Page 86 of The Wounded Warrior

“Yeah. With me on the chair.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Luke played it down as much as he could, but he was proud.

“You’re a stud.” Rory pushed him toward the house.

“I am. Thanks for hanging out with me, babe.”

“I like you. It’s the easiest thing ever.”

“It so is.” Luke laughed for sheer joy. “I just really dig you.”

“Excellent. Let’s tell Matt where we’re off to and go explore your land.”

“Good deal.” He was ready to show Rory all his ideas, and not just on paper.

Best of all, Rory wanted to play too.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lunch.

He’d make sure he had enough Pan masa, had boughtcarnitasfrom Mrs. Gonzales, and pickled red onions all by himself.

Now all he had to do was check to see if the ramp he had built onto the front of the house was dried off again and that his front room didn’t smell like cat.

He brushed some lint off his pants. God. He was having lunch with his lover and his lover’s mom. How fucking amazingly weird was that?

Rory grinned. His cowboy lover. Luke was this amazing mix of brave and vulnerable, strangely innocent about things and world-weary. Rory adored him.

The rain was relentless today, proving that fall was well upon them, with north Texas winter coming soon.

He waited near the door for Luke to text. He had umbrellas ready if they needed him to run out with them.

A truck headed down his driveway, one he didn’t recognize, but that was no big. He didn’t know what Mrs. LeBlancdrove. Rory watched, waiting for his phone to ding. Luke was supposed to warn him.

When he saw the two big guys in the front seat of the cab, he made sure his shotgun was at hand, right there inside the front door. That wassonot Luke and Mrs. LeBlanc. Rory also got his phone in his hand, ready to hit the emergency button if he needed to.

He set his expression to ‘friendly but not stupid’ and waited for Frick and Frack to get out of the truck.

The muscle trundled out into the rain and slogged up on his porch. How nice of them to ring the doorbell. Which was wired to a security camera that was recording the whole front yard.

He pulled his shotgun off the rack and opened the main door a bit, knowing the screen door was locked. “Can I help you, boys?”

One of the men had the good sense to back off a step. The other scowled, opening his coat to show a handgun. “McConnell?”

Ah. A hired Yankee. Interesting.

He lifted his shotgun and cocked it. “Who’s asking, boys?”

“A concerned citizen.”

The other man snorted. “What he means is Mr. Harris asked us to stop by and make sure you understood the dangers of buying the Sumner acreage.”

Now, this was a local boy. He looked of an age with Luke and Matt’s eldest brother.

“Ah, what a sweet little cocksucker. The deal’s already in the bank, sweetheart.”

“You’re pushing your luck, McConnell,” Goon Number One growled. “Sooner or later you’ll push too far.”

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