And besides, George Hobbes was dying. The cancer was slowly eating away at his health, and it was only a matter of time. If believing Bo would take care of his daughter made that easier on him, then he wasn’t about to take that away.
“Did you manage to get your father here on your handlebars?” He grinned as he asked the question. Mouse wasn’t big on driving. She had a license, but she greatly preferred her bicycle.
Her face scrunched up sweetly at his teasing. “I can drive. I just do it slowly.”
“Hello, Bethany, Mr. Hobbes.” Aidan walked up looking tidy in his monkey suit. Bo hated his, but Aidan seemed to like wearing a suit all right. He and Lucas were dressed almost identically. “It’s nice of you to come.”
“We wouldn’t miss it. I’ve come to really like your Lexi,” Mouse replied.
In the months since Lexi and Lucas had come to live at the O’Malley Ranch, Mouse had gotten close to Lexi. He was grateful for their budding friendship. Mouse had offered to help Lexi by reading some of the stories she wrote. The two had bonded over their love of romance novels. Without Mouse, Lexi would probably feel alone.
Deer Run was a small town, and they didn’t take well to outsiders—especially outsiders who lived openly in a polyamorous relationship.
“She likes you, too.” Aidan smiled warmly at her. “We were going to do this in Vegas, but my mother-in-law wouldn’t hear of it. And don’t try telling Abigail Barnes what she can’t do. I tried to explain that it would be difficult to get married in Deer Run. Abby sicced Jack on everyone, and presto, here we are getting married.”
“And how does this work, Aidan?” George asked. “Marrying two people?”
Coming from anyone else, the question might have sounded judgmental. From Professor Hobbes’s mouth, it was a mere curiosity. Aidan didn’t even blink.
“Lexi is going to be formally married to my partner, Lucas. Lucas has already changed his name legally to O’Malley. Lexi won’t be married to me in the eyes of the law, but our hearts are a different matter.”
George smiled warmly. “That sounds very nice. I’m happy for all three of you. Beth, dear, I believe I should find a seat.”
Mouse took her father’s hand and led him down the aisle to find a place to sit.
Aidan frowned at Bo. “When are you going to let that girl go?”
“Mouse?” Bo asked. “She’s my friend. Why should I let her go?”
He actually couldn’t imagine his life without Mouse. Mouse was always there. Mouse was the one person he could count on.
“Because that woman is in love with you. And her name is Bethany. Why you insist on calling her by that ridiculous, demeaning nickname, I have no idea. She’s a nice lady. She’s smart and kind. She deserves some respect.”
“Hell, Aidan. I like the hell out of Mouse. I don’t mean any disrespect. It’s what everyone in our class has called her since first grade.”
She’d been as quiet as a mouse. Their teacher had called her a little mouse and the name had stuck. He didn’t mean it as an insult. It was simply who she was. He’d known her most of his life, couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t. She’d always been there, in the back of the room, a quiet presence he could count on.
“Do you understand what she is?” Aidan asked, his face taking on that serious look he got when he was about to launch into a fatherly lecture.
Bo sighed. They’d been over this before. “She’s not a submissive. I don’t believe in that bullshit. I’m fine with whatever you, Lucas, and Lexi want to do in the bedroom, but don’t treat it like it’s a religion or something. Mouse doesn’t want a man who chains her up and spanks her ass.”
“Have you asked her?” Lucas asked, walking up. Lucas was a mystery. He liked the man, but Lucas had a perpetual amusement with the world that he simply didn’t understand.
“Hell, no, I haven’t asked her,” he shot back at his almost brother-in-law, partner-in-law. Hell, he still didn’t know what to call Lucas. It was all a mess, but it seemed to work for them. Not for him though. He wasn’t getting involved in any of that kinky stuff. “And I’m not going to. As far as I can tell Mouse isn’t into anything physical, and I’m fine with it staying that way.”
Lucas wouldn’t be swayed. “I wasn’t merely talking about her sexuality, though I bet it’s in there. She would likely be as submissive in bed as she is in her life.”
They’d been over this argument numerous times, and he was starting to get annoyed. “I told you, Mouse isn’t submissive. She’s just real nice.”
“I disagree, but you’re taking advantage of her niceness, as you call it,” Aidan insisted. “If her father weren’t sick, I would seriously consider sending her back to Dallas with Julian. She needs a Dom. I’ve heard Taggart has a couple of friends looking for a permanent sub. You can’t help her the way she needs to be helped or give her what she truly needs. You should encourage her to go to Dallas when she can.”
Bo felt the sudden need to punch his brother in the face. “I will not allow her to go.”
Lucas stepped between them. Despite the fact that Bo had healed the breach with his brother months before, they were still brothers. They still fought on a regular basis.
“How about we shelve this fight until after we get married?” Lucas straightened Aidan’s tie. “I believe our bride is ready.”
A smile crossed Aidan’s face as his hand found the back of Lucas’s neck. Bo had never seen anyone smile the way Aidan did when Lucas and Lexi entered a room. He might not understand what those three had found, but damn, he envied it. Bo didn’t even look away when his brother leaned in and kissed Lucas.
He was getting used to his brother’s peculiar life. The town of Deer Run, however, was not. A wedding was a big event in a small town, but everyone was ignoring this one. It had to hurt Aidan. It hurt him.
“Let’s go get our girl,” Aidan said to his partner. He turned to Bo, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here. I know this makes it hard for you in town.”
It did. His buddies gave him shit about it all the time. When Bo settled down, he was going to find a woman who truly fit into this town. He loved his brother, but he didn’t want to be an outcast. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Now you go and get married.”
Bo was supposed to sit up front with the family, but the truth was Lexi’s family scared him. He felt way more comfortable with Mouse and her dad. He slid in beside her.
When her hand found his, he let his fingers curl around hers. His whole body relaxed, and he could breathe again. That was what Mouse always offered him.
And she wasn’t going anywhere. She was going to stay right here in Deer Run. And maybe, when he was ready to settle down, if he hadn’t found anyone else, maybe he would talk to Mouse about getting married. That thought brought a little smile to his lips.
“What’s so funny?” Mouse asked.
“Nothing,” he replied, taking her hand more firmly in his own. “I had a silly thought.”
Except when Lexi walked down the aisle, he couldn’t help but wonder how Mouse would look in a white dress.
Nope. She wasn’t going anywhere.
There wasn’t anywhere else to go.
Chapter One
Deer Run, TX
Six Months Later
Mouse Hobbes stared at the house in front of her, excitement growing. The key in her hands felt a bit unreal, but this was happening. She was doing this. Her house. The old Bellows place was hers as of noon today. Every board, every piece of furniture, everything in the house was hers. All of the land along with a detached garage and a barn that looked like it might house a serial killer was hers.
It seemed like a mighty big adventure.
“Are you sure about this?” Bo stood at her side, his handsome face staring at the house like it might jump out and bite him.
It wouldn’t bite him. But pieces of it might fall on him. Even now, one of the shutters banged against the side of the house in rhythmic time to the wind
. She was definitely going to have to fix that.
She’d bought all the house’s problems at auction, too.
“Totally sure.” She’d been dreaming about buying a place and fixing it up for years.
She didn’t buy the rumors that the place was haunted. It was simply a little run-down. Like all things in this old world, it needed a bit of love and attention. She had both of those, and no one left to spend them on. She relished the idea of taking the big farmhouse and turning it into a place for a family to live in.
And the money she would make by fixing it up and reselling it wouldn’t hurt, either.
“It looks like it might fall down around you.” Bo kicked at the porch step. She was happy when it held up. His eyes glanced over the yard. Along with the house had come two acres of property. “I wouldn’t be shocked if old lady Bellows didn’t leave you a couple of surprises, if you know what I mean.”
“Those are rumors.” Surely Maudine Bellows hadn’t really laid bear traps around the grounds of her house in order to keep children from coming onto her lawn. “You don’t happen to have a metal detector, do you?”
That smile of his lit up her world. “You want me to do a perimeter sweep? I bet you can find about a hundred baseballs and footballs. Kids in this county have been terrified of Maudine for years. I know she scared the hell out of me the one time I was brave enough to try to sell her popcorn when my Boy Scout troop was raising money. She opened the door with a shotgun in her hand and told me popcorn killed her last cat.”
She walked up the steps. Despite the decrepit look of the stairs, they were solid under her feet, like the house itself. The huge wraparound porch likely needed nothing more than a coat of weatherproof paint. The cornices were in superb shape. She was going to have to work to save the stained glass, but it was worth it.
The porch overlooked the huge yard. In her mind’s eye she could see a couple of rockers sitting on the porch. They would be there when she watched the sunset with her husband. Who always looked like Bo.
Stop. You are not keeping this house. This house is your key to the future. You sank everything you had into this house.
And Bo won’t ever be more than a friend.
She often thought her inner voice was far too practical. Her inner voice was always angelic. She wondered if she’d been born without the devil others seemed to have. A little devilish voice might be fun from time to time.
“What the hell are you planning on doing with all these rooms?” Bo stood, scratching his head and looking up at the second story. “I heard there are five bedrooms in this place. You planning on getting a couple of cats or something?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. She wasn’t ready to become an old woman with too many cats. She was only twenty-five. And she had a million ideas on what to do with the rooms. “I’m going to fix them up.”
Bo tried to open the screen door. The handle came off in his hands. “I don’t know about this. I think an apartment might have been a better idea. I heard the complex on Oak Street has a vacancy. I don’t know if I like the thought of you living here all by yourself.”
The building was called the Oak Street Manors. There was nothing manorial about the place. It was gray and boring. Every unit was exactly like the next. She wanted something beautiful in her life. After two years of hospitals and sick rooms, she needed to build something lovely and amazing. She’d watched her father die. It was time to bring something to life.
“Forget I said that.” He set the screen door handle aside. Bo stood, looking at her with his hands on his hips. “I can’t imagine you in one of those tiny things. You wouldn’t have any place to put your books. When am I supposed to move all those boxes, by the way? Please say Saturday. I played poker with Lucas last night, and he lost. I made him promise to help me move you.”
She smiled at the thought. She liked the idea of Lucas O’Malley helping her move. Oh sure, he was her part-time boss’s husband, but he looked awfully nice without his shirt on. Maybe there was a little devil in her, after all. “Saturday it is, then. I don’t have to be out of Dad’s place until next week.”
Her father’s place. She had lived there for almost twenty-six years. She had never known another home. All of her memories were wrapped up in that little two-bedroom house. She’d shared a room with her sister for years. She’d grown up in that house.
She’d watched both of her parents die in that house.
The small, ranch-style house on Pine Street held her whole childhood, but it was past time for Mouse Hobbes to become a woman.
“Did I ever thank you for helping me with the funeral?” It had only been a month since she’d buried her father. Tears pricked at her eyes. Her dad. She missed him with every fiber of her being. Her sister, Bonnie, had stood beside her, but Bonnie had a husband and a strong circle of friends. Bonnie was the golden girl. She’d left home as soon as she was able to. Mouse had stayed behind. Mouse had nursed her mother and then her father as cancer ravaged them both.
It hadn’t been Bonnie who sat beside her in the funeral home making arrangements. It had been Bo O’Malley.
“You know I’d do anything to help you, girl.”
Anything but sleep with her. Oh, she had to put that out of her head. “I know. I wanted to say thanks though.”
“Well, you’re welcome. It’s the least I can do.” His cell phone rang. He looked down at the number, and a little smirk took over his face. She knew what that smile meant. She felt her whole soul sag as he answered the call. “Hey. I wasn’t sure you were going to call me, pretty thing.”
Bo winked at her and held out a hand that let her know he’d be back. He walked off, talking to some girl. He would have met her at a bar or a party. Places where Mouse never went.
He was never serious about those women, but one day Bo O’Malley was going to fall in love, and it wouldn’t be with her. He considered her a friend, a sister. They had an odd relationship, and there was no way it would last. When he found a serious girlfriend, she would be out.
She looked up at the house she’d bought. This house was her future. When she had enough money, maybe she would leave and find some new place.
Or maybe she would stay because she could change locations, but things would always be the same if she herself never changed.
“Hey, I gotta go, Mouse. Clarissa is waiting for me,” Bo said, walking out to his truck. “You want me to take you back home?”
Clarissa Gates. Perfect hair, perfect nails. Daddy’s little princess. At twenty-seven, she had never had to leave her prom queen crown in the closet. Since Karen Wilcox had imploded a couple of years back, Clarissa had taken over as the town’s queen bee. And now she was after Bo, and Bo seemed perfectly happy to get caught.
She shook her head. She had some work to do. The boxes held the contents to make the master bedroom livable. She could spend the night here if she wanted. The bedroom and the master bath were the only parts of the house that weren’t falling apart. “No. I think I want to stay here for a while.”
Bo frowned. “Come on. Let me take you home.”
When he pushed her, she always caved. The impulse was right there. She wanted to get in the truck and let him take her home because he would worry. He would worry about her, but that wouldn’t stop him from chasing after Clarissa. She was damn tired of being everyone’s friend. She thought about the plan she’d come up with the night before. Bo wouldn’t like it, but she wasn’t Bo’s responsibility.
It was time to stand on her own. “No. This is home.”
“Fine. But I’ll pick you up for dinner. I’ll be back here at seven o’clock.” Bo shook his head as he walked away.
Mouse fit that key into the lock, turning it and opening the door with pure satisfaction. It might fall down around her, but this was home for now.
* * * *
Trev stopped the truck in front of the big, rambling ranch house. It was no longer attached to a ranch. The land had been sold long ago, but the house still stood. Ther
e was still a tire swing hanging from the branches of the giant oak tree. How many times had he pushed his sister in that swing? Looking at it now, he could still see her pigtails hanging down as she threw her body back. She had been the worst giggle bunny. She would laugh and laugh as he got that old tire to go higher. They would run and play until Momma finally called them in for dinner, her head shaking at how dirty they were.
How had he gotten so lost?
His hands trembled slightly around the steering wheel. Too much caffeine. He always had too damn much of something. He put the truck in park and slid out.
Who lived here now? Shelley had put the house up for sale after Momma had passed. His mother had died while he was in the hospital detoxing. He’d had to come to her funeral with a “handler” and a bunch of security guards to keep the press out. That had been his contribution to the passing of his beloved mother. Leo Meyer had been quiet, helpful, and unobtrusive, but the fact that Trev hadn’t been able to help his sister out had just about killed him.
What was he doing here? He’d been offered a job in Dallas, but the call of home had been too much. When his mentor had mentioned he could get Trev work on a ranch, he’d jumped at the chance. He’d only ever been good at two things in his life—football and handling cattle. He could never walk on the football field again. He knew that now. The pressure was too much. Fame had proven to be far too much for him to handle.
When he’d left this place, he’d been a hero. He’d been the first boy from Deer Run to get a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas. After leading the Longhorns to a conference championship, they’d given him a parade.
No one had even talked to him at his mother’s funeral. After ten years away, he was back, and he was utterly unsure of his welcome.
The door to the house opened, and two women walked out. He thought about jumping back into his truck and riding away, but before he could manage to move, he recognized one of them. Straight, dark hair and a wide smile. She didn’t wear pigtails anymore, but damn, he loved his sister.
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