Page 62 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“It’s not yours to fix.”

“You’re wrong.” She’d caused this with that damn key. But she also held the key that could clean it up. She glanced down at his hand wrapped around the sleeve of the ugly Christmas sweater she’d put on thinking this was going to be a fun night. “Please. I have to go.”

He finally let out a breath and released his hold. “Okay.”

She opened the front door and then paused. Glancing back she said, “Make sure he stays around town for a little while.”

Linc frowned. “Why?” After a glance back toward the kitchen he leaned closer and said, “We want him to leave.”

She wobbled her head back and forth. “Yes, but not yet.”

He looked confused but nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” she repeated then headed for her car.

Time to get back to her apartment and back to work. Knowing that snake had been there would only fuel her determination. She wouldn’t rest until she’d hammered that final nail.

ChapterThirty-Two

It was not the family dinner Linc had been expecting or the one he wanted to have.

Poppy convinced Darcy it would be fun to have a picnic dinner upstairs in Olivia’s room. But they all knew the real reason. Not one of the women wanted to even be in the same room as Emmett.

“Told you he was gonna fucking ruin Christmas,” Ethan hissed to Linc.

They’d have more to worry about than Christmas if Wyatt decided to go against their father’s wishes and mentioned the will to Emmett.

Thank goodness the old man had arrived shortly after Eva’s dramatic exit. Linc noticed his father had been keeping Emmett close all night. And keeping an eye on his eldest son.

“He hangs around much longer he’s going to ruin everything, including my relationship with Poppy,” Ethan continued. “You know what she told me in the kitchen? She’s moving back to the Wilder until he leaves town. Now the bastard is ruining my sex life too.”

Not having all that much sympathy for his brother, Linc asked, “Can’t you just do it at the Wilder?”

Ethan scowled. “She thinks we should run the scumbag out of town, not welcome him back, and I don’t disagree. She’s not going to let me touch her until this shit is resolved. She’s pissed, man.”

That Emmett could drive even sweet and sunshiny Poppy to anger said something.

Linc rolled his eyes. “You’ll live.”

He could play like he didn’t empathize with Ethan’s plight, but it was a lie. He knew exactly what his brother was going through because he was going through it too.

Being with Eva again had always been tentative, but now it was unlikely, bordering on impossible. He felt the loss of her presence—in this house, in his life—more than he should, proving it wasn’t just the sex he was missing. It was her.

“Hey, did you notice anything different about him?” Ethan tipped his chin toward their cousin, who was working on putting quite a dent in a bottle of Wyatt’s prized whisky.

“Like what?” Linc asked.

“Like when he left here he was sporting a ponytail and now his head is all but shaved. Doesn’t that seem weird. It’s almost like he joined the Army or something.”

Linc shot his brother a sideways glance. All Ethan had done was remind him how pissed he was that Emmett had used Linc’s Army photo to lie to women about being a soldier on one of his many fake dating profiles. For that alone Emmett deserved to be pummeled.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.Now it was going to be even harder for Linc to keep Emmett close. Sun Tzu, the originator of that ancient advice, must have been a frigging saint to pull that one off.

Still scowling, he said, “Maybe he realized long hair on a balding man is not a good look. Or maybe whatever girl he was wooing at the time liked short hair.”

Or maybe he didn't want to be recognized by the cops or whatever woman he'd wronged lately, which seemed more likely.

Either way, Linc didn’t understand what Emmett’s hair had to do with anything. If Ethan couldn’t come up with better small talk, maybe they should just sit quietly. He was remembering why he liked being alone. And why he’d moved to the cabin… where frigging Emmett was now staying. Ugh.

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