Page 21 of The Cowboy's Second Chance
He would be lucky if he managed to survive it. Or, more to the point, he would be lucky if he could hold on to his anger toward Logan and keep himself from jumping the other man.
It wasn’t until breakfast was done and everyone had scattered that Derrick realized he had forgotten to tell Malcolm about what Wyatt had said to him at the wedding. It would be good to warn the guy that Wyatt was on the warpath again.
Likely, it didn’t matter, though. What was Malcolm going to do about it while he was off in Europe? It would probably just end up bothering the guy the whole time he was gone on his honeymoon. He could mention it when Kyle and Malcolm got back. That would be soon enough.
It was going to be a hard enough month for Derrick, he knew. He didn’t need to go ruining Malcolm’s honeymoon. What harm could it do to keep it to himself for a little while longer?
* * *
The day after Malcolm and Kyle had been seen off to the airport, that was the very same day that Wyatt arrived.
There was no warning, no way for Derrick to know what was going to happen. He simply came back from working on the ranch to grab some lunch and found a very bemused Mary Anne standing in the kitchen, hovering anxiously over Wyatt, who looked to be enjoying her befuddlement.
“What the hell?” Derrick asked, as the teenaged Mary Anne gave him a grateful look and made a break for freedom. Poor girl. She would have had even less of an idea how to handle Wyatt being here than Derrick did, and Derrick couldn’t begrudge her her escape.
He could envy the hell out of her, though, and he did. If Malcolm were here, he would absolutely be passing this right off to his older brother. But as it was, there was no one else to deal with it.
“Hello, Derrick,” Wyatt said, smugness radiating out from him, clearly showing in every word. “Have you given any thought to what I asked you at the wedding?”
“No,” Derrick replied, not even trying to cushion his bluntness. There was no reason to. He wasn’t really in any risk of hurting his brother’s feelings, and honestly, he didn’t much care even if he did. “What are you doing here, Wyatt?”
“It’s my home, too,” Wyatt said, and Derrick winced a little as he realized that Wyatt was correct. It had been Wyatt’s choice to leave home, to abandon the ranch and everyone on it, just as it had been Derrick’s choice to do the same. No one had ever kicked Wyatt out. His room hadn’t even been cleaned out, and it was exactly how Wyatt had left it.
For the first time, Derrick found himself realizing just how lucky he was, how lucky Wyatt was. It wasn’t too many families who would keep rooms ready, just in case the kids came home. But his dad had. Funny how Derrick had taken that for granted until right this moment.
“Okay. Well, just don’t get in the way,” Derrick said. What else could he say? He could complain to his father, but his father was ill. And besides, Derrick had been put in charge. He wasn’t going to try to shirk that responsibility.
“We should talk,” Wyatt replied.
Just when Derrick was going to tell Wyatt that there was really nothing to talk about, that was the moment that Logan chose to walk in.
“What the hell do you have to talk to anyone on this ranch about?” Logan asked, with far more hostility than Derrick was used to hearing Logan express to anyone.
“You know what,” Wyatt replied, and he smirked a little as he glanced back and forth between Logan and Derrick. “I’m going to my room. Derrick, we’ll talk later.”
Wyatt left the room, and Derrick sighed and went to the fridge, starting to pull out the ingredients he would need to make himself a sandwich. That had been an awkward conversation, but there was too much work to do for him to worry about it too much. Wyatt would hopefully get bored and go away soon enough, anyway.
“You want one?” Derrick offered, only to hear the faint rustle of movement behind him. When he glanced up, it was to meet Logan’s fierce blue eyes, and he swallowed down the lump in his throat as he realized just how close Logan was to him. While he had opened the fridge, Logan had come right up behind him.
“No, I don’t want a damn sandwich,” Logan growled, and it was actually pretty rare to see the easygoing man as furious as he clearly was, his eyes burning and his jaw clenched. All Derrick could do was simply stand and stare at him, aware that he was gaping like a fish but not really able to pull it together enough to close his mouth, not in the face of Logan’s rage.
Rough fingers clenched on his shoulders, and before Derrick had the slightest idea what was going to happen, Logan was pulling him close.
Honestly, at first, Derrick was pretty sure that he was about to be punched in the face. He wasn’t sure that he understood why and had no idea what he had done. Or was it just that Logan was annoyed that Wyatt was here? If so, why take it out on Derrick?
But Logan didn’t punch him. What he did was much less expected. He gripped Derrick tight, hard enough that Derrick was sure that his fingers would leave red marks on his skin, tilted his head, and leaned in so that their lips met.
It was not a light, gentle meeting. It was not teasing, or testing, or sweet. Logan’s fingers still bit cruelly into Derrick’s shoulders, and his tongue immediately plunged deep and probed into Derrick’s mouth, claiming and hot.
For just a split second, Derrick wondered if he should be allowing this to happen. He wasn’t a small man, nor a weak one. Actually, his work on the ranch since he’d been off school had made his body strong, stronger even than the time he’d spent running or at the gym back at University had, and he had been no weakling then.
He could have pushed Logan off, was the point. He didn’t even think that Logan would refuse to go. Angry or not, it wasn’t in Logan’s nature to force anyone to do anything. Yes, he was holding Derrick tightly, but if Derrick fought at all, Logan would let go. He knew that with the same certainty that he knew Logan’s name.
But he didn’t want to push Logan away. The way that they were coming together here, it was as inevitable as it was probably at least a little bit unhealthy.
Time after time, they kept finding themselves right back in this situation. Derrick honestly didn’t understand it in the slightest. There weren’t two people in the whole entire world who would be worse suited for each other than he and Logan, and yet, it was Logan who he wanted, Logan who he desired, Logan who could so easily turn him to jello just by touching him or even looking at him just right.
Derrick was so damn stupid for letting himself give in to the kiss. He felt the press of the kitchen counter against his ass and leaned back against it. His arms, which had been frozen by his sides, thawed enough that he gripped Logan close against himself and tilted his hips toward him, getting as close as he possibly could.
It wasn’t enough. It felt like nothing was enough. The more he got of Logan, the crazier he went for him, and the more he needed.
Temporary insanity was the only explanation for what he said when the kiss finally ended, and Derrick had control of his own mouth again.
“Meet me in our hayloft,” he offered, “if you want to finish what we started.”
Then he did push Logan aside finally, and just as he had known would happen, Logan let him go. He stepped away and didn’t dare look back.
He had no idea if Logan would come or not. He had put himself out there in a pretty major way, and for all he knew, Logan was just going to laugh at him for it. But at that moment, there had seemed to be no other option.
Maybe Logan would come. Maybe he wouldn’t. Either way, Derrick had to hope that he would be able to put this crazy, ridiculous obsession with the cowboy behind himself.
