Page 15 of Eighteen Bowties and Counting

“Finn’s almost done vacuuming,” Pete said as he came out of the bedroom. “Let’s get it.”

They loaded the frame, boxed springs, and mattress into the bedroom, and Kelly took over dressing it. Only minutes later, those who’d come to help him prep this room crowded into the doorway and looked at the bedroom.

“It’s perfect,” Kelly said.

“Not bad,” Beau admitted. He refrained from asking the others if they found this strange in any way. It had been decided.

His phone chirped, and he pulled it out to look at it. “It’s Charlotte.” He scanned the text quickly. “She’s bringing her brother with her in the morning. Says it’s his truck and her SUV, so not much.”

She’d sent a picture, and while it didn’t look like much, her boxes and bags had filled two vehicles. “She wants to know if there will be help here.”

“Yep,” Bennett said. “Plenty for that.”

“We’re doing a ranch-wide luncheon,” Kelly said, and Beau very nearly dropped his phone.

“What? No, we don’t need to do that.”

Squire started to laugh. “Have you met my wife?” He clapped Beau on the shoulder. “Hey, think of it this way. You won’t have to clean up after anyone here.”

With that, everyone started filing out of the house. Beau followed them, saying good-bye and thank you in rapid succession until only he remained in the cabin. Charlotte hadn’t moved in yet, but something about the place felt different.

Maybe because it wasn’t entirely his anymore.

He breathed out, and went to find something to eat for dinner that night. “Charlotte will be here in the morning,” he told himself. “And Mason too.”

Beau wondered if his friend would lecture him about dating Charlotte, and then he wondered what he’d do if Mason did.

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” he said, and since he rose early, made coffee, and had to get his phone set up for the sunrise, he went to bed.

Now, if only sleep would claim him, he wouldn’t be playing and then replaying how tomorrow’s move-in might go.

Chapter Six

Charlotte frowned as her brother’s dust rose up on the dirt road they drove down. Everything about Mason had been annoying her for the past few days. He’d insisted on accompanying her out to Three Rivers Ranch, though she’d told him repeatedly she didn’t need his help.

In the end, she’d have had to make two trips to get everything she owned out to the cabin, or she’d have to rent a truck. She didn’t want to do either, so she’d let Mason help by filling the bed of his truck with her things.

She wished she’d led the way out here, so she didn’t have to drive in his choking dust. Beau had told her how to get past the barns and stables so she could park behind the administration building and closer to the cabin.

Charlotte refused to call it his cabin or the foreman’s cabin. She was going to live there too. It could easily be labeled as her cabin. Of course, it really wasn’t, but Charlotte needed something to cling to so she could get through the next couple of hours.

Moving in. Unpacking. Lunch with everyone on the ranch. Beau had texted her early this morning to say Squire and Kelly Ackerman had decided to host a luncheon down the lane at the homestead for everyone on the ranch that day.

“You’ll be part of this ranch family,” she told herself. “After this morning.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to jump right in with both feet, but she also didn’t see how she had a choice.

She trundled along behind her brother, and she waited while he backed the truck up to the cabin. She got out of her SUV and let him do the same with her car, so she could just open the back and start to take things out of it.

“Morning,” Beau said, and Charlotte spun toward the sexy sound of his voice.

Her pulse bobbed in her throat, but he made everything run faster through her instead of slowing them down. So she didn’t feel like running or fainting. No, she wanted to stay right beside him and bathe in the warmth coming from his smile, from his skin, from his spirit.

“Good morning,” she said pleasantly. “It’s—here.” She gestured to the SUV as the back opened.

“Won’t take but ten minutes,” Beau said almost like it was a promise, and Charlotte watched as more cowboys came around the corner of his cabin. Without any instructions at all, they started picking up her totes, her boxes, her bags, and taking them inside.

“Beau.” Mason laughed heartily and grabbed onto the cowboy Charlotte couldn’t look away from. She’d ignored what he’d said about their lunch earlier this week being a date, but now she couldn’t stop thinking about what going out with him would actually be like.

“Mason.” Both cowboys laughed now, and they embraced as they did. “You’re lookin’ good.”

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