Page 49 of Rainbow Rodeo

“Mmm.” He loved Tank in dark red. He grabbed a light blue shirt that had just been pressed and his good boots.

Tank gave him an approving once-over when he was dressed. “Don’t forget, dessert is back here tonight.”

His whole body tightened, and he forced himself not to step closer. “I won’t forget.” He’d been dreaming about riding Tank Martin for a long damn time.

“Good deal.” Tank reached out, and Dalton let himself be reeled in for a gentle kiss.

“Oh.” Now that fixed a lot of things that he hadn’t even thought were cracked.

“Mm-hmm. You okay?” Tank held on, letting him lean.

“More than.” Those kisses were everything he’d dreamed of.

Tank beamed, that face wreathed in smiles, those eye lines fascinating.

“Let’s go play, man.”

They headed out toward the lobby, turned the corner, and ran right into Rocket, who was standing near the rack of brochures for everything from river rafting to wine tastings in Palisade.

Rocket didn’t even have the grace to try to look surprised. “Dalton! Hey.”

“Hey. How goes?”Go away.

“Good.” Rocket gave him a long look, an examination that made his skin crawl.

Tank stepped in front of him. “Tank Martin.”

“Jim Laughlin. My buddies call me Rocket.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,Jim.” The emphasis on the name made it clear they weren’t gonna be friends. “We’re on our way out, so sorry if we’re being rude. You have a good one.”

Dalton just nodded once and headed toward the door, knowing Tank had his back covered. He half expected to hear a scuffle, but Tank must have really gotten under Rocket’s skin, because there was nothing.

The sun felt good on his face, better than that, though, was Tank, right there.

Tank let him get his head back on, didn’t push him to talk.

They headed around the miniature golf course, then up to the walkway. He loved how the river burbled and splashed and laughed under them. They stopped to watch, because the sun was going down a little, and wow. So pretty.

“Damn Sam. That’s something else.” He was falling in love.

“It is. I swear, it makes me happy. When rafters come through, there’s always hooting and hollering. It makes me smile.”

“Yeah? I’ll have to come watch.”

“Yep. Best time is around noon.” They clomped down the weird metal ramp that went into town from the bridge.

There were restaurants and bars, coffee shops and weird bookstores—what a fascinating little town. A lot of stuff was still open. Tank bought a T-shirt that said “If you can read this, turn my Jeep back over.”

He got shot glasses, T-shirts, and a book about the area for his momma.

“How is your momma?” Tank asked, peering at the book.

“Wanting Pops home to kill the babies. Those two are making her nuts.” They were both wild as hell.

“Yeah? I guess someone had to be nuts, since the rest of y’all are so responsible.”

“Shit.” That was Deb, pure and simple. She’d ruled him and Dustin with an iron fist. Meanest big sister in history. Dalton couldn’t love her more.

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