“You plannin’ to put down roots?”
“With Stevie and Nico?” Braydon finished for him.
Stone relaxed. “I’m workin’ on it.”
They traded another look, this time grinning as though they were pleased by the news.
Braydon picked up his drink and held it up for a toast. “If it means you’ll be stickin’ around, I hope it works out for you.”
Stone clicked his beer bottle against the glass. “Thanks.”
“But that’s not why you wanted to talk,” Brendon stated. “Pop mentioned somethin’ about you wantin’ to start a business or some shit. Cattle ranch?”
“That was one of my ideas,” Stone explained. “But I nixed that one in favor of another.”
Both men leaned forward on their elbows, giving Stone their full attention. “Do tell.”
He took the cue and laid out his plan, keeping it high-level. They asked more questions than Kaleb and Sawyer, but Stone had answers.
“Wow. Shit, man. That sounds incredible.” Braydon looked at Brendon. “Why the hell didn’t we think of that?”
“No, shit.” Brendon peered at Stone. “You doin’ this with Nico and Stevie?”
“That’s the plan.” He didn’t have Nico’s buy-in yet, but Stevie had given him a verbal agreement.
“I know Mom and Pop want us to sign off on this shit, but you don’t need it,” Brendon told him. “As far as I’m concerned, that land’s as much yours as it is ours. If you can make somethin’ of it, I say go for it.”
A weight lifted when Braydon nodded in agreement. “If we can do anything to help, just holler. Between us, we’ve got five strappin’ boys who love to get their hands dirty.”
“You mean they love to play in the dirt,” Brendon corrected. “Not sure they’d accomplish much, but they’ll make a damn fine mess.”
Stone laughed, relief swamping him. He fought the urge to ask if they’d talked to Zane. He wanted to, but he figured he would have to confront his cousin on his own.
“How ’bout another round to celebrate,” Braydon said. “You’re buyin’, right?”
***
“Are you cold?”
Stevie snuggled closer to Nico, shaking her head.
After dinner, she had curled up on the couch to watch TV. At least, that was what she intended to do, but her mind was elsewhere. Now that Nico had joined her, it was even worse. She couldn’t focus on anything except his hard body behind her.
The problem wasn’t that she was distracted by him; it was the guilt she felt when she was near him. She’d felt it since Friday night when she barged in on him and Stone. It was selfish on her part. One minute she was telling them to spend some quality time just the two of them. The next, she was planting herself in the middle. Neither one of them had acted as though she’d crashed the party, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had.
“What’s on your mind?” Nico whispered, his warm breath fanning her cheek.
Maybe if she told him, it would reduce some of the guilt.
She shifted, rolling to her back so she could look at him.
God, he was such a beautiful man. It was still hard to believe that this was real. They had somehow moved past being friends/roommates and into … this. She didn’t quite know how to define it other than they’d taken a relatively platonic relationship and added some not-so-platonic benefits. Of course, it wouldn’t feel real until she broke down and told Niyah. Which she needed to do. Soon. She knew her best friend would support her—that’s what they did, even when they disagreed with the other’s choice—but what she wanted was to get Niyah’s take on it. Was she being impulsive? Reckless? Was she opening herself up to more heartache?
Unfortunately, a convo with her BFF would have to wait.
She met Nico’s gaze. “The other night … at Stone’s.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Yeah?”
