“What’s up, bro?” Doug asked, the first to answer James’s video chat call.

Before James could answer, Austin and Bryant appeared on the screen. The video chats had become the norm as each of them reached adulthood and struck out on their own.

James had spent the last month fighting like the devil to break down Ivy’s walls. He’d heard of women playing hard to get, but he had never suffered the experience. He had managed to get into town a couple days a week at lunchtime, and each time, she joined him for a meal at the diner—as friends. The more they talked and laughed, the more his attraction grew. And not just physically. He had started counting the hours to noon simply because he wanted to be with her.

“It’s a woman.”

Austin groaned and said, “Man, isn’t that always the way?”

At the same time, Bryant chuckled and teased, “Finally met your match, cuz?”

James shrugged, not willing to admit Bryant had hit the nail on the head. It all came back to his overabundance of pride and cockiness. The other Compass Boys always gave him shit about his Midas touch with the ladies, while James accused them of being jealous. Right now, he sort of hated to admit he was striking out.

He had always figured it wasn’t his fault if women found him attractive, that he only had to give them a smile and a wink and they’d make their way over to him. He’d never really had to try too hard for anything with a woman, something that drove his brother and Austin nuts. Bryant didn’t seem to mind as much because he wasn’t interested in females in the first place.

Nothing was working with Ivy. The more he turned on the charm, the more she dug in her heels.

“Her name is Ivy. She’s Roscoe’s daughter.”

Doug gave him a long, low whistle. “Damn, man. Taking a chance there, aren’t you? Can’t imagine it’s smart to try to hook up with the boss’s baby girl. Thought you liked your job.”

James sighed. “I love my job. But Roscoe’s not the problem. It’s Ivy. She keeps turning me down, and I can’t figure out why. She’s funny and sweet and pretty, and it’s damn obvious to both of us we’d be good together, so I don’t get why she keeps saying no when I ask her out.”

Bryant didn’t even bother to hold back his laughter.

“Thanks, Bry. Real helpful.”

Bryant’s shit-eating grin remained firmly in place. “It’s about time.”

“Time for what? Someone to turn me down?” James was glad his cousin wasn’t within fighting distance or he probably would have followed that question up with a punch.

“No. I mean, I’m not going to pretend I’m not enjoying the idea that this woman is making you work for it. I just mean it’s about time you finally fell for someone.”

James hadn’t expected that response. For one thing, he wouldn’t exactly say he’d fallen for Ivy. And for another, it wasn’t like he never dated. “I’ve had girlfriends before.”

It was as if the three men on the screen had rehearsed. Their eye rolls came in perfect unison.

“Name one,” Austin said. “And don’t say Sophie McMillan. Six months in ninth grade doesn’t count. Neither one of you could drive and you didn’t get past second base.”

“Third base,” James corrected.

“Dry humping in the barn isn’t third base,” Austin retorted.

This wasn’t a new debate, but that didn’t stop James from asserting his opinion. “Her hand was inside my jeans. Third base.”

“Fucking hell.” Bryant shook his head. “I’m not listening to this argument again. Fact remains, Sophie doesn’t count. And neither does that friends-with-benefits dispatcher.”

James wasn’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t like he didn’t see women more than once. Truth was, most of his hookups lasted a few months at a time. The difference was, his emotions were never really engaged. He had genuinely liked all the women he’d slept with, but when he considered it, he hadn’t counted down the minutes until he saw them again the way he did with Ivy.

James swallowed his pride. “It’s been four solid weeks of rejection. Which is rough enough, but I just found out that last night, she went on a date with Bill Ricketts, a cop here in West Yellowstone.”

“So she likes Bill?” Doug asked.

James shook his head. “I don’t have a clue what she thinks of him. I would hope she’d have better sense. The guy is a boring prick, but that’s not the point.”

“What is the point?” his brother asked.

“The point is, she keeps telling me she doesn’t date smokejumpers. If she’s skittish about guys with risky jobs, then why date the cop? He carries a gun. That’s a hell of a lot more dangerous than me toting around a shovel and some water.”

“You’re forgetting the jumping-out-of-planes-into-flames part,” Bryant muttered, but before James could address it, Austin spoke up.

“That’s her reason for not dating you?”

James nodded.

When Austin spoke again, he said the exact words James didn’t want to hear, but had been thinking himself. “Sounds like a pretty lame excuse, if you ask me. You might have to accept the fact that, for whatever reason, this woman isn’t into you.”

He tried to force that idea to soak in, but he couldn’t make it mesh with their lunch dates. There were too many tells that had him convinced the attraction was mutual. The way she blushed whenever he “accidentally” brushed up against her, the flirty way she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, the way she licked her lips whenever his gaze drifted to her mouth.

Her body spoke an entirely different language from her continual rejections.

“Way I see it,” Doug said, “you got two choices. Move on or fight the good fight. Remember Jake telling us how Dad kidnapped Mom when she came home from college engaged to that other guy?”

“I wouldn’t recommend that course of action,” Bryant said quickly, as if James would actually commit a felony to win a woman’s affections.

“There was a long history between Mom and Dad when he pulled that, and Mom’s engagement wasn’t real. It was a ploy to catch Dad’s attention, which it did. I’ve known Ivy all of a month. I think I’ll hold off on the capture scenario for now.”

Doug’s heavy sigh suggested he didn’t agree with that decision. “Just tuck it in your back pocket. Don’t rule it out for good.”

Austin huffed. “Something’s seriously wrong with you, Doug.”

“James is good with rope. Seems like he should be able to use all his talents if he wants to win the woman’s heart.”

They all laughed, and even though he hadn’t really gotten the answer he was seeking, James realized that wasn’t what he’d been looking for when he placed the call. All he’d needed from them was the support and the sounding boards and even the teasing. It felt good to laugh, considering he’d been tempted to ram his fist into a wall when he’d found out about Ivy’s date with the arrogant cop.

“Thanks,” James said.

Bryant shot him an incredulous look. “For what? Not sure we helped you with a damn thing.”

“For listening. Doug’s right. I can either give in with good grace or—”

Bryant cut him off. “You’re not giving up. This woman is different.”

His cousin was right. She was different. And he was determined.

“Yeah. She is.”

“Guess the only thing left to say is good luck,” Austin said.

The four of them said their goodbyes and James sucked in a deep breath.

Luck.

He’d need a ton of it.