Page 54 of Hometown Hottie

“Of course not.” I frowned deeply. “You know that’s not how I see you at all.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, I hoped you’d say that because it means that if we take your money, we pay you back. That’s business. You making a donation is charity.”

I groaned. He’s just as hardheaded as his sister.

Knowing I was fighting a losing battle, I finally relented. “Fine, but for the record, I already told Nova you guys could pay me back.”

“I know, but we also figured you’d try to find a way to get out of taking the money when we eventually get there, so I thought I’d put a stop to that notion right here and right now. If we do this, you’ll let us repay every cent. With interest.”

My mouth twisted. “Interest? No. No way.”

Ryan sighed and held out his hand. “Then give me back that shovel and go on your merry way for the weekend. I appreciate the offer. I really do, but I won’t just take money for nothing. Not only will my parents never go for it, but in the end, it’ll cost us our friendship. I’ll always feel like I owe you something.”

I hung onto my shovel with one hand and stuck out the other. “Deal. No backsies. You take the money from me now and I take it back from you when you’ve got it.”

His eyes narrowed as they dropped to my outstretched palm. “The terms of when and how we’ll repay you will have to be clearer than that. It can’t just be something vague like ‘when we’ve got it,’ or else you’ll just keep saying that we don’t have it yet and put what we do have back into the ranch.”

I rolled my head back and sent a furious glare at the sky. “Okay. Okay. I get it. I did tell Nova that I’d have paperwork drawn up and I will. We’ll have a smartass lawyer draft us proper terms that I won’t try to find a loophole in.”

Ryan’s face split into a grin. “You’re seriously willing to agree to that?”

“I am.” Too bad they knew me so damn well. “Are you going to shake my hand already?”

“One last thing.” He reached out but didn’t smack his hand into mine just yet. “We do this privately. Frank doesn’t get anywhere near this deal.”

I made the final move and grasped his hand, giving him a firm shake. “Now there’s one thing we wholeheartedly agree on.”

Relief softened Ryan’s features as he nodded and released me. “Alright, then. Obviously, I still have to talk to my parents and see if they were serious about selling before, but if they were and they’re willing to do it this way as well, then it’s a done deal.”

Relief of my own coursed hot and heavy through me. “Let me know how it goes with them. I really want to get this done. It’ll be a huge weight off my shoulders.”

“You’re telling me,” he said easily, once again impressing me with how well he was taking all this. I guess it helps that he had so much time to think about it before I came to him.

I was feeling pretty good about it all until Vance spoke again. “You going up to the lake this weekend, Ry? It’s supposed to be a big party.”

Fuck.

Ryan shook his head, though. “I’ve got too much work to do here. Is that where you guys are going?”

“Yep,” Vance replied cheerfully. “We rented a cabin. I’m trying to woo one of Cassidy’s friends, though I only figured out recently that she went to school with Cass and Nova. Jessie, you know her?”

“The blonde?” He nodded, but I noticed he wasn’t looking at Vance anymore. He was now watching me carefully, like he was starting to put it together that Vance and I were going to the lake—with his sister and her friends. “Yeah, I know her. Sort of, anyway. As well as I know any of those girls, which isn’t very well. They’re Nova’s friends. Not mine.”

Oh, shit. Shots fired.

Vance glanced between the two of us, seemingly realizing that he might’ve stepped in it and backtracking as fast as he could. “Jessie wanted to take me home to meet her parents already, which is way too fast for a guy like me, but a weekend at the lake? That sounded like my kind of getting-to-know-you exercise.”

Ryan turned toward me with his jaw tightening and suspicion darkening his eyes. “So let me see if I’ve got this straight. You two rented a cabin at the lake to spend the weekend with my sister and her friends?”

“Vance rented it,” I said. “I’m just going along for the jet ski it comes with.”

Neither of them looked like they believed me. Ryan slowly turned back to Vance, a contemplative gleam in his eyes. “This cabin you rented. You got space for one more?”

“Sure, man,” Vance replied without giving it a second thought. “We’ll give you the directions and you can come up later after you are done with your chores.”

Inwardly, I groaned. This should’ve been great news, a weekend with both of my best friends and zero responsibilities, but instead, I was disappointed that Ryan was coming, and I hated myself for it.

Yeah, I have to be the shittiest friend who has ever lived, but I was really looking forward to spending time with Nova without the possibility of Ryan interrupting us. With the wind knocked out of my sails, I forced a grin to my lips and jerked my head at the truck.

“Hurry up then, gentlemen. Those beers we’ve got in the back won’t stay cold forever and I’ve got a hot date with a motorbike that drives on water. We’ll see you there later, Ryan.”