“How about a little educational reading?” I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the book she’d been reading every night before bed—the one she’d gotten from Penelope.Plowed by His Seeder.“Farmer boys do it for you now, wife?”
“I don’t need any commentary from you,” she said dryly. “Just read, Linc.”
So that was exactly what I did.
I flipped to the page where she’d left off and read the words aloud. This chapter started innocent enough with the two characters dancing around each other. But I wasn’t even three pages in before he was stripping her in the barn loft and bending her over a hay bale.
Willa’s cheeks flushed a deep pink and her breathing quickened, but she didn’t ask me to stop. She just lay there with her eyes shut, her body as close to comfortable as possible, and listened to me.
Somewhere between the farmer eating out the milkmaid and him plowing her with hisseeder, Willa drifted off, her head falling softly to my shoulder. I closed the book and set it aside. Then, as gently as I could, I lifted my arm and tucked her into my side, allowing her to settle against me.
I bent my head and took a deep inhale, closing my eyes as I realized I’d become the hair-sniffing pervert I’d been trying to avoid. But right now, with Willa in my arms, her body relaxed enough to rest against me, I didn’t care.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LINCOLN
The baralways felt different before opening. There wasn’t the low thrum of music or the steady hum of voices. No clatter of glasses, no rowdy laughter, no chaos. Just the sunlight filtering through the tall front windows, shining a spotlight on the four of us.
Like we’d done a hundred times before, my brothers and I had all claimed our usual spots. Atlas sat at the end of the bar, coffee cup in front of him. Xander was a couple stools down, the ledger spread out as he pored over it. Declan reclined in his high-backed stool, his booted feet kicked up on a chair as he demolished a donut. I stood behind the bar, towel slung over my shoulder, arms crossed as I leaned back against the counter.
Our little family ritual—the Steele version of church.
And today, I had something to confess.
I’d been putting this off for far too long. Shoving it aside and figuring it could wait for another day. At least while I’d been the only one suffering.
But after the past couple weeks of watching my wife work herself to the bone while stubbornly refusing to ask for help, and then witnessing one of her severe pain flares in action, I’d hit mybreaking point. Whether she asked for my help or not, I wasn’t going to leave her to handle shit on her own anymore.
I cleared my throat. “We need to talk about the bar.”
All three of them lifted their gazes to mine, their unspoken questions hanging in the air.
Finally, Declan broke the silence. “What? Mabel finally talk you into hosting strip karaoke?”
I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “Not quite. Though she tried. Twice.”
“What is it?” Xander asked, getting straight to the point.
I took a deep breath and glanced to each of them in turn. “We need to make some changes around here.”
Atlas’s gaze was steady on me, as unflinching as always. “What kinds of changes?”
“The same thing I’ve been talking about for a year.” I blew out a deep exhale. “I can’t keep devoting all my time here. Not anymore.”
“Because of the farm?” Xander asked.
“Because of Willa,” I corrected. “She’s too fucking stubborn to admit that she can’t do it all on her own. And god fucking forbid sheaskfor help. She could be on her literal deathbed and still be trying to do it all on her own. She’s drowning?—”
“And you’re not about to let your wife sink,” Atlas interrupted as he settled back in his stool, arms crossed.
I shook my head. “Not if I can do something to stop it.”
“Okay, well…” Xander split a glance between Atlas and Declan before turning back to me. “What does this look like? Lay it on us.”
I braced my hands on the counter and met each of their unwavering stares. “I want to promote Tasha to manager. She’s already been working that role for months when one of us isn’t here. She deserves the title and the raise that comes with it. And I deserve a break.”
I held my breath, waiting for their arguments. Atlas would raise concerns about promoting someone who wasn’t in the family, Xander would pull out the books and say we didn’t have enough cash flow, and Declan would throw a wrench in the whole thing with some kind of bullshit.
