Page 6 of Long Hard Road

“Right.” I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t pieced that together already. Maggie had mentioned that my neighbor’s name was Nate and that his family owned a ranch. It was ridiculous that I hadn’t put together that the man walking me home was that same Nate. “I guess I’ll probably be seeing you around then.”

“If I’m lucky,” he said with a wink. “Good night, Madison.”

He had no business being so good at winking. Especially not when I was already a goner for those gray eyes when they were doing nothing at all. “Good night, Nate.”

3

NATE

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yep. Lil was pretty clear about the plan. She’s convinced people will love these giant swings.” Chase had never blindly trusted anyone the way he trusted Lily Jameson and her plans for his ranch.

“You could fit five grown adults on this thing.” I stepped back to more closely survey the dimensions of the wooden swing we were building. “Is Lil planning to host orgies on the ranch?”

“If they bring in enough profit.” Chase finished drilling a hole in the large piece of lumber where we would be hanging the swing. “That woman has an eye for identifying profitable ventures.”

“Explains why she’s sleeping with our brother,” I joked.

“Talk about my girl like that again and I’ll toss you in the wood chipper.” Evan had returned from grabbing more screws from the other maintenance barn. Lily was right behind him.

“He’s not wrong,” she said diplomatically. “I’d consider you to be an excellent return on investment, Ev. Especially in bed.”

“Jesus, Lil.” Evan shook his head in reconciled embarrassment. “Haven’t we talked about you working on filtering your words?”

“I did.” She grinned. “You have no idea what I deemed to be too inappropriate to say out loud, babe.”

If they were anyone else, I would’ve found their flirty banter annoying. My jaded heart didn’t usually tolerate cutesiness, but I was willing to make an exception for Lily and Evan. Maybe because I actually like my brother’s girlfriend or maybe because Evan had been on his own for so long that I was just happy he’d found someone. It was probably a combination of those two things.

“We actually don’t need either of you to help with this,” Chase said pointedly.

Lily eyed what we were building. “Do you think it’s big enough?”

“You tell us.” Chase exaggerated a wink at her. “Is it?”

“Don’t answer that,” Evan grumbled.

“Nate, we need to talk.” Lily perched on the edge of the seat I’d just built. “Amelia texted me yesterday. She said you were flirting with some woman in her café.”

“Amelia needs to concentrate on making her delicious cinnamon rolls and not worry about who her customers are talking to.” Probably the most annoying part of living in such a small town was how everyone always knew my business. That was a big reason why I never hooked up with any locals. It was just easier to drive to a nearby town and avoid the Crestwood gossip mill.

“Who was she? Amelia said she was cute.” Lily wasn’t going to let me out of this conversation without some details.

“Just a tourist staying in town for a few weeks. Her name is Madison.” I was hoping that would be enough, but I should’ve known better.

Lily leaned forward, her caramel hair falling over her shoulder. “And?”

“And nothing.” I didn’t talk to my family about women. Not even a woman who was just a passing acquaintance. Especially not with Lily who would immediately latch onto the idea of another pretty outsider coming to town and falling in love with a Sullivan brother. “I can’t finish building this thing with you sitting on it.”

“So take a break.” She patted the space next to her. “Sit and tell me more about Madison.”

“There’s nothing to tell.” I turned my attention to digging through a pile of screws for one that was the right length. “She’s 24. Way too young for me to be interested in her.”

“Oh really?” Lily glanced at Evan, taking a moment to stare at his ass while he was bent over a pile of lumber. “Do you also think that I’m too young for Ev? Because he’s eight years older than me.”

“That’s different. You are in your thirties. You’re not still figuring your life out.” Most of the time, the age gap between Lily and Evan wasn’t even noticeable. Unless they were fighting over what movie to watch or whether today’s music was actually music or just “noise.” Evan never won any of those fights.

“Of course I’m still figuring my life out.” Lily waved a hand in Evan’s direction. “I just moved to a ranch and agreed to marry a cowboy with two kids. Life changes constantly, Nate. At twenty, thirty, or seventy, you never really have it figured out.”

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