Page 41 of Kicking Up Dust

I wouldn’t say it beats eating Blair’s pussy, but it’s up there.

I’ve busted my ass on this ranch every day since Maddox said I could come home. Even on days he gave me an out, like he had today, I didn’t take it. I didn’t know if he was testing me or not, but I wanted to prove to myself even more than I wanted to prove to him that I could do this. I could work hard. I could be serious. I could make an honest living for Blair and our baby.

Plus, I knew I’d probably miss a lot of days for appointments and when she gave birth, so missing days in between didn’t feel right. As far as I know, Maddox has never missed a day in his life.

Which is why I found it strange, when I finally pulled myself out of the house and out for morning chores, that Maddox wasn’t there. Jamie was doing Maddox’s work on top of his own, so I slipped in and picked up some of Jamie’s tasks.

“Thanks,” he says with a grateful grin when I start breaking up the hay he’s dumping out for the cattle.

“Is Maddie okay?”

Jameson’s grin grows. “Yeah, I’d say he’s probably right as rain. Getting a really good sleep, if I had to guess.”

I look at him like he’s crazy, but he doesn’t elaborate. It’s Tyler, who trudges over through the gate in the fence between our properties, that finally clues me in.

“Is that Austin’s pickup at Maddie’s place again? When did she get back?”

“Yesterday afternoon. The truck hasn’t moved since.”

“Oh, hell,” I say, understanding why Jamie’s in such a good mood now.

The boss getting laid regularly meant a universal truth on any job site: Work was about to get a helluva lot easier.

“Thank god,” Tyler bemoans, heading toward the chicken coop.

TWENTY-TWO

BLAIR

25 Weeks

Baby is the size of a bag of sugar

Austin Taylor was terrifying.

And really, really cool.

But mostly terrifying.

Perhaps even more so than Bailey, who still hadn’t really come around to me yet.

Somehow, I’d found myself in a truck with Tate, Kenny, and Austin, flying down the road with the windows down, the music up, and Colt’s debit card in my purse.

I’d argued that last bit, but he brought the dimples out.

The mall was an hour away, apparently, and that wasn’t even because of traffic. I held my hair back with my fist. Somehow, I’d forgotten a hair tie. I think the normal thing to do would be to either deal with it and let it fly, or ask them to roll up the windows. But my hair was too long to let it fly—I don’t think Tate would much appreciate getting slapped in the face with it—and I was too anxious to say anything, so… it was going to be a long drive.

Especially because Colt had threatened bodily harm to Kendall if she crashed with “precious cargo” in the cab, so she’s driving exactly the speed limit, hands at ten and two. She reminds me a lot of Stephanie with her mothering ways.

Something touches my knee and I look down to see Austin’s hand behind her seat, a hair tie on her wrist. I look up to the mirror on her visor in confusion, but she just flaps her hand a bit until I lean forward and take it off.

“Thank you,” I mouth to the mirror, but she only winks, singing along to the throwback on the radio.

Colt had told me not to take it easy on his card, to buy any and everything I wanted, which seemed like a stupid thing to say to anyone, much less a pregnant woman. Unfortunately for him, Tate had overheard him say that. Each and every store we went in, Tate talked me into something or another, relating it all back to the baby.

After only an hour of mall-crawling, my legs were killing me. The veins in them were bulging and every step felt like swords were being shoved up my calves. Austin noticed before anyone else.

“Hey, I gotta sit down for a minute,” she says, suddenly plopping down on a bench next to a stone pillar. I immediately take the other side of it, grateful for the pillar to lean against.