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Levi slams his chair forward with a loud crack. “You don’t think it’s more than that?”
I meet his glare without blinking. “I think you’re thinking with the wrong head, as usual.”
The room tenses. Jaxon’s still silent and brooding, but his knuckles are white where they grip the edge of the table.
Conway raises a hand, calm but sharp enough to cut. “Enough. We’re talking, not fighting. Let’s finish listing the pros and cons.”
The silence stretches taut as fencing wire before Harrison leans in, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Pro: she adapts faster than anyone we’ve ever brought out here. The kids, the house, even the routines. She’s intelligent and emotionally aware. She had the kids listening and learning. She’d be an asset where their education is concerned.”
“She’s good with the animals,” Nash adds softly from his spot near the window, his voice calm as ever.
“She asks good questions,” Cody says. “She listens and doesn’t judge.”
Lennon taps his pen against the clipboard. “She’s organized. That breakfast spread was timed impeccably. She takes an interest in everything, even the boring parts of this business.”
“Again, her job,” I point out. Why won’t they get that this is going to end like the last three, with us getting attached and then disappointed? Why am I the only one who seems bothered about handing over his heart again?
McCartney chuckles under his breath. “She got Matty to sit and draw for more than five minutes. That’s witchcraft.”
The tension eases a fraction. Cody smiles faintly into his coffee.
“She’s fun,” Lennon says, taking us all by surprise. Fun? Since when has that been something Lennon’s interested in?
“She is,” Corbin agrees. “She reads to the kids with these exaggerated voices.”
“She jokes around… makes this place feel lighter,” Jaxon adds.
My mouth drops open. Jaxon’s talking about jokes now? I feel like I’m sitting in a parallel universe.
“Cons?” Conway prompts, his deep voice cutting back through the moment.
Dylan shrugs. “She’s got a city streak a mile wide. Might not last when winter sets in.”
“She’s too curious,” I say, flat as stone. “But she’s got no idea what she’s walking into. None of them did. But I think she’s starting to think she can handle it. I think she wants some of what we can offer. The stability. But that’ll wear out soon enough when everything else this life has to throw at her comes crashing down around her ears.”
All eyes swing to me.
Levi sneers. “Or maybe she actually wants itandcan handle it, and it’s you that can’t.”
I ignore his jibe and twist the conversation back to him. “Maybe she won’t want to after you’ve shown her what you’ve got to offer.”
He narrows his eyes. “She loved what I have to offer.”
I ignore him. “Another con? She’s bonding with the kids too quickly, and when she leaves, it’s gonna rip them apart.”
Conway’s eyes harden. “If she leaves.”
“She’s an editor-in-chief. Do you even know what that means? She probably earns more in six months than the ranch makes in a year. She’s got a master’s degree. Probably a higher IQ than all of us could scrape together. I know enough.”
The weight of my words settles heavily over the table, and no one argues.
Finally, Jaxon breaks his silence, voice low and rough. “She makes it hard not to want more. She fits in a way none of the others have. It’s natural. She’s been here for days, but it feels like months… in a good way.”
The admission surprises even me. Jaxon meets my stare across the table and waits for me to look away first.
Finally, Cody exhales sharply and leans forward, elbows on the table. “We’ve talked about a lot,” he says. “But we’ve missed one important part. You can’t build this life without chemistry. Without… sex. It’s been the stumbling block for every other woman who’s failed to go the distance so far.”
Harrison clears his throat but says nothing. Dylan’s jaw clenches. McCartney stares hard at the wood grain like he can will himself invisible.
