Page 65 of The Brave and the Reckless

“If you think they’re depressing, maybe I should keep them.”

“No!” She rose to her knees and stuck her bottom lip out in a cute pout. “I’m hungry. Please.”

Heat shot down my center and straight to my dick. Because Esra was kneeling in front of me half-naked, wearing only my shirt, and doing cute shit with her mouth.

“Here.” I thrust the lunch box at her and dropped on to the blanket as I pushed away the fucked-up images my brain tried to produce.

She’d opened up to me and she’d let me hug her, and I could be content with that. If that was all she’d ever give me of herself, I’d still have gotten more than I was ever meant to. She could give the rest to Ace Ryder.Iwould have to deal with the way that messed with my head. That wasn’t on her. For fuck’s sake, she was my best friend’s little sister. That was the one detailIcould easily ignore when we were in Ace Ryder’s hideout. A hug was probably the furthest this should ever have gone.

Esra turned the snacks into a spread and squealed in delight when I brought out crackers and a jar of peanut butter. She turned those into a shocking sandwich of cracker, peanut butter, Reese’s Minis, more peanut butter, peanuts picked from the trail mix, and another cracker. Her willingness to eat carrot sticks quickly evaporated.

She made me eat one of her chocolates by holding it up against my lips and climbing over my lap when I tried to dodge her. It was supposed to be playful, but the second she straddled my thigh, I remembered that her underwear was drying in the bathroom. So I took the chocolate and shifted her off me.

“Do you think you’d stand a better chance against a bear or a tiger?” Esra asked, lying on her stomach and rocking her feet through the air as she turned the last bit of trail mix into a smiley face in front of her.

“What kind of bear?”

“Uh … mountain bear?”

“Then, yeah, bear. The ones that find their way down themountains here are mostly black bears. Easy to scare off.”

“There’s bears here?” Esra stilled, her eyes darting to the window. Water still streamed from the heavens outside, but the thunder and lightning had quieted.

“Not here. They come looking for food. And that won’t be enough to lure one out,” I said and stole one of her almonds. She crinkled her nose at me. “Would you rather go onJeopardy!orWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

“Oh, good question,” she whispered more to herself as she rearranged the mouth of her smiley face, then said, “Millionaire. Less gimmicky. I can just breeze through and walk out with the glory.”

“You think you’d breeze through?”

“Unless there’s questions about birds predicting the weather, but you can be my phone lifeline now.”

“Sure, I’ll be waiting for your call.”

“Speaking of…” Esra scooted up and pointed at the bags. “Do you mind if I check the weather, or do you want to consult with the crows first?”

“Are you making fun of me?” I asked and handed her phone over.

“I’m making fun of the principle. It just sounds so silly. I’m actually genuinely impressed by the skill.” Judging by the fact that she was tapping around on her phone, she had no idea what those words meant to me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever impressed anyone. “It looks like we might be stuck here for a few more hours.”

I angled to check the weather app on her phone. “We’ll have to spend the night. We’re not riding back after dark, especially not after all this rain. God knows what state the roads arein.”

“Tennessee,” she shouted out, hand shooting into the air, full trivia mode, “the state the roads are in.”

“You’re full of jokes today.” I chuckled and pushed to my feet. “I’ll check on the horses and make sure they’re okay for the night. Can you text Renee? Even if we make it back in time for the show tomorrow, Tornado won’t be able to pull it off after all this.”

“Sure you don’t need help with the horses?”

“It’ll take me ten minutes.” I hesitated for a moment, too aware of how she’d shut down earlier and not wanting to repeat that. “You should also text your brother where you are. I told him that I was taking you on a trail ride. He might start worrying.”

ESRA

Despite what he’d said, Noah wasn’t back within ten minutes. He wasn’t even back within fifteen. I’d texted Sinan and Renee to let them know we were stuck at the ranch, and I read three articles about the different kinds of equine-assisted therapy by the time Noah was gone close to twenty minutes, and I decided that he may have been struck by lightning.

I traced my earlier steps back to the kitchen and the side door we’d come in from. I cracked it open, surprised by the crescendo of the rain as it drummed to the ground and into large puddles. Through the curtain of water, I spotted Noah by the stable doors. Not burned to a crisp by lightning but also not really moving.

“Noah?” I called his name, but the rain and the distance drowned out my voice.

The floorboards creaked under my boots as I stepped outside to the very edge of the roofed porch. Some water still managed to splash against my naked legs, but I got a slightly better view. It looked like Noah was pushing his shoulder into the door. He was completely soaked again. So much for not needing help.

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