Page 166 of The Brothers at Horseshoe Ranch

“Everyone in?”

“Yep,” all my brothers chorused.

As they walked out of the room, I felt my heart expanding in a way that it hadn’t in a long time. Austin was right. I did have my family, and I had to remember that. No man was an island. I couldn’t do this alone, and I didn’t have to. I was glad to have my brothers’ support.

And he was right about something else as well. Olivia did mean something to me. This whole thing had become far more complicated than it needed to be. I was hurting her and I was hurting myself, and for what reason? I’d have a talk with her and see if we could come to some sort of understanding and, well, maybe we could fuck afterward because I was feeling hard and horny, and that was something that wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

However, I had a lot of work to do before I could talk to her. I needed to sort out a plan for my brothers and me, and then I would chat with Olivia tomorrow at brunch. I had a feeling that I might sneak into her room if I stayed at the ranch, so I decided to go to the log cabin for the rest of the day and night.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Olivia

“So we’re going to do a barbecue?” I asked Lucy as we walked into the kitchen.

“Yeah. Austin’s going to man the grill. We’re going to have steaks and hot dogs and burgers. And did you know that all the brothers are here?” She looked excited.

“Well, Beau’s not here,” I said softly. “Do you know where he is?”

“I don’t.” She shook her head. “I guess they all spoke yesterday, and Beau went somewhere.” She shrugged. “He has a lot of work to do, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I hadn’t seen Beau since early the morning before. He’d been gone all day yesterday. I had hoped that he’d come to my bedroom that night, but he hadn’t. I’d woken up this morning expecting to see him at breakfast, but he wasn’t there.

However, all of the other Hamilton brothers were there. They were a fun, lively bunch, not that I would’ve expected anything different. There was Austin, who only had eyes for Lucy, and then there was Chet, the most gorgeous of all the brothers with his light blue eyes and short, dark hair. They were all handsome, but he was just absolutely spectacular. And then there was Flint. He was really sweet and nice, and he had a way about him that made me think he was quite soft spoken and poetic. There was Huck, who looked like he was the fighter of the bunch. And then there was Knox, who kept to himself as if he had secrets. And then, of course, Wyatt was the youngest. He only had eyes for Sadie, but not in a romantic way. He teased her relentlessly. I could tell she loved it, even though it did get on her nerves.

“So I guess I’ll make a potato salad,” I said to Lucy. “Everything seems like it’s going to be done, and I don’t want to not do anything.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” She shrugged. “But it looks like the brothers have got it all together.”

“Hey, Olivia,” Sadie said as she looked up and saw that we’d entered the kitchen. “I was thinking that you could do my makeup tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Why wait till tonight? Why don’t I do it for the brunch?”

“You don’t think it’s too much for me to get a makeover for brunch?”

“Of course not. I think it’ll be fun. I’ll do it after I make the potato salad.”

“Sure.” She nodded. “I was boiling the potatoes for you like you asked. Oh my gosh, it took forever to peel all those potatoes, but Arya helped me.”

I looked around the kitchen. “Where did Arya go?”

“She took Eloise out back to go look at the goats or something. I’m really excited that all the brothers are here.” She grinned. “But where’s Beau?”

“I don’t know,” I said quickly. “I guess he’s gone.”

“Do you think he was mad because you went out dancing?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know. We haven’t really spoken at all, actually, except for when he came to my room the night we went dancing, and that wasn’t really much of a conversation.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Austin walked into the kitchen with gloves on.

“Where’s Beau?” Sadie asked him, not caring to beat around the bush. I guess she wouldn’t care. She didn’t have a crush on him, so she wasn’t embarrassed to ask.

“Oh, I’m sure he went to one of the cabins.” He shrugged. “I mean, that’s what all of us Hamilton brothers will do. I’m sure Lucy told you that I spent my own time in the log cabin as well.”

“That’s true.” She nodded. “I guess that’s where they go to get away from everything.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s nice to just have our own space. It’ll be great once we build everyone their own place. It sucks that we only have the two cabins on the property aside from the ranch right now.” He paused as Lucy gave him a look. “What? What did I say?”

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