She was in love with Brick.
That’s why it was so hard to let go. She understood why, because she didn’t want to lose him. What Beth didn’t understand was the how. “How did that happen?”
Jovy laughed. “Take it from me, a girl who fell in love with a Mitchum in under four weeks, it happens damn fast whether we want it to or not. Those brothers are potent.”
“Tell me about it.” It’d been a little less for her. “At least your brother wasn’t Stone’s best friend.”
Jovy glanced at her, concern dark in her eyes. “I don’t have a brother, but look, maybe it won’t be so bad.”
Beth’s snort echoed around them. “Right. They’ll completely forget their Ranger brotherhood code thing they’ve lived by for more than a decade.”
“What code?”
“The one about dating other’s family members. It’ll be peachy.” She hung her head and groaned. “Brick’s going to drop me faster than a live grenade. And he’s going to hate me. I would.”
“Now, you don’t know that.” Jovy set a hand over her tightly clutched fingers. “I’ve seen the way Brick looks at you. His face lights up when you walk into a room. His whole demeanor changes. He can’t take his eyes off you. You mean a lot to him, Beth.”
She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, spilling the unshed tears. “That’s why it’s going to hurt him.”
“The sooner you tell him, the better.”
She opened her eyes and swiped the wetness from her cheeks. “I know.” She sighed. “I was on my way to the ranch this morning to do just that, then he kissed me, and took me on a picnic, then used his body as a shield to protect me from the hail.” She sniffed. “I mean, who does that, Jovy?”
“Someone who cares deeply about you.”
“Exactly. I just didn’t have it in me to hurt him today. He was already in physical pain.”
And he’d touched her, and they’d made love, and she just couldn’t bring herself to bring on the beginning of the end.
Not yet.
“I get that it isn’t easy.” Jovy’s voice was quiet but firm as she turned onto Main Street. “But the longer you wait, the harder it will be to tell him, and the worse it’ll be in the end.”
“I know. Trust me. I tell myself this every single day all day long, and yet…something always happens to stop me. I don’t understand it. All my life I’ve planned things out, never varied from my course once it was set. But then I met Brick and…I don’t know…it’s just different with him. I’m relying on my instincts. But, no matter what, this Sunday, I’m going to sit him down and tell him.”
“Why not sooner?”
“I don’t want anything to hinder my friend’s wedding Saturday.” And she was selfish. So damn selfish, but she wanted those few extra days with Brick now. She turned to face Jovy when they pulled up next to her car and parked. “I hate to put you in this position with Stone, but please don’t say anything to him until I tell Brick on Sunday.”
The woman hesitated, and Beth’s heart literally stopped until Jovy nodded. “Okay. But tell him Sunday, because if you don’t, I will. I have to tell Stone, and he will tell the guys. It’s not something he can keep from them.”
“I know. I understand. Thanks.” She opened the door then turned back to face Jovy. “I’m sorry to put this on you.”
Jovy grinned. “Keep your chin up. It’ll work out. I have a good feeling.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You can bet on it.”
A smile tugged her lips. “Are you a betting person?”
“Yes, although I admit, I don’t always win.” For some reason the woman rubbed her butt. “But I do most of the time, and this time, I know my instincts are right.”
God, Beth hoped so. She hoped really bad.
Chapter Nine
The thing that sucked so much about the cuts on Brick’s back was the fact he couldn’t reach the damn wounds. It forced him to rely on others to clean them. Most were fine, but a few were deep enough and jagged enough to invite infection if not cared for, and he’d been in the military long enough to know what could happen to an unattended wound.
So he sucked it up and allowed the guys to help.
“Son of a bitch!” Spewing a few more curses, he glared at his buddy in the bathroom mirror. “You leave any skin there, ace?”
Cord’s lip twitched. “Quit being such a damn baby.”
“Baby?” he growled. “Felt like you ripped what little uninjured skin I had left back there.”
“Should’ve thought about that before using your body as a human shield against the elements.”
Folding his arms across his chest, he continued to glare. “No way was I letting that shit rip into Beth’s skin.” Just the thought of her suffering through the stinging and damn burning made his stomach knot tight.
Yesterday, she’d been so sweet and giving even though he’d sensed there had been something on her mind. She’d made him her sole concern. Took care of him. That gorgeous, sexy woman had taken care of him real good.
His lips twitched, and his buddy grunted but remained silent as he cleaned the deeper wounds.
Cord was a field medic, but ever since Drew’s death, he hadn’t cracked open a kit. Until now. Despite the pain and discomfort, Brick was kind of glad the hail happened yesterday. Not only had it brought him closer to Beth, but the incident also pulled Cord out of his medic aversion.
“You can deny it all you want,” he said, “but you know perfectly well you would’ve done the same.”
“I don’t do picnics.”
“You mean you don’t date.” He hadn’t seen his buddy go on a real date since they retired.
“Bullshit.” A hard green stare met his in the mirror.
“Don’t try using the Warlock stare on me. You know I’m right.” On more than one occasion that brutal, direct gaze had insurgents pissing in their shoes.
For one, Brick wasn’t wearing shoes, and two, he didn’t intimidate so easily. And three, he loved to push Cord’s buttons. The guy was way too silent and strung up.
Dr. No Bedside Manner twisted Brick’s body under the lights to suit him better. “More like delusional.”
“Not hardly.” He shook his head.
“There was that blonde in Tulsa last year when we went to the rodeo for the weekend.”
Brick shrugged. “Yeah. Big deal. You disappeared into her hotel room for a few hours each night and you haven’t seen her since…or anyone else. Those weren’t dates. They were hookups.”
Cord snorted. “This coming from Romeo, the king of hookups.”
“Exactly. I’m not condemning you, man. Just pointing out the fact you haven’t had a relationship, or even tried to have one, in over three years.”
Brick knew what his reason had been for dallying in hookups all these years and not dating. Plain and simple, he liked his freedom and did not want to get tied down. Of course, none of that mattered now that he had Beth. But he suspected his buddy’s was entirely different. More in the line of his brother’s self-depreciating type excuse.
Something cold and wet spilled down his back and felt like it bubbled the skin clean off his bones. Bastard.
“You’ve been seeing one woman for what…a little over a week now?”
He grit his teeth. “Yeah, unless you count our weekend last month.” Brick sure did. That was the start of it all. Just a sweet taste of his angel that had him coming back for more.
“Still doesn’t make you an expert on my love life, Brick. Stay out of it.” Cord blotted his back.
Jesus, what was he using, sandpaper?
He held his hands up. “All right. Just trying to help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“No, you need to put Linda behind you and move on. That was three years ago, man.”
Muttering a curse, Cord slapped the last of the bandages on Brick. A hard smack echoed off the walls as pain ricocheted across his back. “Leave Linda the fuck out of this
and just worry about your woman.”
He was beginning to wonder if Cord would ever move past the foreigner’s deceit. Brick wasn’t sure he would’ve, either.
“Beth.”
“What?”
Brick turned to face him. “Her name is Beth.”
His buddy sighed and some of the tension eased from his shoulders. “You really like her, huh?”
“Yeah. I do.” Funny how admitting that didn’t ring alarm bells, like it might have a few weeks ago. It probably meant he was growing as a person or some type of bullshit their therapist would label as progress. All Brick knew was he liked Beth and he liked being with her. “She’s not like any woman I’ve ever known. She smart, funny, compassionate. You wanna know the reason I didn’t use the blanket to cover us yesterday? Because Beth insisted we drape it on Rogue.”
Cord’s brows rose on that one. Yeah, he thought his horse-whispering buddy would appreciate that. “She does sound nice. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. And she’s not nice; she’s amazing.”
“Wow.” Both of Cord’s brows rose.
Brick frowned. “Wow what? What do you mean, wow? What’s the wow for?”
His buddy shrugged as he closed the kit and started cleaning papers and gauze and other shit off the counter. “You said she’s smart, funny, compassionate, amazing, but not once did you brag about her being gorgeous or stacked or fantastic in bed.”
Beth was all those things, but they were attributes Brick wouldn’t share. “She’s much more than that.”
“Vince was right.”
Brick cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “About what?”
“He said you really liked her.”
“I do.” Brick nodded, grabbing his shirt off the door knob. “I think we covered that.”
Cord returned the first aid kit back under the sink then stood. “So, have you stayed the whole night with her yet?”
Shoving his arms in his sleeves, he bit back a curse as pain raced across his back. Fuckin’ hail. “No. Not yet, but I would’ve last night if she didn’t have to leave.”
When he’d woken to a note on his nightstand instead of Beth’s warm, comforting embrace, Brick hadn’t expected the fierce disappointment that had left him feeling as empty as his bed.
“So you have considered it with her.”
“Yeah.” Hell yeah. Each time they were together it was getting harder and harder to leave her side. “And last night, I did something I’ve never done before.”
Disgust rippled across his buddy’s face as they stepped into the hall. “Spare me your sex-play.”
“No, it’s nothing like that.” Although, hell, it was off the wall yesterday. Literally. “I meant I slept with her.”
“Ah, buddy?” Cord turned to him and set both hands on his shoulders. “I think we know that already.”
Scowling, he shook the asshole off. “No, I mean I fell asleep with her in my bed.”
Cord stiffened and released him. “Jesus, I hope you at least satisfied the poor woman before you dozed off.”
“Jackass. I meant afterward. She made me take a pain pill and—”
“She what? Wait. You took a pain pill?” Cord rubbed his chin, after he picked it up off his chest. “Wow. This woman has skills. Can’t wait to meet her.”
His buddy had no idea. A smile tugged at Brick’s lips. But he did, and he was looking forward to his friend finally meeting his girlfriend. No sense in denying it. That’s what Beth was—his girlfriend. And just like earlier, when he admitted he liked Beth out loud, no alarms bells went off.
“So, have you told Beth about Vegas?”
“Yeah.” He’d mentioned it again when they talked about their future plans while they were regaining their strength after one particularly physical bout of hot sex. Hers was college; his was Vegas.
“Are going to ask her to go with you? Or are you ditching Vegas?”
For the past few weeks Brick had been on the fence about it, not sure he really wanted to leave Texas. Since meeting Beth and being with Beth, his outlook had changed. He wanted more yesterdays. Not hail storms, but lazing in bed with her after a good day of work. Hunting bad guys or protecting other innocents no longer held a strong appeal. All he needed was Beth and making her happy. If he decided to go and Beth went with him and attended college in Nevada, he wasn’t keen on putting her at risk or making her worry because of his job.
He wanted honest work with an honest woman.
“I’m not sure,” he finally replied. “All I know is I want to be with her.”
Cord shot him a sideways glance. “Then I definitely look forward to meeting the woman who tamed the great Romeo.”
There was no taming. Brick was still Brick; he just happened to feel good when he was with Beth. Better than he’d ever felt in his life. Something Cord didn’t understand, but Brick wished his buddy would find.
“I have a great idea. Why don’t you invite her over for Sunday brunch? Lizzie’s coming.” Cord slapped his back and Brick grunted against the pain.
Bastard.
Beth had a busy week between work and her friend’s wedding, but he didn’t think Sunday morning would be a problem.
“I’ll mention it to her,” he said as they headed downstairs.
Saturday evening he would be attending the reception with her and hoped after her birthday party job on Sunday that she’d spend a few days with him at the ranch.
“Wait.” Brick halted them at the bottom of the stairs when his buddy’s statement sunk in. “You mean for real this time? We’re really going to finally get to meet your sister? The one you guarded like Fort Knox all these years? The incomparable Lizzie Brannigan?”
“Yeah.” Cord shrugged. “And now that you and Stone are safely whipped, I won’t have to worry about her virtue.”
Brick laughed. “You know we’d never mess with her. She’s your sister. But, ah, buddy, there are a lot of other men on this ranch.”
Cord stepped close. “Yeah, but they’re not stupid enough to cross me.”
True. In or out of the service, no one dared to mess with the Warlock. His reputation of successful missions and lethal prowess garnered respect amongst his peers and fear from his enemies.
“Hey. Wait a minute.” Brick frowned. “Are you implying I’m stupid?”
Bastard’s mouth twitched. “Well, if the boot fits.”
“Keep it up, Warlock, and this boot is gonna fit up your ass.”
It was great, damn great to see his buddy smile, one that actually reached his eyes. If this was due to his sister’s visit, then maybe they could persuade her to stay a few days, too. He was about to make that suggestion when his phone started to ring.
“My Angel?” Cord snickered over his shoulder at his screen. “Whipped,” he muttered in a cough as Brick answered the phone.
He flipped the idiot the bird and laughter echoed through the dining hall before his buddy disappeared into the kitchen. Seemed like forever since Cord had been in such a good mood. Things had been dark here for so long, as if a cloud had loomed overhead, but now it felt clearer, brighter, and Brick hoped to God it stayed that way.
…
Four hours into Beth’s Wednesday morning and she was thinking it was five o’clock somewhere. She was ready for Margaretville. Between the Holcombs suddenly deciding the two hundred strawberry pink napkins with the birthday girl’s name and date on it needed to be fuchsia, their brilliant idea to give out two hundred princess crowns to their guests, and now the construction of Rachel’s wedding arch on hold, indefinitely, because the groom’s uncle broke his arm golfing an hour ago, Beth was scrambling for her sanity.
“Honestly, Beth, how does one break their arm playing golf?” Rachel paced a hole in her kitchen floor. “And he’d promised to have this finished last week. If he had time to play golf, he had time to finish the arch.”
Beth stepped in front of her friend and gently grasped her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it.
It’s what I do, remember?” And she could, too, quite easily. “I happen to know some very good builders with their own construction company.”
The stiffness instantly melted from Rachel’s body and she smiled. “Foxtrot. Right.” She wacked her palm off her forehead. “Dummy. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Maybe because you’re getting married in three and half days?”
A big beautiful smile split her friend’s face. “I am, aren’t I?”
“Yes, so sit down, relax, have some coffee while I figure out which construction worker to call. Brick or Cord. I can’t chance them both showing up.”
Lordy, that would be a disaster.
“I vote for Brick.” Rachel winked as she poured them both a cup of coffee. “You haven’t seen him since Monday.”
“I know.”
Despite her many appointments with Rachel yesterday, the day had dragged on, not that she’d confess that to her friend. But going Brick-less the past thirty-six or so hours had her feeling empty. At least they’d talked on the phone when she’d called to check in on him. He insisted he was fine and asked her to dinner. She’d felt bad turning him down, but she couldn’t chance going to Joyful, and she wasn’t sure it was good for him to drive this far with the cuts on his back, although she was under no illusion he would. She’d had no choice but to stick to the plan and use work as an excuse, again, then made sure to spend a few hours last night catching up on paperwork so it wouldn’t be a lie.
It was getting old. Fast.
Adding creamer to her coffee, she enjoyed a few mouthfuls before her phone started to ring.
“Great, what do the Holcombs want now? Live frogs?” Rachel shuddered.
Beth sighed and fished her phone out of her purse, smiling when “Secret Cowboy” came across her screen. “Hi, handsome. How you feeling?”
“Hey, angel. Much better now. How are you? Is everything all right?” The concern in his voice touched her deep inside.
Everything softened. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“This is going to sound weird, but I just got this feeling you were in trouble or needed something.”
Her gaze met Rachel’s across the counter. “Wow. Actually, it’s not strange. I do kind of need something.”
Her Secret Ranger (The Men of at Ease Ranch) Page 13