Page 47 of Buttercup and the Beard

“I’m going to miss the shit out of you three,” I say, which just sets us all off again.

* * *

The hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do was keep the secret of my plans from Boone, but after a quick strategy session with the girls, we came up with a plan. A plan that hinges very heavily on Boone’s family and how willing they are to make their brother happy.

I raise my hand to knock on Hal’s door, but before my knuckles can make contact with the wood, the door opens. Before I can take a breath, I’m wrapped in a pair of burly arms, the scent of motor oil invading my nostrils.

“Whoa there. Hi, Jedd.” I didn’t get a good look at him, but the smell of his job is a dead giveaway to who has me in his arms.

“Thank God you’re here. Boone’s been a surly ass for the last two days since getting here,” he whispers between us.

“Unhand my woman,” Boone snaps out from behind him. Jedd sets me down, and before Boone can reach me, Rhett elbows him aside and drags me into his arms.

I swear I’m devoted to Boone, but holy shit, my ovaries are going to explode—two tattooed hunks sweeping me off my feet within seconds of coming to visit.

Boone’s hand locks on to Rhett’s shoulder. “Hands off. Mine,” he bites out to his brothers. The other four of the Calhoun family are watching the spectacle from behind. Boone finally wraps his arms around me and—not giving a shit about the PDA in front of his family—devours my mouth in a sumptuous slow kiss.

Brothers and father forgotten, my head is dizzy and my knees are shaky when he finally lets me up for air. He buries his face in my hair, and I listen to him take a deep breath, inhaling me as if we were apart months instead of days.

“I missed you,” I whisper.

“Fuck. Me too, Buttercup.”

When he finally lets go, his other brothers give me a hug and I’m ushered into the kitchen where Hal’s putting the finishing touches on dinner with the help of his boys.

“You want something to drink?” Boone asks, his thumb tracing the back of my hand.

“A glass of wine would be great,” I say, ready to relax after the drive.

“We don’t have anything pulled that’ll work for dinner. Grab a bottle out of my office,” Hal says, stirring something on the stove.

Once Boone’s out of earshot I wave my arms and whisper, “Can someone distract Boone after dinner? I need your help.”

Duke’s eyebrow’s lift. Jedd looks at me with keen interest. Harlan’s eyes narrow at the urgency in my tone, and Hal just smiles and nods.

“Sure, darlin’,” Hal says just as Boone comes back into the kitchen with the bottle of wine in his hand.

Dinner is rambunctious. Now that his brothers are more comfortable around me, they entertain me with more stories from their youth—not just Boone’s—and a warm feeling takes up residence in my soul. They’re treating me like I’m not just dating one of them, but like I’m family.

19

BOONE

The last seven weeks have been unbearably long. I’ve been so busy at the station with Dad, learning the ropes and working my way into their dynamic, that I haven’t managed more than one day off a week. A bitter feeling coats me as I realize that it’s been almost two full months of being with Jem and I haven’t managed to get my ass back to Felt.

Sure, FaceTime and the random overnight visits that we manage when Jem can make it out here mean we actually get to see each other, but it feels like putting a Band-Aid on a bleeding gash.

I promised that I’d come to her as much as she came to me, and I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. The last time I tried to bring it up, Jem waved me off, telling me that it was okay.

This week is the first week that I have three days off in a row, and whether it’s by my dad’s design or fate intervening when I’m at the end of my rope, I’m taking it.

“Hey, Boone. You got a minute?” Dad comes into the kitchen with me and beelines toward the coffee pot.

Another thing I miss about Jem. For some reason, her coffee just tastes better. I don’t know why, but it does.

“Sure. What’s up?” My duffle bag is packed and already in my gassed-up truck. It’s barely six a.m. and I want to get on the road back to Felt. Then I’m going to kidnap Jem for the next day until the incessant ache of needing her lessens enough that I can think again. I cleared it with Ally last week for her to have the same three days off that I do this week once I saw the schedule. When I asked, Ally seemed more excited than I was that Jem was going to get some unfettered time with me. I wonder if this has been as hard on her as it has been on me.

“There’s a house for rent over on Acorn. Kelly told me about it last night. I know that you’ve been keeping your eye out, so I wanted to let you know. She said you can swing by and take a look at it this morning. I have the lockbox code.”

---