Page 83 of A Rancher's Love

“This isn’t about us,” Tucker assured her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned her toward Alex. “Go. Dance.”

Alex raised a brow. “That’s incredible timing.”

“Don’t be a jackass,” Tucker told him.

Ginny snickered. “Come on, Alex. I have questions for you.”

Now Alex was the one who looked worried. “Tucker, what are you getting me into?”

“Not me. This is all her,” Tucker drawled. He watched them dance away and slid farther to the right to where Luke and Kelli had taken possession of a low table. He hauled a chair next to his friend and sat down close.

He leaned back, watching Ginny as she laughed with Alex.

His position put him close enough that his head was only inches away from Luke’s. “Thank you for being a whole hell of a lot smarter than I was a few minutes ago.”

Luke stretched his arm along the back of Tucker’s chair and leaned in even closer. “You’re my best friend, and if we go outside right now, I will rip your spleen out through your throat.”

“You wouldtryto rip my spleen out,” Tucker corrected him. “I’m still a better fighter than you. But I should’ve given you a heads up, and I’m sorry.”

“What the hell,” Luke complained. “You’re lucky Kelli clued in faster than me what kind of trouble it would make if I threw a fit in public.”

“That’s what I’m apologizing for,” Tucker explained. “Dammit, this was supposed to be a gentle transition into people seeing Ginny and I as a couple.”

“Good job. There is no doubt whatsoever that you have a thing for each other,” Luke said dryly. “How long?”

Damn, Tucker really didn’t want to say nine years. “Long enough that we know we like each other.”

His friend laughed. “You’re such a fucking bullshitter. Answer the damn question. When did you start up with my sister?”

Reluctantly Tucker told the truth. “Remember the year Ginny called from the bar because Dare decided to hold a wake for her family and things were getting out of hand?”

Luke leaned back, exasperation in his body as he shook his head. “Holy crap, man. Seriously? That long ago?”

Tucker shrugged. “She told me it was something she really wanted, and since we were both grown-ups—”

“Don’t give me the details,” Luke complained. “Because I don’t want to know.”

Tucker stayed silent. Not much else he could say in that moment.

Luke took a long drink of his beer, then shook his head, leaning in to continue to curse Tucker out. “Christ. Not once in the past nearly ten years you felt like you should tell me?”

“What was I supposed to say?” Tucker asked seriously.

Luke made a face. “How about ‘I like your sister’?”

They’d been friends for too long. Instinctively, Tucker responded the way he would’ve to any other prompt. “Luke, I like your sister.”

His friend grimaced. Then his lips quivered, and his eyes rolled back in his head. Then he full on laughed, smacking a hand on Tucker’s shoulder a touch harder than a friendly good-old-boy pat. “You’re such a jackass. Fine. I’m glad you like my sister. Good luck dealing with her because while she’s one of the most wonderful people I know, she is a fucking handful.”

“Thank you for not blowing a gasket and making things tougher for me and the whole apprenticeship deal.”

Luke shrugged and took another pull on his beer. “What you should be thanking me for is the fact that I’m not going to beat you up later.”

“You mean you’re not going totryto beat me up.”

His friend shook his head disbelievingly. “You didn’t tell me you slept with my sister.”

Ginny was back. Settling, of course, into Tucker’s lap. She glared at her brother. “For fuck’s sake. We already talked about this. Leave Tucker alone. Besides, I talked him into it. It took three hours before he caved.”