“Always. Levi’s been mothering me for the better part of eleven years. We went through college together.”
“I can’t imagine you without a cowboy hat.” Her hands tremble only the slightest amount as they slide up my chest.
Her touch is more than welcome. “Who says I didn’t take it with me?” I snag her waist, dipping my head to catch her lips. Lanie sighs beneath my mouth, all sweet and soft in my arms. She might have a firecracker of a temper, but with me she’s…something else. Her hands wrap behind my neck, pressing her body flush against the length of mine. We’re a perfect fit. When I draw back, her cheeks are flushed with color again, a little darker this time.
“Because I know your sister, remember? And Winnie is so notcountry.” She tilts her head back, her lips parting to let me taste her between words.
Lanie Parker is addictive as hell. Now that she’s at Coyote Falls, I don’t want her to leave. I’m still waiting for that penny to drop on an empty bank, but I suspect that’ll be a long time coming. Lanie Parker fits at Coyote Falls—and with me—all too well.
“I’m not thinking about my sister right now.” I take my time cataloging every curve, the slopes and dips of her as she presses against me, breathless. “Should we eat first, or?—”
“Rand?” West’s voice echoes along the hall.
“Fuck.” I lean my forehead to Lanie’s, relief flooding me when she giggles at the interruption. It takes everything I have to break away from her and step back. “Give me one minute, okay?”
I blow out a controlled breath and go to find West loitering in the hall like a stalker with his arms folded.
“I got a call from Dani Lynd.”
“Could this not have waited a few minutes? Wait—the entertainment agent?” My jaw ticks.What else can go wrong with this damn event?The question I know never to ask, but I do it anyway, albeit mentally.
“She’s canceling the main act for the Invitational. Apparently, she’s double-booked.”
A string of curses flows from me. “Fine, I’ll fix this. But—why did she call you?”
“Because you haven’t answered any of her calls for the last week. Sure you can do it all while you’re?—”
I level him with a hard stare. “I’ll fix it. Thanks. Did she suggest a replacement?”
West shrugs, though his eyes flicker, a shadow passing behind them. This isn’t the first time he’s handled my business. The last time was over a decade ago, though there wasn’t any choice for either of us back then. “We didn’t get that far. I told her I’d speak to you.”
The house shrinks around me as I turn on my heel and head back to Lanie. I find her reorganizing ingredients on the island bench. “You’re a gem, beautiful. I have to sort out an issue with the rodeo.”
She offers me a small smile. “It’s fine, Cord. If I’m going to stay for a bit, then I need to learn how things work.”
There’s thatf-word again.Fine, fine. It’s all fucking fine.
I grin anyway as she flutters about, opening cupboards. My phone slides into my hand.Five minutes, and I’m done.The agent picks up as I slip into my office to fix the mess intent on screwing with my rodeo.
And my time with my girl.
My head swims with details that should have been cemented months before, along with the rest of the email on the screen before me. I hit send without proofing anything and shut my laptop down. Coordinating the event has been my passion for nearly a decade, but this time, my focus wanes.
I love seeing old and new riders compete, waiting on that golden moment to discover fresh, new talent. Usually, I enjoy this part, too. But not when it takes me away from the girl I left swanning about my house on her own earlier.
I groan, stretching. A few things in my back pop, along with something that probably shouldn’t. Being near Lanie again will soothe any residual aches. My muscles loosen as I shake my lethargy off, searching the house to locate her. As I head down the hallway, the sound of conversation—an unknown in my home—breaks into my thoughts.
The scene I find in my living areas adjoining the kitchen is one I never thought I’d find at the homestead. The long dining table in the center of the room, where I never eat, is filled with people. Lanie perches in the middle, a copious quantity of food I didn’t even know we had in the house laid out on oversized platters. Hats and coats hang on the backs of chairs, a few excess draped over the couch where I usually eat my lonesome meal.
Billy is in the seat next to Lanie, with West perched almostcomfortably on her other side. Tripp sits opposite her, bickering with Jesse and Jed. I blink at that last, but my mind is so blown at what Lanie has achieved in filling the house that for the moment, I don’t question the extra addition. An assortment of ranch hands occupy the remaining chairs. Only one sits empty.
“Are you feeding an army?” I ask, a little stunned to see so many people in my house. A few have never seen the inside of these walls before.
Lanie jumps up from the table the moment I speak. Heads turn and conversation stalls, a pensive air filling the room where it had been relaxed and jovial a moment before.Is this what I do to people?I force a smile on my face as I wave back. In typical Lanie style, she ignores my efforts, reaching for me.
“You were gone for a few hours, and I didn’t want all that food to go to waste,” Lanie whispers against my cheek. “I remembered that you kept saying the house felt empty, that you wanted people in it. But your family is here, Cord. They’re here for you.” Opal-bright eyes stare up at me, studded with Big Sky promises and a complete absence of gravity.
I want to fall into her and never emerge, but a cough from the table reminds me that we’re not alone.
