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“Do you really need all that? I could keep you going for a while if I win this weekend.”
“No. I won’t live off you risking your life.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? Risking your life to make sure you can support me? Do you ever actually listen to yourself, Grant?”
I blew out a harsh breath. “Are you in or not?” I wasn’t going to beg him to leave the circuit, no matter how much I wanted to. If I had to, I’d keep hammering at him until he gave in. That’s what I’d always resorted to in the past.
“Hell yes I’m in.”
My mouth fell open before I could school my reaction. “Are you playing with me?”
“Seriously? You’re offering me a chance to live on a ranch and serve as a bodyguard for criminals and assassins while breeding top-notch stock. Of course I’m saying yes. It’ll be like playing secret agent on horseback. What could be better than that?”
“I didn’t think you’d ever want to leave the rodeo.”
Rogue grinned. “I loved the circuit when I was eighteen and it was all shiny and new. I got all the women and men I wanted and earned plenty of money.”
“And now?”
“Do you really not understand that I stayed in so I’d have some savings?”
I had definitely not thought that was what he was doing. “I thought you blew all your money on partying.”
Rogue gave me a disgusted look. “Just because I did that the first year doesn’t mean I never grew up. I’ve got plenty of money in the bank.”
“Wait a minute. You’ve been building up savings? For real?”
“Yes. Shocking, isn’t it?” He made a disgusted noise. “I kept bull riding so there’d be something in the bank when you and Rhys returned. If you returned.”
“If we—”
“Don’t you know I worried about you every single day you were over there?”
Tears stung my eyes.
Rogue looked both hurt and disgusted. “You thought I was drunk off my ass or high and didn’t give a damn about you, right?”
“I… No. I just thought…” I gestured at the RV. “Why are you living like this when you have savings?”
“That money’s for the future. I don’t need more right now. I’m on the road most of the time.”
All this time I’d thought he was living for himself, but he was trying to save me as much as I wanted to save him. “You don’t have to ride those damn bulls anymore. I’m back for good, and I can take care of you now.”
“You don’t have to take on that burden. Rhys and I are grown. We can all take care of each other.”
I wasn’t going to relinquish my role that easily, but I pulled him into a hug, and we held each other tight like we had in the old days before Rogue started fighting against everything I tried to do for him. “I love you, Grant.”
“I love you too, Ri.” It had been years since I’d even thought of him by his childhood nickname.
“Don’t call me that in front of anyone at the ranch. I go by Rogue now.”
“Behave, and maybe I won’t.”
“You’re still bossy as shit, aren’t you?”
“I need to know you’ll listen to me when it’s important. A friend trusted me with this ranch. He’s paying me more money than I ever thought I’d see. I’m not going to have anyone screw it up.”
“Not even some crazed assassin whose family is hiding him away?”
