Page 34 of Made for You
I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to find myself knocked flat on my ass again.
Colt’s lips tilted into a knowing smirk, his head cocked, daring me to contradict him. “No?” He let the question hang in the air between us before turning back to the stove with a shrug of his broad shoulder to rescue the pancakes from burning. “My mistake.”
At the table, Nash never lifted his eyes from his book, but his fingers stilled on the page corner. “Leave him be,” he murmured, that faint upturn at the corner of his mouth betraying his amusement.
I poured a cup of coffee, the steam fogging my view of the counter. I tried to act casual, but the truth was, I was a mess inside. Had been since the moment I’d left Siena’s house, and I didn’t see that changing any time soon.
Jake folded his paper, set it aside, and gave me that big-brother stare that saw through damn near everything. “You gonna tell us what’s got you looking like that, or do we have to guess?”
“I’m guessing it starts withSeeand ends withiena,” Colt said, plating up the last of the pancakes and turning off theburner. He carried the heaping platter to the table and dropped into his chair, immediately stabbing his fork into the stack and piling his plate high.
I leaned back against the counter, taking a sip of coffee that was too damn hot, but didn’t dignify his comment with a response. I didn’t have to. It was written all over my face, and I knew it.
Nash leaned back in his chair, studying me in that quiet way of his. “Well, that confirms it,” he said mildly.
“I know that look,” Jake chuckled, the sound low and knowing. “You’re in deep, little brother.”
I exhaled hard, staring down into the dark swirl of my mug. “Yeah,” I said finally. “I think I’m in love with her.”
Silence greeted my confession until Colt barked out a laugh so loud it startled Nash’s ancient basset hound from his nap. “You don’t fall in love with someone you’ve only known for a couple of weeks,” he said, his tone sharp. Something flickered behind his eyes before he schooled his expression.
Curious.
For the past few months, Colt had been disappearing from the ranch with no explanation of where he was going or how long he’d be gone. He’d be tense and moody for a few days beforehand, and then when he’d get home, he’d be relaxed as all get out. Calm. Practically rejuvenated … until the moodiness would rise again. Jake, Nash, and I were convinced there was a woman involved, but anytime one of us asked, he’d brush us off. Tell us we didn’t know what the fuck we were talking about. Act like we were imagining things.
But I hadn’t imagined his tone just now. If I was in deep, so was he.
I just didn’t have the faintest clue with who or how long it’d been going on, and it didn’t look like any of us were going to learn any time soon.
Nash cleared his throat quietly, then chimed in to defend me. “When you know, you know.”
The three of us turned to look at him.
He flushed, his ears going red. “Or so I imagine,” he muttered, staring intently out the double doors that led onto the back patio.
Jake took a sip of his coffee. “There something you want to tell us, Nash?”
If my face and behavior were dead giveaways, so were Nash’s. He’d been in love with his best friend, Sage Montgomery, since they were kids, and she’d loved him just as long, but for some reason none of us understood, they kept pretending there was nothing more between them. Unfortunately, they danced around their feelings quite differently: while Sage dated every lowlife and loser in the Valley, Nash didn’t date. At all. Never had, probably never would. It seemed like if he couldn’t have Sage, he didn’t want anyone.
Nash shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”
Jake simply grunted and rolled his eyes, while under his breath, Colt murmured something to Nash that sounded like, “You need to tell her, man. I’m serious.”
“Y’all can dissect Nash’s love life later,” I said, cutting through Colt’s muttering to Nash. “Right now, I’m the one who’s seriously fucked here, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Jake’s smirk softened into something more thoughtful. “Talk us through it, brother.”
I set my mug down and rubbed the back of my neck. “I didn’t plan this. Hell, I didn’t even want it. I told myself we were just fucking, that what happened between us didn’t mean anything. But that was bullshit, and I think I knew it even from the start.”
“That’s how it starts,” Cole muttered, shoving another bite of pancakes into his mouth.
Jake shot him a quick, inquisitive look, but then dragged his attention back to me. “What about her being a Bellrose? Doesn’t that clash with your work to keep developers out of the valley?”
I grabbed the coffee pot and refilled my mug, buying myself a moment to think. “Yeah,” I admitted, watching the dark liquid swirl. “At first, that was the excuse I used to stay mad at her. Told myself she represented everything I hated—the kind of people who come here, take what they want, and leave the place worse off.”
I crossed to the window, cradling the hot mug between my palms. The steam rose between me and the snow-dusted pastures beyond. “But the truth is, that wasn’t about her. That was about me not wanting to admit how I felt. It was easier to be pissed off than to face the fact that she’d gotten under my skin.”
“So what changed?” Nash asked, his voice quiet. I mean, his voice wasalwaysquiet, but this was softer. More probing.
