“He would never cheat,” Chase says like he’s reading my mind. “You don’t ever have to worry about that. I was talking like he’s still single, which obviously, he’s not. I don’t know what he and Luke talk about nowadays. Maybe Luke has a secret woman.”
“Really?”
“Doubtful. But my oldest brother can keep some pretty big-ass secrets.”
He talks like it’s happened before.
The twins are super sweet and funny, and the three of us have gotten close.
Cooper wanders into the kitchen. “Hey, guys. I just texted Luke.”
I furrow my brow in confusion. “Isn’t he right down the hall?”
Cooper’s blue eyes dance with mischief. “Uh-huh. But he’ll be out momentarily. Count on it.”
Just as he finishes his sentence, we hear the bang of a door.
A few seconds later, Luke barrels into the kitchen. Declan’s behind him.
“What the fuck?” Luke barks at Cooper. “If the bull’s out, help me go get him!”
Cooper doesn’t move.
“Coop, get your ass moving,” Luke growls.
Cooper leans back against the fridge and crosses one leg over the other. Then, he crosses his arms over his chest. “Luke,” he says in a deliberately slow drawl, “I was just fucking with you.”
Luke’s expression turns murderous. “The bull…”
“Is safely in his field. Just came back from checking everything out.”
Luke’s on Cooper so fast I barely realize what’s happening. It takes Chase and Declan to pull him off.
None of this deters Cooper and Chase from laughing their asses off.
“God, I love making you break form, big brother,” Cooper says.
I glance at Declan, and we both break into laughter.
Luke looks at me. “Not funny, Mia.”
“Oh, come on,” I say to him. “You should feel lucky he told you before you ran all over the ranch trying to find the bull.”
Luke’s lips twitch. “You’re fitting in here a little too well.”
Declan winks at me, and the smile on my face grows wider.
I didn’t know how nice it was to have siblings. And that’s what the Wild cousins are starting to feel like.
Other than Declan, of course, who feels more like a five-alarm fire I crave to feel the burn from.
Despite my off-the-charts attraction for him, though, I haven’t gone to his games all week.
The fact that my dad falls apart every year during the week of Mom’s birthday isn’t something I feel right dumping onto my brand-new husband, a husband I married for business reasons.
Dad likes to say he saves up his grieving for one week a year. He takes the time off from work, and I spend my days running between the office and my father’s apartment three blocks away.
We order takeout for lunch. We look at old photo albums. We cry together.
