Dallas sighs. “If I did, you would have blown a fuse, and Ricky and Dusty would’a heard and gotten a kick out of it.”
Wilder sucks in a breath as if to say he isn’t wrong about that. “Why am I here?”
“To say good riddance.” Dallas hands him a beer. “We’re better off.”
“We needed them,” Wilder admits, and it scares me how worried he sounds.
I touch his arm, squeezing his bicep. “We’ll be fine,” I remind him.
Wilder’s eyes soften when he looks down at me. He scans me like he wants to pull me close, but we both know he can’t.
“Evening, boys. Nice’a you to come celebrate our new gains,” Dusty gloats, cutting through the crowd to our little group.
I take a step away from Wilder. When Tessa was here, she immediately noticed something between him and me. Women tend to be good at that sort of thing. And I wouldn’t put it past Dusty to call us out if she did.
Unfortunately, the movement gets her attention. “Oh hey, New York.” She glances at Wilder but focuses on me. “See we didn’t quite scare you out of town just yet. Love the boots.”
Wesley slides out of his chair, moving to my side protectively.
“Take a hike, Dusty. We’re only here to wish you luck, ’cause you’re going to need it with those two boneheads.”
She crosses her arms, acting unimpressed. “Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen setting off a smoke alarm or ruining a perfectly nice steak on high heat?”
He narrows his eyes and leans in just enough to match her height. “Don’t dish it until you try it.”
She rolls her eyes. “Thanks, but I only date cowboys.”
“And I prefer real blondes,” he says dryly and turns awaybefore she can say another word, and damn, I’m impressed. Also intrigued. There aren’t many people who get my brother all fired up like that.
Except me, maybe.
Dusty feigns a yawn. “Well, love to stay and chat but we’re celebrating.”
“Oh, so are we,” I tell her with a wide smile.
“Right,” she drawls, then digs in her pocket and hands me a card. “Missed ya at our rodeo couple weeks ago. Call me if you need a ride next time.”
I take the card, because even though she’s the enemy, there’s something sincere about her offer.
Dusty perks a brow at Wilder. “Good luck this season.” She starts to make her way past us until she reaches Dallas. He towers over her but doesn’t seem affected by her presence. “Oh, and”—she pats his chest—“heard the great news, Daddy. Congrats.” She turns back. “Looks like everyone’s got their hands full this summer.”
29
Wilder
I’m at Rose’s cottage again. It’s been a shit night. Not just losing two men—I’m not going to lose sleep over that. Ricky might be trying to put us out of business by leaving me to cancel events due to staffing—but it’s the least of my worries.
The biggest letdown of the night was not being able to reach out and pull my girl against my chest. Not being able to stand by protectively when someone bumped into her by accident. Or when a few of my men spent a little too much time talking to her.
It might be my imagination, but I swore Wes kept his eye on me all night.
Could just be the guilt. Which is worse since I don’t know how to lessen the blow when I tell him about Rose.
I can’t tell him it was one time. I can’t tell him it was nothing.
And I can’t tell him that it won’t happen again.
All of that was meant to be the first step in making things right.
