Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
W est woke up alone, but the sheets smelled like Trey, and so did the pillows. He reached over, just to see, and it was still warm on Trey’s side of the bed.
He could hear Trey, the soft voice on the porch outside his bedroom on the near side of the office. And West knew he was talking to that little girl, that housekeeper, the kids’ mom.
He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop.
But then he’d known that every time he listened in.
He’d spent a lot of mornings listening to Trey pour his heart out. He felt bad about it, but obviously not bad enough to stop. It was like… He hadn’t known at first. He’d thought he was doing it because he was jealous.
He knew better now. He wasn’t stupid, and while he could tell Trey loved that little girl dearly, Trey was right; he hadn’t been in love with her.
Trey rarely said anything that he wouldn’t tell West, if he was honest. The man talked about the kids for the most part. Sometimes he talked about going blind and how much that hurt and how hard it was. Sometimes he talked about West.
That was why West was still listening. Because it made him feel like he was worthy of trying to win Trey back somehow.
There was never any doubt that Trey had wanted him, after all. He’d been the bad guy during the break, the one who’d broken both their hearts, not Trey.
And it hadn’t destroyed Trey. Hell, him leaving, Trey’s friend dying, getting kids, going blind, none of it had destroyed Trey.
But West had sort of suspected that it was easy for Trey to let him walk away. And he knew now that it hadn’t been.
In fact, West knew it had hurt, and hurt bad. West had needed to process those emotions a little bit, honestly, because part of him felt good about how the situation had worked out, and it was sick and wrong to be proud Trey cared enough that it hurt when they broke up.
Another part of him was devastated he’d hurt a man he loved.
Part of him was wondering, would he do it again?
He’d heard Trey say it. He’d thought it himself. He had everything now that he wanted—a chance to have Trey back in his life, a ranch, freedom. He could cowboy up. He didn’t have to lose a thing.
What kind of a person did that make him? And was he good enough? Could he make it up? Could he be the person Trey needed him to be?
He stepped toward the door, smiling as he saw Trey out there with a heated blanket, a cup of coffee, and a free-standing propane heater near his feet firing away so he could have his outside talks to that little girl.
“Honest to Pete, I was. I’ll tell you that I was scared to death, except I wasn’t. I was so fucking pissed off. I swear to God. Kait, I…I wasn’t going to give in, and it wasn’t about the money. I’d have given him everything in the safe had he just asked, had he come to me and said, ‘Hey, I got a need. Can you give me some money?’ I’d have given it to him, but he had to come in there with Maria all bruised and a gun and people tied up. My little girl—our little girl—sitting there in her little room and knocking on my door going, ‘Daddy, it’s cold.’ I had to tell her it was snowing inside.
“Swear to you, lady, had he so much as turned toward that door, I’d have beaten him to death where he stood. But then West was there. Somehow West knew, and he got Zoe out. Then he came in, and it was cowboys and cowboys.” Trey laughed, the sound a little hysterical.
“I’ve never been so glad to hear anybody in my whole life. And now he’s sleeping in my bed. And I can’t figure out whether or not I need to scratch my watch or wind my butt. I’m supposed to be the smart one, and I swear to you he makes me just about dumb.
“I’ve missed him for so many years. And it’s like God said, here, let me take and take and take from you, but I’m going to give and give and give to you, and we’re going to settle out. And I don’t know how to feel.”
And neither did West.
He wanted to be a good thing in Trey’s life. And he was going to figure out how to be for more than just orgasms. Westin McCoy was going to figure out how to be a better man for Trey.
“Morning, baby,” he said softly, not wanting to startle Trey.
“Hey. Did you get you a cup of coffee?”
“Not yet.” He moved up to bend and press a kiss to Trey’s cold lips. “I’ll go grab one. I just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
“Nope. I’ll come in for breakfast in a bit.”
“Yeah, you better watch it. Noah will be up soon.”
“It’s gotten later as it’s gotten colder. Did you notice?”
West chuckled. “I did. But he’s still excited to go.”
“He is. Here, I’ll come in with you. It’s bitter. I’m going to have to stop coming out in the morning. I don’t want my balls to fall off.”
“No, we’d both miss them. Your balls, I mean.” He took Trey’s coffee cup and turned off the heater as Trey folded up the blanket and stowed it in the press.
“Well, for a while there I thought I would never use them again, but things are looking up.” Trey slid a hand into his, and oh, it was cold.
“Yeah? I like that. Optimism.”
“Or orgasms.”
He laughed right out loud. “That too. You think Mark will be okay today?”
“Hmmm?” Trey sighed. “I hope so. I mean, if I were him, I might be running for the hills. He didn’t sign on for hostage situations. But it’s not like he can run off. He doesn’t drive.”
“That’s cold, baby.” He squeezed Trey’s hand. “How are you ?”
“I’m okay. I was so damn mad, but the kids helped ease that back, and then you—” Trey chuckled. “You worked magic.”
He snorted. “I was lucky. I knew you wouldn’t shut the door against Zoe. I knew that was a red flag and a half, hand to God.”
Trey nodded to him. “I was praying hard that you would come. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
“No way.” And he was still thanking God half a day later. “And thank God for Ben. He took Zoe right off and made her think it was a game. That was a stroke of genius.” West moved to pour himself a cup of coffee. “You want another one, baby?”
“I do.”
He poured them both one, then added cream to his.
Mark came rushing in about five minutes later, screeching to a halt when he saw them leaning against the counters. “I’m late. I’m sorry.”
“Mark. It’s barely light.” Trey shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Yeah.” Mark sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t sleep very well.”
West nudged Trey with his hip to warn him that he was about to do something. “Well, I can cook breakfast if you want to go back to bed for a bit.”
Trey rolled his eyes. “We can just feed everyone cereal.”
“But you two cooked last night.” Mark rolled up his sleeves and put on an apron. “But maybe I’ll have a nap once Noah goes to school? Just for an hour or so?”
“That sounds fine.” Trey smiled in Mark’s direction. His eyes had to be bothering him, the way he was squinting. “I’ll handle Zoe today. And I’m looking into nannies again.”
West wasn’t sure how he felt about Trey getting a nanny to watch the kids. But he also knew that Trey had businesses, he had things to do, and Zoe was home for three more years full-time. It seemed like the smartest decision.
“Boss?” Mark gave Trey an almost shy glance—tentative, curious, but somehow hopeful. “You know, I’ve been thinking about it and… I have a sister.”
“Mark, I’m gay.” Not to mention Trey was sleeping with West, thank you.
“No! No, she’s married, but she has her early childhood education degree.” Mark stopped, just kind of chuckled like he was gathering his courage. “Well, you know her wife is carpenter. She was doing her custom stuff for this furniture company, and she just got laid off. I was telling them about the ranch and how happy I am here. I mean, yesterday was hard. In fact, yesterday sucked, but that’s one day. I’ll never let it happen again.” Mark rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I’m a giant dork, but Lisa likes kids and she…she just needs a break and I think it’s the same with Melinda. She can make cabinets, furniture, build houses, repair stuff. All she needs is a little space and something to encourage her, I guess. God, I feel stupid. It’s very early.”
“Have her send me her resume and some references.” Trey said, about the time that West went, “I could use a carpenter.”
“For what?” Trey asked. “Are you gonna have her make fancy dog houses?”
“I already got you to pay for that.” West winked before he realized that Trey probably couldn’t tell. “No, I was thinking for upkeep on the houses, rebuilding barns, that sort of shit. There’s ten thousand things that a carpenter could do around here. It would be good to have somebody on the payroll. Even if we only had her on part-time, if we gave them housing and then she’d have time to do her own thing.”
“I’m gonna be having an entire town here at the ranch. Cowboys, housekeeper, nanny sister and handyman wife. Good Lord and butter.” Trey was joking, he could tell. There was a smile playing around his lips, and seeing it made him happy. Trey loved building communities. That was why he’d been so damn successful at his businesses. He loved doing this shit.
“I’ll make pancakes and bacon, I think. Then I’ll go take a nap after I talk to my sister. You’re going to like her, boss. She’s a good lady. She loves kids.” Mark was beaming, despite the tired lines on his face.
“Yeah, good, because about the time that Zoe’s done with needing a nanny, Mal’s gonna still need one for another bunch of years. Might as well keep it in the family, right?” Trey raised his coffee mug to Mark.
“Yeah. Yes, sir. I’ll get on the food.”
“You are such a sucker,” Trey whispered to him as they moved to sit at the kitchen table to get out of the way.
“Me? Shit, baby. You were made for this,” West pointed out. And he would be super glad to get Trey a team of trusted people who could be there to help. Mark and Trey’s assistant both needed days off…
And there would be times when West was away for days at a time. The gather. Branding. Moving pastures. Riding the damn miles of fence.
Weirdly enough, the idea he would be gone for days at a time, missing the kids day-to-day, not seeing Trey, all of it—it didn’t suit him at all.
That was new. The not needing to get away, to get his ass on a horse and disappear for a week or two.
He didn’t know what to think about that. He was going to have to put it in his pocket and pull it out later to look at.
Damn.
“You okay, honey?” Trey asked, and Mark blinked at them, owlish.
He shook his head at Mark, just once. He wasn’t going to lose the opportunity of that honey, not one second. “I’m fine, baby. I was just woolgathering.”
“Well, good deal, as long as you were gathering the wool.” Trey’s eyes sparkled. “Have you ever thought about getting alpacas?”
Oh lord. “I have, but not for wool. That’s a lot of work. I’ve thought about getting some for defending other animals, but not really. Not unless we had somebody who’s had that as their own personal—alpaca project. I’m really more of a horse guy.”
“Huh. Well. I don’t know anything about alpacas except that they have long necks. Or are those llamas?” Trey tilted his head. “What’s the difference between an alpaca and a llama?”
“I’ve never ranched alpacas or llamas, babe. I don’t know, but I can look it up for you if you’d like.” Little fucker.
Trey shook his head. “Nope, I’m perfectly capable of looking it up all by myself. I will inform you later, and if you don’t be nice, I will end up buying you two dozen alpacas and making you take care of them. And I’m the boss so I can do that.”
“All right, all right. Just no buffalo.”
“No buffalo or bison.”
He was going to strangle Trey or kiss him stupid. “Either one. I’m really not interested in either one. Or, for that matter, yaks because I know that was the next thing you were going to ask.”
“Actually… I was going to ask you if that big herd of elk is still running out there, and if someone is taking care of it. I mean, I’m assuming we have to take care of it, the herd. Because we don’t want them to get sick. They’re awful pretty.”
This was where he was going to have to explain to Trey that, in order to make the herd healthy, they were going to have to cull it. And he knew how Trey felt about hunting.
So West decided to take the high road and not mention it. “I have a specialist coming in to look at the herd and make sure what we need to do to take care of it, yes. You don’t have to stress it. You just leave that to me.”
He knew that Trey knew there was hunting going on. He also knew that Trey knew the elk meat that showed up at the ranch didn’t just appear from thin air.
But it was a pleasant fiction, and they all sort of went with it.
Trey was one hard thought away from being a vegetarian. That wouldn’t work for West, though he supposed Mark could be creative…
And here he was making plans to have all his meals up at the house.
One orgasm did not a we’re-back-together make.
Mark grinned, his head down as he stirred up pancake batter. West might kick his butt.
Noah trailed into the kitchen, feet dragging, hair every which way. “Morning, Da. Mr. West.”
“Morning, kiddo.” He thought Noah was so freakin’ cute first thing in the morning, his sleepy self like a tiny zombie. He just couldn’t quite get himself awake.
“Pancakes for breakfast,” Trey told him.
“Cool.” Noah slumped into the chair next to Trey, and then leaned against him. He dozed right off, and West chuckled.
“I’ll go get Miss Zoe up so she can have breakfast with us.” Zoe napped a lot on the way to take Noah to school and on the drive back. But she always wanted to go.
“Thank you, West.” Trey rocked Noah, nice and easy.
“Not a problem.” Zoe was a doll, and he loved the way she woke up, all smiling and snuggly.
She was asleep, butt in the air, like she was a wee baby.
He went to pat her back, grinning at how she burrowed into the covers. “Miss Thing. It’s time for breakfast.”
“Mmmmph.” She raised her head and glared at him. “I was sleeps.”
“I know. We’re having pancakes.”
“Num!” She flung covers and squishy toys everywhere and leaped out of bed. Where she promptly tangled up her feet and tipped back over on the mattress.
“Oof.”
“Hey, that was quite a gymnastics move, little bit.” West bent down to lift her up. “Let’s hit the potty, and then get your robe, huh? It’s a little chilly.”
“Mm’kay. Do you think Mark will put chippies in my cancakes?”
“Maybe. He might be putting blueberries in.”
She tilted her head, her hair a wild tangle. “I like those.”
“I know.” West kissed the top of her head. He took her potty, waited to see if she needed help, then got her washed up. How was this his life now?
It was glorious.
He took her to get her robe, then they headed to the kitchen, where things were starting to smell really good, and where Trey and Noah were dozing in their chairs. He had to admit that he loved these mornings.
He wanted this to be a permanent position…