Page 127 of Play Me
I swallow hard. “Really?”
“Hell yeah, really. Why do you sound surprised?”
“Well, you know, I mean that I don’t want to just waltz onto your ranch because I have a few months.”
“I don’t know why not.” He sighs again. “Look, Gray—this ranch is mine. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not yours. Sure, I manage the land and the livestock. I do all of that. But this place has been in our family for generations, and I don’t want that to stop now.”
He’s so much better of a man than me.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, laughing. “Stay the hell off the equipment. You already lost one piece in the creek.”
I smile. “Oh, come on. That was fifteen years ago.”
“Again, you’ve already lost one in the creek. But this is your home, too. Or I want it to be if that makes you happy.”
I rub my chest, massaging the tightness behind my ribs. It’s a good pain. It’s only there because I never expected to have this relationship with my brother again. I’d convinced myself he was pissed at me. Now, I realize that I made that up because it was easier for me to justify being gone.
“Maybe one day our kids will cause mayhem in these fields like we did,” he says.
“We gotta have kids first, Hart.”
“Yeah, and I gotta find a mama for my kids before that. Anyway …”
I frown, knowing that he’s thinking about Mia right now. But he’ll never bring her up. He hasn’t for years.
“Speaking of women, where’s Astrid?” he asks.
A smile stretches across my face as I look at the clock on the microwave. I’ve checked the time every twenty minutes for the last three hours, wondering what she’s up to and if she’s liking her surprise spa day. I had to form a truce with Gianna to figure out where she’d like to go and what treatments she might like best, and we got through it without me being threatened with a taser. That’s progress.
“Astrid is at the spa getting pampered,” I say.
“That’s nice.”
“She never does anything for herself. So, her friend Gianna picked her up today for lunch, but she dropped her off at the spa instead.” I look over my shoulder as the door unlocks from the keypad. “Hey, she’s home. Can I talk to you later?”
“Anytime. Don’t forget about that cabin, Gray.”
I grin. “I won’t. Thanks, Hart.”
“Later.”
I set my phone down as Astrid comes in wearing the softest yellow sundress. It causes her freckles to pop and her hair to shine. She’s feminine and relaxed … and sexy as hell.
She tosses her keys and purse on the couch and then makes a beeline for me.
“You,” she says, leaping into my arms. “You’re tricky.”
I pick her up as she wraps her legs around my waist. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Thanks to you.” She dangles her arms off my shoulders and kisses me lazily. “Today was such a nice surprise. Thank you.”
“You mentioned never having a massage the other night, so I thought you needed one.” I kiss her again. “Because when I give them to you, I always wind up naked and we forget about the massage.”
She giggles.
“You enjoyed it then?” I ask.
“Oh, my gosh. I loved it. Like,loved it. I fell asleep twice, which was crazy. I feel like a brand-new person.”
