Page 50 of Smokin' Situation

The air outside had cooled, feeling good on my overheated skin as I rounded the front of the truck and pulled open the back door. Baker shifted my sister fully into his lap, wrapping an arm behind her back and his other underneath her knees before he slipped out to the sidewalk.

“My keys are in my pocket,” he whispered, nodding to his right.

“I’ve got it, sweetheart.” Tripp’s voice was quiet from behind me, and I hadn’t realized he’d turned off the truck to help us.

“Try not to get too turned on while you’ve got your hand in my pocket, cowboy,” Baker teased, cocking his hip to the side and easily lifting my sister higher so Tripp could get access to his pocket.

He pulled them out gingerly, turning and leading us toward the door to the bakery. The three of us were quiet as we walked through the shadowy shop that smelled faintly of flour and something sweet.

“Up the stairs there,” Baker whispered, following behind Tripp.

Baker’s apartment looked like a quintessential bachelor pad, but it was neater than I expected. Which was good for him, because my sister hated that chaos in the house—and I could be a bit of a gremlin. At least I kept it confined to my bedroom. Not that it mattered at this point, because neither one of us had a bedroom anymore.

“Door’s to the right,” Baker nodded at a closed door, and I walked forward to open it for him, surprised that my assessment had clearly been wrong. I may not have a bedroom, but this one looked like Reese already.

There were neatly folded scrubs on the dresser, and the duvet was a rich blue color, eerily like the one she’d just lost. A shower caddy had all her usual products neatly tucked inside and two pairs of familiar white shoes she specially ordered to wear at the hospital were placed just under the window that overlooked the alley beside the shop.

“Do you guys want to stay for a drink?” Baker asked while he carefully pried my sister’s fingers from his shirt. I should have offered to help, but he seemed to have it under control as he laid her down on the sheets, gently pulling off her high-heeled sandals and neatly leaving them next to her other shoes.

“Nah,” Tripp whispered, tipping his head toward the bedroom door. “We’re gonna head back to the ranch. Early morning tomorrow.”

“Thanks for coming out with us tonight,” he whispered, following us out of the bedroom before he left one last lingering glance at my sister and pulled the door closed. “I think she needed it, despite all her arguments against it. She’s barely slept since she’s been here.”

For someone who thrived on routine, I could see this situation being hard on my baby sister, but at least she had a someone to help her through it. “Thank you for letting her stay here.”

“Not sure if it wasletas much as it was forced. The head of emergency medicine told her she wasn’t allowed to stay at the hospital if she wanted to be put back on the schedule. I just happened to be within earshot right before she lost her shit and offered my place.”

“Well, thank you. I can tell she appreciates your hospitality.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled dryly, looking at her closed bedroom door. “She’s just full of gratitude toward me.”

Baker followed us back down to the front of the shop, locking the door after he let us out. Tripp held open the door to the truck while I climbed inside and then jogged back around to start the truck.

“You know I was serious earlier when I offered you a place to stay, right?”

Reaching across the center console, I laced my fingers with his where his hand rested on his thigh, squeezing briefly before I let go. “I know.”

“Your sister seems settled for the time being, so I don’t want you to feel pressured to find something right away.”

“That’s the only reason?” I asked, only partially teasing.

“And I selfishly want to wake up to you every morning,” he confessed, and I sighed in relief. I wanted the same thing.

“Then I guess you’re stuck with me.”

He shifted the truck into gear to head back to the east side of town where the ranch was located, the tension in the air increasing with every mile closer we got to that front porch of his.

Tristan

Rheywascurledupin the passenger seat by the time I pulled the truck into the oversized garage, where all the ranch trucks were stored during the winter. Marty had moved all of them in during the fire because of the ash spread. And since I didn’t feel like hiking the keys back to the lodge right now, I returned his truck to where I’d borrowed it from and pocketed them to return tomorrow.

“Sweetheart, we’re home,” I whispered, leaning over the console to unbuckle her seatbelt. She stirred, curling up tighter against the doorframe where she’d leaned her head after we left Baker’s.

Guess both Thomas sisters were going to need carried to bed tonight. But at least I got to join mine in the bed, unlike my coworker who was clearly smitten with Rhey’s younger sister but hadn’t cracked through her hard shell yet.

Reese had watched me interacting with her sister earlier in the night, but we hadn’t really talked much. She was distracted by spending the first half of the night avoiding Baker, and the second half pretending she wasn’t just as attracted to him as he was to her.

But I wasn’t concerned about my friend’s relationship—or lack thereof—right now, I was worried about mine. Surely it wasn’t normal to be this in sync with someone days after meeting them. Spending a night out sober wasn’t uncommon for me. Back when I was in Wyoming, it was usually done spinning a glass of water while I was seated at the bar all night waiting for my former friends, whereas tonight, I’d danced and laughed with this feisty woman until we were both breathless.

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