“I think you should take the leadon this,” Reese said when JJ and Baz slipped out the door and into the rain.
Brantley grabbed his mug and returned to the coffee maker, pouring what was left from the carafe. “And if I said I don’t want to take the lead?”
He could feel Reese’s tension, had since the moment he brought up the Adorites.
“Brantley…”
Putting his cup down, he turned to Reese. It was time to get serious for a minute.
He stepped up to Reese, closing the gap between them. They were nearly toe-to-toe, almost eye-to-eye.
“When I say that somethin’s in the past, that’s exactly what I mean,” he said smoothly, keeping his tone cool and even. “What happened before has no bearing on the here and now.”
“There’s a good chance—”
Brantley cut Reese off, stepping forward and putting a hand on his chest. He slowly slid it higher, up and around to the back of his neck. He pulled Reese forward until their foreheads touched, then lowered his voice even more. “I love you. I trust you. Nothing that might happen is gonna cause friction between us.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can promise you that we will be walkin’ down the aisle one hundred thirty-seven days from now.”
He could feel Reese’s forehead crease. “You know how many days until we’re gettin’ married?”
“Damn right I do. It’s what I’m lookin’ forward to most in this world.”
Reese’s hands moved to his hips, pulling him in before his arms banded around him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I just don’t want to do anything that’ll fuck this up.”
Brantley chuckled. “I’m sure we’re both gonna fuck shit up from time to time. That’s the way it works. We do somethin’ stupid, then we make up with hot, dirty sex.”
Reese released a gruff chuckle as Brantley’d hoped he would.
Pulling back, he met Reese’s stare. “We’ll go to Dallas, see if we can get a sit-down with Max Adorite. We’ll share the information we have and see if there’s anything he might know. I doubt Hartwood’s a big fish, but he could be workin’ with someone. That would put him on the Adorites’ radar.”
Reese nodded. “All right.”
“But we’re gonna need to bring the entire team in for this.”
Reese sighed, releasing Brantley and stepping back. “Fine. But if one single person makes a comment about my mother…” His face pinched as though he was in pain.
Brantley laughed. “Trust me when I tell you, the whole threesome thing’s not new for these people. We live in Coyote Ridge, for fuck’s sake.”
Reese seemed to consider that. “True.”
With things settled between them—for now—Brantley finished his coffee and led the way over to the barn.
***
Shortly after Reese and Brantley got tothe barn, joining JJ, Baz, and Elana, who had graciously brought breakfast tacos for everyone, the rest of the team began to trickle in.
Slade arrived first, followed by Evan, then Charlie, Deck, Becs, Darius, Holly, and Luca. Jay was the last to arrive, still getting there before their official start time of oh-eight-hundred. Reese couldn’t keep himself from wondering what Trey was doing at that moment. Ever since the guy had left the task force to pursue other interests, Reese had thought about him. His leaving was a definite loss for the team, but they were forging ahead without him.
“Mornin’,” Brantley greeted once the team had settled in, grabbing tacos and coffee before taking their seats. “We’ve got a change of plans this week.” His gaze swung to Evan, then Jay, and finally over to Becs. “If any of you need to stay behind because of kids or family obligations, no worries.”
“What’s going on?” Evan’s light brown eyes sparked with curiosity.
