Page 26 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

Crew

I couldn’t wrap my brain around exactly what happened. I understood Mal’s anger, sort of, but he hadn’t given me a chance to explain. And then that kiss, that toe-curling, mind-numbing kiss, had scrambled my brain. I’d wanted it. I wanted more of it. I wanted everything .

But I certainly hadn’t been able to get my thoughts sorted out enough, while Mal was making accusations, to explain myself. I knew I’d said all the wrong things, but I’d been reacting, instead of conversing. And I needed to fix that.

It was probably a good idea to give Mal a chance to cool down a bit first though.

Dinner was, as always when the family was together, a loud affair. My siblings made some pointed comments that I just as pointedly ignored. Instead, I focused on the new colt, the real reason I’d bought him—which was only forty percent because of Mal—and what my hope was for his future.

“I thought he’d been a good project for you and Mal to work on together,” I said to Hawk, who nodded. Hawk could work with any horse, but Mal had the experience with draft crosses.

Dad didn’t say much. At least not out loud.

He was having plenty of silent discussion with Mom over my head.

It was amazing to me how, with only using facial expressions and their eyes, they could have entire conversations.

They’d been together for thirty-five years though so I expected it was only natural they knew each other that well.

I escaped as soon as I saw the opportunity, but I’d barely made it onto the porch before my dad followed me out. I could’ve played dumb. Or acted like I didn’t hear him and just kept walking. But I respected him too much to do that, so I stopped and waited.

“Something we need to talk about?” Dad asked, his voice sure and calm.

“Nope.” I sighed. “It’s a non-issue. I swear.”

“Mhmm,” Dad murmured as though he didn’t believe me, which, to be fair, he shouldn’t. I let my head drop.

“Yeah, okay. Are there feelings? Yeah. Or at least the possibility. I mean, you’ve met him. You can see.”

Dad’s chuckle was soft and his tone teasing when he said, “Were I not one of the few straight members of this family, I probably could. But Crew—”

“I know,” I cut him off, not wanting to hear him say it.

Dad hummed and stepped closer, then bumped me with his shoulder.

Unconsciously, I leaned into him, like I always had.

And he held me up, just like he always had.

My parents might be young, and they’d finished having kids at the age when a lot of folks started having kids, but the benefits of that far outweighed the downsides.

Because of their youth, they’d always had a much more progressive outlook and they’d supported us 100 percent.

They’d been gentle parents long before the term was coined, instructing and teaching, giving us proportionate consequences instead of punishments.

“Is Mal interested?”

“Maybe,” I responded, not willing to tell him about the kiss. No matter how easy it was to talk to my dad, he was still my father.

“Okay. Let me just say one thing,” he said and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “If you want it to work there has to be very clear communication and very clear boundaries. Because you have all the power here and you can’t abuse that.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I know.” Dad kissed my temple and let go. “You’re a good man. Your mother and I raised you to be. So make things right.”

I nodded. “I will.”

“All right. I love you.”

“Love you too,” I said, gave him a quick hug, and stepped off the porch. I was only a few yards away when Dad had one last thing to say.

“Hey, Crew,” he called, and I turned but kept walking backward. “Stop buying the man horses.”

“I didn’t…I wasn’t…” I threw up my hands. “Never mind.”

Dad’s guffawing laughter followed me into the night.

The walk to my cabin was peaceful. With nothing but the occasional whinny, moo, or loud-as-fuck bray, I was able to sort through my thoughts and feelings.

As much as I wanted to take that kiss as hope, and permission, I knew I couldn’t.

It had been in the heat of the moment, and as hot as it had been, it wasn’t enough for me to throw caution to the wind.

I had to be smart about this if I wanted a chance with Mal.

To get to know him and see if that attraction had any substance.

And damn did I want that.

So the first thing I had to do was stop being a creeper.

The moment I walked into the clearing where the cabins were, my gaze shot to Mal’s cabin.

The lights were on and even though I couldn’t see anything from where I was, all I would have to do was walk right up to the window and look in.

It took far too much willpower to continue on to my own cabin.

To shut out the explosive giggle I heard and not wonder what had Pay so delighted.

In order to move forward, I needed to have a solid plan in place. And to do that, I needed some outside perspective.

Isley answered the video call on the first ring. It took a second for the picture to connect and then I saw his smiling face and heard loud music thumping through the speakers.

“Honey, can you turn that down please?” Isley called to his girlfriend off camera and then raised his brows at me. “Hey, big brother.”

“Hey. You busy?”

“Always. But you know I’ve always got time for you. You okay?”

A second later, Jerrica leaned down into frame, wrapping her arms around Isley’s shoulders. Her braids swung forward, showing the pop of pink underneath.

“Hey, Crew. How’s it hangin’?”

“Low and to the left.” I winked. I adored that woman and how good she was for my brother. “He taking care of you?”

Jerrica sniffed. “We take care of each other. You know that.”

“I do. Mind if I monopolize his time for a minute?”

“Of course.” Jerrica kissed Isley hard and then rubbed her nose on his. “Food in fifteen.”

He nodded and turned his attention to me. I raised a brow. “Isn’t it like, ten o’clock there?”

“Movie snacks,” he explained. “Jer makes the best fully loaded nachos you’ve ever had. You can ask her to make some when we come out this summer.”

I slouched down in my recliner and popped the footrest up. “Oh, good. You’re definitely coming home then?”

Isley nodded and leaned closer. “Yeah, I arranged an internship with Dr. Matigan. But you didn’t call to talk about that. What’s going on?”

He was right. Isley was the most analytical of us all, gave the best advice, and really thought things through.

Not that he couldn’t make split second decisions, especially if someone or something’s life was on the line.

But he never went off half-cocked and he was good about looking at things from all sides.

“Just start at the beginning,” he prodded gently.

So I did. All the way back from Mom going behind my back to set up the interview to meeting Mal and his kid up to everything that had transpired today. I talked for a solid ten minutes and just info dumped all over him. When I was finally done, I took a breath.

“Okay, first of all, stop buying the man horses.”

I groaned. “I didn’t! The first one was his horse.

I just went and picked her up. And the second one, okay, yeah, I would have probably never seen the colt if it wasn’t for Mal.

I might have even left him. But the fact that Mal saw something in him, that was why I got him. Not, like, as a gift or anything.”

“But that’s not what you said,” he reminded me gently.

“Christ,” I muttered. “He’s got me all up in my head. I don’t even know anymore.”

Isley laughed, but it was gentle and not directed at me, just the phrasing. Or maybe the situation.

“I don’t know why you called me, Crew. You know what you need to do. Talk to him, explain your thought process and your goals, and make it clear. After that, whether he listens and accepts it, that’s up to him and you have no control over it.”

Yeah, true. But still. I was going to do all that as soon as I got the chance. It was the rest of it that had me twisted up.

“What about the other thing?”

Isley hummed. “You like him?”

I sure as fuck did. “Yeah.”

“Well, that’s entirely at his discretion. You know that. You can’t force it and you can’t push it. There are ways to get around it, take the power dynamic out of play. But it’s up to Malachi and not you.”

I scowled. “Thanks for being logical.”

Isley snorted. “That’s why you called me. You got your head on straight?”

I smirked. “As straight as I ever am.”

“I love you,” he said, shaking his head. “Jer is waiting on me. Keep me in the loop.”

“If you’re lucky. Love you too, kiddo.”

We hung up and I stared into the darkness. Between my dad, Isley, and my own thoughts, I was pretty sure I had a plan. Now I just needed to get Mal to sit still long enough to hear me out.

It had been a few days since Shooter had really gotten to work, and I was feeling restless, so the next morning, I saddled him up and took him out to the back acreage.

I let him run to get some of his pent-up energy out and then we took a break by the pond.

After he’d drunk his fill, he wandered a few feet away to munch on the grass.

Dad, Russ, and Lovett had moved the cattle out this way yesterday, but they hadn’t wandered over this far yet.

They would. They loved this spot and would spend most of the summer here.

Shooter picked his head up, ears forward, and a moment later, I heard it too.

The unmistakable sound of a measured canter.

A minute went by and then Jaina rounded the bend past a copse of blue spruce.

Only one person could be riding her, and I was stuck between mounting up and leaving Mal to his peace or standing my ground and waiting to see what he would do.

A second later, the choice was taken out of my hands because it was not just one person, but two.

“Crew!” Pay called, waving his little arm from where he was riding in front of his dad.