30. Montana
Ihear the little fuckers before I even see them—my blood pressure skyrocketing with each bah and blet that comes from the pen behind the barn.
The one that’s supposed to be empty.
“Eddie!” I bark, startling at least one of the horses, but it can’t be helped. I do not do goats.
“Hey, Max!” Ellison says brightly as I push my way outside where no fewer than ten goats of varying sizes prance happily around the paddock. “Aren’t they the cutest?”
Ellison holds a small one in her arms and nuzzles her face against the white fur, her mischievous gaze never leaving mine. Hermie sits at her feet, his tongue hanging out as his tail moves fast enough over the ground to create a little dust storm.
Traitor.
“Eddie,” I say through clenched teeth because as hot as she is and as cute as the damn goat is—I do not do goats.
“I know you said you didn’t want goats, but Bea is looking to expand her business, and it’s silly for her to find somewhere to get goats’ milk when you have plenty of room right here. Besides, Grandad loves milking the cows, so I’m sure he’ll like the goats too—you know, really give him a challenge. Besides he’s really taken with that one, wants to name it Patches, you know, to go with Buttons.” She points at a little tan goat with white blotches, and I growl as I internally count to five with talk of cat- and goat-themed names.
“He’s already seen them?! The man just got out of the hospital; he doesn’t need a challenge. He just had stents up in his heart. Hell, him gettin’ the tractor stuck is challenge enough.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I pray for patience and everything else I can think of.
“To be fair, I had no way of knowing when they’d arrive.” She worries her bottom lip with her teeth, her eyes wide as she stares at me. “I can admit the timing could have been better with everything we have goin’ on.”
“You think?” I drag my hands down my face before staring up at the sky, the fight draining from me with a startling quickness. “Why does it have to be goats?”
Ellison squeals, and my lips twitch because I can’t stay mad at her even though I’m still pissed at the prospect of having these ornery little shits here.
“Look! Maybe we can even do goat yoga!” Ellison beams as she holds the little animal out to me, and I sigh as I take it.
“You better be naked when I get done today.”
“This morning wasn’t enough?” she teases with her head tilted to the side.
“Never enough, but also that was before you brought home goats.”
“They’re Bea’s goats.”
“Yeah, like that makes a difference.”
Her eyes sparkle as she pops up onto her toes and places a kiss on my cheek. “You can have anything you want.”
“I want a lot of things…” I let the words trail off, a wicked smirk playing on my lips.
“I just bet you do.”
“Hey, so you’re cool about the goats?” Archer asks cautiously as he follows the same path I took out of the barn. Bea gives me a nervous smile, eyeing the goat in my arms.
“I’m paying him in sexual favors,” Ellison says with a shrug as Bea nods and Archer’s face flames.
“Your sacrifice is noted and much appreciated, but I need to know, what’s your aversion to goats?” Bea says with far too much glee.
“There’s no story; I just don’t like them.”
“There’s definitely a story,” Ellison stage-whispers, earning a glare from me and another beaming smile from Bea.
“We’ve just never gotten along and?—”
“He’s scared of them,” Ellison says with a grin.
“I have a healthy respect for their personal space,” I counter and she snorts. “Ellison bet me I wasn’t faster than them in a foot race.”
“Hoof race.” Archer snickers and so do the girls.
“And that I couldn’t run from one side of the paddock to the other before one caught up to me.”
“And?” Bea asks, practically vibrating with anticipation at my obvious demise.
“I wasn’t watching where I was goin’ and one of ’em ended up blocking my path to the fence as the others kept racing toward me. I made a break for it, but one of the little fuckers bit me on the ass as my foot hit the bottom board of the fence.”
“Ripped half the seat of his jeans right off,” Ellison adds helpfully.
“Well, your experience is duly noted and your sacrifice appreciated,” Bea replies solemnly a half second before both girls dissolve into giggles. It’s adorable, and I can’t help but smile as they move toward the fence and proceed to name all the goats things like Lavender, Apricot, Cornbread, and a half dozen other food-inspired items I’m bound to forget.
“You love her?” Archer asks quietly as his eyebrows climb into his hairline. Before Bea, we never would have had a conversation like this—funny just how much a woman can change your life.
“Feels a lot like falling,” I say honestly as Hermie’s big head nudges at my hand. I’ve loved Ellison Mills my whole life. I loved her as the girl next door and my best friend and the girl who was determined to give me a heart attack simply because it was a Tuesday and she needed to let loose.
I’ve loved her platonically.
Romantically.
I’ve been in love with her a while.
But I’ve never gotten the chance to fall for her.
“I’m happy for you,” he says, his gaze locked on Bea. “I always knew you’d find this but me?” He chuckles softly. “I never thought I’d find it at all, let alone first.”
“Of course you would have,” I scoff, but he just shakes his head.
“Relationships come naturally to you—people and love; it’s all the same. You make it easy, man. You make people feel seen and heard. You never gave up on me.” Now it’s my turn to scoff, but he just shakes his head as he says, “If you hadn’t claimed me as family,”—he waves his hand around—“I wouldn’t be here.”
“You are family,” I say not because he’s blood but because to me he just is, “and you’re bein’ dramatic. How many people do you think would take me seriously about opening up a realty business in a small college town?”
“So you’re callin’ me a chump?” he asks, humor plain in his tone.
“Definitely.”
He snorts. “My bank account says otherwise.”
“Imagine if you’d let me really pick the name.” I pause for effect. “I bet we could have tripled our income.”
“Only because people would think we were running a brothel in Nowhere, Tennessee.”
“Discretion is key I’ve been told.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure they would have been more than a little disappointed to learn the Harness and Hoe was not some underground sex club.”
In reality, I’d had no intention of making our business sound like a southern brothel, but it had been a hell of a lot of fun getting Archer riled up over it. We’d settled on Sundown Realty as an ode to “Ain’t Going Down Till The Sun Comes Up” by Garth Brooks.
The man is a legend, and I’d only had to sing one and a half verses before Archer gave in and Sundown Realty was born.
While the fields of cotton were profitable, it wasn’t a sure bet. Weather, soil conditions, and a host of other factors played a role in our ability to keep the farm running year after year. We’d been lucky, keeping a hand in livestock to help supplement the need for more help as Grandad had stepped back from the heavy lifting. Archer’s situation had been more dire than mine, having lost half his soybean crop the prior harvest.
We’d made a plan and taken a risk that would have put us in a hole we never would have been able to crawl out of…but it worked.
And until recently, we’d managed to keep our ownership of the multimillion-dollar company under wraps. Some days I still couldn’t believe that we’d pulled it off—kept pulling it off and continued to grow despite being two guys who’d never had the heart to leave the land they’d inherited.
“I think the real miracle is that you were able to deliver that line hardly blushing at all.”
Archer rolls his eyes. “I sent you the listing with all the properties available from here to Nashville. More than a few that would work for us.”
“I’ll take a look tonight and we can set it up,” I finish as Bea and Ellison turn back to join us.
“I really do appreciate this, Montana,” Bea says as she rests her hand on my forearm. “And whatever soaps, lotions, you name it—they’re yours.”
“It’s…” I look at Ellison out of the corner of my eye. “It’s fine. Grandad likes that lavender one you make.”
“Of course.” She nods as she settles against Archer’s side, his arm coming around her with an ease I’ve only ever seen when he’s with her. “We need to stop at your house before we go to mine tonight.”
“Wait,” Ellison says as she stares at them. “I thought y’all lived together?”
This time, it’s Bea whose cheeks heat. “Not yet,” she says with a smile. “I was engaged before I moved here and it didn’t end well, and while Archer is nothing like my ex, we’ve been taking it slow.”
Ellison gives me the side-eye. “Are we doin’ it wrong, Max?” she asks, but the smile stretching across her face tells me there’s no way she thinks we’re doing it wrong.
Especially after last night.
Thank God.
But now all I’m thinking about is doing it and, fuck, the fact that she already promised to be naked when I got home.
And now I’m half-hard just thinkin’ about it.
“I think you make your own rules, Eddie.”
She grins. “But how come you don’t want to stay at my place?”
“For starters, you moved half your shit into my bedroom your third day here—not to mention that damn Christmas card that keeps reappearing no matter how many times I throw it out.”
“Christmas card?” Bea asks quietly.
“It’s hilarious; I’ll show you later,” Archer says with a snicker.
I narrow my gaze at him before turning my attention back to Ellison. “Besides, I’m not really up for a repeat of your father cockblocking us anytime soon.”
Bea’s eyes widen, and Ellison raises a shoulder and then lets it drop. “Agreed. Especially because you made me use my key instead of crawling through your window the next night.” Bea’s gaze bounces between us like she can’t quite tell if we’re joking. We’re not. “On the plus side, Dad hasn’t come back to the cottage unannounced after that incident.”
“It’s been like thirty-six hours,” I grumble as Archer looks wearily at me.
“I saw him talking to Arden James at the coffee shop. That’s weird, right?” he asks, and something niggles in the back of my mind. Evan Mills is still on my shit list, so I can’t distinguish which thoughts are rational as they race through my head.
“She reached out to me wanting to do a piece on the farm and our experimental pesticide success.”
My gaze slides to Ellison who frowns. “He said that a reporter reached out to him—it’s what got the ball rolling on him filing for divorce. Could it be a coincidence?”
“I dunno, Eddie.”
“I feel like you and I should talk—over coffee or wine, your choice,” Bea says as her head tilts to the side, her attention ping-ponging between us. My girl smiles widely and nods her gratitude at the reprieve evident.
“Look, Max, my second friend! I’ve made two friends since I’ve been back!” I chuckle even though my heart hurts for her. She’s making it a joke, but underneath I know she’s truly excited about the prospect of having people other than me in her corner—people who are invested in her and not just because of me.
For all her bravado, she’s still just a girl who’s never been able to take anyone at face value. There were always ulterior motives and backhanded compliments just this side of bless your heart.
I’d never blessed anyone’s heart, but the people Mr. and Mrs. Mills exposed their daughter to made me want to wipe out every other word in my vocabulary but those three.
“I’m proud of you, Eddie,” I say, throwing her a wink.
“Me too.”
“Am I chopped liver?” Archer asks, and even though he’s trying to look affronted, he misses the mark and just comes off looking confused.
With a smile on her face, Ellison walks over and wraps Archer in a tight hug. “I love seein’ you all grown up.”
“We’re basically the same age. You know that, right?”
She sighs and then pulls away. “Yeah, but you made it.” He stares at her, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “And it gives me hope that I will too.”