.”
Vicki smiled tentatively. “More importantly, you’re going to be an awesome friend.”
While he hadn’t expected to end up working side by side with Joel so quickly, it was a happy surprise when Jesse led his borrowed horse out of the barn to discover his twin waiting for him.
Joel held his horse steady as he eyed Jesse. “Get a move on. Or do you need me to lengthen your stirrups for you?”
Jesse glanced back at the saddle and realized he hadn’t checked the equipment as thoroughly as he should’ve. He adjusted the length quickly on both sides of the saddle so he wouldn’t end up with his knees around his ears as he rode. “Who was the last one to use this saddle? They must be about three feet tall.”
Joel laughed. “You’re going to break our nephew’s heart. Every time Nathan shows up he checks his height against the markers on the main support beam, but he hasn’t started his growth spurt yet. Last time he looked, Robbie had passed him.”
Jesse finished the adjustments and mounted smoothly, guiding the horse to Joel’s side. “That’s gotta be hell on his ego, to have his younger brother taller than him.”
“I don’t know, was it hell on yours when I grew taller than you?” Joel taunted.
Jesse elbowed Joel on his way past before clicking to his horse and heading down the path toward their task. “That must’ve happened in some alternative universe. Sorry, bro, but as far as I remember you and I sprouted the same time. Damn near to the minute, according to Mom.”
“I don’t know that we’ve had all of us in a lineup for a while,” Joel mused. “Which one of us is actually the tallest? I don’t mean between you and me. Didn’t Daniel have about half an inch on the rest of us?”
It was a curious thing to ponder, but Joel was right. Jesse wasn’t sure where they’d all settled out.
It wasn’t just when it came to their height. “I haven’t had a chance to catch up with Daniel yet. How’s the workshop doing?”
“Making a living. He tied the shop back into the ranch finances. Said he wanted to give the boys a chance to ranch if that’s what they wanted down the road. Who knows. With all of the kids starting to show up, by the time Daniel’s ready to retire, there might be some other Colemans who want to work with their hands in a different way.”
Jesse glanced over at his twin. “Is that something you’re thinking about?”
“Hell, no.”
“Hey, I didn’t think so, but I thought I should ask.” Jesse offered a chastising laugh. “I’m a little out of touch, and I don’t like it.”
Joel didn’t say anything for a minute, and they rode in silence, until they reached the field and found a half-dozen hands working to separate out the calves from their moms, the veterinary truck standing outside the gate.
He offered Jesse a quick grin. “Just remember that I’m always right. There’s not much else you need to know.”
Jeez. Jesse stuck out his tongue and pretended to gag before focusing on more important things. “I know I can out rope you.”
“Loser pays for drinks at Traders,” Joel snapped back.
“You’re on.”
In the end they decided it was a tie, although Joel argued long and hard that the one calf they both dropped a rope on should have counted as his.
They’d gotten the message from the girls, but still headed home to get washed up before making their way to the original Six Pack homestead.
“If you’re willing to drive me to work most days,” Joel said, “I’ll be able to leave the truck for Vicki.”
“We’re heading to Heart Falls tomorrow, and when we come back, Dare will have a vehicle too. That means three vehicles between the four of us. We’ll figure it out.”
Walking in the door at Blake and Jaxi’s was like walking into a memory. The house smelled amazing—like all those days when he’d been a teenager and his mom had ruled the roost. Rich barbecue sauce and apple-pie scents mixed in the air. Only instead of a mess of oversized men’s boots on the shelves by the door, there were dozens of pink and purple shoes barely the size of his palm. Bright pastel-coloured rubber boots were lined up neatly outside the door, and a mu
ltitude of hooks had been added in a second row at little-people height.
Jesse hung up his coat over Dare’s then stepped into the warmth of the dining room.
Even here things had changed. There was music playing in the attached living room, but it was some upbeat kid’s song instead of country music. A high chair had been pulled up to the long pedestal-style table along with a strange clip-on contraption. The highchair wasn’t too unusual—his mom had one in the storage room that got hauled out whenever it was needed. As little people moved in on him, Jesse found himself smiling.
He glanced at Blake who was stretched out in a recliner, rocking baby Justin. “Girls smell a lot better than boys,” he commented. “But I don’t think they make any less mess.”
Blake rocked all the way forward until he hit his feet. “I hear it gets worse before it gets better.”
“I ordered a boy,” Jesse informed his oldest brother.
A soft laugh escaped Blake. “Good thing whoever arrives is exactly who we need.”
“Blake. Can we get a hand in here?” Vicki called from the kitchen.
Blake untangled Justin from his arms and held the baby bundle toward Jesse. “Here. I’m being summoned.”
It wasn’t the first time Jesse had held a baby, but it wasn’t high on his want to do this instant list. He carefully tucked his hand under the kid’s head to support him properly. “I’ll just bring him to Jaxi.”
Blake was already walking away, but he tossed over his shoulder, “She’s in the shower, so you’d better not. Oh, and he needs to be changed. There are diapers in the main bathroom.”
Full-out laughter echoed from his right, and Jesse turned to find Joel being far too entertained by Blake’s orders. “Laugh it up, but you’re coming with me as backup.”
Joel lost a lot of his delight. “I don’t know how to change a diaper.”
“Bullshit. You know just as well as me. Besides, you’d better get in some practice before my kid arrives, oh Babysitter Supreme.”
“I’m nixing that name. Makes me sound like I’m a dessert at Dairy Queen,” Joel complained, but he accompanied Jesse into the bathroom.
The counter ran the length of the room, the sink off-center to the right. In all his years of living in the house, Jesse had never realized what a great baby-changing station it made. He carefully placed Justin on the quilted pad to the left of the sink, then began to unwrap his nephew.
“Find the clean diapers,” he ordered Joel.
Joel moved past him and hauled out a wicker basket from an open shelf. “Oh, look, wet wipes.”
Jesse couldn’t stop it. He snickered so hard he nearly made himself choke. “You sounded way too excited about that.”
“Asshole,” Joel muttered easily, sliding the plastic container toward him and dropping a miniature diaper beside it.
By now Jesse had managed to undo the first layers of the soft flannel. Justin flailed his arms, his face screwed up tight. His mouth opened, and a sound emerged that would’ve been suitable in a horror film.
“You need to change him fast,” Joel said.
“Brilliant suggestion, Einstein.” Jesse undid the diaper, cringing as he used a clean section of the inside to wipe away a little of the damage. “God, how can something the size of a loaf of bread produce this much shit? It’s like stinky superglue.”
Joel tugged out a wet wipe and handed it to him. “Ours is not to question why, ours is just to sniff and die.”
It took three wet wipes to get rid of the evidence, and then just as Jesse slipped a clean diaper under Justin’s hips, the kid peed.
Jesse and Joel shouted, quickly tamping down their volume when Justin’s eyes widened and his protesting cries turned to fear. They were more worried about the stream of pee shooting skyward like an out-of-control fireman’s hose, rapidly sweeping toward where they stood. Jesse barely folded up the bottom part of the diaper in time to contain the mess.
“Jesus Christ, nobody told me those things were loaded,” Jesse complained, speaking loudly to be heard over Justin’s wailing.
Joel started laughing, trying desperately to hold it back as he grabbed another diaper from the bin.
Jesse held it together long enough to wrangle a fresh diaper under his nephew and get it done up with no further mishaps. He stripped the now wet one-piece from his screaming nephew and used a couple wet wipes to wash him down. “Is there another straitjacket for the kid in one of those baskets?”
While his laughter faded to hiccupping gasps, Joel checked all of the baskets, finally handing over a pale-yellow bodysuit thing. “You’re doing awesome. I’m taking notes.”
“I should make you dress him,” Jesse threatened. “But you’re obviously nowhere near as skilled as I am. You’d end up giving the kid a complex.”
Joel leaned his back on the nearest wall, put his face in his hands and started howling all over again.
Justin howled louder, shrieks echoing off the bathroom walls.
It was like trying to stuff an octopus into a glove. Jesse moved cautiously, making sure to keep his touch feather-soft, but eventually he had all Justin’s body parts in the appropriate arm and leg slots with the buttons done up. He got Joel to find him another flannel blanket, and this part he managed to do properly, thinking back to the times Jaxi and Blake’s little girls had taught him how to swaddle their dolls.
He hadn’t realized how much easier it was when the dolls didn’t fight back.
Thankfully, as he tugged the flannel over his nephew and trapped the little guy’s hands and legs snugly in place, Justin’s crying faded to sad whimpers that grew steadily quieter until all that was left was a low complaining murmur.
Jesse got Joel to guard the kid so he could scrub his hands quickly at the sink before lifting Justin against his chest. He rocked on the spot, making soothing noises. “It’s okay, kid. I promise that nasty Uncle Joel will be way better at helping next time.”
“You’re such a dweeb,” Joel said, stopping to wash his hands as well.
“I’m a dweeb? What’re you washing your hands for? You didn’t do anything,” Jesse demanded.
“Proximity contamination.”
They made it back into the main room where Joel paused for a moment to answer a question from their niece. Jesse carried on all the way to the kitchen, cradling a now-quiet Justin against his chest.
Blake was helping Vicki with something in the pantry. Dare stood beside a sturdy island countertop, two-year-old PJ helping her cut out biscuits with a metal ring as she used one hand to stabilize him.
She glanced up, and her expression changed as her gaze hit Jesse. Her jaw dropped open before she offered a sexy, hungry hum. “Wow. I think my ovaries just exploded.”
“What?” Vicki glanced out of the pantry. She did a double take as Joel walked through the door to stand beside him. “Oh, my.”
Jesse whispered softly to his brother. “I didn’t think making biscuits was that much like foreplay. You have any idea what they’re talking about?”
“Not a clue,” Joel admitted.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dare was asleep the instant her head hit the pillow. When she woke, it was to an empty bed because Jesse had already gotten up. Neither a good night’s rest or room to stretch out were terrible things, but they didn’t put sex back on the table either, and frankly she was itching for Jesse in a bad way.
Last night—
Oh. My. God. If she hadn’t already been pregnant, the sight of Jesse holding Justin would’ve caused her to spontaneously conceive. What was it that Jaxi had said? Colemans made pretty babies?
They made gorgeous, mouthwatering men, as well.
Now they were on the road, headed back to Heart Falls to grab what they needed.
She was confused by how much she was looking forward to seeing her family, yet how much she couldn’t wait to return to Rocky. It felt as if she were tethered in the middle of an enormous, invisible game of tug-of-war. Uncertain which side would win.
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Instead of worrying about what she couldn’t control, she let her gaze drift over the man at her side. It was warm enough he’d left his jacket and overshirt off, and his strong forearms were eye candy she was very willing to enjoy. His hands rested lightly on the wheel—hands she knew could bring her pleasure in all sorts of wicked ways.
She wiggled in her seat.
“You need a pit stop?” Jesse asked instantly.
Oh God, did she ever. But not for the reason he was asking. “I need to put my hands on you,” Dare informed him. “And you need to be naked.”
The engine roared briefly before he glanced her way with a warning. “Dare.”
She blinked.
Jesse’s eyes darkened in the second before he focused back on the road. “In this dream world of yours, are you naked as well?”
“Depends. I’m either naked, or wearing teeny panties and a silky bra. Whichever you prefer.”
He reached down and adjusted himself, shifting his hips awkwardly. “I didn’t know you had such a mean streak in you, Darilyn Hayes.”
She laid a hand on his arm, stroking gently as she let out an appreciative hum. “I’m not being mean,” she insisted. “Mean would be me doing something like putting my hand in your lap and curling my fingers around your cock.”
Jesse’s grip on the wheel tightened, but he kept his gaze fixed on the road as she put action to her words. “You’re asking for trouble.”
“We both like this kind of trouble,” she reminded him. She pressed her palm against him, rubbing the thick length. “I want you in my mouth. I want to taste you and get you all wet before I climb on top and go for a ride.”
Dare had been so intent on what she was doing she hadn’t noticed the change in vehicle sounds. He must’ve hit the turn indicator and the brakes sometime in the last thirty seconds because he was taking a right-hand turn off the highway down a narrow country road that led to nowhere.
“Side trip?” she asked innocently.
“You are so getting fucked,” he informed her in a cheerful voice.
He hit the brakes, positioning the truck in the middle of a thick batch of spruce trees. The next second he had her seatbelt undone and she was being hauled across the bench seat into his arms.
