Page 153 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys
“Things?” Boone raised his eyebrows.
“And stuff,” she added.
“That definitely clarified things,” Levi nodded teasingly.
Nelly rolled her eyes, but I caught the slight twitch at the corner of her lips.
"Let the woman have her secrets," I said, leaning back in my chair. I knew exactly what she was up to but wasn't about to call her out in front of everyone.
"Thank you, Wyatt," she said, her dynamic eyes meeting mine with silent gratitude. Her unspoken thanks made me feel a guilty, considering I’d followed her to the barn, and I knew her secret. Adding to that was the fact I planned to tell the other guys as soon as she headed back to her makeshift dance studio. They needed to see her dance. I couldn’t keep that wondrous sight to my own self, even if a part of me desperately wanted to.
Cooper was still demolishing his concoction of chicken, bacon, and ranch. "Nell, you know you can tell us anything, right?" he said between bites. “We’ll always do our best to understand.”
“Anything?” She tilted her head down, looking up at him through her pale lashes. “Like, I could tell you not to call me Nell and you’d understand.”
Cooper’s hand froze midair, bits of chicken and salad falling back to the bowl. “Hey, I said understand, not listen,” he countered with a sideways grin, a childish glint in his dark blue eyes.
“Hmm, just remember, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Nelly's eyes sparkled with mirth. The playful back-and-forth between her and Cooper felt like yet another sign that she was settling in here, that she was beginning to imagine a future in Wyoming.
Nelly took another bite, her movements becoming more deliberate now, less rushed. I had no doubt she still plannedto jet from the house the second she finished, but at least she wasn't wolfing down her food. Wasn’t good for the digestion.
“That was really good. Thank you,” Nelly said as she pushed from the table, picking up her plate and walking it to the sink. “I’m going to go back outside. Maybe check on Ghost again.”
"Need company?" Wade asked.
“No,” she said quickly.
When Wade seemed to deflate in his chair, Nelly spoke quickly again. “It’s just I’m trying to get more comfortable on the ranch, you know?”
“Right, I get it,” Wade replied, though I could tell my twin was crestfallen. Hell, any time Nelly wasn’t near enough to see and smell, we all felt like shit.
“I won’t go far.” Nelly moved to the back door, her posture a bit tense, as if she were fighting the urge to run instead of walk.
As her hand wrapped around the knob, she looked back over at the dining table. Her gaze snagged on mine, sending my pulse racing. It struck me that if a look from Nelly could make me feel this way, what would a hug do? What would a kiss do?
She pulled open the door and disappeared through it.
I only managed to wait five minutes after she left before turning to my brothers.
Boone, Wade, and Levi had pushed their plates away, looking a bit green around the gills after eating so much to make Nelly feel better. Cooper had abandoned the overfilled bowl of ‘not quite a salad, mostly meat’ by the sink and he was pressing a hand against his bloated stomach.
"We got to hang back and be quiet, but follow me," I told them, pushing back from the table and ambled towards the door, following Nelly’s path and imagining I could feel her warmth in the air. Her smell lingered, pressing against my skin and tingling.
When I opened the door, I glanced back, finding them still in the same places, faces curious and concerned.
“It’s nothing bad.” I eased their minds, enough to make them all thaw and move. None of them questioned me. That was the beauty of the pack bond we'd forged over the years, the ability to trust without explanation, to follow when necessary and lead when called upon. Though, admittedly, the leading typically fell on me, whether I wanted it or not.
I stepped outside, knowing they’d be on my heels. By the time I’d moved a few feet from the back steps, they were coming down them. Nelly was already out of sight, which was good. I’d been lucky to escape detection earlier. There was zero way she wouldn’t smell all five of us if we followed too close behind though.
I led my brothers past the greenhouses and the compost beds, cutting more to the right this time to get to the run-down barn faster. No one said anything as we moved further away from our house and deeper into the area of the original ranch.
When the old barn came into view, Cooper broke our reverie. “Where we going, Wyatt?” he whispered. Though he spoke quietly, his voice seemed to carry across the open land.
I raised a finger to my lips, then pointed toward the weathered structure in the distance.
"Why are we sneaking around our own property?" Levi pitched his voice low.
I paused, turning to face them. The curiosity in their expressions reminded me of when we were kids, following each other on half-baked adventures across the ranch. We’d pretend we were old time cowboys going to reclaim stolen cattle or sometimes we were in the thick of the 1860s gold rush, ready to make our fortunes or die trying.
