Page 102 of Honey Bee Hearts

“Yeah?” I rasp.

When Gunnar doesn’t say anything else, Colt elbows him. Gunnar scowls at him but looks back at me and his eyes soften.

“I don’t remember falling in love with you,” he admits. “I just know I was holding your hand while we were at the rodeo, and I realized how much it was going to hurt when I would have tolet you go.” He comes forward to take my hand and I don’t pull away. God help me, I don’t pull away. “I’ll love you if I never see you again, if you leave this place and never look back. And I will love you if I see you every morning. I will love you everywhere, in all the universe, in every costume you wear. In all of them at once. I will love you the same no matter your choice.”

“There you go,” Colt says proudly, patting him on the shoulder. “I knew you had it in you.”

Gunnar shrugs his hand off, but the scowl he shoots at him is weak. Instead, he leans down and rests his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry for the position we put you in, Florida Girl, but like Colt, I don’t want you to leave either.”

The emotion in my throat forces me to swallow. Nobody told me how poetic cowboys can be. Nobody warned me.

When Gunnar steps back, his hand holding onto mine until the last minute, our fingers trailing apart, I’m left to stare at Rhett.

Rhett, the forever bachelor, the man who declared there would never be anything between us besides sex. He stands there, his eyes on me, his hands in his pockets.

“I promised myself I would never fall in love,” he admits. Here in the darkness, the only light from the side-by-side’s headlights, he looks like a devil, like a demon come to take my soul. It’s so strange how he can be so bright in the sunshine, and so tentatively dangerous in the dark. “But it was a nice sunny day out by the bees, and we were laughing, and you looked over at me, and I knew I was screwed.” He shakes his head. “I should have walked away then, but I’ve always been real bad at skirtin’ danger. We were out on that mountain, screaming our pain, and that echo sounded so alike,” he rasps. “When I wrapped you in my arms, it felt right, and I fought against it. I’m still fighting against it. I’m afraid to say it, to admit it out loud. I can barely admit it to myself.” He drops his eyes, refusing to look at me.“I’m afraid of a lot of things—losing Circle Bee, letting everyone down, dying—but I think what I’m most afraid of now, is being completely unraveled by you, of you looking so deeply, and you finding nothing you want in here.”

Gunnar stares at Rhett with wide eyes. “Holy shit, man.”

“Shut up,” Rhett growls. “We’re being honest right now.” He meets my eyes again. “It doesn’t matter what happens now, what the future holds, what you choose. I. . . I love you anyway,” he chokes out. “For now, if you leave, and I have no doubt it’ll stay forever. You’re too fucking bright not to remain. However this pans out, I’m already better for knowing you, Wild West Barbie.”

My eyes well and when he reaches for me, I let him pull me in for a hug, his chin resting on top of my head as he holds me close.

“We can protect you,” he whispers. “We can keep you safe.”

When he steps back, we all look at Trent expectantly, who has stood like a silent sentinel, his eyes on me. Rhett’s words struck something inside me. All of their words have, but Trent is a man of few words. I don’t know what to expect from him.

“Tell her,” Colt commands him.

Trent glances over at him without emotion before focusing back on me. I start to fidget, not sure what I should do with my hands. He’s such a beautiful man, such a lonely one, and as we lock eyes, I know he won’t be like the others. I know he won’t profess his love in the same way, if he even loves me. I hadn’t expected. . . I don’t know. I don’t know.

“Trent,” Rhett says. “Come on, man.”

Trent doesn’t even look at Rhett. Instead, his eyes are on me. He opens his mouth and?—

“You should leave,” Trent says.

“What the fuck?” Rhett snarls at the same time as Colt and Gunnar swear.

“You should get out of here. Leave to Florida. Never look back,” he continues.

“You want me to leave?” I ask, my chest squeezing tight.

He hesitates. “I didn’t say that. I said youshouldleave.”

I frown. “So, you don’t want me to leave?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” he counters. “You deserve to have a life without worry. You deserve not to worry about laws and crime and all our bullshit.”

“That’s fucked up—” Rhett starts.

“Shut up,” Trent growls and Rhett clamps his lips closed. “In another universe, in another time, we find each other before we created this life. Maybe you save us before we get too deep. Maybe you think up some grand idea to save the ranch. Maybe you’re there after we lose it. It doesn’t matter. In that life, we make it together, but we’re long past it.” Trent straightens. “It doesn’t matter if I love you. It doesn’t matter if any of us love you. We aren’t good men. Not anymore. In that other world, you save us. You do. But here, we save you.” He takes my hand. “So you should leave. You should get on that plane in a few days and never look back. That’s us saving you. That’s us making sure you get out of this alive.”

My cheeks are wet. When had I started crying? I reach up and wipe at my face and my fingers come away shiny.

The rest of them look around at each other with Trent’s words, their eyes as haunted as his. They don’t say a word, not at first. The only sounds are of Houdini making soft chuffs and the night insects. This doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t feel?—

“He’s right,” Gunnar whispers. “Fuck, he’s right.”

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