Page 92 of Rainbow Rodeo

“Course not. Unless y’all are going to start telling me I can’t come watch movies and play Resident Evil….”

Dalton snorted. “Right. Like I’d do that.”

Tank snorted. “I’d get my ass kicked out first, I bet.” He winked, though, not looking worried a bit.

“We’re a family and a half, aren’t we?” Dalton knew that, but it was their strength, the good and bad about them.

“You’re amazing.” Tank touched Dalton’s leg under the table, the constant reassurance the man offered making him feel easy in his skin.

“We are.” Dustin grinned and leaned back. “It’s good to be—are those your buddies out there, Tank?”

Tank glanced out the window. “Lord. Yeah, they said they were getting a hotel.”

“The Daylite sends people here,” Patricia said, beaming as she refilled their coffee. “Especially the cowboy ones.”

“Well, Buick said he’d see me around.” Tank squeezed his leg. “He’s something else.”

“He is.” Dalton had to admit that man was charismatic as hell.

“Hey, guys!” Buick led in three more cowboys, taking a seat behind theirs. “How’s it hanging?”

“Good. Good. It’s great to be home.” Dustin grinned over, cool as a cucumber.

“I bet. We needed someplace less busy than home, right, guys? A hot tub and a pool.”

The local motel was used to rodeo guys coming in for training or to see Pops, and for a little place? They did a damn fine job. They had all sorts of amenities, and they had trailer parking.

“Sounds good.” Tank gave Dalton a look, one of those that curled his toes.

Yeah, they’d christened the hot tub last night, in the best possible way. He grinned, then blushed when Buick gave him a thumbs-up. Lord, was he that transparent?

Hell, maybe it was Tank that Buick knew so well. Maybe they just had it written on their skin.

It wasn’t like he was going to change it, was he? Not a chance. He was going to ride this one as far as he could, and he was a hell of a rider.

“You like to cook, Tank?” Dustin asked. “Or are you more a grill guy?”

“I’m a griller. I cook outside anytime I can, but I’m not a kitchen wiz.”

“That’s why we’re all lucky we have Deb and Momma, right, Dee?”

“You know it. I don’t think Dakota is ever gonna learn.” He wasn’t sure the babies were ever going to grow up. Ever. Maybe that was okay. They got to take advantage of him and Bubba and Deb being overly responsible. Or whatever.

“She’ll figure out what she wants,” Tank said easily. “Deb takes after your momma, so Dakota has to go her own way.”

“She doesn’t have a problem figuring out what she wants, from what Momma says, just whether or not she ought to want it.” He shook his head and sighed. He was glad he wasn’t a girl. They were more complicated. Hell, just the thought of being able to catch pregnant wigged the fuck out of him.

He just… whoa.

“You’re all red, Dee.”

“Yeah, following trains where I don’t belong.”

Tank raised an eyebrow. “Do we want to know?”

“Nope.”

The coffeepot came back around, and he got a free pass on that one, because Tank had to find just the right balance of sugar and cream for this new-to-him brew.

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