Page 59 of Since Day One

“But she won’t be back,” Carsen added with a grin.

“Do I want to know?” Gunnar asked, raising a brow, and both of them wiggled their brows.

“Probably not,” Rob said, the two of them walking toward us.

“And do we want to know?” Carsen added, pointing a finger between Gunnar and me.

“You don’t get to know; now, go grab the other horses, please,“ Gunnar answered with a glare, and I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. Okay, so I was right all along about Gunnar, wasn’t I?

The two hands saluted Gunnar and strutted past us. A chuckle escaped my lips into the crisp air, the mist billowing around me as if I held a cigarette between my teeth.

“You’re kind of cute when you’re all angry and jealous and feisty, you know that?” Gunnar said as we rounded the bend and continued toward the stall barn.

“That sucked; don’t do it again,” I grumbled.

His deep, velvety laughter filled the valley, mixing with a few whinnies. “You like me, admit it.”

“Pretty sure when I kissed you, I admitted to that.”

“You like kissing me.”

“You like kissing me,“ I rebutted, and he laughed again.

“Dadgum you better believe I do.” He glanced my way and lifted a brow.

“You also know I will eventually leave,” I whispered, breaking the cheery air around us.

His jaw knotted as he swallowed stiffly, the Adam’s apple in his thick neck bobbing. “Yeah, I know.”

My chest tightened. “And you’re still okay with all of this?” My voice broke. There it was, the admittance that in the end, we were destined to become nothing. Whatever memories shared would fade into the dust that rose around us, broken and shattered over and over again by hooves thundering across it.

“Yes, I’m okay with all of this,” he eventually said.

Which meant I needed to be as well.

I watched Gunnar and Ruger talk back and forth, quite harshly toward each other. My family all sat around the large log dining tables, eating and glancing at me as I waited, holding both my plate and Gunnar’s—both of us choosing to ignore the doom and gloom my question had brought in. The food looked and smelled absolutely delicious.

Gunnar pinched the skin between his brows in frustration for a moment, and Ruger kept aggressively gesturing at his brother. I leaned against the kitchen island, patiently waiting as footsteps approached. Glancing to my right, Jesse stopped beside me, beautiful long legs clad in a pair of flattering boyfriend-cut jeans. She paired it with a lower-cut black sweater, twisting around her torso to give her a flattering cinched waist. Her long blonde hair was curled perfectly, draping around her shoulders and accentuating her absolutely stunning feminine curves.

“What are they fighting about?” she asked, stopping beside me. Jesse had never directly spoken to me without Ruger and Gunnar around, and I stared for a moment, shocked.

“Uh.” I shook my head. “Ruger wants to host a rodeo this week. Gunnar thinks they should wait until at least next week. There’s also some play for some cousin this weekend I think.”

“Oh yeah. Ruger told me about the play. But since when did he want to host a rodeo?” she asked, and I shrugged.

“This morning was when Gunnar found out about it,” I answered, and Jesse rolled her eyes.

“I love that man, but he’s sometimes really impulsive. They’re chalk and cheese. It’s like Gunnar waits way too long, thinks too much, and Ruger never waits at all,” she replied with a chuckle.

“They balance each other out,” I answered, and Jesse smiled softly at me.

“You’d think they were twins with how close they are. But I guess growing up the way they did would make you just as close.” Jesse sighed, and I tilted my head.

“Like out on a ranch?” I asked.

She softly laughed. “No, girlie. Because they were adopted. Gunnar is the only reason those two weren’t ever separated before coming here.”

My mouth fell open. “I’m sorry, adopted?” I asked, and she turned to me.

---