“Mira, Colt. My father knows how to separate work and play. He also, weirdly enough, knows how to combine them, but I can’t imagine he’d sleep with Wick now.”
Luke snorts. “How much are you willing to wager on that?”
I doso lovethat my very best friend in the whole wide world is wagering whether or not the man I’m stupid in love with will be fucking our boss.
Luke must see my expression because he changes the subject. “Never mind. Sparrow, babe, go grab the gift we bought Colt for getting married without him.”
“What? Y’all don’t owe me anything,” I say, scuffing my boots along the porch’s wooden planks.
“We know,” Sparrow says, smiling. “But you’re a good friend, and we wanted to do this for you.”
Sparrow kisses Luke on the nose and goes around the back, a small smile still playing on his lips.
Luke watches him walk away with the same cheesy-in-love grin, then refocuses on me, his face turning pensive. “Look, man. I’m sorry that this sucks for you. You know that no one at Rebel Sky would blame you if you decided to move on. We’re not quite to needing someone here, but it won’t be long.”
I hold my hand up to stop Luke’s train of thought. “It’s—I’m fine. I will be fine. Just gotta get under a few guys like old times, and I’ll work him out of my system.”
The thin line of Luke’s mouth tells me he doesn’t like that solution at all. I decide not to remind him that was alsohisgo-to solution not that long ago. That is until he went all gaga for the guy who hated his damn guts.
What I wouldn’t give to hate Wick’s guts right about now.
God, I bet hate sex with him would be fan-fucking-tastic.
Luke tilts his head, and I realize I’ve been staring off into the middle distance for a little too long.
“Sorry, just thinking about a Grindr match that popped up yesterday,” I mutter, lying through my teeth.
Luke opens his mouth, likely about to call me on my bullshit, when Sparrow rides up on an enormous draft horse with a light-brown body and the blondest mane. Luke gestures away the previous conversation and does his best Vanna White impression, looking particularly proud of himself.
“Ta-da. How do you like your new horse?”
“You got me ahorse?”
Sparrow hops off and hands me the reins. “Sure did, brother.”
My first impression of Sparrow was that he was this taciturn asshole giving my friend a hard time. In reality, he’s a super-chill, super-accepting guy who just had it wrong about Luke. Seeing them together causes a pretty ache in my chest, and I don’t know if I love it or hate it.
Refocusing on their generous gift, I shake my head. “You guys…this is…this is too much!”
Luke hugs me, his small body slightly hilarious against mine. “Trip said you’ve been talking about getting a horse. And, you know, a horse is a personal thing, so if we got it wrong with this one, we’ll get you whatever horse you want.”
“She’s a Belgian?” I ask, looking up at her in awe.
Sparrow shrugs. “Mostly. Probably got some Clydesdale in her,” he says, pointing to her feathers.
Stepping up to the beautiful mare, I stroke my hand up and down her long nose. She leans in, snuffling my hair, nudging her head up against mine.
I look back at Luke, emotion clogging my voice. “I honestly don’t think I could’ve picked a better horse for myself. And holy shit, she's enormous!” I say in wonder, looking up at her. “At least seventeen hands.”
“Eighteen, actually,” he says, grinning proudly before his brows pinch in the middle.
“What’s this look?” I ask, still unable to believe they bought me a horse.
“Your leg…did we get her too big for you?”
I snort. “No such thing. And besides, you’ve seen me mount a horse before. It’s got a titanium rod,” I say, patting my leg. “It holds up just fine.”
“Okay, good,” he says, looking relieved. “She was up for auction, and Sparrow couldn't stand leaving her behind.”
