Page 23

CONWAY

When I’m halfway down the stairs, with lids still half gritted together with sleep, the floorboards groan behind me. I pause when the soft creak of a door breaks the silence again, narrowing my eyes into the dimness.

Jaxon steps out of Grace’s room.

He moves quietly across the worn floorboards, sleep shorts low on his hips, hair rumpled like he rolled out of a woman’s bed, which he damn well did. His shoulders are tense, head down, like a kid who knows he’s about to get caught sneaking home after curfew.

My jaw tightens.

He freezes when he sees me. His dark gaze locks with mine, flat and unapologetic, daring me to say something.

I don’t.

I stand frozen, fists clenched at my sides as he walks past without a word and doesn’t even try to explain.

Beau, the damn traitor who was sleeping outside Grace’s door, pushes against the almost closed door and pads into Grace’s room with a lazy flick of his tail .

I stare after him, still stunned at how comfortable he is with our guest. It’s like she’s slowly weaving a spell over all the inhabitants in this damned house. Against my better judgment, I step closer, intending to shut the door to give her privacy.

Instead, I find myself looking inside.

Grace lies curled in the center of the bed, tangled in white sheets, her shoulders bare and her face soft and peaceful in the early light.

Her hair is wild across the pillow, her lips parted, her breathing slow and even.

She looks like she belongs here. Like she’s already become part of this house in ways none of us prepared for.

I drag in a rough breath.

This can’t happen. Not like this. Not with her.

If she writes a single word about this… if she feels used, played, manipulated…

everything we’ve built could shatter like glass under a boot.

I shut the door quietly and shove my hat down low over my eyes.

There’s work to be done, and I’ve got two sons-of-bitches to deal with before the sun hits the sky.

***

The sun barely brushes the edge of the pasture as we saddle up. Dylan and Corbin are already riding out, McCartney and Nash working the east herd. Harrison stays inside with the kids as planned.

I stalk toward the barn where my younger brothers, Jaxon and Levi, lean against the rail, talking low.

Jaxon looks like hell, with dark circles shadowing his eyes and shoulders braced tight like a coiled spring.

Levi’s too relaxed, like he always is when he knows he’s done something reckless and is waiting to charm his way out of it.

Not this time.

I step into their space, boots crunching hard against the dirt. Both men straighten when they notice me.

“We need to talk.” My voice cuts sharp in the cold air.

Jaxon’s mouth flattens into a hard line. Levi gives me that slow, easy grin that makes me want to hit him more than I want to hear him out.

“About what, Con?” Levi says.

“You know damn well about what.” I shove my hands on my hips. “She’s here for the article. She’s here to help us secure the future we agreed on. You two are putting that at risk.”

Levi shrugs, too nonchalant. “She’s a grown woman, Conway. She can make her own decisions.”

“That isn’t the damn point.” My voice drops lower.

“You think any of this works if she walks away feeling used? If she prints one line about how we dragged her into our beds the first day she was here?” I cut my glare to Jaxon.

“That we’re a bunch of hillbilly fuck-boys looking for a good time with any skirt that comes our way.

You think we’ll ever get a second chance? ”

Jaxon doesn’t flinch, doesn’t blink. He stares back at me, stone-faced, reminding me so much of our father that it hurts. “It wasn’t like that.”

I exhale sharply, chest tight. “I don’t care what it was like. I care what it looks like. You risked everything we’ve worked for. Everything we need. And it’s not only about us. It’s about those kids in there. Those kids need a woman to help them grow.”

The three of us stand there, locked in heavy silence, the cold wind slicing between us like a warning. If they’re not remembering our momma right now and all the things she did for us, then I haven’t gotten my point across.

Levi looks away first, jaw grinding as he kicks at the dirt. Jaxon never does.

The sound of boots crunching gravel breaks the tension. Cody approaches from opposite ends of the barn. Lennon and Brody aren’t far behind, trailing off the pasture path with puzzled glances.

Cody takes one look at the set of my jaw, then glances between Jaxon and Levi, and instantly reads the room. His easy smile fades. “What the hell happened?”

I tip my head in the direction of Jaxon, who says nothing. Levi crosses his arms and tilts his chin, defiant.

“He was seen leaving Grace’s room early this morning,” I say flatly. “She was still in bed.”

There’s a sharp inhale from Cody. Brody’s expression darkens instantly. Lennon freezes mid-step and mutters under his breath, “Shit.”

Cody whistles low. “Jaxon. Jesus.”

Jaxon holds up both hands. “I didn’t do anything she didn’t want.” His voice softens. “She asked me to stay.”

“Not the point,” I growl. “We’ve spent years trying to agree on how to make this place work, and we have to be taken seriously. You both handed every gossip rag in the country the story they want.”

The group falls into a heavy, loaded silence.

Brody speaks first, voice rough. “Maybe this was a mistake. All of it. Putting out that damn ad. Dragging a city girl like her into this. Now we’re going to lose everything we’re working towards.”

Cody shakes his head. “Or maybe we don’t need the ad at all.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Cody shrugs, slow and deliberate. “Maybe the right woman already walked onto this ranch. Maybe we don’t have to convince her with an ad or a contract or show her how best to advertise us to the rest of the women in this great country. Maybe we have to give her a reason to want to stay.”

Levi, still tense, lets out a slow breath. “He’s not wrong.”

Jaxon speaks for the first time, his voice low but clear. “I don’t want anyone else walking through that door. We asked the world to send us someone… and it already did. She needs us as much as we need her.”

He proceeds to share some of Grace’s story, leaving the group stunned and my stomach tight. This is dangerous. Hope masquerading as logic.

Lennon crosses his arms, frowning.

Brody’s voice cuts through the quiet. Harsh.

“You’re talking about throwing the plan out the window?

On what? Feelings? A couple of days of flirting?

Some furtive sex? A woman’s sob story that you don’t even know to be true.

We built this home as a team. Don’t tell me one woman changes everything we planned. ”

The group fractures into low arguments, overlapping voices, and frustration simmering under the surface. I let it wash over me, as my gaze locks on the empty horizon outside the barn doors. They’re divided, and for the first time in a long while, I don’t have the answer to unite them.

Their voices grow louder, and the calm we pride ourselves on is gone.

Levi rounds on Brody, jaw clenched. “You think I don’t know I screwed up? You think I wanted to risk this?” He swipes a hand through his hair, pacing. “I’ve spent my whole goddamn life being good for nothing except my pretty face and my quick hands. I didn’t mean to make things messy.”

Cody steps forward, voice low but sharp. “Then fix it , Levi. Start acting like a man who deserves her, not a boy chasing a thrill.”

Levi flinches but nods. “I will.”

I watch the exchange, my jaw grinding tight. The worst part is… Levi looks genuine. Contrite. Maybe for the first time.

Cody rests a heavy hand on Jaxon’s shoulder. “And you?”

Jaxon doesn’t flinch. “I won’t apologize for wanting her. Or for her wanting me. I won’t. You weren’t in that bedroom with us last night. You don’t know what it felt like… what was between us.”

The horses shift restlessly in the stalls, and Cody steps in, breaking the stand-off with his usual ease. “We might want her…” He glances at Brody. “Well, some of us, but this isn’t only about what we want. It’s about what she wants.”

Silence descends again. The final truth spoken .

When I speak, my voice cuts through clean and hard. “You know the rules. We vote as a family. No decision gets made in isolation.” Tension softens, but barely. “Tonight,” I add. “After chores.”

No one argues. Not even Brody.

For now, we go back to work. Ranch life doesn’t pause for emotions.

By the time we saddle up, the sun has started its slow climb. The familiar scrape of leather, the sharp scent of hay and horse sweat, grounds me and settles my pulse into something steadier.

Jaxon swings up first, silent as always, but there’s a harder line to his mouth today. Levi lingers, hands buried deep in his pockets, staring out at the fields like he’s trying to spot an answer out there in the grass.

I walk past them both toward my horse as the others file out. The ranch hums to life around us. Gates are opened, cattle move, and kids shout in the distance.

I mount up and glance back toward the house once, finding her window. I think a curtain shifts.

I’m not a man prone to hope. I deal with reality, but something feels different today.

No decisions have been made yet, but maybe we’re starting to wonder if the answer isn’t going to come from an ad, or a plan, or some perfect solution.

Maybe it has already arrived, with bright eyes, red lips, sharp wit, and a heart brimming with mischief, with no intention of ever being the answer we thought we wanted.

And I realize as I nudge my horse forward:

I want her to want to stay.