Page 109 of Dusty Spur Ranch Cowboys

He searches my face before giving the smallest shake of his head. “I don’t see him much anymore.”

“I do.”

His forehead comes to rest against mine, and we stay there beneath the stars while the ranch settles around us. Neither of us says another word because this time the silence isn’t asking either of us for answers.

It simply lets us stand there together.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Emmett

I sink another fence staple into the post when a silver SUV rolls through Dusty Spur’s front gate with music thumping hard enough to send a couple of horses lifting their heads from the hay.

The hammer pauses halfway through another swing before I let out a long breath and mutter, “Please keep driving.”

The SUV crawls across the yard instead, crunching over the gravel until it comes to a stop outside the house.

“Well,” Willy says from the corral, glancing over the top rail toward me. “You look thrilled.”

“I was having a good morning.”

The driver’s door swings open, and Tori climbs out in spotless white trainers, designer sunglasses, and a denim jacket that probably costs more than the fence I’m fixing. She looks around the ranch with the kind of polite smile people wear while deciding whether a hotel deserves four stars or five.

“Wow,” she says as she walks over. “I forgot how dusty this place gets.”

She smiles at me and steps in for a hug. I return it awkwardly before we separate again.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

Her eyes run up and down me. “How’ve you been?”

“Keeping busy.”

“I can see that.” Her gaze drifts past me toward Red and Willy. “You three still living together?”

Willy tips his hat. “Good seeing you too.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You definitely did.”

She laughs and waves a hand. “I only meant I figured one of you’d have settled down by now.”

“I’ve got plenty of offers.”

“They know about each other?”

Willy chuckles to himself instead of rising to the bait, which tells me he’s already decided she isn’t worth arguing with.

Before anybody can think of another reply, the screen door slams against the house. “Daddy!”

Sadie tears across the yard with her curls bouncing behind her before throwing herself into Tori’s arms hard enough to rock her back a step.

“Mommy!”

Tori laughs as she catches her. “There’s my girl.”