Page 1 of Wrangling Hearts
Prologue
Seventeen years ago…
The girls and I crept through the woods behind our families’ ranches, lured by the splashing and whooping of our brothers; they were riding the high of ruining our summer afternoon. We were just minding our business, lying out in the sun while Tess looked for snails, when they ambushed us with water guns full of pickle juice.
Where they got that much pickle juice, I had no idea.
“We should just drown them,” I snarled in their direction. We had the four of them outnumbered with Tess. Not that she could do much against teenage boys, only being nine, but a body was a body in this war.
“Yeah, and then we can go rot in juvie. Great idea,” Savannah murmured, rolling her eyes.
Her best friend, Delilah, scanned the riverbank, eyes narrowed in thought. I knew she’d come up with something. She was the mastermind responsible for most of our pranks. I glanced over at Anna, who was wringing pickle juice out of her hair that she tinted pink for the summer, and winced.
I was pretty sure Emmett dumped a whole jar out on her. I’d be giving him an earful about that later when we got home.
Tess squeaked, slapping a hand over her mouth. She looked mortified. “Are theynaked?”
I peered over the bush and was met with the sight of Weston Tate’s ass as he dove under the water. My eyes went wide with a gasp, and I hauled Tess to me, covering her eyes.
“Oh my God, they’re naked!” I hissed, looking at the girls. I’d never seen a naked boy before. None of us had.
Delilah’s eyes got that wild spark to them when she turned to us. Her grin was borderline feral. “We aresostealing their clothes.”
“No way,” Savannah protested instantly. She was always the one we had to coerce the most. Normally, it was a toss-up between her and me. But this time, I was furious enough that I didn’t need any convincing since it would be me who had to wash pickle juice out of everyone but Anna’s bathing suits when we got home.
“Savvy, smell yourself,” Anna said. “Smell yourself, and then you’ll see that’s the only option.”
“It’s the only way they’ll learn their lesson,” I added.
I looked back towards the water, seeing Beau, Anna’s older brother, shake the water out of his hair. It looked like ink, wet like that. He slicked it back, the new muscles in his arms from working on his father’s ranch popping. Something about it made my heart race a little.
He was about to go to college in a few weeks, and as much as he infuriated me, it’d be weird not having him around. Anna and I would be the oldest ones once he left, since we were only three years younger than him. Not that he ever acted his age. If anything, I was the most mature person at this creek right now.
Delilah let out a hushed squeal, laughing like a lunatic. “Colt is getting out of the water!”
Anna gagged and looked away, not wanting to see her brother like that. Understandable. If it were Emmett, I’d be doing the same thing.
“Don’t make me do it,” Colt whined to the other boys as he walked over to the rope swing.
“Stop being a little bitch baby and do it!” Weston said, flinging the rope towards his best friend. They were attached at the hip, just like Delilah and Savannah. To the point that Weston and Delilah were an honorary McLeod and Hayes, respectively.
Colt grabbed the rope and wrapped his legs around it, putting everything on display. I pressed my hand against Tess’s face harder, earning a quiet, “Ouch.”
“Oh my God, that’s so gross,” Delilah murmured, her eyes widening.
“I didn’t know that’s what a penis and balls looked like,” Savannah whispered, her voice a mix of horrified intrigue. “It’s all so…floppy.”
I glanced at Beau again. He was watching his younger brother on the swing with a grin. My eyes moved lower down his lean body to the trail of dark hair that disappeared under the water. I couldn’t help but wonder if his was gross too.
I cleared my throat and looked away. “This is the perfect time to take their clothes.”
“You’re right, they’ll be distracted,” Anna agreed.
“Only if Colt gets the balls to jump,” Delilah giggled. “You know how big of a wimp he is.”
I looked at my sister. “Are you gonna do it with us or sit here and watch after Tess?”
“I don’t need to be watched after. I’m not a baby!” Tess argued, ripping my hand off her face. I let her go. She was more interested in looking for bugs than in what the boys were doing anyway.
