Page 255 of The Brothers at Horseshoe Ranch

“And, well, I kind of kissed him and that’s complicated everything even more,” I admitted in a soft voice. Olivia and Lucy shot a look at each other and exchanged a smile. “What?”

“Nothing,” Lucy said quickly. “But did you enjoy the kiss?”

“No,” I lied. “Well, yes, of course I enjoyed it. He’s a good kisser. He …” I let out another sigh. “It felt amazing. Okay? My heart was racing and my skin was on fire. And the way that his fingers touched me, I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted to have sex. And then he got all awkward and jumped out of the bed, and we just haven’t had a proper conversation since.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s being a fucking fool. I just don’t understand what’s going on with him.”

“I feel like you guys need to have an honest conversation about the status of your relationship,” Lucy said. “I know that might be hard, but I feel like maybe both of you don’t really know how to process what’s happened.”

“I just want things to go back to normal,” I pouted.

“But do you really?” Arya said, “Do you want them to go back to the way they were, or do you want an actual relationship with him? Do you want him to be your boyfriend?”

“Oh my gosh, I don’t know!” I whined. I sat down on a bale of hay and looked at them. The three of them stared back at me, their faces glowing with concern. “Okay, I’m going to be honest. Yes. I like him as more than my best friend. Yeah. I think he’s handsome. Yeah. I think he’s funny, and he’s fun. And I love his family. And of course, some part of me would love for it to be more. But the other part of me doesn’t know how that would ever work.

“And he’s Wyatt. He’s my Wyatt, and I know all the bad things about him. And all the crazy things about him, and all the other women that he’s been with. And he’s not the sort of guy that’s ready to settle down. I know that. I know him. He’s never been in a serious relationship. It’s not something he’s wanted. It’s not something he’s dreamt of, like me. I guess men are just wired differently. I don’t know that he could commit. And I don’t know that he’s interested in me like that, anyway.”

“Sadie,” Arya knelt beside the haybale and took my hand. “He kissed you. So we know he finds you attractive, at least.”

“Yeah, but do you know how many different women he’s hooked up with? I’m not sure he’s that fussy.”

“Yeah, but I have a feeling this was different for him,” Arya said.

Lucy and Olivia both nodded and sat down on either side of me. “I know it’s complicated,” Lucy said, “and I can’t even venture to tell you what to do, but we can brainstorm.”

“Well, I had an idea …” I looked around at them.

“What’s the idea?” Olivia asked.

“I was hoping that we could all go camping. I mean, I know generally, it’s a guy thing to do to go camping and hunting and thinking. But I want you three to go camping with me and just destress, you know. It’s something that Wyatt and I always did when we wanted to get our minds off of something that was bothering us. And obviously, I can’t go with Wyatt.”

“I’d love to go,” Lucy said.

“Me too,” Olivia said.

Arya looked unsure. “I would love to go, too, but Eloise …”

“I’m sure that Amelia wouldn’t mind looking after her,” Lucy said.

“I know, but I don’t want to take advantage of her kindness.” Arya winced a little. “I already feel like I have taken so much, you know? And I’m not even a member of the family.”

“I’m not a member of the family either,” I pointed out.

“But you’re like a member of the family,” Arya replied.

“I know, Arya, I know,” Olivia put in, “but I promise you, I know Amelia, and I know Ranger. And they love kids. Shit, half the reason why they wanted to get brides for Austin and Beau was so they could have grandkids. I think they want to get a bride for every single one of their sons.”

“Yeah. That’s very true,” I agreed.

“And I don’t know how lucky they’re going to be with the rest of the brothers because they’re all hardheaded.”

“You can say that again.” Arya rolled her eyes. “Chet was so condescending to me the other day. I had to tell him, ‘You’re not the boss of me or my father.’ Who does he think he is?”

“So … what’s going on with you and Chet anyway?” Lucy looked carefully at Arya.

I was curious myself. They really did seem to have a very interesting relationship, the way they bantered, the way that I caught them looking at each other. I often wondered if they had small crushes on each other, but when Arya spoke about him, it didn’t seem like she was interested in him in that way.

“I mean, he’s handsome and he’s nice, but I’ve got a whole life to take care of. And I’ve got a little girl to think of.” Arya shrugged. “And having a fling with a hot cowboy doesn’t weigh into that. Especially when I’m living in his parents’ home.”

“Trust me, I know what you mean.” I nodded. “A part of me thinks that, hey, maybe it would be fun to just have some hot sex of Wyatt and getting out of my system. But I don’t know that I could have hot sex of Wyatt and go back to the way things used to be. You know?”

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