Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44297 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44297 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
“Spit it out, Caleb.”
His eyes flicker with something sharp. “I heard her this morning. Everyone did. You had her moaning loud enough to startle the birds.”
Heat climbs up the back of my neck. He doesn’t know the whole story, and he’s walking straight into a storm.
“She needed relief,” I say. “She asked.”
“Relief,” he repeats. “What kind of relief?”
“She wanted to wean her son, but she didn’t know that she couldn’t just stop.”
“So Eli was right.”
“Eli needs to mind his own fucking business,” I grunt.
Caleb sighs, tipping his head to the barn roof, then looking straight at me with the eyes we share. “She’s vulnerable, Wade. And that’s not the kind of thing a man should do for a woman who walked onto his ranch, especially a woman who used to live here when she was a kid.”
“Kid? She was a teenager. And what does that matter? She’s not a kid anymore. She needed my help.”
Caleb shakes his head.
I interrupt before he can jump in with more judgment. “What would you have done, Caleb? She was crying from the pain and embarrassment. There wasn’t any other way.”
“You’ve made her stay for three days. You could have sent her home to her kid.”
“I need to make sure she’ll fit here, before she brings a kid under our roof. You might think I’m a heartless asshole, but I won’t be the one to make a kid homeless.”
“I think you might not be seeing her as clearly as you think you are,” he says. “Because less than an hour after you two were going at it upstairs, she was on the kitchen floor crying so hard she could barely breathe.”
My chest goes tight. “What happened?”
“Her son,” he answers, softer now. “She talked to him on the phone. It gutted her. She misses him somethin’ fierce, and she’s scared out of her mind about whether this job will stick. And at the same time, she’s letting you put your mouth on her.”
He’s not yelling. He’s not even angry in the way I expect him to be. He’s concerned, and somehow that feels worse.
“I didn’t take anything from her she didn’t offer,” I say. “That first day, she couldn’t lift her arms without leaking through her shirt.”
Caleb studies me, waiting.
My voice drops, rough and low. “I want her, Caleb. Bad. You have no idea what it’s like.”
Caleb exhales, long and slow. “You want her,” he says. “But what about what she wants?”
“She wants me, too.”
“I’m not talking about her body, Wade.”
I fall silent because he’s not wrong . He sees people in ways I miss. Always has.
He steps a little closer, lowering his voice. “She’s tough, but under it all, she’s fragile. She puts up a hard front because she has to, but she’s tired and scared. She needs stability for her boy. And I’m not saying she’s using you, but you have to consider the possibility that she’s letting things happen because she’s trying to secure a place here.”
My jaw clenches. “No.”
Caleb shrugs as his words sting like a splinter under the skin; small but painful and impossible to ignore.
He steps back. “You need to give her space. Make sure it’s what she wants.”
“What about you?” I ask him. “What do you want?”
His cool gray eyes narrow, and for once, I have no idea what my twin is thinking.
***
The moment we walk inside the house, the smell of rich stew, warm bread and herbs hits us, thick and comforting. My stomach growls loud enough that Caleb gives me a look.
Joelle stands at the stove, stirring the pot. Her fair hair is tied back, loose strands falling around her face. Her eyes are still a little puffy, though she’s pretending otherwise. When she sees us, she wipes her hands on a towel and gives a soft smile.
“Hope you’re hungry,” she says.
She looks small somehow. Not weak, just… more vulnerable, like a stiff wind might knock her sideways.
We wash up at the sink. Caleb bumps my shoulder, a quiet reminder not to screw this up.
When we sit, Joelle ladles stew into our bowls. Steam curls up, thick and savory, the kind that makes your whole chest warm before the first bite even hits your tongue.
“What about Eli and Rick?”
“They’ve gone into town,” I say.
I take a spoonful of stew and groan. “Joelle, this is unreal.”
Caleb nods, tearing bread apart like he hasn’t eaten all day. “Best stew I’ve had in a long time.”
Her cheeks pink, her eyes gleam, and damn, it hits me hard. She’s as starved for appreciation as me and my brother.
She clears dishes as we eat, moving around the kitchen with soft, careful grace, and all the while, Caleb’s words echo in the back of my mind.
Does she want me, or does she want the safety a place on this ranch will offer?
Did she let me touch her because she needed the relief and a place for her son, or because she wanted me?