“Mm-hm.”
“Is that a rule now?”
“It’s a guideline,” I corrected. “A very strong guideline. A guideline with teeth.”
She snorted. “How does a guideline have teeth?”
“The guideline doesn’t, but I do and if you ignore it, I’ll bite you.”
She stopped dead in her tracks and stared up at me, her face flushing bright red. “You will not.”
“I will.” I grinned. “And you’ll like it.”
“Trent!”
“What? I’m just being honest.”
She shook her head again, muttering something about cowboys being incorrigible, but she didn’t stop clinging to my arm or walking close enough that our sides brushed with every step.
“You’ll learn to read the sky,” I told her as we stepped over a fallen branch. “It takes time, but you’ll pick it up.”
From the way her features softened, I knew it mattered to her. “I’d like that.”
“Then I’ll teach you everything I know.”
She tilted her head up at me, her blue eyes bright against the cloudy morning. “Everything?”
“Everything.”I slid my thumb beneath her jaw, tipping her face fully toward mine. “You’re not just visiting here. This is home now. One of ‘em, at least. You need to learn everything about it if I’m going to keep you safe.”
A smile spread on her lips and she didn’t bother trying to hide it this time. “My home.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, drawing her closer and pressing my nose to her hair to breathe her in. “And my wife.”
My wife. Fuck, that’s hot.Too hot for the middle of a muddy pasture, but I wasn’t about to complain. Especially when she slipped her hand into mine again, her fingers weaving through with a confidence she hadn’t had just yesterday.
We finished our walkthrough of the property, both of us damp from the mist still hanging in the air, and I suggested we head over to my parents’ place. “I have to check how the storm treated the lodge.”
“The lodge?”
“That’s what we call the main house. I don’t even really know why. It’s just what it’s called.”
“Sure. Okay. I guess it’s better thanThe Big House. I still have no idea why you guys nicknamed Uncle Harlan’s home after a prison.” She smiled. “After last night’s chaos, it’ll be good to see that your mom’s okay though, so let’s go.”
We doubled back to get the truck, then drove along the main road since many of the side paths were impassable with all the downed trees. Twigs and torn leaves littered the driveway leading up to their house when we got there, little rivers cutting across the gravel. The lawn looked like a pack of wolves had fought a tornado and lost.
Mom was on the front porch in one of her embroidered aprons, her hair in the curlers she must’ve slept in and her hands on her hips like she could glare the storm into apologizing. The moment she spotted us, she waved both arms like she was flagging down a search-and-rescue helicopter.
“Trent! Charlotte! Oh, thank heavens, you’re okay. This yard is an atrocity. My begonias are bald and we have the barbecue coming up.”
Charlotte let out a soft laugh. My chest burst into flames at the sound. Mom bustled right up to us, grabbing Charlotte by the shoulders in a hug. “Sweet girl! Are you alright? That storm was awful. Absolutely biblical.” She pulled back and gasped when she took a proper look at us. “Oh, sugar. You poor thing, you’re soaked.”
“It’s just a little damp outside,” Charlotte said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, her cheeks pink.
“Well, come in, come in.” She practically shoved us toward the house, calling out for my dad as we went. “Troy! Troy, they’re here.”
My father stepped out a moment later, wiping his hands on a rag even though I could almost guarantee they hadn’t beendirty. His eyes swung straight to me, then to Charlotte, then back again. I expected something, a raised eyebrow, a pointed question, or a quiet command to talk in his study so he could interrogate me about what the hell I’d thought I was doing, marrying my best friend’s sister in Vegas.
But none of that came. Instead, he walked right up to Charlotte and extended his hand. “It’s good to finally meet you, honey. Welcome to the family.”
