Page 76 of Bull Rush

“I mean… just family and, of course, Sam when he’s doing groundskeeping. He goes in there sometimes for equipment and to spray for bugs and set traps and things.” I walk back to Ramsey and sit down next to him on the couch, pulling the ice pack back again to look at it while he gives me a grumpy look.

“What about Curtis? Could he have told someone in passing?” Ramsey asks, looking past me to the TV like he’s not particularly concerned with the answer or excited about discussing my fiancé in exile.

“Curtis? No, I don’t think so. I keep it locked up. I know there are some valuables in there, and I don’t want inn guests or ranch visitors wandering in on accident,” I add, just so that Ramsey knows that I do my best to keep the things still entrusted to me safe.

“I don’t know how someone would know to try to break in there then.”

“Maybe they were just snooping around?” I offer.

“Maybe.” He doesn’t seem reassured by my answer. “Do you still have cameras on that building?”

“We should. But I haven’t checked them in a while. I usually let Elliot or Sam handle the security stuff for the barns.”

“You have kids handle security?” Ramsey doesn’t like that answer.

“We don’t usually have a need for it. It’s just the stuff left over from your parents. Sam checks it every so often to make sure it still works, and sometimes Elliot checks the one to the stables to keep an eye on the horses, especially if one is sick. Otherwise, it’s pretty quiet around here.”

“You should be having Bo or someone handle that for you. You need to take it more seriously.” His green eyes are bright with concern, and I sigh.

“It’s not like it was when you and your parents lived here. It’s just old ladies on vacation and people from the city who want to board their horse or get riding lessons. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“There’s always something to worry about.” Ramsey sits up straighter and drops the ice from his face. “You’re out here exposed by yourself. Anyone could come out here—if those guys could…”

“Ramsey… I promise you. It’s been quiet. And I’m not by myself. I have you.”

His eyes soften at that and search over my face for a moment before they go back to the TV. The flash of it illuminates all the perfect angles of his cheek and jaw—the side not covered in an ice pack—and I’m distracted by how pretty he is.

“I just want to make sure you’re safe. I can’t be here all the time.” I can see the stress in his shoulders, and I lean over, rubbing them gently. I know he’s thinking about his parents and the fact that he wasn’t here when they died. He still carries so much of that guilt with him, even though he was barely an adult himself when it happened.

“I’m safe. We’ll check the cameras. We’ll put more up if we need to. I’ll talk to Anson and Bo about what options there are.” Anson works in construction, but both of my older brothers run businesses that require a certain amount of security.

“I think you should see about Cade coming to live in the bunkhouse. He needs a place. You’ve got one. You need more family around here. People you can trust.”

“I’ve got Kell and Elliot in the bunkhouse. Kit’s out in the gardener’s cottage. Usually, I have—” I stop short because Idon’t think he wants to hear about Curtis. I see the flinch in his face at the name I don’t mention.

“I’d feel better if one of your brothers was here to keep an eye out on you. Someone I know can throw a punch,” he explains.

“Well, Cade’s been talking about bull riding lately anyway. He was asking about seeing if he could train on the ranch—if he could pull the resources together,” I answer Ramsey absently, thinking about my younger brother’s latest foray into danger. Cade always needs to be in one kind of thrill-seeking, life-altering adventure or another to feel alive it seems.

“I thought he was going to school? Had that athletic scholarship?” Ramsey’s distracted glance turns on me, and he frowns as he considers Cade as a bull rider.

“He graduated in the spring, but he didn’t get drafted, and he’s a bit lost at the moment for what to do next. He’s been helping Bo out at the garage and staying at Bo’s house. I think Bo’s getting tired of him moping around, though, wanting him to figure his shit out.” I’m worried about my younger brother, too, but I go a little easier on him than Bo does.

“All that just so he can come back and get thrown around by a pissed-off bull?” Ramsey frowns.

My eyes follow his to the TV, and I raise my brows as the lines collide and bodies go flying across the turf.

“Is it really all that different from you bull-rushing into three-hundred-pound, seven-foot-tall linemen?”

“There’s a difference,” he grouches, slouching back into the couch.

“Oh yeah? Explain it to me,” I sass back at him with a smile creeping onto my lips.

“I’d rather do other things with you.” A boyish grin spreads on his face as he side-eyes me over his ice pack.

I kiss his temple and run my fingers over his bicep. “Let me get my shower really quick, and we can discuss your options.”

“I’ll be here waiting.” His eyes slide over me in a slow perusal, and then he leans over to kiss the side of my neck. He hits a tender spot with his lips, and I close my eyes as I imagine them elsewhere. “So hurry up.” He dips his hand beneath me and gives my butt a squeeze that has me up and out of my seat.

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