Page 73 of Fragile Heart

I blow out a sigh and stretch my neck before nodding. This entire next week is going to be early mornings and long days while we move around the herds so the cows that didn’t take the first time get bred again. And hopefully they all take.

Mark steps around her, his eyes trained on one of the girls.

“You want me to take him, Brielle?” he asks.

I turn, scowling. Mark doesn’t need to take Camden. I’m perfectly capable.

Before she can say anything, though, Melissa mutters a curse.

“I drove Brielle here. Let me drop her off and then I can meet you there,” she says.

Brielle frowns and turns to her, her arms carefully caging Camden’s limp form. “I’m sure I can find a different ride home. You guys go ahead. I’ll text you the timing for tomorrow once the artist gets back to me.”

Joan frowns. “We need to swing by the hotel and check on everything. If you don’t mind waiting through that, we’re happy to swing you up to the ranch.”

“Mom?” Emily raises her voice. “Do you guys have room in your car? Brielle needs a ride.”

Mom shakes her head. “We carpooled with the Millers.”

Emily turns to Hudson, but I cut her off.

“I can take her.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can keep them where they belong—in my damn head.

I’ve just spent the last hour with her so close to me my dick has been perpetually half-hard and aching. And now I just offer to have her in my own damn truck? Joan even said she could take her. And God knows Hudson made some deal with Caleb about watching over Brielle while he’s gone. A ride to Emily’s guest house would fall well within the scope of something like that.

Melissa cocks an eyebrow as she tilts her head. Her gaze cuts through me.

She knows.

Well, it’s not like she didn’t know the first time, either.

Fuck, what the hell am I even thinking? First time implies I’m going to kiss Brielle again, feel her curves against mine, shove my knot into her until she forgets all about her dead Beta husband. And Caleb.

Mint bleeds out from me.

Melissa’s eyes narrow. I let my scowl deepen, trying to tell her to keep her damn mouth shut without making everyone else suspicious as fuck. I’m literally just giving her a ride to Emily’s place. She’s said nothing to me since I lost my cool while camping, not a single look or whisper that could feed a whisper of hope that she actually wants something.

“We should get going before Camden wakes up, then,” Brielle says in her quiet voice that shoots right through me. The goodbyes are quick and efficient.

Once we’re several feet away from the group, I say, “Here, I can take him. He’s pretty heavy.”

She hesitates, and I chance a quick look at her. She’s biting her lip again.

“It’s fine,” she says. “It’s not that long of a walk, and there’s no reason to risk him waking up from an unnecessary transition. Getting him into the car will be hard enough.”

Jealousy rises in my gut at her easy understanding of kids. The idea of her fucking that Beta gets my blood boiling. But the thought of her pregnant because of him? Of having his kids? I force a swallow to keep my reaction internal.

Fuck, I don’t know what to do with any of this. The jealousy, theneedfor her, the grief and guilt at the idea of moving on from Kayla. It’s all a tangled mess in my mind—and I have no tools to manage it.

She pulls the back door open and gets Camden situated while I’m still stuck in my head.

“Shit,” I mutter. I slide behind her and set the backpack at Camden’s feet. “I can get him buckled.”

She backs away from me without comment, leaving his harness only halfway done up. My hands shake as I get the rest of it squared away. Her gaze, full of a heavy understanding and anxiety that most wouldn’t notice, is on me as I close the door. A thrill goes through me that Idonotice. I notice every damn thing about her.

The silence extends between us, that same weighted feel to it as her eyes.

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