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That first night I joined the family for dinner was the first time I truly allowed myself to see Lily as more than my bosses’ daughter.
She was home from school and was filled with stories about her time at college. I was entranced. Her smile, her eyes the color of golden sunrays in the morning, her zest for life, and her love of horses. It took everything I had not to stare at her like a lovesick puppy.
From that point on, I knew the moment she was near. I could sense her. Feel her. It was the strangest sensation. The last year, anytime she came home, she’d hung out in the barn more and more when I was working. Said she wanted to observe me with the horses. To say she was horse crazy would be an understatement. Lily loved horses, and she was damn good with them. Since moving back home for good, though, I felt like she wasconstantlyaround—and that wasn’t working out for my dick so much. Every time I saw her, I got hard.
There’d been so many times when I wanted to lift her chin and take her mouth with mine…but I loved my job. And Lily was hung up on her stupid idiot best friend, who’d been dating another woman for a good while. It was shocking to see how he hadn’t noticed what was right in front of him.
“What do you think we can do to make Lily see Ben isn’t the guy for her?” Nathan asked conversationally as we watched Rose and Bryson feed one another a slice of cake.
“It’s not for us to do anything, Nathan. Lily has to figure that out for herself.”
I could see him shake his head in my periphery. “He’s comfortable.”
Glancing at him, I asked, “Excuse me?”
Nathan shrugged. “That’s why she thinks she loves him. He’s a comfortable presence in her life. Or a…I don’t know, a familiar thing. Lily never was one to like change. So it makes sense she’d fall for her best friend.”
I raised a brow. “Are you sure you’re only seventeen?”
He laughed, but then his face grew serious. “Why can’t she like someone like you? You’d make a great boyfriend for her. You both love horses, my dad likes you and can’t stand Ben. You’re better-looking, you for sure have better hair, and you’re a great guy. Ben’s a total ass. I don’t get how my sister doesn’t see that.”
Clearing my throat, I replied, “Wow, thanks for all the compliments.”
He just grinned.
I looked back over the crowd. Lily had since walked away from the douchebag, who was now back at their table with his head hung over his phone.
“One of two things will likely happen here,” I started. “He’ll finally open his eyes and see what’s in front of him, or Lily will finally learn that he doesn’t share the same feelings as she does.”
Nathan sighed. “And then my sister will get hurt, and I’ll want to beat the living shit out of her best friend with a baseball bat.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
“Why are two of the most handsome men in the room standing off here in the corner?” Timberlynn asked as she walked up to us.
“I don’t know about Maverick, but I’m hiding.”
Timberlynn’s eyes went wide. “From what? Or should I ask from whom?”
Nathan glanced around the room and practically shrank back into himself. “I’m hiding from Haven Larson.”
Looking over her shoulder, Timberlynn asked, “Why?”
“Don’t look at her, Mom!” Nathan whisper-shouted.
Whipping her head back to face us, Timberlynn gave her son a questioning look. “Again, why are you hiding from her?”
“She keeps asking me to dance.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Timberlynn asked as I tried not to smile. Little Haven Larson wasn’t the type of girl I pictured chasing after a boy relentlessly. As a matter of fact, I’d seen her ask Nathan if he’d like to dance just once. When he said no, she turned and walked away with a shrug.
“Yes! She’s obsessed with dogs! And cooking.”
That time, I did laugh. “And what’s wrong with liking dogs and cooking?”
“I second Maverick’s question.”
Sighing, he said, “All she talks about is how she’s going to run her own business someday, and it will revolve around dogs. Why would anyone make a living with dogs?”
