The Complete Veterans Affairs Romances: Gay Military Romances
Page 86
“I’m staying over with you tonight. Are you taking the apples to the co-op?”
“Yeah. Figured I’d pick up some stuff. Anything you want?”
“Grab some cheese and something for dessert. And be back by seven for dinner.”
“Yes, Mom.” He bent down and kissed her on the top of her head the way he knew pissed her off.
She smacked him. “Go away.”
He saluted her and walked back to his motorcycle.
Straddling the bike, he fired it up, comforted as always by the feel of vibrations and the power underneath him. It was the one purchase he’d allowed himself when his parents’ insurance money had come in. All the rest had gone into paying back his debt. He was almost free of it.
He’d take the bike out for a long ride tomorrow. The farm would live without him for a day, and he needed something to settle him before he met with the new owner.
He sighed, resting his head between the handlebars for a long second. Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself together and followed Lori’s truck down the long drive.
He pulled up next to her, ready to wave goodbye, when his path was blocked by a light blue pickup pulling around the blind curve.
Goddamn it. Just what he needed.
Lori slammed her truck to a halt. “Oh, great,” she said out the window, yelling over the noise of their engines. “Speaking of assholes.”
“Lori,” Dakota said, trying to head off the inevitable fight. He turned the bike off as Lori threw the truck into park and leaped out of the cab.
Lori bristled, stepping in front of Dakota as the blue truck pulled to a stop in front of them. “Get the fuck out of here, Kyle,” she yelled at the driver venomously.
Completely ignoring her, the man stepped out of the truck. Kyle Miller, ex-orchard manager and Dakota’s ex-boyfriend, looked as gorgeous - and as smug - as ever. He was all lanky muscles, auburn hair, and deep blue eyes with the beginnings of crow’s feet around them.
His worn cowboy boots hit the ground with a soft crunch. His faded blue jeans wrapped around his thighs and draped over the boots. “Nice to see you, too, Lori.” He tipped his hat to her.
“Fuck off,” Lori growled.
Dakota held back a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. Truthfully, he was glad Lori was there to keep him from doing something stupid, like let Kyle fuck him again.
Despite their history, he was so beat down and tired right now that if Kyle offered to take care of Dakota tonight, he just might let him and deal with the fallout afterwards. At least it wouldn’t be a surprise.
“What are you doing here, Kyle?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.
Kyle held his hands up. “I just came to see if you needed any help cleaning up. I know it’s the last day, and it’s a lot of work.”
“I think you’ve done enough around here. We’re good, thanks.”
Kyle looked him up and down slowly, his eyes hungry. “You look good.”
Dakota felt a brief flare of pride. He ruthlessly stomped it down. Damn it. Why did it still matter to him what Kyle thought? Kyle was old news. Old, bad news.
Though Dakota was still working to fix the damage Kyle had done to him and the farm, part of him would probably always be pathetically grateful for the man’s approval. He stared at Kyle silently, unwilling to risk opening his mouth.
“When’s the new owner coming?” Kyle asked, eyes scanning the orchard he had managed for five years before Dakota had kicked him out.
“Two days,” Dakota answered.
“He keeping the trees?” Kyle stuck his hands into the pockets of his tan barn coat.
“I have no idea,” Dakota said.
“If he keeps the trees, he’s going to need a manager. Not a lot of us in town to choose from.”
Dakota’s stomach dropped as Kyle mentioned the one thing Dakota had been trying not to think about. Kyle wasn’t wrong. “That’s his problem. For all I know, he’s going to sell the whole lot to developers and make a mint.”
Kyle looked down the driveway then back to Dakota. He smiled. “Maybe I’ll come by in a few days. Drop off my resume. And if he wants to sell, maybe I’ll make him a real offer.”
“You set one fucking foot on this property, you asshole, and I’ll shoot you,” Lori said taking a step towards him.
Kyle held up his hands and backed up slowly, laughing. “Call off your puppy, Kota.”
Dakota put a hand on Lori’s shoulder and shook his head. She narrowed her eyes at him but stopped walking. She crossed her arms across her chest, mirroring Dakota’s pose.
“Just leave, Kyle. Don’t bother coming back. I’ll be sure to tell the new owner all about you.” Dakota smiled coldly.
Kyle’s eyes hardened. “You know you won’t. But if you need a place to crash after he kicks you out, my door is always open to you.”
With a tip of the hat to Lori, he got back into his truck. Tires kicking up dust and gravel, he made a sharp three-point turn and sped down the driveway.
“All that asshole needs is a mustache to twirl,” Dakota tried to joke. The attempt fell flat even to his own ears.
“He needs to be hit by a car,” Lori said then instantly turned to Dakota, hand over her mouth and eyes wide. “I’m so sorry!”
Dakota took a look around the fifteen acres that had been his home for the last seventeen years. The apple orchard took up about ten of those. Dakota’s tenant farm and house occupied the land closest to the road; you had to pass it to get to the big house and the trees in the back.
Not just his home, this land was his heart and soul. He loved it all, from the view of the Rocky Mountains towering behind the foothills to the cottonwoods lining the creek.
Sure, Tommy had owned the land, but Dakota and his parents had fought side by side with him through it all. Through droughts, floods, and spring snowstorms that snapped the branches off the flowering trees.
Now with Tommy dead and a mysterious nephew inheriting it all, Dakota had no idea where he stood.
“Kota?” Lori asked. “What do you think? What’s going to happen with this place, with our house?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. But I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After time spent raising children, earning several college degrees, and traveling the world with the U.S. State Department, she is returning to her first love - writing.
A dreamer and an idealist, Amy writes about people finding connection in a world that can seem lonely and magic in a world than can seem all too mundane. She invites readers into her characters’ lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, living with the same hopes and fears we all have. Avid traveler who has lived in big cities and small towns in four different continents, Amy has found that time and distance are no barriers to love. She invites her readers to reach out and share how her characters have touched their lives or how the found families they have gathered around them have shaped their worlds.
Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in a town that looks suspiciously like Red Deer, Colorado.
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ALSO BY A.E. WASP
VETERANS AFFAIRS
INCOMING
CHRISTMAS OUTING
PAPER HEARTS
PAPER ROSES
BRONZE STAR
HOT OFF THE ICE
CITY BOY
SOULBONDED SERIES (PARANORMAL ROMANCE)
BURIED DESIRE
SHATTERED DESTINY
CRADLE TO GRAVE MYSTERY
SPIRIT OF THE RODEO
A. E. Wasp, The Complete Veterans Affairs Romances: Gay Military Romances