Page 19 of The Oath We Take

I chuckle. “With you guys? You’re all fucking married and shit. Probably going to be back in your tents by nine.”

Halo throws a bottle cap in my direction, and I bat it away before it can reach me. “Marital status…has zero reflection on having a good time…while we’re here.” His voice is slurred, like he already had too much to drink.

I glance at King, and my face must reveal my thoughts. “They found out Ari is pregnant two days before we left.”

“Congratulations,” I say, banking down the rising feelings of what it would be like to be talking about mine and Ember’s baby.

“Yeah,” he says with a grin.

Bates leans into me. “Cost him, like, fifty grand in IVF and other shit. It’s a fucking miracle. Practically had to drag him here because he’s obsessed with Ari’s nonexistent bump.”

The thoughts I had in the shower this morning come back to me. I know exactly how he feels. “There’s gonna be some confusion in your house then,” I say.

Halo looks confused.

“How does it work with both your old lady and kid calling you Daddy?”

Bates and King burst out laughing, and Halo grins. “If the kid’s around when Ari’s calling me Daddy, we got bigger problems than names. There are some things a kid should never see. And Daddy fucking Mommy is one of them.”

The laughter grows. This is how it should be with a biker brotherhood: Camaraderie. Long rides. Own rules.

But as fun as it is, standing in the sunshine, unhealthily frying my skin, I can’t help but wish I was back in the stable with Ember.

6

EMBER

“What made you decide to open a bar in this town?” Rocco asks when the last of the dinner dishes are cleared away.

The food was amazing. Even better was the fact this man made the plans. He messaged me with a time, place, and restaurant. Said he’d collect me from outside the bar. And told me if I didn’t like the arrangements, to let him know so he could book something else.

It was a refreshing change from the usualYou up?,What do you want to do?, andWanna just hang?messages I usually end up with. Men who put in the absolute minimum has become the norm in the dating world, and I hate it.

I run my fingers up and down the narrow stem of the wineglass. “I’m from here. So are my parents and grandparents. I went away to college but missed the wide-open spaces and the way the sun bounces off the snowy peaks in spring. Plus, I have my horse stabled at one of the local ranches.”

Rocco’s dressed nice: a pressed shirt, clean jeans, and dark black cowboy boots. But it’s his warm smile that draws me in.

So different to Atom’s surly pout.

I mentally berate myself. It’s possibly the twentieth time I’ve compared the two, and I really need to stop.

“Makes sense. Why a bar?” he asks.

I spent so much time making the decision about what to invest in. “I did an analysis of what the town needed. Went through every possible kind of business. Hotels and motels. Restaurants. Specific stores. I even looked into getting a grocery store franchise from one of those big retailers. But when I boiled it down, I realized there wasn’t a place for something more like a small concert venue. I’m not talking arena scale, obviously. There were bars where a band could play, but given the venues were so small, the revenue wasn’t enough to attract better-quality bands. Then the bar went up for sale. Well, the building did. It used to be three stores, side by side. An equestrian store, a clothing store, and a cafe. I bought the building and created the bar.”

Rosso nods as I speak. Actively listening. Never once does he pick up his phone or stare off over my shoulder. “That’s clever you saw the real estate potential.”

“That’s a compliment coming from you.”

He shrugs. “Thanks. But working for my dad’s property development firm isn’t half as impressive as building my own business from the ground up.”

“Is that something you would like to do?”

Rocco takes a sip of water. He stopped drinking after one glass because he still has to drive us home. “I don’t know. I think I like brokering big transactions, something new every day.”

I laugh at that. “Oh, there’s something new every day running your own business.”

He leans back in his chair. “I can believe that. I guess what I’m saying is, I have multiple projects on the go at any one time. Some close to fruition; some just starting. It takes me all over the country.”

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