Reckless(5)

“You can borrow my truck.”

She knows that’s not a good idea.

“What about my lease?” I counter. “I can’t bail.”

“Sublet it. Get one more roommate to take your place. Please! This will be so awesome!” My sister juts out her lower lip. God, she really wants this.

“Stop with the puppy dog eyes.”

“You’d be doing Brady and me such a huge favor if we could work this out.”

I lift an eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“The doctor said I’m high-risk because of my blood pressure, and this way you’ll be close by in case I need you.”

Every cell in my body stills.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having health problems? Jesus, you’re here for an hour and you’re just now telling me?” I’m always the last person to know anything in this family.

“I didn’t want to freak you out. I’m fine. Really. But it would give me great comfort to have you nearby. Just think! You could come for dinner all the time, and we could have a girls’ night once a week. Izzy would be ecstatic to see you so often.”

“Aren’t you laying this on kinda thick?”

“Are you considering the job?”

It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “As if I have a choice.”

She claps and does this weird pregnant wobble on the edge of her seat. It’s her version of jumping for joy, I think.

“Careful, Humpty Dumpty.” I hold my hand out to steady her. “Don’t want you to impair my niece or nephew.” I barely contain my own eye roll because Kat refuses to find out the sex of this child.

My sister grins at me. “I knew you loved kids.”

“I love your kids.” Pointing out this difference doesn’t seem to deter my sister’s exuberance. “But what if this guy’s kids hate me? Or what if they’re brats? What if they like to eat their boogers? You know I can’t handle creepy booger-eaters.”

“Trust me when I say you’re going to fall in love with the kids, their dad—the whole family. I promise. Plus, you love horses. I’m sure Ethan can teach you how to ride. And…” My sister pauses to giggle and fiddle with her hair. “Well, you’ll figure out the rest for yourself.”

What does that mean?

Before I can tell my sister this is a bad idea, that I’m probably not the wholesome individual some guy wants to raise his kids, she leans close and clasps my hand. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” Her eyes water, and she blinks quickly. “I know we spent a lot of time apart as kids, so having you close like this—”

She waves her hand in her face, a poor attempt to contain the emotion, but it’s too late because I’ve joined her in this walk down memory lane. My eyes sting, and all the shit I’ve crammed into my internal lockbox threatens to bust through.

“Fine. Let’s do this,” I choke out. “But if these kids are little assholes, I’m blaming you.”

A laugh escapes her, as do a few tears, and I realize I’d do anything to make my sister happy. Even if it means enduring the summer in the middle of nowhere with some stranger and his two annoying booger-eaters.





2





Ethan





“And she has experience with young children?” I ask as I wedge the phone between my ear and shoulder while attempting to find the water bill in the mountain of paperwork on my desk.

“She does, worrywart,” my brother Logan grumbles.

I rub the scruff on my jaw. “What’s Tori doing now? Why does she want the job?” I’m not about to let just anyone babysit my kids.

“Christ, Ethan. Probably to pay her bills? How the hell should I know why she wants the job? Look, Kat raved about her sister, and you know how responsible Kat and Brady are. I can’t imagine they’d hook you up with a criminal.”

“I’m not excited to hire someone through friends. What if it doesn’t work out? Brady is one of the few guys in the area I can tolerate. If I fire his sister-in-law, he’ll be pissed, and then who will we get to fill his spot on poker night?”

“So don’t fire her, asshole. It’s only two or three months, not a lifelong commitment. If you don’t like her, just make sure she’s good with the kids and feeds them, doesn’t let them turn into hooligans, and then go do your own thing.” He laughs under his breath. “And everyone says you’re the smart one.”

I smirk. “That’s ’cause I am, little brother.” I’m four years older than Logan, but we’ve always been close. Even if he is a pain in the ass.

Sometimes I forget he doesn’t live with me since he’s always crawling up my ass about something. He and our mom live in a small house on the other side of our property, but they’re both here almost daily.

Although my mom initially inherited Carter Cutting Horses when my dad died, she didn’t want the responsibility of the ranch, especially since Logan and I ended up overseeing the day-to-day operations, so she transferred it to us. Which was great until my wife decided to divorce me and untangle our assets.

Logan cocks an eyebrow. “Think of it this way. With a live-in nanny, maybe you’ll leave the ranch for once. Go out and have a good time. Laugh again. Hell, maybe get laid. For real this time. Because we’re not counting your hand or the pocket pussy I gave you for Christmas.”