Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2)(170)

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With Krys snoring on the couch, Jonas asleep in his bed, I sat cross-legged on Tate’s bed in a pair of panties and a shelf-bra camisole while Tate brushed his teeth.

He came out of the bathroom na**d which was a hit to my resolve to have a serious chat with him, one that got my point across but didn’t make him mad, but I sucked it up and looked from his body to his eyes.

“Can I ask…” I started, speaking softly, “that you discuss my future with me before you decide what I’m going to be doing, where and for whom and then announce it to the world?”

Tate held my gaze then he bent, pulled back the covers and got in bed. He lay back against the headboard and his eyes came to me.

“I didn’t announce it to the world.”

“You did.”

“I said it to Bubba, Krys and Billy. That’s not the world, Ace.”

“It’s most of my world.”

He sighed then his hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist and he tugged. I came forward on my knees, my free arm moving out automatically to control my fall. My hand landed on his chest about two seconds before he curled up slightly, both his arms went around me and then my torso landed on his chest.

I pulled back, snapping, “Tate –”

“You missed it, babe.”

I glared at him and asked, “Missed what?”

“I don’t give a shit about the bar.”

“Sorry?”

He didn’t answer me, instead he stated, “I give a shit about Krys and I give a shit about you. I don’t want outta that bar. It’s turnin’ a damn good profit now with you and a stable of decent waitresses who sell booze instead of socialize. Boys’ll be puttin’ their bikes away for the winter soon but the mountains come alive when the snow falls. We got three slopes within an hour’s drive. Be stupid to get bought out now that we got decent help.”

“So, what –?”

His arms gave me a squeeze before he whispered, “She needed motivation.”

His intent dawned on me and I relaxed against his body.

“You wanted her to get rid of Bubba,” I whispered back.

“She’s a good woman, deserves more than that,” he muttered. “Can’t find it, then she still deserves a life without that.”

God, but I loved this man.

I lifted a hand and laid it on his bearded jaw.

“Tate.”

“And you like it there but you also like it here. I knew you wouldn’t ask for special treatment and you wouldn’t put Krys out. So, I made it so you could keep workin’ there, share the load with Krystal and feel good about that but be home for me and Jonas.”

I relaxed more against him and my face came closer to his.

“Tate,” I repeated softly.

“And I wasn’t lyin’. The office is a f**kin’ mess. I know you got the skills to sort that out, I don’t have the patience, the time or the inclination for that shit so I could use your help too.”

He could use my help. I liked that.

My face got closer.

“Captain,” I whispered.

“To fix what Neet broke in Jonas, I need to build a family. I’m guessin’ you wanna be a part of that.”

“I do,” I replied quietly.

“Then I gotta do what I gotta do to build that for Jonas. I played Krys, for her, for you, for Jonas and, yeah, for me.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“You still pissed?”

“No,” I answered, though he had to know I wasn’t considering I’d all but melted into him, but I went on. “Though, you could have spoken to me first.”

“Didn’t know I was gonna do it until Bub walked in.”

My head tipped to the side, I decided our current conversation was over since I liked his responses so much and therefore I changed the subject. “Why do you call Jonas ‘Bub’? Is it because of Bubba?”

One of his hands slid up my back into my hair, the other one slid down then up, into my camisole.

“Yeah, Bubba’s real name is Jonas. I talked Neeta into namin’ him after Bubba and then I gave him Bubba’s nickname. When he was younger, called him Bubba. Shortened it to Bub later.”

This surprised me. “Bubba’s that good of a friend?”

“We played ball together in high school. Him, Wood and me were tight.” His hand slid through my hair and the fingers of his other hand drew patterns on the skin of my back as he finished quietly, “He was a great friend, Ace, just a shit business partner. Shoulda known but I got a habit of thinkin’ the best’ll come outta people when it won’t.”

“Sometimes it does,” I replied.

His hands stopped moving when he muttered, “Right.”

I pressed into him by giving him all my weight. “It does.”

His eyes locked on mine. “You know, part of me was hopin’, faced with the prospect of losin’ her son, Neeta’d get her head outta her ass.”

“Tate –”

“She didn’t and in the end it was worse than I thought.”

“She isn’t a good example,” I told him.

“Bubba is?” he asked.

“I am,” I answered.

His brows drew together. “What?”