Page 50 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats

“Are you sure?” I ask.

He nods. “Yeah, I’m sure. I can’t say I’m never going to get jealous or that I’m going to be good at this, but for her, I’ll do my best. I can’t lose her, and if this is what will make her happy…” He shrugs. “I don’t hate you guys, so that helps, too.” He smirks at us over the lid of his to-go cup.

Brooks leans over the table, smacking Austin’s back. He pulls him in for a hug over the side of the table. “Of course you don’t hate us.”

Austin rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat.

“Just be honest with us and with her,” I say. He gives me a curt nod.

“Does she know?” Brooks asks.

Austin shakes his head. “No, last night we just focused on us. I figured we should all tell her that together.”

He’s already better at this whole sharing thing than he might think.

“My parents wanted to take Evelyn for a sleepover tonight, since they couldn’t see her yesterday. We could invite Hadley over for dinner,” Austin says, adjusting his ball cap.

Brooks’ eyes pop wide. “Shit. You know what I just realized? I’m the only one who hasn’t been with her yet.” He looks at Austin. “Wait, did you two fuck last night?”

Austin blinks at him a few times, then shrugs one shoulder. “I don’t know if I’d call it that, but yeah, we did.”

A cheesy smile takes over Brooks’ face, then it falls. “See? I was right. I’m the only one who doesn’t know what her pussy feels like squeezed around my cock.”

What the fuck? I wish I could buy him a filter or muzzle sometimes.

“Time to go,” Austin says, grabbing his coffee with one hand and Brooks’ arm with the other. He pulls him toward the door.

Brooks tries to say something else, but Austin glares at him until Brooks shuts up again.

Daddy Austin at his finest.

Brooks and Austin left the coffee shop together to arrange delivery for the custom piece that Austin picked up yesterday from the woodworking company a few towns over. I’m heading back to the warehouse to work on the next couple of contracts we have lined up.

I slow my truck, seeing a familiar SUV pulled over on the side of the road. Hadley’s standing on the edge of the dirt pull-off, looking out over the aspen trees covering the hillside. I pull in and park beside her.

She’s so lost in her thoughts that she doesn’t even realize I’m there until I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her temple. She tenses for a beat before relaxing into me.

“Hey, Conrad.”

“How did you know it was me?”

“You smell like wood and fresh air.”

“Is that so?” I say, nuzzling into her neck.

“Mmhmm,” she hums, pulling the camera that’s in her hand up in front of her. She snaps a series of pictures with me wrapped around her.

I can only see the pictures for a moment on the small screen before she moves on to the next, but it doesn’t take long to realize how talented she is.

“Have you always liked photography?”

“Yeah. My mom got me my first camera when I was eight, I think.”

“And it makes you happy?”

Her head tilts to the side for a moment as she thinks about it. “It does.”

“Then you should keep doing it. I like seeing you happy.”