Page 70 of Roping Her In

JJ supposed he was right. Austin had rejoined their group and read the messages off Trap’s phone. The banter died down, and JJ looked up at his cousin again.

“All right, why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me what’s going on here?” he asked, because he had his own wife and baby at home to take care of, as well as a huge ranch with hundreds of animals, and men doing work without him. “I was led to believe that we were moving you from your apartment to your new hobby farm, where yes, the farmhouse was a little rundown, but that it would be fine, and could we please show up at eight-thirty?”

He glanced down the row of men. “We showed up at eight-thirty, so are we moving you in or not?”

Austin had the decency to shift his feet slightly and look a bit embarrassed to boot. “We’re not technically moving into the house today, no. We’re moving all of our stuff here to the property. We’re going to leave it out on the front porch, or in the living room, and we’re going to start on remodeling this downstairs bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen, as well as the master suite, and we’re going to move into the rooms as we finish them.”

JJ stood there staring, sure he hadn’t heard right. He looked at Trap. “Did he hire you to do this? How long is this going to take?”

“Dude, I’m working on my own house,” Trap said. “For my own pregnant wife.” He folded his arms. “He did not hire me.”

They all looked back to Austin.

“How long is this going to take?” Finn asked, and he sounded much kinder than JJ had.

“Jo’s going to work on it full time,” Austin said. “She’s really quite handy and wants to do this.” He took a step closer and glanced between JJ and Finn before bringing his eyes back to them. “What am I going to do?” He practically whisper-spit the words. “Tell her no?”

He glanced down the line of cowboys. “You’ve met my wife, right?”

“Austin,” Jo called in that moment, and he dang near jumped out of his skin. “I need your help.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “Could you guys please help me with the appliances and cleaning this one room, and then we’ll make sure your trucks are empty and you can go.”

“You’re still working for the police department, right?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Austin said. “Like I said, Jo’s going to work on it full time, and we have plenty of money to fill in the gaps.” He grumbled something under his breath as he pushed between them and headed out of the kitchen.

JJ stood there with the others, and he looked over to the archway that Austin had just walked through. “I’d take that wall down,” he said. “It would really open up the kitchen and living room that way.”

Trap started to laugh, and Ty shook his head, though a smile formed on his face too.

“They’re going to sleep—in—their—truck,” Finn said, enunciating each word. “Are we going to drive away from here and let them do that?”

“Are you going to be the one to talk to Jo about it?” Colt cocked his eyebrows at Finn, and oh, the gauntlet had just been dropped. Hard.

“No, he’s not,” Alex said. “And yes, we are going to drive away from here and let them do that.” He clapped Finn on the shoulder and grinned. “In fact, I think we’re going to help them set up their living situation before we go.”

He turned around and stood in the doorway Austin had walked through. “In fact, you should see this contraption they’re setting up right now.”

The group held still for a beat, and then they all tried to swarm out of the kitchen through the same arched doorway, at the same time. Men with such broad shoulders really couldn’t do that, and JJ ended up going through fourth. The two big windows in the living room showed him Jo and Austin’s truck, where sure enough, the two of them, with just their two hands each, were setting up a portable camping unit on the back of it.

“That’s not a solid shell,” Trap said.

“Hey, it’s the middle of March,” Colt said. “And the ten-day forecast is dry. They’ve got some time.”

JJ simply stood and stared as the air compressor finished blowing up the supports of the tent. The roof now loomed a good twelve feet above the bed of the truck, with thick supports full of air that held everything up and in place.

Jo moved over to the porch, where she laid something on it. JJ looked down and found the air mattress. “They’re going to have a bed,” he said.

Jo pulled the mattress before it was fully blown up, and she and Austin muscled it through the door of the tent—which did accommodate his height—and into the bed of the truck. They both went in after it.

“Look, they both fit inside,” Alex said.

“The mattress did too,” Colt said.

“Does this place have running water?” Ty asked. “Has anyone checked?” He looked down the line of men and then turned and walked away in that strong limping-stride he had that said he was going to get business done.

“I feel like my brain has been filled with oatmeal,” Trap said.