Page 18 of Hammer and Hops

The path finally widened and opened up to the ranch, and the horses sped up again. “Race you!” I yelled as we bee-lined out of control to the barn where Ethan was waiting for us, laughing his ass off.

“Guess I should have warned you about that.”

“You think?” I tried to glare at him but couldn’t really be mad. The gallop had been fun, kind of like flying. “I think I need to get a motorcycle.”

“Not me. Get me off this thing.” Everett looked a bit green, like he was going to puke. Ethan helped him down and took the reins for both horses. “Thank you, Buttercup. I’ll never forget that ride.” He wiggled his fingers in a wave. Damn, that man was cute as hell.

“Thanks again, Ethan. This was really enjoyable.”

“Don’t worry about it. I got you anytime.” He gave us a chin-up and took the horses away.

While washing up at the trough, I reached over and grabbed his hands, soaping them up with mine, then rinsing them. When I looked up, he was staring at me with his lips slightly parted and gray eyes glistening. My heart thudded heavily, and my throat suddenly dried up.

Neither of us said anything, but I held his hand all the way back to the truck. I kissed his forehead before helping him in, then circled around to the driver’s side. “Ready?” I cranked the ignition on.

“Sure. Thank you, by the way. I had a good time.”

“Me too.”

“Can we stop at the taco truck on the way back?”

“You liked that, huh?” I winked at him to see if I could get him to smile again, and I wasn’t disappointed. “I like it too. In fact, it makes me feel a bit nostalgic, especially after the horse ride.”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

I pulled out of the drive and headed back toward town with every intention of hitting that taco truck. “Well, it’s just some of the things that I never got to do with my sister. I mean, my brother and I would ride a lot when we were younger because she never had the chance to do shit like this.”

“Your sister? You never mentioned you had a sister.”

“Right. I forget that not everybody knows. Living here usually means everyone is up in everyone else’s business.”

“New guy. Remember?” He smirked at me, and it was even cuter than his scowl.

“I remember. Sheesh. Hard to forget you. Though it does feel like we’ve known each other longer than we have.”

“Kind of. But I don’t know about your sister.”

“Cassidy was older than me, and she died of cancer. Childhood leukemia. It was terrible, and she was sick for a long time.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you.”

“Yeah. It was. I was super young, and when they brought Jay home from the hospital, I was scared to death that I was going to get it too. You know? It was the magical thinking kids do.”

He reached over and squeezed my thigh in a very comforting way. “I can imagine, sort of, but I’m an only child, and believe me, I was always spoiled rotten. In a weird way, my mom spoiled herself right along with me. But…that’s not at all the same thing.”

“No.” We were quiet for a long time, then I recalled some of the other magical thinking I did before Cassidy died. “I used to think that if I just helped everyone. Helped enough. That she’d get better. So I tried hard, but she never got better. I think my mom and dad would have been totally destroyed if not for my brother and me. I guess that was my real purpose. Helping them.”

“I totally understand you a lot better now.”

“Do you?” I chuckled because I was sure he was going to say that, because I was so hell-bent on helping everyone in this town that it came straight out of my childhood.

“Maybe. I certainly see that your heart is a lot bigger than I originally thought it was.”

Now that floored me. “Not sure how you get that…”

“You don’t have to.”

We stopped for tacos and ate them in my truck, then I took him back to the brewery. Before he got out, I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”