by Cari Quinn
“Two bulls,” Hollie said, wide-eyed. “You’re officially my new hero, Paige.” She made another face. “Even if one of the bulls shares my bloodline. Ick.”
Paige studied Charli’s face, searching for signs that her bestie was just trying to smooth things over and really didn’t feel the way she claimed. “Are you sure? I swear, I never meant for it to happen. Never thought it would. I mean, I’m not exactly their usual kind of woman.”
“You’re gorgeous, and stop pretending otherwise.” Charli shook her head and turned Paige back toward the mirror. “Own those curves. A million women would die for them, including me.”
Paige smiled and reached down to take Charli’s hand, loosely linking their fingers. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Aww, that was sweet.” Hollie knuckled a tear away from her eye. “Can we talk length, girth and thrusting power now? Please?”
All three women laughed.
* * *
Once the ladies had disappeared into the house and Geraldine had temporarily run out of awkward questions, Wade descended the steps.
“Can I have a minute with you?” he asked Colt. “Alone,” he added when Drake stepped forward.
“Yeah, sure.” Colt glanced at his buddy, conveying it was no big deal. He could handle his brother. He didn’t really want to right now, but he could do it. “Let’s take a walk out back to the gulch.”
Wade moved forward to kiss Geraldine’s cheek. “Excuse us. We’ll be back in a few.”
“You boys be careful out there. Watch out for snakes.”
Colt smiled and patted her arm. They’d been watching out for snakes—and hell, playing with them when they were boys—their whole lives. “Go on up and tell Mama we’ll be right in soon.” He glanced at Drake. “You probably should head back to the ranch, make sure Steven and Larry didn’t have any trouble this morning. Misty has that sore foot.”
Drake’s eyes narrowed. It was definitely a good idea for him to make sure everything with the horses was running smoothly, and they had a twelve o’clock with Mrs. Feeney and her daughter Allison to ride Culpepper, but his best friend was no fool. He knew when he was being dismissed.
It wasn’t as rude as all that, but Colt really didn’t need to get into the whole threesome business with his family with Drake there. Bad enough they were suspicious. Having Drake standing around looking like he was ready to go to battle at a moment’s notice on Colt’s behalf wouldn’t help matters.
Besides, he’d make it up to him later. Take him out for those flame-your-lips-off wings he liked and a couple of beers, maybe shoot some pool down at Pitchers.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. If you’re certain you’re cool.”
“Definitely.” Colt smiled thinly and clapped his buddy on the back. “Everything’s just great.”
Lies, lies, lies.
“All righty then.” Drake tipped a hand to his head. “Wade, sorry about missing the wedding, man. I’d hoped to be back in time, but traffic was a bitch.”
“No worries. I really appreciated your gift. Charli did too.” Wade smiled and stuck out his hand to shake.
“Sure thing. Hope you have a great honeymoon. Don’t have too much fun and forget to come back here to be miserable with the rest of us.” Drake grinned and pulled Wade in for a quick one-armed hug, then took off, heading back out to his truck.
Wade glanced at his brother. “You good?”
“Yeah.” Colt set off around the house, not bothering to check his stride.
Wade was only a couple of inches shorter than him, and in damn good shape, but physically, Wade’s long hours in the music studio couldn’t compete with the backbreaking work Colt did on a daily basis. He made sure to take on a lot of the hardest tasks himself—mucking out stalls, exercising the horses, working the land. He remembered all too well when everyone in town, including Wade, had thought him to be some kind of lazy pretty boy because he hadn’t been as interested in farming back in high school. In those days, he’d been all about football.
Football, yeah, right. And what had that gotten him? A bum knee that liked to flare up when it rained and being cut from the Vanguards after probably one of the shortest NFL stints in history. His medical out had been more of a relief than a disappointment.
Nothing like washing out on the dream you’d spent your whole life imagining to really sour your perspective. And it had, for some time. Until he’d come back home and gotten married and discovered he loved working with horses. Talking to them, being around them, watching them grow confident and serene even after a troubled start. That work made him happier now than football ever had, even back in his glory days in high school on the legendary championship team.
But that didn’t mean the old injury didn’t flare up from time to time. Didn’t mean the old hurt couldn’t still get its hooks into him and make him feel worthless all over again.
Wade ate up the ground at his side. They dodged balloons and hanging lights and the streamers that were hanging every-damn-where. He waited until they’d made it halfway to the gulch to speak. “You’re pissed.”
Colt didn’t stop walking. “Who says?”
“That glare you just gave me, for one. You’re ready to pound someone’s face in, so I figured why not let it be mine.”
They stopped and Colt reached up to grab a partially deflated pink balloon, crushing it in his fist with a satisfying pop. “I have no reason to be pissed.”
“Because you spent the whole night getting laid?”
Colt lifted a brow and wished he had another balloon to pop. He might make it his mission to personally pop every one of them before this conversation was through. “You’re overstepping, little brother.”
“Why, because I’m calling it like it is?” Wade grabbed another low-hanging balloon and handed it over for its decimation.
Colt popped it with relish. “You’ve gotten smug in your old age. I don’t think I like it.”
“Not smug. I just know you. I wish you hadn’t gone there with—”
“Hold it.” Colt shoved the remnants of the balloons in his pocket. He didn’t litter, ever, no matter how annoyed he was. “Tell me you’re not warming up to a lecture. A bit hypocritical, dontcha think?”
Wade plucked a blade of grass and stuck it between his teeth, as he always had as a kid when he was mulling something over. Damn guy was always mulling. “I have no right to lecture you.”
“No, you do not.”
“Regardless of the fact that you deliberately overlooked what was between me and Charli when we were kids, and swooped right in and knocked her off her feet—”
“I didn’t knock her off her feet. I knocked her up. There’s a difference.” Wade’s wince made him feel guilty, but not guilty enough to shut up. “And I didn’t deliberately overlook anything. I was blind, okay? Fucking blind and self-absorbed. A cocky SOB who deserved for his wife to fall in love with his brother.”
Too late, he realized he’d called Charli his wife, not ex. Wade didn’t call him on it.
Wade never called him on anything, and it really brassed off his balls. They’d be fitting his little brother for a freaking halo soon.
“It wasn’t intentional,” he said softly.
Wade crossed his arms. “Let’s be real clear here, brother. You talking about last night or what happened with Charli?”
Colt faced his brother squarely. “Both. Goddammit, both. I never would’ve gotten in between you if I’d paid attention. I swear that to you.”
“I believe you.” Wade twisted that grass. “Paige…she’s vulnerable. I know that after just the past few months getting to know her. She plays tough, and I think she is in business. But it’s obvious she’s been burned before.”
Haven’t we all? But Colt didn’t speak.
Instead he stared off in the distance, across green fields dotted with last night’s party leftovers and a little ways off, the barn and outhouses. Chickens pecked their way around the small yard beside the barn, and their couple of goa
ts bucked against the fence that only penned them in when it suited them. Sunshine gilded the trees, the fields, the gulch that burbled a short distance away.
And he couldn’t enjoy any of it.
“You can’t say anything to me I didn’t say to myself,” he said into the silence. “I never expected last night to happen. I didn’t want it to. There are boundaries. What you did or didn’t do doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. I crossed a line.”
“I’m not talking about that anymore. What’s done is done. What I want to know is what you’re going to do about it now.”
Colt snapped a glance at his brother. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, are you going to just bang her and toss her aside?” Wade stepped closer. “Because I have to say, that doesn’t sit right with me.”
The laugh tore from Colt’s chest. “Wait a second. I screwed up by sleeping with her, so we should make it worse and keep doing it?”
Wade’s mouth flattened. “We?”
Colt heaved out a breath and tipped back his head to glare at the cloudless blue sky. Why wasn’t it storming to match his gray mood? “You drew the pictures in your head, but obviously missed one corner, huh?”
“Seriously? You leave my wedding and go enact a porno? That’s how you’re going to prove to the town that you’re not the same screw-anything-that-moves Bennett?” Wade shoved him hard in his chest. “Jesus Christ, man, sometimes I’d like to deck you.”
Colt’s anger and frustration banked rather than leaping higher. Maybe he needed to be punched, good and hard. If he ended up hurting Paige, intentionally or not, he deserved to be.
He’d welcome it.
“Go ahead.” He stretched out his arms to the side. “Take your best shot.”
“I don’t think so.”
They both looked over as Char and Paige picked their way across the grass, sidestepping party debris with a skill that somehow only emphasized their femininity. Okay, fine, he wasn’t checking out how Char looked. His attention was 110% occupied on Paige. Riveted by the way she held up her playful sundress and wound her way to them, head held high. Eyes blazing a rich blue like that late-summer sky he’d just cursed.
On her, that color didn’t mock him. He wanted to fall into it and hear her laughter, feel her skin against his. Even if she was frowning at him. Why now, he couldn’t guess.
Obviously he was the world’s most colossal fuck-up.
“No bloodshed,” Charli said firmly, tucking her arm through her husband’s. “We have a honeymoon to go off on and I don’t intend for our pictures to include you with a shiner, Wade Bennett.”
Wade continued to stare hard at Colt.
“He can punch me. I won’t hit back.”
“Oh good, he’s feeling sorry for himself.” Char shook her head and sighed. “Seriously? Go soak your head in the gulch.”
“Fine.” He was already undoing buttons. Nothing set him back to rights better than a cool swim on a hot, ridiculous day. “You coming?” he asked Paige.
She blinked at him as if he’d asked her to run naked across the yard. “I have to go to work.”
“Suit yourself.”
He’d officially reached his limit on trying to make nice, and make amends, and even on making love. The last one was a temporary stoppage, he was sure.
All he wanted right then was some serious alone time. When he was on his own, at least no one could judge him and find him lacking. Other than himself.
When he’d unbuttoned the shirt halfway down his chest, he spared his brother and Char a glance. Linked together, they were the perfect couple. Far more perfect than he’d ever been with Char. “Have a good honeymoon,” he said before tipping his head at Paige.
She nodded at him without saying goodbye. Good. He hated goddamn goodbyes.
Then he headed off to the gulch to soak his head.
5
It had been a week. An entire week, and Colt was still being a royal jackass about the whole thing.
Drake leaned on his pitchfork and mopped his head with his bandanna. So far, trying to talk to his best friend about the situation with Paige hadn’t worked. That meant the time had come for desperate measures. Throwing a little jealousy into the mix never hurt either.
First, he had to try to find enough spit in his throat to talk to Colt one more time about everything he was so obviously avoiding.
If only he wasn’t so insanely hot.
Colt was baling hay in the unrelenting sunshine, his back muscles gleaming and stretching under his golden tan. He’d yet to take so much as a sip of the lemonade Miss Emmy, their receptionist and all-around office goddess, had prepared for them an hour earlier.
No, the jerk clearly wanted to end up in the hospital with heatstroke before the end of the weekend.
“How about taking a break?” he called, unsurprised when Colt didn’t so much as pause.
Guess he was going to have to take things up a notch.
He strode over to the pile Colt was working on and stabbed his pitchfork into the next bale. Colt glanced up at him with a look of pure malice.
“Got a problem?”
“Yes, I do. And his name’s Colt Bennett.”
Colt rolled his shoulders and sweat trickled down his pecs like an offering from the gods. Only sheer will kept Drake’s cock from hardening in his pants. “You’re supposed to be working, not bitching at me.”
“I’m done working and so are you. We’re going down to Pitchers tonight.”
“For what? The game tonight sucks. I’d rather just—”
“Sit around and stew? Yeah, well, I’m sure, but sorry, you’re not getting your way tonight. You’ve gotten it enough over the past week.”
“Oh, have I now?” Colt braced his elbow on his pitchfork and scrubbed his hand over his sweaty face. “Funny, I thought I was keeping my head down and working.”
“You’ve been in hiding, and don’t try to deny it.”
Colt dropped his hand. “Hiding from what?”
“Don’t play dumb either. It suits you a little too well, especially after the past few days.” Drake shook his head. “You really want to stand by while Paige starts dating someone else?”
Colt’s expression didn’t change, except for the slightest tightening around his eyes. If Drake hadn’t known his face as well as his own, he never would’ve seen it. “If she does, good for her. It’s none of my business.”
“Is that so? That really how you feel?”
“Yes.” Clenching his jaw, he finally reached for his lemonade. The glass was slick with condensation and he nearly lost his hold on it before tipping the liquid into his mouth. Some splashed out, bouncing off his chest.
Drake shifted behind some of the hay bales. Christ. There was no helping his dick now. He’d be better off sticking the thing in Colt’s icy cold drink.
“You’re sure?” Drake draped his arms over the hay and thanked God he’d worn baggy shorts today. “You’re not interested in her in any way and have no concern who she dates or when?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Paige can do what she likes, and I wish her well.”
“Okay, have it your way.”
Colt drank more lemonade. In seconds, he’d drained the glass. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means if you’re not fixing to spend more time with Paige, I am. I’d like to ask her out tonight.”
Colt’s jaw clenched yet again. “On your own, you mean. Just the two of you.”
“You got any other solutions? You just said you weren’t interested.”
“You know damn well why I’m not.”
“Because people talked some this week. Because it was awkward with your brother and your ex-wife.” He made sure to emphasize ex. “Because you don’t want to hurt her when it’s time to move on,” he added softly, holding Colt’s gaze as it shifted his way.
“That about sums it up.”
“Seems like a whole lot of worrying without much behind it. So people talk. Th
ey always do. We didn’t do anything wrong. We enjoyed ourselves and so did she. If we want to keep that streak going, no one gets a say in that matter but us—unless you give them that power.”
“Char gave Paige a hard time.”
Drake scoffed. “Come on, man, I talked to Paige and she said no such thing. Having a conversation ain’t the same as a hard time. Besides, I’m pretty sure they compared notes on your dick, so I guarantee some laughter was involved.”
Colt didn’t smile. “You think this is a game? It’s not a fucking game, Drake. She’s not for you to play with.”
“Or for you to play with. You’re afraid she’s not like the others and won’t move on so easy if we have a few repeats.”
“She’s a good woman. She deserves someone who will be there for her. One someone, not two half-assed cowboys who want to get their rocks off.”
“Was that all Saturday was about for you? If so, no wonder you’re backing away now.”
Colt rubbed his forearm over his glistening forehead. “No, damn you, it wasn’t just about sex for me. I like her. She makes me laugh. So I’m steering clear.”
“Fine. As you wish. But I’m not.” Drake stepped away and grabbed the Stetson he’d dropped on the ground. He set it on his head, glad for a momentary respite from the relentless sun. “You have yourself a good evening. I’m heading down to see Paige at Pitchers.”
“She’s there?”
Drake nodded.
“I’ve gotta go see Coach,” Colt muttered, gripping the pitchfork as if he was on the verge of snapping it in two. “We’ve been so busy this week I haven’t made it there to help out.”
“As you wish,” Drake repeated.
“I don’t wish this. I didn’t wish any of it.” Colt turned away to get back to work.
“Oh, by the way. Think we’ll probably be stopping by the Gulch after to cool off. It’s a scorcher.”
That brought his buddy up short. “The Gulch? My Gulch? On my parents’ property?”
Drake nodded. He knew very well what the Gulch meant to Colt, and how his friend went there to swim whenever life got to be too much. Taking Paige there—without Colt—was practically a punch to the nuts.
