When we finished eating, the tension between us settled into something deeper. Something quietly building.
It was more than chemistry now. It was…possibility.
“So,” I said, needing a subject change before I launched across the desk, “any word on the permits?”
“Not yet. But…” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed me a letter. “This came today.”
I scanned it. “Jenkins Industries? They want to talk about sponsoring the camp?”
“That’s what it says,” he said carefully. “But Nash did some digging. The owner is a guy called Nate Jenkins.”
I looked up sharply.
“He’s behind the development,” Gunner finished.
“What do you all think about talking to them?” I looked over the letter again.
“Depends on you,” he said, his voice low and deep.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you, sweetheart. What do you think we should do?” He brushed my hair from my face. “Your opinion is important to me.”
My heart stalled and our eyes met.
His hand remained wrapped around mine, warm and steady, while everything else blurred at the edges. Two certainties crystallized in that moment: whatever was beginning between us would demand everything I had to give. And somehow, I already knew that this man would break me apart and rebuild me, piece by piece, in ways I’d never imagined wanting.
Chapter 25
Sucker – Jonas Brothers
Gunner
Ihated leaving Cassidy at school. Lunch had been great, even with the shadow of Jenkins Industries looming over us. It had been good to spend time just chatting and enjoying being together.
When I got back to the ranch Nash and Wilder were walking toward the house. When they saw my truck they both waved a hand.
“Hey,” I said as I jumped out. “What’s got you two looking so pissed?”
“This Nate Jenkins thing,” Nash said with a sigh. “I’m puzzled as to why he’d want to sponsor the kids camp while building that fucking monstrosity.”
“Let’s get inside and talk about it,” I told them. “We need to decide what to do about it.”
Wilder looked at his phone. “I have an hour before Rose gets here to wank Gideon Pontipee off.”
“Wilder,” Nash groaned. “She’s coming to extract our bull’s semen to check if he’s still fertile, not to wank him off.”
Wilder shrugged as I chuckled. “Same thing.” He jogged up the steps of the porch and into the house, leaving Nash and I staring after him.
“You think maybe Mom found him in a dumpster somewhere?” Nash asked.
I nodded. “Yep, most definitely. Covered in bean juice and used condoms would be my guess.”
Laughing we both followed him inside, finding him in the kitchen already pouring out three mugs of coffee.
“Felicia is upstairs with Billy,” Wilder said as we walked in. “She took him up for a bath seeing as he’s covered in paint.”
Felicia ran the lavender farm on our land. It used to be Mom’s before she gifted it to Felicia and her husband, Shane. On the days Lily was teaching, Felicia looked after Billy, along with her grandson, Sarah’s little boy, who was just a bit older. She’d done the same for Bertie as a baby. Thank God for her. She made life easier for all of us.
