Red was a good summation of his life for the last couple of years. Harsh. Rough. Brutal.
He should find a wife who wouldn’t disrupt his life and be done with it. He should find a wife and have some kids and just move on.
But now Noah was back, and James wasn’t sure what the fuck that meant.
“Pretty boy.” Rye Harper put a booted foot on the second ring of the fence and stared out at Red.
James sighed. At least they hadn’t sent Max out. He had no delusions that the group hadn’t decided to “talk” to him. No one in the entire town understood what it meant to stay out of other people’s business. “He’s a pain in my ass.”
“The good ones always are.” Rye tipped his hat back. “In horses and women.”
Yep. He should have known. “Are you here to talk to me about Hope? You’re wasting your time because she’s told me she isn’t interested.”
But she had been. He’d felt her nipples and smelled the lovely scent of her arousal. If that fucker Noah hadn’t interrupted, he would have been balls deep inside her and groaning out his orgasm more than once. He knew that was true because once wouldn’t be enough. He’d need her over and over again. He would fucking imprint himself on her.
“I doubt that. But you have ignored her for nearly a year. You must suspect that would make an impression on her,” Rye replied.
If only he’d been able to ignore her. He’d always known the minute she walked in a room. “Rye, you know how hard it’s been. I haven’t had time to really date. This ranch took up every minute of the day until Trev and Bo got here.”
It wasn’t just Trev and Bo that had made a difference. It was the cash infusion they had brought with them. For the last year, it had been just him and Wolf and the hands he could hire for what little he could pay. Now he had some experienced hands, and it made a huge difference. He could breathe again. He could have a life again.
Rye leaned against the fence, looking every bit like a slightly disapproving older brother. “But you have something going with that woman right? The one with the dark-brown hair?”
Dark brown? That wasn’t the way he would describe Hope’s hair. Her hair was a rich brown threaded with gold, and when the light hit it just right, red. It was a soft color, and there was so damn much of it that he just wanted to thrust his hands in and pull on it. He could braid rope into it and make it so it was a gorgeous testament to D/s, the rope hanging lower than her hair, ready for her Master’s tug. “What are you talking about?”
“The woman from the Rep Theater?” Rye’s mouth flattened. “She’s telling every girl in town that she’s your girlfriend and they better back off. I was surprised. I was pretty sure you had a no-dating policy.”
Fuck a goddamn duck. “No. We went out a couple of times.”
“By going out, I assume you mean you fucked her a couple of times.”
He felt himself flush. Rye Harper was only a couple of years older than he was, but he’d been like a big brother to him and Noah. Max, Rye, and Stef Talbot had been the older boys they had looked up to. “Yeah. But, Rye, I made it clear I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I never lie to a woman. I want a good time and that’s all. You know how much time this ranch costs me? It isn’t exactly an eight-hour-a-day job.”
Even with his breathing room, he still didn’t have a ton of time. It would be years before the Circle G attained the kind of wealth that would allow him some real free time.
Rye’s face softened. “I know, Jamie. It’s twenty-four-seven and only because that’s all there is to give. It’s blood and sweat and tears, and never think for a single minute that your dads wouldn’t be proud of you.”
He hated the tears that threatened. “I don’t think so. I sold half our land.”
“Fred and Brian would have done the same damn thing. Don’t you dare think otherwise. They would have done anything it took to keep this place afloat. Your dads understood the meaning of compromise and partnership. Now, they would have preferred that it was Noah who stepped in, but in his absence, they would be proud of everything you did to keep their legacy alive.”
James found the words comforting even though he wasn’t sure he believed them. “I had friends who helped me.”
Max and Rye had supplied unpaid labor in bringing the herd in when the winter proved too much. The owner of the Feed Store Church had given him credit when he couldn’t pay. Mel had sat up with him during calving season, pulling each calf free of his momma and pronouncing them all free of alien influence. Nell and Holly had brought him food and sat with him while his father was dying. He loved this town. It was home. It was his heart. He would never be able to understand how Noah had left.
“And you always will. I know you’ll do right by Hope. Oh, you’re going to fight it and make some dumb-ass mistakes that you’ll pay for. If I could stop you, I would, but this is your path, and you’ll walk down it as you will. We all know Hope is going to be good for you. You’ll wise up. They didn’t send me out here to talk about Hope. I’m here to talk to you about Noah.”
Fuck. That was worse. He’d had months to think about Hope. He hadn’t had more than an hour to process the fact that Noah was back. “I don’t want to talk about Noah.”
“He’s your brother,” Rye pointed out.
“He left me.”
“And now he’s back, and you have to deal with him. The question is are you going to make him pay or are you going to be the magnanimous brother who welcomes him home?”
There was no question about that. “Make his ass pay.”
Rye laughed, the sound filling the air.
“I told you he was more like you than me.” Max sidled up to his brother. Their identical faces settled into grins.
“You did, indeed, brother.” Rye slapped his brother on the back.
It was what people who didn’t know them always mistook. James had known the brothers all of his life, and despite Max’s outer shell, he was actually the softer of the two. Max could growl all he liked, but when it came down to it, he found it difficult to maintain a true grudge. He would scratch and claw when he thought he was being rejected, but the minute someone needed something, he would quietly help.
Rather like Noah.
Just because he understood Noah didn’t mean James was willing to forgive him yet. “He leaves for five years with barely a phone call and then just waltzes in and expects me to welcome him with open arms? When he left, it didn’t just hurt me. It hurt this whole town. We were all counting on him.”
Max frowned. “You won’t get an argument out of me. We haven’t had a vet for four years because your brother is a dumb-ass, but we all knew he would be back. I can curse his name and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but damn, that boy’s been through something hard.”
“He’s not the same Noah who left here,” Rye added. “Talking to him for ten minutes proved that to me. He’s harder, and he’s just waiting for you to reject him. I think there might be a little piece of him that wants you to reject him.”
“Are y’all talking about that kid with the chip on his shoulder?” Nate asked. He walked up with Rafe, Cam, and Henry following behind him. It looked like all the men of Bliss had decided to descend. “That boy is in some kind of trouble.”
James rolled his eyes. “He’s not in trouble. He’s just out of money. His wife divorced him.”
Henry sighed. He looked slightly out of place among the ruggedly dressed men. Henry wore loose cotton pants and a sweater made out of something that didn’t involve an animal or manmade fibers. And the dude always rocked the Birkenstocks. Still, he had his unassailable place among these men. “We all knew that would happen, Jamie. She wasn’t good for him. It was only a matter of time until he came home.”