Page 135 of Rocky Mountain Home

Rafe ordered them a couple of beers and passed one to Jesse, a question in his eyes.

The place was noisy enough that where they were standing they were pretty much alone in a crowd. Jesse twisted toward the dance floor but spoke in Rafe’s direction. “You know the thing that I told you was an issue before I left?”

Rafe grinned briefly before washing it away with a swallow of beer. “You mean the thing that I said you didn’t need to worry about anymore? The thing I said wasn’t really a thing?”

“Jackass,” Jesse muttered.

“Jerk.” Rafe just stood there like a Sphinx. “I am waiting for you to admit I was right. You know, about the thing that I don’t even know what you’re talking about anymore because it never happened.”

So much for having to warn Rafe not to discuss what Jesse had confessed to last February.

Only something Dare had said stuck with him, hard, and it was important to share that bit. “Fine, you were right, but also wrong, because something did happen. I got my ass handed to me that night, and I hope I’m smarter because of it.”

Rafe smacked his hand on Jesse’s shoulder and squeezed tight. “I’m very glad that the King of Guilt has decided to abdicate his throne.”

It was taking a while to disassemble the thing, but that was a pretty accurate image. Pulling down his past regrets one brick at a time and using them to build that road into the future.

“How are things going with Laurel?” Jesse asked.

Rafe eased his back to the bar, leaning side-by-side with Jesse. His gaze found Laurel in the midst of the family gathering. “I’m in love. That pretty much sums it up. My heart beats faster every time I see her. I wake up every damn morning wondering what I did to deserve her—you know, all of the typically cheesy fallen head over heels in love things.”

“I’m glad. It’s pretty clear you two were meant to be together. You know, like I told you before I left,” he added.

“Jerk,” Rafe returned happily.

While they talked, Jesse watched the rhythm of the dance before them, as family and friends slipped off and on the floor and into conversations. Laughter and smiles and deep connection. It’s what had been there for so long, and yet so often Jesse had felt on the outskirts of it.

This time something seemed noticeably new, but he wasn’t quite sure what had changed.

His favourite redhead reentered the room, heading toward the family. She’d pulled on a pale blue T-shirt that stretched over her belly before tying his shirt over top, and she looked pretty damn cute. With the extra weight in front, her hips swayed more than before, but her strut across the wooden boards was enough to make his body instantly go into high alert.

When she stepped up to Joel and slipped a hand around his hip, Jesse’s spine straightened so fast it nearly snapped out of his skin.

He was moving toward them an instant later.

Joel hadn’t even glanced at her, completely focused on his conversation with their cousin Trevor. Still, he automatically stretched a hand out to curl it around Dare’s hip. Only his fingers brushed her belly, and just as Jesse arrived, Joel and Dare both realized their mistake and sprang apart as if jet-propelled.

For one second conversation fell quiet as everyone waited to see what would happen. Dance music pulsed, hot and heavy, but no one spoke. Vicki turned from where she’d been hidden behind a couple of the girls, concern in her eyes.

Jesse was utterly shocked to discover honest amusement bubbling up inside. He reached out and caught hold of Dare’s fingers, tugging her against him and lifting her chin.

“Wrong Coleman,” he teased before pressing a light kiss to her lips.

Her cheeks were bright red when he pulled away, but her eyes sparkled. “Maybe I should take Vicki up on that offer to put a bell on you.”

“Maybe you should, but you better make it a big bell.” He winked as she tapped him lightly on the chest. “An enormous bell, so it goes with all the other things about me that are bigger than life.”

“Like your ego?” Joel tossed out.

Laughter rang from the group, a sense of relief on the air, but when it came down to it, Jesse was more focused on pulling Dare onto the dance floor and into his arms than worrying about a silly mistake.

She settled against him, the strange and yet familiar Buckaroo bump between them as he guided her around the dance floor.

“That was pretty impressive,” she offered. “You know, you not going all caveman.”

“Just let me know if Joel and I need to coordinate our clothing in the future.”

“How about you and me coordinate our un-clothing in a couple of hours?”