Page 41 of Taking Denver

Igrin and dip my shoulders below the bubbles, wiggling my toes.

It’s been too long since I’ve felt anything like this. Maybe I never have. I’d found something close when I first met Wyatt, his boyish excitement and confidence drawing out real laughs when I’d had to fake them for so long. But even then, I felt the cloud of who Wyatt was—a man desperate to be Ranger Luxe, to have the power and the money at his disposal.

Ethan is nothing like that. I’m drunk on his goodness and think maybe if I keep him close, some of that purity might rub off on me.

My phone hums, and I reach for where it sits on the small unit by the tub.

Axel: Dad said you’re coming home? Bring me a gift!

My chest loosens further. I’d thought Axel was ignoring me and was still angry, but maybe I’m wrong. I missed his twenty-first birthday while out here but I’ll make it up to him.

“Why are you smiling?” Ethan asks from the doorway.

“That was Axel. Ranger’s son. He was just asking me to bring him home a gift.” I eye Ethan’s underwear and arch a brow. “Take those off.”

He laughs and rubs the back of his head, his gaze fixed on the floor. I sit forward, the bath water brushing the edges of the tub. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

I hug my knees, my smile faltering. He’s changing his mind. He’s going to run.

But instead, he strips off, climbs into the bathtub behind me, and wraps his arms around my chest. “Tell me what Axel’s like.”

I lean against him, shaking off the fear that he was about to walk away. “He was a total troublemaker when I first met him, but now, he’s such a good kid. I love him so much. He isnothinglike Ranger, thank god. He actually reminds me a little of Sebastian.”

Ethan kisses my shoulder. “He must be pretty great, then.”

“We each have our own Sebastian,” I say quietly, and he runs his hands up my arms until they reach my shoulders. He massages gently, and I moan. “Lucky us.”

“Very lucky. I don’t know where I’d be without Sebastian.” He breathes in deeply. “He kept me grounded through the years.”

“Keptyougrounded? From what? A wild vet lifestyle?” I ask, and he laughs. “Partying with horses too much? Alsatian antics?”

“No, I…” He groans, stilling his hands. “Fuck, this isn’t exactly something I’d bring up this early, but we seem to have fast-tracked a little. And… I trust you.”

The words relax me like he’s worked my muscles to perfection.

“I’m in AA and NA. I drank a lot when I was younger, did some stupid shit, like most kids do. But I started to turn to it to deal with things.”

I take his hand. “Deal with what?”

“Everything,” he admits. “Anyway, I quit drinking and the drugs, and my dad suggested I focus on something else. He’d boxed for years, so it was natural for me to do it, too. Sebastian was there for me through everything. He’s only recently started drinking around me, and during my darkest days… he was amazing. I owe him a lot.”

My heart aches for him. For what he’s been through.

“My dad was in AA, too.”

Ethan’s hand tightens on mine. “Really?”

I nod. “My dad smelling of whiskey was a normal thing for me. It was only as I got older that I realized how much it affected him and my mom. He kept promising to leave the life he was in, and each month he broke that promise, he drank even more. And then my mom died, and maybe it was the idea that he’d disappointed my mom, or me, or… I don’t know. He quit drinking. But he didn’t quit the life.”

“Do you wish he had?”

I exhale. “Every day. I was fifteen when my mom had a heart attack. If Dad had left then, I’d have spent almost half my life as a normal person.” I force a smile, hoping it dispels the clouds in my mind. I angle my head to meet his eye. “Like you. I’d just be Denver DeLuca still. Not Deluxe.”

My smile fades a little, but there’s no point in hoping and wishing for things that could never be changed.

“I meant to ask you before,” he says. “Why do you have Ranger’s name?”

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