Plus, this could be the key to getting my career back and landing endorsements again. I’d be able to keep supporting the ranch. My siblings might think things are fine, but I want the business to turn a real profit one day, and the more I work, the more I’m able to help them out whenever things get tough. I’d also be able to continue donating to the rescue. I could help Candice expand this place.
I imagine taking her to a horse auction, and the way her eyes would light up if I told her she could buy as many horses as she wanted. She could make part of Star Mountain Horse Rescue into a sanctuary—a place for horses to stay, forever, without having to retrain or change themselves in order to get adopted.
The interview can’t go ahead until Beau and Candice sign off on it though, so I decide that there’s no point feeling too hopeful about it just yet. I knock on their front door, and when no one answers, I let myself in. It’s never locked, and Beau has told me at least ten times that I’m always welcome.
The delicious smell of cinnamon and butter fills my nostrils as I walk through the house. I head towards the kitchen, where I hear Beau and Candice joking around and bickering.
“Hey,” I say over the din.
“Nathan!” Candice says, her face immediately flushing when she sees me. “Were we expecting you?”
“Nope,” I say. “But I wanted to see what you two were up to since I knew you both decided to take a day off for once.”
“We’re making cinnamon rolls,” Beau supplies.
“I see that.”
“Mom’s recipe, with pecans in them. She made them for me and Beau all the time, and I loved them when I was little. Grammy used to make them, too.” Candice grins at me, and I notice that there’s a dusting of flour across her cheek. She looks adorable.
Beau gives his sister an odd look, like he can’t quite believe that she’s opening up to me about their family so easily. He looks at me, and then back at his sister, like he’s trying to figure out what is going on. I just keep my face neutral, and go over to the sink to wash my hands.
“What can I do to help?” I ask.
“Here,” Candice says, passing me a bowl. “Mix that together.”
I mix up the brown sugar and cinnamon, and Beau rolls out the dough, forming it into a perfect, neat rectangle. Candice grabs the first batch of pastries out of the oven and sets them to cool on the kitchen table. She shows me how to spread the butter, sugar mixture, and nuts onto the dough, and then she rolls it up and lets me cut the log into pieces.
“This is nice,” she says softly.
“It is, isn’t it?” I grin.
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Beau asks.
“Why so suspicious?” Candice whips back.
“I can’t have my best friend and sister conspiring against me,” he grumbles. “Plus it freaks me out seeing you guys get along. I’m used to you hating each other and that’s it.”
“Nathan and I are friends now too,” Candice explains, like it’s nothing.
“Really?” Beau snorts.
“Really, really,” she says. “We have to train together and it doesn’t make sense for us to be fighting around the horses. They would pick up on the bad energy.” She swishes by me and pops the cinnamon rolls in the oven, her hips brushing against me as she does.
“Whatever is going on between you two, I will figure it out,” Beau says. “I’m smarter than both of you.”
“Good luck with that, Sherlock. But you won’t find anything because there’s nothing going on,” Candice says placidly.
I feel extremely uncomfortable, so I pick up one of the cinnamon rolls from the cooling rack. I stuff it in my mouth and hope that it deters Beau from asking me any questions.
“Should we go work with Brown Sugar?” Candice asks. “I think she’s ready to graduate to riding. She’s been doing well with the groundwork. And you can help me write some photo captions for the rescue’s account. I have writer’s block.”
“Sure,” I say, around the pastry. “Sounds good.”
Candice goes upstairs to change into riding clothes, and I stand awkwardly in the kitchen while Beau does the dishes.
“Tell me straight what is going on with you and my sister,” Beau says calmly as he scrubs a large metal bowl.
I consider my options. Absolute honesty is not an option—he wouldn’t approve of either deal we’ve struck, especially not the one that has me teaching Candice how to come on my cock. Multiple times. Lying and saying that nothing is going on is out, too, because he already knows that something is up and a lie will only make him more suspicious. So a half-truth it is.
