Page 6 of Aisle Be The Groom (Bristlecone Springs #1)

OZZIE

M y stomach growled, reminding me I’d missed dinner. I’d been tired from the journey to Bristlecone Springs, but I’d also had an attack of nerves at the thought of being around Gray so soon. Starving myself might have been penance as well for noticing my fiancé’s father was well endowed. Not that I should have expected any differently from a man of his size. But still…

Yowzah! He was seriously packing. I would have had to be blind not to have seen that erection.

I’d tried to push what had happened from my mind, but all I heard echoing in my head was Gray confirming his hard-on had nothing to do with me. The relief I should have felt was overshadowed by how emphatically he had made it clear he would have reacted the same if anyone else had brushed against his overly sensitive nipples.

That was a good thing, right? Then why had his words stung?

Another growl from my tummy had me pulling back the cool covers. Rationally, I knew I could last until morning, but it didn’t feel that way. Tiptoeing through a stranger’s house and raiding their fridge was inappropriate, but I couldn’t work up the energy to care when I was hungry.

At the bedroom door, I stopped short. What the hell was I doing? I walked back and snagged my purple silk robe with the lace trimmings from the bedpost where I’d draped it earlier. With Carter away, I hadn’t been able to resist sleeping in the matching silk camisole pajama shorts set I’d snuck into my suitcase. I knotted the robe at my waist and stepped out into the darkened hallway.

The soft light filtering from downstairs guided my steps. The floor was cold, but I didn’t dare return to my room to put slippers on. All I needed was a few minutes to find the rest of the food I hadn’t eaten and heat it in the microwave. No one had to know I was out of my bedroom at two in the morning.

I hurried across the hall to the kitchen, which Gray had gestured at when he had brought me to the bedroom. As expected, the place was empty. I searched the wall for the switch and flicked it on, wincing at the sudden brightness flooding the room.

The large open kitchen was all shades of cream and gold, and an expensive-looking island stood in the center. Shiny appliances were neatly arranged in recessed alcoves, but the huge black microwave was all I needed.

I moved silently, feeling like an intruder in this house that wasn’t mine. Guilt coursed through me as I opened the steel fridge and rummaged through until I found the leftover food.

“What are you doing?”

I yelped and jerked at the unfamiliar voice. With the plastic-covered dishes from the restaurant clutched in my hand, I stepped back. A stern-faced young man with dark hair and a slight resemblance to Carter stood a few feet from me.

“Hi!” I shoved the fridge closed with a bang and winced. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to close it that hard.”

He swept his gaze from the food in my hand to my face and raised an eyebrow. Oh, I could just figure out what was going through his mind. No wonder I carried all these extra pounds if I raided the refrigerator at this hour of the night.

“I was tired and skipped dinner,” I blurted. Dammit, I shouldn’t have. He had to be Carter’s younger brother; I didn’t owe him any explanation. Well, maybe some explanation, since this was his house, and I was rummaging through his fridge.

“You must be Ozzie,” he said.

“Yes, and you’re Matty, Carter’s brother.”

“That’s right.” He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. He pulled the tab open and chugged down the contents. “So where’s my brother? Shouldn’t he be down here finding you something to eat instead of letting you wander around on your own?”

He didn’t know? Ah, Gray had said something about him being away from the ranch and arriving soon.

“Carter’s still stuck in the Caribbean.” Stuck was a bit of a stretch, since he’d opted to stay there.

“And you still came?”

My stomach fell. His eyes were so cold, and he hadn’t cracked a smile since entering the kitchen. Gray had mentioned Matty was more like him, but Gray had been warm and inviting. Matty’s attitude was of someone wanting to shove me out the front door.

“He was supposed to return tomorrow,” I mumbled.

Matty scoffed. “Let me guess. He changed his mind. If you’re marrying the guy, you should know by now that my brother’s not very reliable.”

“He has his moments, but he’ll be here.” I frowned, squaring my shoulders. Gray had said if anyone gave me a hard time I should talk to him, but did that include his son? Matty was definitely being rude. “Did I upset you? I promise I wasn’t snooping.” I showed him the food containers. “I just came downstairs to heat this.”

He shrugged. “Then go ahead. Nothing’s stopping you.”

The powerful urge to put the food back into the fridge and hide in my bedroom until morning washed over me, but I resisted. I’d done way too much of that as a fat kid. Whenever I was teased, I would run away. I hadn’t learned until later to stand up to bullies.

“Don’t mind if I do.” I took a plate out of the cupboard above the counter, dumped the food onto it, and put the plate in the microwave. The timer ticked away, the humming of the microwave disrupting the silence that had settled between Matty and me. I leaned against the counter, folding my arms across my chest, but his unnerving gaze kept me trapped until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I get the feeling there’s something you want to say to me.”

“Why are you marrying my brother?” he asked bluntly. “You know he can’t make any decision about the ranch without me, don’t you?”

I sucked in a deep breath. Was he implying I was marrying Carter for his money? My face heated, and anger flared inside me. Where did he get off making his wild assumptions about me?

“Why I’m marrying Carter is my business.”

“You marry into this family, and you become all our business. I don’t mean to offend you, Ozzie, but Carter hasn’t invested one drop of sweat in this ranch, and I’ll be damned if he—”

“Matty, that’s enough!”

I spun around. Gray walked into the kitchen, his brow knitted, glowering at his son.

“Hey, Dad,” Matty said. “Ozzie and I were just talking.”

“No, you were being rude. Ozzie’s a guest, and you’ll treat him accordingly while he’s here.”

“Come on, Dad. The same thought must have crossed your mind.” Matty swept his gaze over me again and shook his head. “You know I’m right.”

Huh? What kind of language were they using? I didn’t understand what they meant.

Gray placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You’re tired. I’m glad you’re back home. Why don’t you go to bed and take a few days off the ranch to relax with some of your friends?”

“There’s too much to do to take time off, but yeah, I’ll take a shower, then go to bed.” He nodded at me without another word and walked out of the kitchen.

The microwave beeped, and I removed the steaming hot dish, acutely aware of Gray’s presence and the uncomfortable silence that followed Matty’s departure.

“Ozzie.” Gray leaned on the counter. “Don’t take anything Matty says to heart. I promise he’s a good kid. He’s just a little too serious about the ranch.”

Whereas Carter didn’t give a damn. I couldn’t understand it. I’d only glimpsed a small portion of the ranch, and it was a legacy worth being a part of.

“What did he mean by that last thing he said?” I asked. “He looked at me like he didn’t think I was suitable for Carter. It’s because I’m a big guy, isn’t it? You would rather have someone skinnier for Carter.”

“That’s not true.”

I dropped my gaze. “You had that same look on your face when I announced I was engaged to Carter last Christmas.”

“Just because you took me by surprise.”

“That I’m big boned.”

“Ozzie, you’re thinking too much.” He placed a hand over mine and squeezed. “I swear to you I don’t have any objections to Carter marrying you because of your weight. That would be shallow of me.”

“But you do object to something else?”

“I don’t. I think skipping dinner has messed with your brain. Come over here and sit. I’ll pour you some iced tea and join you.”

“You’re going to eat at this time?” He didn’t look like someone who regularly got up early to eat.

“Why not? If you’re hungry, that’s the purpose of food, right?”

Damn, he was different from Carter, who would have shamed me for eating in the middle of the night. He’d done it so harshly once I’d broken down and cried, but then he’d apologized and said he was concerned about my health and was only horrible about it so I could break the habit.

Gray poured me an iced tea to go with my food, and slapped cold cuts, mayonnaise, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cheese together on bread for himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he opened a bag of potato chips and a jar of pickles.

“Knock yourself out.” He placed the chips and pickles between us like I didn’t already have my own food. I resisted for a couple of seconds before I snagged a chip.

“Thanks.” Two more chips made their way into my mouth. I felt too guilty to touch another. “I shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why shouldn’t you eat if you’re hungry?”

“Because…” I bit my bottom lip. All the reasons Carter usually fed me swirled in my mind. “Well, I can eat, but chips are probably not the best choice. Not to mention I’ll go back to bed after. Indigestion, you know.”

“No problem. We can go for a walk before we return to bed.”

“A walk? It’s”—I looked at the time—“two thirty in the morning.”

“And?” He grinned. “This is the country, Ozzie. Nothing better than a late-night or early-morning stroll around the ranch. The fresh air, the stars, the stretch of land, and the sounds of nature around us…”

The way he spoke about the countryside with such reverence and awe in his voice stirred something inside me. I wanted to experience what made it possible for him to have such a contented look. He seemed like a man at peace in his world. A man who knew where he belonged and why.

I’d never felt that sense of belonging anywhere.

“It’s not too cold out?” I asked.

“Nope. Just the right temperature, but put some boots on.”

“All right, then.” I reached for another chip. He smiled, and my stomach flipped. When was the last time someone looked at me with approval when I was eating, a simple necessary task to stay alive? People often stared at my plate, suggested I eat smaller portions, or plain told me to go on a diet.

There was something endearing about Gray offering me chips at two thirty in the morning. Especially when I already had my own food.