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And if he’d used those hands on Angel?
His anger consumed him. Porter parked in front of the barn and slammed the door. Somehow that didn’t make him feel any better as he made his way to the house. A shadow moving purposefully over the balcony made him jump back. As soon as he recognized Cole’s Stetson, Porter had to hold his chest to talk it down from having a heart attack.
“What are you doing out here?” Porter complained.
“Just got back from country dancing.” Cole stepped out of the shadows, and Porter noticed that his T-shirt wasn’t filthy with dirt, a sure sign that a Slade had stepped out for the evening. Cole also had a circle of rope looped over his shoulder. “I had to check on our momma cow,” Cole said. “She’s doing all right for herself after tangling with that bear.”
Trust Cole to be the perfect blend of responsible and social. Porter could take a few tips, but for now, it felt providential to find his brother up and about, because this burden was getting too heavy for him, and he desperately needed to unload it fast. “Hey, I need your advice,” Porter said.
Cole threw his rope off to the side, definitely multi-tasking his brother. “What’d you do this time?”
There was the difficulty. Porter didn’t know how to form the question without giving away every horrible thing weighing down his conscience. Cole might be the youngest in the family, but he definitely thought his older brothers—minus Hudson, of course—were imbeciles. Hudson had reached sainthood in Cole’s mind and could do no wrong.
Maybe it helped that Hudson never got himself into trouble like this.
“Okay,” Porter tried to tread carefully. “I’m going to be vague right now because uh… honestly, it’s none of your business, but…”
“You’re not pulling a West?” Cole asked quickly.
Porter made a face. What? No!Please say I’m not!“Would you just listen? I took Angel out, and the night was going pretty good, but then it went bad.”
“Wait.” Cole lowered himself on the porch swing and let out a sigh of relief to be off his feet. Porter watched on with impatience. The guy was far too old before his time. “That’s better,” Cole said. “Too many line dances tonight. Now, what did you do on this date?”
“We painted Grey’s cabins, and then I took her to Funches’s.”
Now it was Cole’s turn to scoff. “You didn’t take her to see the puppy and the baby chicks? You put her to work and had her meet the craziest man in existence, all on a first date? Youarean idiot.”
“Well…” Porter had no defense for himself. “Youwere supposed to help us paint.”
“Again… I’m not the idiot here.”
Angel also doesn’t know that I’m basically pretending to be Nash, but he kept that part quiet. Cole didn’t need any more ammunition against him. Porter tried to explain himself. “We were having a great time, then we weren’t, then… I kissed her, but maybe I shouldn’t have.”
Cole’s brow shot up. “You didn’t want to kiss her?”
“Oh, I wanted to kiss her.” Porter was not used to this confiding stuff, even to Nash, and his very soul withered in agony under the pressure. “More than anything I wanted to, which was probably why I did it.”
“Shedidn’t want to kissyou?”
That was quite the accusation. Porter remembered that fiery kiss. Angel’s every move was seared into his mind. No, she’d been into it. “I’m pretty confident that she did.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
Now was the part where he would let his stupidity shine. Porter hurriedly explained, “There was something that I wanted to tell her first, and now…”
Cole’s face was unreadable. “Did you pull a prank on her and now you don’t think it’ll come out the way that you originally thought because you assumed that you were so hilarious at the time when you did it, but now you know her a little better, and you realize that no, she’s not going to like it?”
Cole knew him too well.
Porter crossed his arms defensively across his chest. “Yeah.”
“Okay, take her out on a really fun date this time—not some work outingdisguisedas a date—soften her up,reallysoften her up with some sort of grand gesture, do what you have to do, and then apologize and tell her what you’ve been up to… and then promise her that you’ll never do it again. And mean it this time, because honestly, Porter, you suck.”
Despite his doubts, Porter burst out into a laugh. “Man, you’re a preacher, Cole.”
Cole smirked. “I’m sorry, but who’s the older one here?”
“Ugh. Hudson. He is,” Porter wasn’t about to let Cole get away with acting so superior. “And that’s Saint Hudson to you! Thanks for the advice. Oh, and by the way? If you see Angel, don’t tell her that I have a twin.”
