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I glanced up. “What are you thinking now?”

“I'm adjusting to Captain Perfect apparently owning clothes with holes in them.”

I looked down at the knee of my jeans. “These are comfortable.”

“They're possibly older than Keegan.”

“They are absolutely not,” I said.

“Close, though.”

I opened the door and held it for him before the insults could continue, although his smile followed me outside, and damn even in sweatpants he looked good.

We took the long route to the north pasture because I wanted to show him the farm properly, and if that meant Luc reached the gate ten minutes before we did, I was prepared to pretend not to notice.

The working barns came first. Luc employed two people full-time and several more seasonally, depending on what needed doing, and the operation had grown enough that I mostly stayed out of everyone's way unless I was home during the summer and somebody needed another pair of hands.

Ash slowed as we passed the equipment sheds, looking from the machinery to the fields beyond. “You actually make money from this.”

I gave him an offended look. “Did you think I grew decorative grass?”

“I thought you were a hockey player who happened to own some horses. Apparently, you're secretly a farmer.”

“I grew up on one. This one's just bigger than anything my family ever had. Luc runs the farm. I'm the idiot who still thinks being home means I should be out there working with everyone else.”

Luc turned around several yards ahead of us. “Not in the new tractor.”

Ash immediately looked interested. “Why not?”

“There was an incident.”

“What kind of incident?”

“An extremely uninteresting one.”

Luc didn't even bother turning around this time. “He backed the old tractor into the equipment shed.”

“It was dark.”

“The shed did not move.”

Ash's laughter followed us halfway across the yard, and I was still attempting to explain the terrible visibility when he had to hold his side.

My embarrassment disappeared immediately.

I reached for him instinctively, stopping myself before I crowded him. “Your ribs?”

“They're fine. Apparently laughing at you is strenuous.”

“You should probably stop.”

“I'll take it under advisement.”

He bumped his shoulder gently against mine as we started walking again, and the contact was so casual that it took me a second to understand why it affected me.

I let the warmth stay.

Étienne noticed me before we reached the horse pasture.