I take a long drink of the sweet nectar, closing my eyes blissfully. “Oh, yeah—shit, that’s good—I’m fine here. Go do your hot cowboy shit now.”
“Hot cowboy shit? Jesus, how strong is that drink?” He leans in for a sip, and I clutch it to my chest, nearly tipping the chair as I play keep-away, giggling like a love-drunk teenager. “Go away.You can’t drink and ride.”
“Mmm. I think the night of their”—he points at Cecily—“wedding proves that wrong.”
I blush furiously, and he smirks in response. Dimples highlighted by the summer sun, he gives me a playful wink just as Kate starts getting riled up.
“All right, you’re nauseating me.” She swats her hand in his general direction from her chair next to mine and he quickly dodges it. “Either go away or go get a room. There are kids around!” She gestures at Hazel, who is literally an infant incapable of understanding what we’re talking about, and her own two kids, who are playing in a pile of dirt too far away to hear us.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go do hot cowboy shit now. Make sure you’re paying attention.”
Boy, am I.I don’t care that I’m openly gawking. I sink into the chair with a long, continuous chug of sangria and watch his toned, denim-clad ass saunter over to where the rest of the guys are. Tight Wells Ranch branded T-shirt, fitted jeans, and a cowboy hat.
No words.
“I need you to know how bizarre it is to see him like this,” Kate says, leaning into me and breaking my focus from the incredible man I’m staring at unashamedly.
I blink over to her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s always going to be a bit of a jokester and agoofball. But it’s nice to see him joking around because he’s in love, not because he’s hiding behind it.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch him mount his horse and instantly turn to look at me with a boyish smile that makes my heart skip.
“Yeah?”
“Trust me, I was here dealing with him like he was my own annoying little brother for years. I’ve never seen him like this. He looks at you like he’s trying to commit every little detail to memory…and he’salwayslooking at you. It’s adorable.”
Cass places a sleeping Hazel in the bounce chair at her feet and leans in to join the huddle. “And you’realwayslooking at him. Just go get married already.”
“Weren’t you the one telling me to be careful and take things slow at the start of the summer?”
“You two have always been inevitable. Sure, I was worried after how he hurt you before but…I don’t know. Seems different now.” Cass studies him with narrow eyes for a moment, then catches Kate’s eye with a look I don’t quite understand. “I don’t want to say he’s matured, because that isfalse. It’s pretty damn clear how in love with you he is, though.”
“I love him, too.”
“This is the closest we can possibly get to becoming sisters, unless Whit and I have a simultaneous bi-awakening one day in the future. I’m not ruling that out but…this feels more likely. So I love this for us.” Cass does a little dance in her seat, and I shake my head at her with a laugh.
Suddenly Cecily comes along, dragging her chair and the cooler behind her. Settling down in front of me so we become a misshapen circle. “I was feeling left out over there. What are we talking about?”
“How my fear of Denny being the next one to have a Wells baby is going to come true.” Kate grips Cecily’s knee foremphasis, pressing her lips together. “Nothing against you, Blair. I’d actually be thrilled. This is a slight at Cecily.”
Cecily scrunches her nose and shrugs. “I mean…maybe he won’t be first.”
“Wait, are you pregnant?” Kate jabs a finger at the sangria pouch in Cecily’s hand.
“No!” She laughs. “No. But I did remove my IUD, so…”
Kate sits back, shaking her head with a sigh. “You’re all going to make me get pregnant again so we can have little babies together, aren’t you?”
Cecily snorts, sangria leaking out of her nose, and we devolve into a fit of giggles that doesn’t stop until we accidentally wake up Hazel. And even then, it just becomes slow, silent laughter while we sip our juice boxes like a bunch of small children on the playground. Listening to the steady sound of hooves as the men head out to round up the herd and drive them back to the sorting pen.
—
A little after noon, Beryl steals Kate and Cecily away to serve a massive amount of various hot and cold dishes to the dozen or more cowboys. In typical fashion, I’m feeling awfully useless and awkward sitting in my chair, despite Cassidy sitting next to me. Although, she’s technically busy feeding Hazel. So I zone out and pick at a loose thread on the seat, unblinking until something passes by my field of vision multiple times and breaks my focus—or lack thereof.
I look up to find Denver placing a plate on my lap as he sinks down to sit on the grass. “Did all that cowboy shit do it for you, or what?”
“I think you better do it again, for science.”
