Page 55 of Secret Heart
Beau hums his agreement. “I’ll work out the cattle with Ethan. He’s chomping at the bit to get back out on the land, anyway. And Kyle loves the overtime pay.”
Triston offers a small smile.
“There’s… There will a lot of cameras.”
Beau nods. “Yeah, there always are.”
Triston frowns.
“If we weren’t comfortable with the attention,” I say, squeezing his hand, “we wouldn’t have asked you to stay.”
“Besides…” Beau’s smile is so wide, it brightens his entire face. “I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for me and my brothers toannounce a relationship in any way other than a hard launch. And now I’ll have more of them than they do.”
Triston’s chuckle has warmth spreading through me. I kiss his shoulder, and the small whimper he swallows is my new favorite sound.
“Lance said he’ll organize everything for all of us,” he says after a minute.
I frown. “He doesn’t have to inconvenience himself. We can pack a car and drive six hours.”
“He gets paid a lot of money to be inconvenienced by me.” Triston huffs a laugh and shrugs. “He was excited to do it, honestly. I’m the first single athlete he’s managed in a while. I think he misses the business of coordinating the pack alongside the actual athlete.”
Fair enough. If he’s willing to figure out the details, I’ll leave it to him.
After another minute, Triston says, “There’s another event on the Fourth. One of the other riders helps with a nonprofit in Nashville. I’m going to do some work with the kids there. Probably mostly PR type things. You’re invited to that one, too, if you’d like to come.”
Beau and I exchange a look. This time, it’s him that agrees without reservation.
“Of course, Triston,” he says.
The door of the lodge opens and then slams shut with the breeze. Melissa walks across the porch, pulling out her phone. My own vibrates with a text a second later. I don’t bother checking it, opting to just walk across the open field.
Beau and Triston follow wordlessly. Penny walks with them, her hand holding one of Triston’s fingers.
“What’s up?” I ask as soon as I’m close. Melissa looks up, her eyes wide but tear-filled.
“The new kid quit and now I’m scrambling to cover the desk,” she admits. “Especially since the schedule is already weird because we’re gone next weekend. I can’t do it. I’m covering Ben’s animal shift tonight.”
I turn to Beau, and he nods.
“I can handle it tonight.” I step up onto the porch and wrap my arm around Melissa’s shoulders. “Let’s not have Maggie max out her overtime just in case we need her as backup while we’re gone.”
Her shoulders drop.
“I didn’t want to mess up your time,” she whispers.
I shake my head. “You’re not. And even if you were, this is part of running the ranch with you, Mel. Let me help you.”
“All right.” She pushes her glasses up as she flushes. “Sorry.”
On cue, Penny follows me up the porch and grabs onto my leg, babbling as she taps my shin. I pick her up and kiss her cheek. Beau’s quick to take her and then he’s kissing my temple. I grab Triston’s hand, running my thumb over his wrist, marking him the way I can right now.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” I tell them both.
Chapter Thirty
BEAU
Hudson tosses his head back and laughs. Olivia rolls her eyes even as she stands.
