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“Be my guest.” Weston smirked. “I will, too. Besides, there’s a bucket of cookies for tonight, right? I like sweet things.”

“I’m sweet.”

He snorted. “Uh huh. Have a hot dog.”

Paisley caught Susanna’s chuckle as she turned back to the fire. Great. Now they were a spectacle.

Although Weston had sort of agreed that she was sweet. So that was something.

Chapter

Ten

“Can I go swimming?”

Weston stared hard at the 12-year-old. “No, Matthew. You may not.”

The kid rolled his eyes. “Polar plunges are a thing.”

“Not on my watch. Not when we’re a five-hour horseback ride back to the ranch. Not without express parental permission.”

“Like my parents care what I do,” the boy muttered.

Weston studied him. “They care enough to invest in your education.”

“It’s easier for them.”

“Easier to homeschool?” That was a head-scratcher. “Not much is easier than throwing a kid on a bus and not seeing him again until dinnertime.”

“Yeah, well, some of the other kids might have perfect parents, but all mine care about is work. My mom only homeschools me—” the kid air-quoted the word “—because she works from home, anyway. So, she sticks me at the desk next to hers to do my stuff while she’s on Zoom all day.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Only on group days, but most of those other kids are babies.”

Too deep. Since when did Weston care about this boy he’d known for three days and would likely never see again after tomorrow? “What’s that got to do with swimming in a mountain lake that was covered in ice last week?”

“No one lets me do anything.”

“A minute ago, you said they didn’t care. You can’t have it both ways, kid.”

“They don’t care, so long as I’m quiet. They just want a perfect little clone who doesn’t mess up their life.”

Weston didn’t care about the boy’s homelife. At least, he didn’t want to. “Still no to a polar plunge.”

“Scared to jump in yourself?” Matthew taunted.

“There are other reasons to say no.” Weston had a done a wintry dip a couple of times himself. He knew what a shock to all the body systems it was, and yeah. There was no way he was letting this kid have his way this far from the lodge. “This discussion is closed. You may not jump in the lake. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I hear you.”

Weston remembered the kid he’d been. “Do you promise?”

“I’m almost a teenager.”

“Uh huh.”

“And you’re not the boss of me.”