Page 50 of Wylder Ranch
“What are you doing?” asks Miles.
“Getting my will changed.”
“Arthur is such a crusty relic,” Hendricks adds. My sentiments exactly. “But he was excellent at dealing with all the shit when Max came along. And you do need to make sure you’re covered legally.”
Leaning back in my chair, I lace my fingers behind my head. Hendricks’s words mollify me slightly, though our situations are vastly different. For one, Max’s mother had little interest in being a mother. She only cared about money.
“What was that about custody?” he asks.
“Nothing. I haven’t thought about it yet.”
I’m not as bad at lying as Lando is, but I’m hoping my face doesn’t give me away. Aside from reminding myself on an hourly basis that Haven and I are friends andonlyfriends, custody is all I’ve been thinking about.
Because how are we going to raise Everly together? I know it’s only been two weeks, but it’s been more than enough time for me to figure out I don’t want to be a guy she sees every couple of months. I want to be a dad in my daughter’s life every day.
Miles removes the lid on the jar of M&Ms I have on my desk, pulls out a fistful, hands the red ones to Hendricks, and tosses the rest into his mouth.
“Where is my niece today, anyway?”
“Miles, that’s not what you should be asking,” chides Hendricks, crunching down on the red ones. “The first question is obviously, have you kissed Haven yet?”
A broad, identical grin spreads across their faces.
My brows drop. This has to be a trick. “Weren’t you the one who told me that under no circumstances should I be trying to hook up with her?”
Hendricks nods. “Yes, but I didn’t think you’d stick to it.”
“So you don’t think that?”
“I do, but I also know you’re weak.”
I sit back in my chair with a huff and a halfhearted snarl because my brother has a point. I am weak. Weaker than I assumed after last night.
Fuck, it was a close call.
I almost kissed Haven. And as we’re being honest, we almost had sex because it wouldn’t have stopped at a kiss. Not the kiss I had planned anyway.
I waited until I heard the click of the latch on her bedroom door, then marched outside to the porch for fifteen minutes instead of following her. It was alarming how much I wanted to. I figured standing in the cold wasthe next best thing to a cold shower.
The sky was clear enough that I spotted a shooting star. Unfortunately, as I was walking back into the house, I also caught the silhouette of Haven getting into the bath. I immediately called James to have thicker blinds installed in the bathroom. Then I stayed outside for another thirty minutes.
By the time I went to bed, I’d been outside for so long my extremities were in danger of falling off. And after breakfast this morning, when I’d tried to pretend nothing had happened by being overly cheery with Everly—but only made it so awkward it was clear somethinghadhappened—I made up a terrible excuse that I needed to run to my office.
I’ve been hiding here ever since.
“Thanks for the support,” I snap, “and for your information, nothing has happened.”
Fucking Hendricks with his sensible thinking and stupid fucking rules.
“When is she leaving?”
“Saturday,” I reply, holding my hand out for M&Ms before Miles eats them all.
The jar was full two days ago. Now there’s barely a third left, because if I’m eating M&Ms, I’m not drowning my sorrows in whiskey at the thought of Haven and Everly flying home.
I haven’t bought our tickets either because I’ve already decided we’re going back on the Burlington jet. My reasoning is that we can take all of Everly’s new things. If Lando needs to go somewhere, he’ll have to fly commercial for once.
How have two weeks gone by so quickly? I’m not ready to say goodbye.
