I rub my nose over his. “Told you.”
“Hey, we want to swim,” Aiden calls out as he and Micah dismount their horses. I haven’t spent much time with Micah. He’s a quiet boy, but I can see that he’s eager to get in the water.
They both strip down to their underwear and then run and cannonball in, splashing us.
“So much for lake sex,” Ry mutters in my ear.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make it up to you later.”
He leans in and bites my neck and then whispers, “I can’t fucking wait.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Aiden
I’ve gotten used to getting up at the ass crack of dawn. Actually, it’s before the ass crack of dawn because the sun isn’t even up yet. But Dusty’s already in the kitchen, making us all breakfast. He makes us breakfast every day. We offer to take turns, but he still does it.
I don’t know what I would make if it was my turn. I’m just a kid. I don’t cook so good. I guess I could toast bagels or something.
It’s probably for the best that Dusty cooks.
Micah and I share a room in the bunkhouse. He’s cool. Since I bought the gaming system, he bought the TV in our room, and we spend a lot of time in here in the evenings, playing around.
“I smell bacon,” Micah says as he climbs out of bed and scratches his chest. Without saying anything else, he leaves the room, and I yawn.
Neither of us is a big talker. That’s probably why we get along so well.
I get up and pull on my jeans and a T-shirt, grab my hat and boots, and walk out to the kitchen, where sure enough, Dusty’s finishing up breakfast and the other guys are already having coffee at the table.
Even Ryker’s here this morning, which isn’t typical for him. He usually meets us later on.
“Is Aunt Wills okay?” I ask him with a frown.
“She’s still sleeping,” he replies and then sips his coffee, and I immediately feel better.
Good.
I call her Aunt Wills, but she’s really my mom in every way that matters. She’s the only mom I remember. I don’t know much about my real mom. I just remember being hungry. And sick.
I was really sick.
“I hear you all had fun yesterday,” Dusty says as he piles the bacon on a plate. “Went for a swim.”
“Yeah, it was fun,” Micah says as he joins us. “I didn’t know that lake was there.”
Ry grins. “As long as you finish your work each day, you can swim as much as you want. We lived in that lake when we were kids. It’s the best way to cool off.”
“Just no swimming alone,” Micah’s dad says, giving us both a stern look. “Be safe about it.”
We nod and dig into the food. I’m hungry here, but never because I haven’t been fed. It’s because we work so fucking hard. And I kind of love it. I like the horses and the cows, and we got chickens last week, and that’s pretty cool. I don’t know dick about chickens, but I guess I’ll learn. I mean, won’t they freeze in the winter? It’s weird.
“Hey, Aiden,” Ry says as we finish eating, “there’s something that came for you yesterday. You’ll be with me in the barn this morning.”
“Forme?” I raise an eyebrow. “It’s not my birthday or anything.”
Ry just laughs, and then we get our stuff and set off for the barn.
“How’s everything going?” he asks me.
