Page 138 of Colt

“She won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because we wanna hire her to do some stuff for the restaurant. That’ll buy you some time.”

“Still time that’s borrowed.” I wipe my brow. “Thanks, though. For thinking of her. She’s ridiculously good at what she does.”

“Somebody’s changed their tune. I’d call you out on doing a one-eighty, but it needed to happen.”

I dig my shovel deeper. “What about Dean? I tell him, right? That Lainey and I are together?”

Beck’s eyes flick to meet mine. “That’s a big step.”

“I’m ready. I just gotta make sure Lainey’s on board too, obviously.”

He grins. “She will be.”

It strikes me that he baited me into making that commitment out loud.

I wanna punch him.

I also respect him for doing that.

“I’m just scared out of my mind that I’ll fuck up and he’ll end up hurt.”

Beck pulls a pair of pliers out of his back pocket. “Always a risk.”

“I don’t like risks.”

“You gotta take this one, though. Think about it this way. Yeah, you could fuck up. Or you could get it right this time. You’ve learned a shit ton from what you went through with Abby. Trust yourself to do things differently. Do them better.”

I chuckle despite the swell of emotion that blocks my throat. “You believe in second chances?”

Beck thinks on this for a minute as he wraps the barbed wire around the post. “I do.”

“Interesting you say that just when Posey appears.”

Beck doesn’t take the bait. Means something is going down, but he’s not ready to talk about it.

I know better than to push him. He’ll spill the beans when he’s ready.

We’re finishing up, loading our supplies back onto the horses, when Beck puts a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m here, you know. We all are. To fill in if you need to, I don’t know, show up even later than normal⁠—”

“Fuck you.” I smile.

“Fuck you right back. But seriously, we’re here to support you if you wanna make this happen. Do it right. The ranch isn’t gonna fall apart if you take a day off. Even a week.”

“A week?” I stare at him, even as a feeling of warmth spreads its wings inside my chest. “Where the hell would I go for a week?”

He looks at me like the answer’s obvious. “You go down on Lainey. Not, like, for the whole week, obviously. Just for most of it. If that doesn’t convince her to stay, then I’m out of ideas.”

“That’s”—scoffing, I put my hands on my hips—“out of line.”

“Exactly why you gotta do it.”

“And here I thought I was the one who needed to get laid.”