“Yeah, okay. Are there feelings? Yeah. Or at least the possibility. I mean, you’ve met him. You can see.”
Dad’s chuckle was soft and his tone teasing when he said, “Were I not one of the few straight members of this family, I probably could. But Crew—”
“I know,” I cut him off, not wanting to hear him say it.
Dad hummed and stepped closer, then bumped me with his shoulder. Unconsciously, I leaned into him, like I always had. And he held me up, just likehealways had. My parents might be young, and they’d finished having kids at the age when a lot of folksstartedhaving kids, but the benefits of that far outweighed the downsides. Because of their youth, they’d always had a muchmore progressive outlook and they’d supported us 100 percent. They’d been gentle parents long before the term was coined, instructing and teaching, giving us proportionate consequences instead of punishments.
“Is Mal interested?”
“Maybe,” I responded, not willing to tell him about the kiss. No matter how easy it was to talk to my dad, he was still my father.
“Okay. Let me just say one thing,” he said and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “If you want it to work there has to be very clear communication andvery clearboundaries. Because you have all the power here and you can’t abuse that.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know.” Dad kissed my temple and let go. “You’re a good man. Your mother and I raised you to be. So make things right.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“All right. I love you.”
“Love you too,” I said, gave him a quick hug, and stepped off the porch. I was only a few yards away when Dad had one last thing to say.
“Hey, Crew,” he called, and I turned but kept walking backward. “Stop buying the man horses.”
“I didn’t…I wasn’t…” I threw up my hands. “Never mind.”
Dad’s guffawing laughter followed me into the night.
The walk to my cabin was peaceful. With nothing but the occasional whinny, moo, or loud-as-fuck bray, I was able to sort through my thoughts and feelings.
As much as I wanted to take that kiss as hope, and permission, I knew I couldn’t. It had been in the heat of the moment, and as hot as it had been, it wasn’t enough for me to throw caution to the wind. I had to be smart about this if I wanted a chance with Mal. To get to know him and see if that attraction had any substance.
And damn did I want that.
So the first thing I had to do was stop being a creeper. The moment I walked into the clearing where the cabins were, my gaze shot to Mal’s cabin. The lights were on and even though I couldn’t see anything from where I was, all I would have to do was walk right up to the window and look in. It took far too much willpower to continue on to my own cabin. To shut out the explosive giggle I heard and not wonder what had Pay so delighted.
In order to move forward, I needed to have a solid plan in place. And to do that, I needed some outside perspective.
Isley answered the video call on the first ring. It took a second for the picture to connect and then I saw his smiling face and heard loud music thumping through the speakers.
“Honey, can you turn that down please?” Isley called to his girlfriend off camera and then raised his brows at me. “Hey, big brother.”
“Hey. You busy?”
“Always. But you know I’ve always got time for you. You okay?”
A second later, Jerrica leaned down into frame, wrapping her arms around Isley’s shoulders. Her braids swung forward, showing the pop of pink underneath.
“Hey, Crew. How’s it hangin’?”
“Low and to the left.” I winked. I adored that woman and how good she was for my brother. “He taking care of you?”
Jerrica sniffed. “We take care of each other. You know that.”
“I do. Mind if I monopolize his time for a minute?”
“Of course.” Jerrica kissed Isley hard and then rubbed her nose on his. “Food in fifteen.”
