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“Thank you. We have a high tea planned in the garden today.”

“Cool. Do you need any help with anything else?”

“No, I think we have everything in hand.”

“Okay, well, just let me know if you do,” I tell her, and she leaves.

“You are full of surprises, Mr. Buxton,” Rémy says as I lean against the counter beside him.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always trying to help. Yesterday, you were helping Lilah, and now today with the cows and with Seline.”

“I guess I figure why watch if I can help.”

“But with the estate, you want to sell and not try to help it, to help me?”

My cheeks burn. He’s right. I’ve always been the guy who gets in and lends a hand wherever needed. I never used to shy away from anything. Trying new things was how I found baseball to begin with.

My shoulder aches, and I massage the spot with one hand. Rémy turns me to face him and lays a hand over mine on my shoulder. I look up into his piercing blue eyes and wonder how I ever could have forgotten them. I guess it’s the same way I forgot how to try anything new.

“What is going through that pretty head of yours?” he asks, and my stomach swirls.

“I guess when I stopped being able to do the thing that I loved, I stopped wanting to try anything new. Like, if I did and ended up loving it, what if it got ripped away, too?” I say, the words leaving my mouth and lifting a weight off my chest.

“Then you try again. Like today.”

“I don’t think unhooking cows is big enough to count as a new thing.”

“Then try something bigger?”

My gaze moves to his mouth, and then I do something I know I shouldn’t. I push up on my toes and kiss him.

ChapterSeven

Rémy

Ithink at first I’m imagining things. I’ve imagined grabbing Nate and kissing him so many times, this had to be a dream, too. But his warm soft lips press against mine, as his hands hold my waist and when my fingers slip up the hem of his shirt and touch the soft skin of his lower back, my whole body comes alive with the realization this is very real.

I pull him closer and slide my hand all the way up his back, holding him against me as his lips part and his tongue finds mine. I want to stay right here doing only this, but we’re in the kitchen where anyone could walk in any second to start the lunch prep.

I reluctantly pull away and the disappointment in his eyes sends a pang to my chest.

“Not here,” I tell him, taking his hand and leading him toward my room. His palm is warm, and it’s like tiny vibrations flow between us, electricity generated by this connection we have. I turn and pull him to me the second I’m into the small hallway.

“Here,” I say, and he pushes up and kisses me again, and I fumble behind him to close and lock the first door. His finger loops under the hem of my shirt, and I copy him, lifting his shirt up his back, feeling the ridges of his muscles until he breaks our kiss and lifts my shirt over my head. I peel his shirt off, too, his toned chest glistening, pleading with me to run my tongue over every mound, taste every inch. But before I can do any of that, he presses his palms against my chest, keeping us apart as his lustful stare trails down my body and then back up to meet my gaze.

He sucks in a breath.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” he says, then launches at me. I shuffle us backward as we kiss. It’s raw, all lips and teeth and tongue and hot moans as we move through the door to the bedroom section of the space. I kick that closed, too, before I fall back on the bed, pulling him down on top of me.

His tongue fights mine for control as his fingers lace through the curls at the nape of my neck, sending shivers through my entire body. I’m rock hard already. Truthfully, I was hard the second he kissed me. Nate always did something to me, even as kids. It was like he could just look my way and my whole body would switch on.

He’s holding himself slightly above me, pushing up on one hand, and I roll him to the side and wedge us closer by linking my leg over his and pulling him in. His hard cock is like a rock against mine, and I grind a little. He lets out a soft moan between kisses.

I want him so badly, but can I do this? Should I? I break our kiss, and he locks on my gaze with those bedroom eyes.

“Are you sure?” I ask.