“Let’s start with names, boys,” Ayana said and handed a whiskey to each man and then took Telford’s glass.She swirled the drink and held it to her lips, closed her eyes, inhaled, and then looked up—total flirt move.
Damn.She looked sexy.
“Shall I start?”She sipped her drink and ran her tongue along the seam of her lip as if trying to catch every hint of taste.“Ayana Crow.”
She smiled and handed the glass back to Telford.“It’s delicious,” she whispered like it was a secret, then she kissed his lips soft, but lingering a little.“Am I right?”
Her smile was pure sin, and all he was capable of was staring at her like a love-shocked idiot.Talk about improv skills.He had zero, and the wins were in her column.
“So he’s your man,” the cowboy, still wearing his hat, along with the shiny buckle asked.“Cash Hunter’s my professional and legal name, but I was born Benz Telford Stevens.”
It’s true.
Telford lowered his drink, not wanting any of it to slosh.He’d been controlling his emotions since Cam had taught him how to channel his anger and hurt into productivity.Still, he felt overcome.He studied the man who looked so similar to him but more sinewy, smaller stature.Useful for a bull rider.
“Rohan Telford,” the other cowboy, who held himself so still, made no effort to shake hands.
“Telford Crow,” he said reluctantly.
Were they related?How close?What did he want to do with the information?He’d maybe harbored some smug, arrogant fantasy of rocking up and making a bid for the Telford land just to be jerk—throw them off their legacy, so they’d be as rootless as he and Ayana felt, but facing these two men who looked as if they were hewn from the land, he realized how childish the revenge fantasy was.They were no more responsible for his bio dad’s lack of accountability than he was.
Standoff.The four of them taking each other’s measure.Ayana had a faint smile as she swirled her glass of wine and watched the legs leisurely settle back in the glass.
“Family reunion.”She sipped her wine, eyed them, and swished the wine subtly around her mouth, swallowed and then her tongue ran along the bottom seam of her lip like she’d missed something.“No hugging it out, boys?”
“What the hell are you doing here inviting yourself to my wedding?”Cash demanded.
“Should we sit?”Rohan looked around.“Less of a scene.”
Telford doubted this man ever made a scene.He had a subtle intensity and way of quartering the room that felt like he could slip in and out without anyone noticing.
Ayana quirked a brow at him.It took Telford a moment to read her signal.He turned and commandeered a booth, indicating Ayana should slide across the green leather first.He sat next to her while Cash and Rohan had a silent debate about where to sit.Cash won, so he sat across from Telford, and Rohan, clearly reluctant, sat on the inside.
“I’ll protect you from enemy fire,” Cash said with the hint of a smirk, and Telford remembered that Rohan was the former soldier.
“More concerned with having your back,” he grumbled back.
“Baby, I didn’t know I married such a badass.”Ayana leaned into him, whispering, and she nipped his ear with her teeth and smiled.
A server hurried over with menus, but Ayana held up her hand.“Nachos with the works, and potato skins,” Ayana said, startling him again.
We socializing now?
“Getting married works up an appetite.”
“You just got married?”Cash goggled at her.
She jazz-handed.“We had a getaway planned to the Big Sky and treasure state and Telford swept me off my feet.Who could resist him?”She smiled like she meant it, and he felt dazzled and ridiculously let down because he wondered what it would feel like to have her actually care about him.
“You’re telling me you’re not crashing my wedding?”Cash demanded.
“I didn’t know you existed,” Telford lied.
“BS,” both the other men said simultaneously.
“I don’t believe in coincidence.”Cash stared at him with narrowed eyes.
Neither did Telford, but they were at a fork in the road.He thought of the Robert Frost poem that Cam had loved so much about the less traveled road.
