Page 25 of Lost and Lassoed

Chapter 12

Gus

Riley went down for bed with less fight than usual. She’d probably worn herself out from talking my ear off all through dinner and bath time.

Teddy this, Teddy that. Teddy and me saw a sheep poop on another sheep’s head today. Teddy liked my princess dress. Teddy made me a sandwich for lunch today. Teddy called me Your Majesty all day, Teddy, Teddy, Teddy.

Too much fucking Teddy, if you ask me.

But I was happy she’d had a good day. I was happy she’d talked my ear off—Riley had been far too quiet for my taste the last couple of days.

Still, it was too much Teddy.

That thought was only affirmed by the fact that when I went downstairs to the living room with a stack of picture books from Riley’s room, Teddy was sitting on my couch. This was worse than being locked in a closet with her, because I had no escape even in my own house.

She must’ve taken a shower, because her copper hair was damp and hung loose around her face. She was wearing agiant T-shirt that had a wolf howling at the moon on it and held a paperback book in her hands. And—fuck. Was she not wearing any pants? I looked at her long legs. Her toenails were painted red.

She looked up at me and shifted a little. My eyes moved to her thighs and I saw the hem of some black shorts peeking out.Thank fuck.

“She go to bed okay?” Teddy asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Rare for her. She’s a night owl.”

“Like Cam.” Teddy smiled, not the menacing smile she usually gave me, but a nice, warm one. “But unlike either of you, she talks a lot.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. Riley always had something to say, and I hoped she never stopped using her voice.

“Did you—” I started, and then trailed off. I swallowed—“have a good day?”

Teddy laughed a little. “Do we really hate each other so much that you can’t even ask me how my day was without struggling?”

“Apparently,” I mumbled.

She shook her head. “I had a nice day. I like being here.” Something in me felt…kind of satisfied that she had a good day at Rebel Blue—at my home. “What about you?” she asked.

“It was fine,” I said. I looked at Teddy, who was looking at me like she was waiting for me to say more. “There’s a lot going on.” I shrugged.

“Like what?” She seemed genuinely interested.

“Growing pains,” I said.

“You’re not giving me a lot to go on here, August,” she responded, and she was right, I wasn’t. I just didn’t know how to talk about all of this with her.

“We’re getting bigger every year—more cattle, more horses, more sheep, more hands and cowpokes, and now we’ve got wranglers for Baby Blue in the mix,” I said. “And it’s just a lot to manage.”

“I thought Wes was in charge at Baby Blue,” Teddy said.

“He is,” I conceded. “But I need to be involved.”

“Do you?” Teddy raised an eyebrow at me. “I mean, obviously you’re involved because it has to do with the ranch, but do you have to know the inner workings of everything going on down there and be involved in every decision?”

I shook my head. She wasn’t getting it. “I need to be there for him. I need to support him, and I need to be able to take over if something goes wrong.”

“Has he asked you to do that? To be all up in his business just in case he fails?”

“I’m not ‘all up in his business,’ ” I said. My temper was starting to flare. I was just looking out for my brother.

“It kind of sounds like you are.” Teddy shrugged. “Wes is a very capable guy, and he’s also substantially less stubborn than you or Emmy. If he needed help, I think he would ask you.”

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