This thing with Emery has got me so screwed up in the head that I’m making confessions to my cousins now. And Luke and Declan are the worst ones because, like me, they’re the oldest siblings. So they know how to push my buttons and have no problem doing so until they get what they’re searching for.
“Emery is…” I run my hand down my face in frustration. “Turns out we have an unusual connection.”
“Oh yeah?” Luke finishes his turn and faces me, giving me his full attention. “What’s that?”
“Her uncle was on Lucky Queen.” It’s easier to say this time. Having already told Ayden, the pain in my chest isn’t quite as deep, almost like I’ve made peace with the oddity of my tie to Emery.
Luke freezes. “Shit, Michael.”
Declan taps his fist to my shoulder lightly. “I’m sorry. That is…” He hesitates, but I finish his sentence for him.
“Fucking unbelievable? Yeah. If I’d met her in Lucky Bay, I would have known if she was linked to the Queen of course. But she’s from Montana…I had no clue.”
Luke and I watch Declan take his turn and score again, effectively ending the round.
“So how are you handling it?” Luke asks me as he runs his thumb over the scar on his cheek.
I don’t think he does it consciously—I’m sure he doesn’t—but whenever hard memories come up, my cousin reaches for his scar. Almost like a way to remind himself that some pain lasts forever.
“I walked at first,” I admit.
He nods like he would have done the same. Maybe he has regarding his own torrid past. Luke had a bad rodeo accident that stopped him from competing again, and I don’t know that he’ll ever get over the loss of his dream.
“But then I talked to Ayd. He’s better than I am at this,” I say realizing how true it is.
“He was younger,” Declan says like he’s defending me. “It’s different when you’re the oldest.”
“I know.”
The three of us stand silently as if in solidarity. Luke, the oldest of four, takes the most responsibility for his family’s ranch now that my uncle and aunt have retired. And Declan, ten years older than Cameron, was raised by his dad to be the best hockey player in the world. Just because he succeeded doesn’t mean the experience didn’t come with a lot of scars.
We all did our best to protect our younger brothers. In some ways, we succeeded. In others, I think we were far too cocky.
“So what did your baby brother say?” Declan finally asks. “Words of wisdom, I presume?”
I turn up my hands in surrender. “He basically told me not to be an ass and shut Emery out. That if I want to get to know her, tell her the truth and see where it leads.”
“Sounds along the lines of what Cameron told me when I was getting to know Mia,” Declan says. “Worked for me. I hope it will work for you, too.”
I hope so.
But as I remember our no-strings agreement, I swallow down my hope.
Emery doesn’t want serious.
And I don’t either.
I can’t.
But as the evening winds down and everyone except for Chase and Cooper start to settle into couches and chairs withtheir spouses—their children asleep on their laps—I get that damn pang again.
The one I always get when I see families, and husbands and fathers. I usually push it away so fast it can’t linger, but tonight, I find myself glancing across the porch to Emery.
She’s looking back at me. I shift my gaze to her red lips, and then down her sexy dress that clings to her tantalizingly curvy body in a way that makes me want to claim her as mine.
Yes, she said no strings.
And I did too.
