“What do you meanRowdy, of all people?” Rowdy asked, putting his hands on his hips.
“You already liked him. He didn’t need to go all out with the headboard. That was just excessive. It should be my headboard, really.”
“From my cold, dead hands,” Rowdy said.
She threw her head back and laughed. “Okay, fine. I love you too much for all of that.”
Woody narrowed his eyes at us. “Fine, yes. We all saw this coming from a mile away. But my mother-in-law is making homemade pasta this Thursday and insists that you join us.”
“I haven’t seen Dawn in forever. We’ll be there,” I said, smacking Rowdy’s butt.
He shivered, then put a sassy hand on his hip. “Just because I let you control things in the bedroom doesn’t mean you get to boss me around out here.”
Stevie stuck her fingers in her ears. “La, la, la. I don’t wanna hear it.”
Emery rubbed his forehead. “Bring your daughter out to the country, they said. Let her get some fresh air. Wholesome living, they said.”
Rowdy cracked up. “Whatever made you think country boys were incapable of being dirty?”
I winked at him, then leaned in for a soft kiss. I expected our friends to chirp at us, but they didn’t, and when we lookedup, the three of them were watching us with shining eyes. Even Woody.
When you had something special, it was hard to hide. And when you had people who loved you, they were genuinely happy when you found your happiness.
“See,this is what happens when you take care of an injured joint,” Skylar said to Kit as he looked over Jaxon’s fully healed wrist.
“I’m wearing the damned brace,” Kit complained, gesturing to the brace in question. “I’m even doing the damned therapy exercises you gave me.”
“Are you doing the rest I prescribed?” Skylar asked, putting his manicured hand on his trim hip, hiking his eyebrow sky high.
Kit gestured around us. “I have a place to run.”
“I’m gonna start taking that personally, boss,” Lane said with a grin.
“Me too. I’ve already got your office in tip-top shape,” Sadie said, winking at Kit.
Kit looked between me and Rowdy. “I blame you two for this,” he said, gesturing between Sadie and Lane. “This collusion you see? Your fault.”
“You were mucking out stalls this morning,” Jaxon pointed out, quite reasonably I thought. “I’ve been literally begging for y’all to give me whatever work you can now that my wrist is better, and you’re in the stall at five thirty this morning, mucking it out. Make it make sense.”
Everybody at the dude ranch snickered. We were there for Slim’s retirement party—he’d been the old land manager and had stuck around to make sure Lane had everything he needed.
Rowdy leaned against me. “Based on the number of these folks who already know him as Sky, I’m guessing that he’s been here more than once.”
“He does know Kit is straight, right?”
Rowdy watched as the two of them went back and forth. “I think the bigger question is whether or not Kit knows he’s straight.”
“Just because we’re happy and in love doesn’t mean you have to couple up everybody around us,” I teased.
“Excuse you. This is not my doing.”
“It’s a little bit your doing.”
He huffed on his nails and buffed them against his shirt. “Okay, fine. I’m notnotgonna take credit where it’s due.”
“What’s real funny is, depending on how far back that goes, it’s possible Kit has more experience than you do.”
“Oh, fuck you very much for saying that,” he hissed. He checked his phone. “That’s it, we’re going home, and you are doing naughty naughty things to me.”
