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He gave a shy laugh. “You don’t need to.” He managed to find his phone on the floorboard. “Shit. I’m late. I’ve got to go.”
I wondered if he’d be able to think clearly enough to manage working the rest of the night.
“Take care of yourself,” I said as he let himself out of the truck.
“Yeah. You… um…” He paused looking up at me, then quickly away. Was he hoping I’d give him my number or ask to see him again? I’d never been more tempted, but I knew better. “You too.”
He scurried away, and it was all I could do not to chase him.
4
GRANT
One month later
I drained my last sip of coffee and looked out across the pasture from the back porch of the ranch house. Most of the hands were already at work. I should be with them, but after weeks of working around the clock to get Paradise Ranch reopened for its primary purpose, my brother Rhys had insisted I sleep in and take the morning off.
Sleeping in for me meant sleeping until just after dawn, but I had to admit after the few hours of sleep I’d been subsisting on, it felt damn good to be better rested.
I’d accepted X’s offer like I knew I would. Sure, I’d sworn not to involve myself with organized crime again, but what the hell else was I going to do that would allow me to take care of my brothers, both the ones bound to me by blood and the ones I’d found in the marines. I hadn’t asked any of them to leave the service with me, but they had, saying they no longer wanted to serve under the man whose selfishness had led to my other-than-honorable discharge.
X was offering me a way to give my brothers a place to live as well as money to support themselves. I would have been a fool to turn down an opportunity like that.
I trusted X. If he said I’d really be paid the enormous sum he’d proposed, then I would be. The only promise of his I questioned was how easily I’d be able to refuse the men who required refuge. I knew from experience that mob bosses didn’t take no for an answer. I’d have to pray X would have my back when the wrong men—those who ruled like the Carlottis, the family who’d ordered my father’s execution—wanted my cooperation hiding their killers.
I’d spent a lot of hours gathering my crew. I’d kept on most of the men who’d been working for X and began making plans to restart the breeding program with Rhys and following that up with plans for him to take over training of the young horses. A job like that was what he’d dreamed of doing once he left the military.
I didn’t want Rhys to have much contact with the assholes who’d be staying at the ranch. Our guests wouldn’t be involved in the real work of the ranch, though X had told me I could specify them working as part of the safehouse agreement.
I was still working on convincing my military brothers to join us. Blade in particular. He hadn’t spoken since we’d rescued him, and I knew he needed a place where no one would bother him while he healed. Hopefully, he’d come around and take one of the cabins located near the southern edge of the property.
The two other men I wanted to bring onboard were finishing out their tours, but they’d be back in the States in a few months.
It was time to talk to the final man on my list—Rhys’s twin, Riley. Though he was better known as Rogue since he’d started riding competitively.
As if he knew I was trying to find a way out of the trip I needed to take, Rhys chose that moment to step out onto the back porch, coffee in hand.
“You heading to see Rogue?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I’ve got to.”
“He’s going to be thrilled to see you.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I guess he will, but he won’t be thrilled to hear what I have to say.”
“He already knows what happened, and he supports you as much as me and all the other guys.”
“Not all of them.”
Rhys scowled. “Those assholes don’t count. They never respected you. They were snakes who only cared about cheating their way to a promotion.”
“True enough, but that’s not what I meant. I know Rogue would have done the same thing.”
“Damn right. Of course, he never would’ve followed the rules in the first place.”
I snorted. Rhys was right. When we’d been left with few choices to support ourselves, Rhys and I had joined the marines, and Rogue had set out on the rodeo circuit.
He’d been a daredevil his whole life, and he’d gotten wilder with each passing year. “He’s not going to want to quit the circuit.”
