Page 14 of The Cowboy's Best Friend

Boone wondered, not for the first time, if Sierra understood how much work she put into making Matty seem like less of a dick than he was. Sometimes he was sure that she knew. Other times, like today, he thought maybe it was so ingrained in her that she had no idea.

He took another breath to think about the various ways he could rearrange Matty’s pointy face and then smiled at Sierra with none of his thoughts in evidence, another trick he’d learned a long time ago.

When he’d first met Sierra it was her parents that she’d protected. Then it had been Matty. These days it was often both. Boone thought she was well overdue to worry about protecting absolutely no one but herself.

“I think you should go have some pizza with my sisters-in-law,” he told her. “Aside from their taste in men, which we can agree is questionable at best, they’re pretty great. If you’re looking for friends up here in Cowboy Point, I think they’re a terrific place to start.”

Chapter Four

“Welcome to theCarey brother support group,” Cat said, and started clanking her beer against everyone else’s drink. Root beer for Kendall, who was rubbing a hand over her belly like her baby was trying to join in the fun.

Then a Coke for Rosie. “The last thing I need is to wake up tomorrow morning with a hangover and two toddlers in my face,” she said with a laugh.

Though Sierra thought she saw a look pass between Cat and Kendall.

Sierra accepted aclinkto her own beer and then sat back in her chair. “I think I’m a fraud. Not only because I’m not married to Boone, but because I don’t needsupportto be his friend. He’s too sweet.”

A strange sort of pause descended over the table. Mountain Mama Pizza was popping on a Sunday night. Families were clustered around the big tables inside. Children and a few older kids were running in circles and banging on the two old-fashioned arcade games in one corner. There was a line at the bar for takeout orders and the Bennett sisters were charging around, delivering food to tables, taking orders, and somehow making all of the commotion feel like it was under control.

Meanwhile, Sierra found herself on the wrong end of three pairs of eyes. All of them with the same expression—but she couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t pity. It wasn’t scorn. She knew those pretty well.

This was something more like… a knowledge she didn’t have, and she didn’t know what to do with that.

“Boone is very dependable,” Kendall said after a moment, her mouth curving. “I’ll give you that.”

“Sturdy,” Rosie said, though she looked like she wanted to laugh. “Even trustworthy.”

“I once would have described him as a sweetheart. I think I did,” Cat said, leaning in and propping up her chin on one hand. “But I’m not as innocent as I was then. I would not use that word now.”

Sierra blinked. “You wouldn’t?”

“I would say that Boone has…” Cat sighed. “A quiet intensity, maybe?”

“Definitely,” Rosie said. “And more intense than quiet.”

“He’s like a dormant volcano, I’d say,” Kendall said, when Sierra’s impression of the other woman had always been that she was practical and down-to-earth. Not… metaphoric. “But you can tell that sooner or later, he’d going to erupt. You know what they say.”

“About Boone?” Sierra asked, mystified by this conversation.

“‘Beware the fury of a patient man,’” Kendall said. “That’s Boone.”

Sierra took a sip of her beer, but she already felt something like intoxicated. She had no idea what they were talking about. She knew simmering, volcanic men, and they weren’tpatientabout anything and anyway, this wasBoone. He was kind. Thoughtful.

And yes,sweet.

Cat smiled at her. “But you’re his best friend, of course. You know him better than anyone else. Maybe we’re getting him all wrong.”

Sierra shrugged. “I know him pretty well, sure. We’ve been best friends since we were fifteen.”

She thought she heard Rosie say something like,we know, but that was weird.

“Fifteen,” Kendall repeated. She shook her head. She still had one hand on her belly, as if the baby she was carrying shared her astonishment. “I don’t have any friends from when I was fifteen. Or really any friends at all, but that’s mostly because I was raised by wolves. Only slightly because I’m awkward and strange.” She smiled. “Or so I tell myself.”

“You have friends,” Cat told her loyally. “Whether you want us or not.”

“That’s the best thing about this club,” Rosie said with a grin. “You belong whether you want to or not. There’s no escaping it. Membership is imposed upon you and you can’t refuse it. All you have to do is have some connection to a Carey brother. It’s the club that has you no matter what.”

“You all really don’t think Boone is sweet?” Sierra asked.

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