Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
ETHAN
E mily leans around me as soon as the last firework’s light fades out, practically climbing into Beau’s lap to get close enough to Brielle. Beau eases back onto his hand, an eyebrow raised. Triston’s breath catches in his throat as he stills beside me.
“We’re going to go to the Outpost.” My sister’s voice isn’t quite a shout, but it’s a near thing. “You should come with us!”
Camden stirs on Brielle’s lap and clutches the bear closer to him, though his eyes don’t open. He made it through the first half of the fireworks before falling asleep against Brielle. Not even the overdone ending was enough to wake him up.
“Oh! Can we invite ourselves?” Olivia says from behind me, leaning into the space between Brielle and me.
A space that has been too damn small the entire night. Too damn small and yet a gaping cavern, too.
Emily grins and nods, giving up leaning over the others and moving to kneel on the blanket in front of us. She pushes away the light-up wand I’d gotten for Camden without missing a beat.
“Of course! Devynn said they have a guest dancer this entire weekend, so there’s sure to be fun dances happening.”
The girls start chatting away, and I tune them out, grabbing all of Camden’s items and shoving them into the backpack stashed behind me.
“So what do you say, Bri?” Olivia asks, pulling my attention back to them.
Brielle doesn’t say anything. My gaze travels up to her face, drawn like a damn magnet. She bites her lip, her eyebrows furrowed with her frown. She glances down at my son and then pulls out her phone.
“I think I’ll just go home,” she says after a moment. Emily and Olivia both groan. “There’s a tattoo artist that’s in Jackson this weekend. She’s doing a few sessions.”
Melissa grins. “Is it that girl you’ve been following from Los Angeles?”
Brielle nods. Melissa cheers.
“Oh, yes! Definitely want to go with you. Her work is stunning. Did you already book an appointment?”
Brielle shifts her phone so Melissa can see it. Emily and Olivia lean over, too.
“Oh, I thought you were texting Caleb this whole time,” Emily says with surprise.
Brielle ducks her head, her embarrassment written across her body. A growl boils up my throat, but I force it down.
“We should make it a girls day!” Olivia says. “I’ve been wanting to head up there and start getting things for the nursery anyway.”
I get to my feet and sling the backpack over a shoulder before I do something completely stupid and mark Brielle in the middle of this field surrounded by my family and friends. Everyone else seems to interpret it as permission to start packing up.
“Any news on when Caleb will be back?” Joan asks. She shakes out the blanket her and Mark were using and folds it away, tucking it under one arm.
“Last I heard it looked like maybe Monday, but it probably will only be long enough for his reset. Colorado’s burning bad right now.”
She nods and sighs. “Well, we’re happy to take Camden as much as needed. Beau said you’re doing second round breeding for the next week or two.”
I blow out a sigh and stretch my neck before nodding. This entire next week is going to be early mornings and long days while we move around the herds so the cows that didn’t take the first time get bred again. And hopefully they all take.
Mark steps around her, his eyes trained on one of the girls.
“You want me to take him, Brielle?” he asks.
I turn, scowling. Mark doesn’t need to take Camden. I’m perfectly capable.
Before she can say anything, though, Melissa mutters a curse.
“I drove Brielle here. Let me drop her off and then I can meet you there,” she says.
Brielle frowns and turns to her, her arms carefully caging Camden’s limp form. “I’m sure I can find a different ride home. You guys go ahead. I’ll text you the timing for tomorrow once the artist gets back to me.”
Joan frowns. “We need to swing by the hotel and check on everything. If you don’t mind waiting through that, we’re happy to swing you up to the ranch.”
“Mom?” Emily raises her voice. “Do you guys have room in your car? Brielle needs a ride.”
Mom shakes her head. “We carpooled with the Millers.”
Emily turns to Hudson, but I cut her off.
“I can take her.”
The words are out of my mouth before I can keep them where they belong—in my damn head.
I’ve just spent the last hour with her so close to me my dick has been perpetually half-hard and aching. And now I just offer to have her in my own damn truck? Joan even said she could take her. And God knows Hudson made some deal with Caleb about watching over Brielle while he’s gone. A ride to Emily’s guest house would fall well within the scope of something like that.
Melissa cocks an eyebrow as she tilts her head. Her gaze cuts through me.
She knows .
Well, it’s not like she didn’t know the first time, either.
Fuck, what the hell am I even thinking? First time implies I’m going to kiss Brielle again, feel her curves against mine, shove my knot into her until she forgets all about her dead Beta husband. And Caleb.
Mint bleeds out from me.
Melissa’s eyes narrow. I let my scowl deepen, trying to tell her to keep her damn mouth shut without making everyone else suspicious as fuck. I’m literally just giving her a ride to Emily’s place. She’s said nothing to me since I lost my cool while camping, not a single look or whisper that could feed a whisper of hope that she actually wants something.
“We should get going before Camden wakes up, then,” Brielle says in her quiet voice that shoots right through me. The goodbyes are quick and efficient.
Once we’re several feet away from the group, I say, “Here, I can take him. He’s pretty heavy.”
She hesitates, and I chance a quick look at her. She’s biting her lip again.
“It’s fine,” she says. “It’s not that long of a walk, and there’s no reason to risk him waking up from an unnecessary transition. Getting him into the car will be hard enough.”
Jealousy rises in my gut at her easy understanding of kids. The idea of her fucking that Beta gets my blood boiling. But the thought of her pregnant because of him? Of having his kids? I force a swallow to keep my reaction internal.
Fuck, I don’t know what to do with any of this. The jealousy, the need for her, the grief and guilt at the idea of moving on from Kayla. It’s all a tangled mess in my mind—and I have no tools to manage it.
She pulls the back door open and gets Camden situated while I’m still stuck in my head.
“Shit,” I mutter. I slide behind her and set the backpack at Camden’s feet. “I can get him buckled.”
She backs away from me without comment, leaving his harness only halfway done up. My hands shake as I get the rest of it squared away. Her gaze, full of a heavy understanding and anxiety that most wouldn’t notice, is on me as I close the door. A thrill goes through me that I do notice. I notice every damn thing about her.
The silence extends between us, that same weighted feel to it as her eyes.
Something shifts, something nameless and intangible that I couldn’t describe with all the words I’m shit at using. The desire to feel her, to pretend the last ten years haven’t happened and it’s that first Fourth of July, overpowers whatever preservation is still in me. She turns toward the door, grabbing the handle, at the same moment I palm her waist. Her eyes are wide as her lips drop open.
I have her pinned against the truck, my mouth on hers, before she can gasp her surprise. She shifts against me, and something about the move dislodges her scent blockers. Lavender overwhelms me so fast, it’s a miracle my knees don’t buckle.
Her hands wrap around my neck, playing with the pieces of hair my hat doesn’t quite contain. I run a palm down her thigh and then urge it around my leg, trying to get as close to her as I fucking can. I need to burrow into her, carve myself on her bones so there’s no question of whether she’s mine.
I break the kiss to run my lips across her jaw and then her ear, biting the damn tattoo that is another man’s mark on her. Her chest heaves as she pants, pressing her body into mine so completely, it’s all I can think about. Her body, her scent, her mark that isn’t mine .
“Princess,” I mutter. I don’t mean to say it, have no idea why the nickname I’d once cherished and said with a smirk every damn day falls from my lips.
Her breath catches, and time suspends again. Her nails dig into my shoulders even as her body relaxes against me.
“Ethan,” she whispers.
Need slams into me so hard, so fast, in a way it hasn’t since Kayla. I palm her other leg and pull it around my waist, grinding into her. Her scent grows stronger, and I hum against her skin.
A loud peal of laughter cuts through our heavy breathing.
Brielle freezes.
“Shut up, they did not!” It’s Emily’s bright voice.
It’s more effective than a bucket of ice water.
I let Brielle’s feet drop from around me and take a step away. Her movements are jerky as she adjusts her dress. Her scent fades away with the small breeze. She gets the door open and slides in while I’m still walking around to the other side.
I catch my sister’s curious gaze as I start toward the highway. Brielle leans against the door, her hands wedged under her thighs.
We don’t say a word to each other the entire long ass drive to Emily’s place. But that doesn’t stop the words from racing through me.
Brielle’s my scent match.