Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Kate
Bolstered by the backing of my fire guys, I spend the drive to Gus’s with the windows down and the radio cranked with angry metal music, letting my thoughts spiral through the last few conversations I’ve had with the Adams men.
By the time my tires hit the gravel drive, I’ve talked myself into a good mad.
I’m also irritated at myself for putting myself into the situation where I lost my independence—something my parents drilled into me from a very young age. I thought I’d learned that lesson well, but here I am, shacking up on a friend’s couch while searching for an apartment I can afford.
As I roll to a stop, the main two objects of my ire step onto the newly boarded front porch. Gus loops his fingers through the straps of his overalls. He’s wearing his Sunday best, as he used to call them. A fancier version of his everyday’s, without holes in them.
Vaughn leans a shoulder against the beam that supports the roof of the covered porch. The tight Henley pulls snug at the shoulders and biceps, while the well-worn denim jeans hug his muscular thighs.
The visual perfection of this man makes me second-guess why I would do anything other than wrap my legs around that tapered waist and ride him until I couldn’t see straight.
“Fucking hell, you horndog. He’s just a dude,” I mutter to the sudden silence of my car. Jesus.
Gus says something to Vaughn, who straightens and descends the stairs, headed to my door. It’s then I notice he’s barefoot.
Gah. My kryptonite. Jeans and bare feet. The universe isn’t playing fair with me today. I turn the car off as Vaughn opens my door.
“Kate.” It’s chivalrous and welcoming, though how he manages to infuse all of that into my name is a mystery.
I glare up at him, suspicious. Why is he acting like this? “Vaughn.”
I take his offered hand, ignoring the tingles that shoot up my arm as he helps me from the car. I also ignore the heat that sweeps over my back when he follows me up the steps.
Gus gives me a solemn nod and leads the way to matching brand-new rocking chairs, facing westward, as if they were meant to be enjoyed while sunset gazing.
“These are nice,” I note, trailing a finger across the back of one.
“Vaughn’s doing,” Gus supplies as he lowers into the one on my left. Man-snack takes the one on my right, and I am surrounded by the Adams men’s strategic attack.
“How’s training going?” Gus asks, and it takes me by surprise. He’s never had a nice word to say about recruit school. For a while, I didn’t even know he paid attention to me at all, other than to make a mess for me to clean up.
“It’s tough, but I’m hanging in there.”
“I figure you’ll beat all of those little pansy asses by the end of it.”
“Gus,” Vaughn warns. “Kate’s not here for you to disparage her crew.”
Whoa. Wait. Is Vaughn on my side?
Gus clears his throat and sets the rocker in motion. “I’m just saying she’s better than all of them.”
Well. That was… sweet.
“Okay, you got me out here. What now?” I glance between the two.
Neither answer. They just look out to the field like it has the answer.
Finally, Vaughn’s soft voice cuts through the tension.
“We weren’t very kind to you. You’ve been thrust into the middle of a family feud decades in the making, and it’s been unfair.
Then to top it off, we were both jerks when we should’ve been handling business. ”
“We want you to come back, Katie,” Gus says, voice thick with something I can’t pinpoint. “It ain’t right you’re sleeping on a couch when you’ve got a perfectly good room here. Plus, this one here”—he gestures to Vaughn—“doesn’t know any of the good movies.”
Vaughn clears his throat behind a scowl at Gus and adds, “I think it would be good for everyone if you would choose to come back. You have a solid place to rest and study, Gus has someone here in the event something medical happens, and I’m here to help rebuild the farm, and fix the things that need attention. ”
I let their proposals hang in the air as I watch the field beyond the house. Let them stew in their own anxiety.
Gus pats the arm of his chair. “Mainly, I’m trying to apologize for everything that happened and making you feel like you needed to leave.”
Vaughn leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. It’s an odd way to sit in a rocker, and it distracts me from the emotion in Gus’s voice that threatens to bring me to my knees.
“I’m sorry for misleading you, and for not being straightforward from the jump. Won’t happen again,” he says, voice sounding warm and contrite, and entirely delicious. I’m going to have to get this overactive libido under control. I’ve never had a visceral response like this to any other man.
“Laying it on pretty thick, aren’t you?” I ask to distract myself from the direction my mind wants to err toward.
I feel their attention snap to me.
“If I’m to come back, we’re going to have some ground rules.”
“Name your conditions,” Vaughn says.
“I’ll meal prep, but someone else has to do the shopping.
I’ll help out around the farm on the weekend, but this class is showing me that I won’t have much to give in the evenings.
And Gus will have to be good and take care of himself because I won’t be around during the day to babysit and make sure he’s not eating donuts and—”
“I can manage fine on my own,” Gus confirms. “I’ll behave.”
I don’t know what I expected, but just being back on this property has felt like being home.
There’s something about the place that settles my bones.
Do I believe their apology? Yes. I also think they might be two of the loneliest souls on the planet, and that missing piece in me feels drawn to try to fix all their hurts.
“Okay. I guess it’s a good thing I still had most of my stuff packed in my car.”
The corner of Gus’s mouth tips up, and another piece of my heart grows warm, because maybe these two want me here after all, and it feels good to not just be needed but to be wanted as well.