Ben pretended not to notice his brother staring at him as he sat on the tailgate of his pickup and picked at the sandwich he had packed for lunch.

Eric had been asking not-so-subtle questions all morning about Ben’s non-date with Chase the night before. Fortunately for Ben, there was always enough work to do on the ranch that unwanted conversations were usually easy enough to avoid.

Lunchtime was the exception to that rule, though, and they both knew it. It would only be a matter of time before Eric got bored with dropping hints and decided to put Ben on the spot.

“So are you going to tell me about your date or not?” Eric asked, huffing out an impatient breath as Ben slowly raised the sandwich to his mouth and took a bite.

The time had come quicker than Ben had anticipated, but that was okay. At least it would be out of the way and they could both get on with the rest of their day.

“Like I said before,” Ben replied, doing his best to keep his voice even. “It wasn’t a date. Just two old friends getting together for coffee.”

“Mhm,” Eric grinned. “And how was… coffee?”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Thank you.”

Still, he could feel his cheeks heating up, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to blame his red face solely on the midday heat. And it was likely to get worse before Eric was finished asking questions.

“What did you guys talk about?”

Ben set his sandwich aside and gave Eric a hard stare as he silently counted to ten in his head. “What do you think we talked about, Eric? He told me about his life, I told him about mine. We had a nice time. I came home, and then he…” Ben cleared his throat and looked away as the memories from the night before flooded his mind. “Then I guess he also went home.”

Eric looked skeptical, and Ben cursed himself for being such a bad liar. He wasn’t normally embarrassed or defensive when he was talking about his day, and Eric would certainly know that. But he wasn’t going to share every detail with his nosy brother, either.

Especially when it was just to satisfy some weird curiosity.

“I don’t know why you’re so touchy,” Eric muttered, folding his arms across his chest. “I was just making conversation.”

“Well, I appreciate your concern,” Ben lied. “But I don’t see what the fascination is. It’s not like we… whatever. I just don’t see the point in having this conversation.”

Eric shrugged. “Fine. We don’t have to talk about it anymore. I just could tell you were nervous and excited yesterday, and I know you had some things you might have wanted to get off your chest with Chase. But if you don’t want to tell me anything about it, you don’t have to. But don’t complain later when you don’t have anyone to talk to about this stuff.”

Ben grimaced. He was annoyed by the whole situation, and he was a little bit pissed off at Eric for poking at what he already knew was a sensitive topic.

He was also pissed that Eric was one hundred percent right.

There were things Ben had wanted to get off his chest the night before. It would probably come as no surprise to Eric to learn that those things were still unsaid and unresolved.

But what was Ben supposed to do? Corner Chase and spill his guts?

What good would it do?

“Look,” Ben said, pausing to let out a long sigh. “I really do appreciate your, um… concern. Honestly. But there just isn’t much to tell. I wish there was more, but—”

As he spoke, a familiar truck pulled into the long driveway that led to the house and beyond, to the pasture where he and Eric were working.

It was as if Chase had been conjured by their conversation.

“Oh, damn,” Eric said, a grin forming on his face as he shielded the sun from his eyes to watch the truck approach. “Looks like you’ve got company.”

Ben barely heard him. He was already up and walking toward the gravel driveway to meet Chase. “I won’t be long,” he called back over his shoulder, not knowing or particularly caring if Eric heard him.

Even though Ben didn’t know exactly what Chase might want, he had a hunch that the conversation they were about to have would overshadow any amount of brotherly teasing.

For Ben, at least, shit was about to get real.

As soon as the truck rolled to a stop, before Chase even opened the door to get out, Ben could tell it was serious. Chase wasn’t smiling or even smirking. His bright eyes had bags under them, and a deep crease had appeared in the center of his forehead.

There were only a handful of times in Ben’s life when he could remember his friend looking so solemn, so withdrawn, so worried.

None of those times had turned out to be anything good.

“Hey,” Ben called, giving a little wave once he was a few yards away. “Didn’t expect to see you out here today.”

Chase gave a brief smile and shoved a hand back through his hair. It was a sure sign of stress, even if Chase no longer had the shaggy locks that framed his face back in their high school days.

“I was hoping, uh…” Chase paused, and looked over Ben’s shoulder toward Eric. “Sorry, did I catch you at a bad time? I should have probably called first, but—”

“No,” Ben interrupted, waving a dismissive hand in Eric’s direction. “He’ll be back to work in a few minutes. This is good—a good time, I mean. For… whatever.”

Great.

Already awkward.

Just like Ben had imagined it would be.

“Right. Good.” Chase took a deep breath. “So…I was hoping we could talk about last night. About the kiss. And also about the time before.”

Ben could feel his mouth fall open. As many times as he had wanted to hear those very words come out of Chase’s mouth, he never thought it might actually happen. He blinked hard and shut his mouth again with an audible snap.

Suddenly he felt too hot, like the sun had gotten a lot brighter or the temperature had gone up about twenty degrees over the past few seconds. Ben’s hands were clammy and his mouth was dry. Were they really about to discuss The Kiss? And then The Other Kiss?

Was he even ready for that?

The color had slowly drained from Chase’s complexion and Ben belatedly realized that he’d been silent the entire time he was internally hyperventilating.

“Okay,” Ben said, finally. “Yeah, I, um, definitely think we should talk about that—those… things. Those kisses.”

Saying the words out loud kicked the temperature up another five degrees, and Ben was pretty sure he was visibly sweating by that point.

“I never really knew what to say about it,” Chase confessed. “I still don’t, honestly. Except to say that I don’t regret it happening either time. In fact, I’ve probably thought back on that kiss—those kisses, now—more than I’ve thought about anything else, ever.”

“I don’t regret it, either,” Ben said, feeling a surge of relief that left him smiling. He still wasn’t sure where the conversation was heading, but at least it felt like they were on the right track. “But what does that mean? You like guys now? Or you always have? Sorry, I’m just a little confused here.”

Chase took a step closer and shook his head, but mirrored the wide smile that had spread across Ben’s face. “I don’t like guys,” he said. “At least… I haven’t met another guy that I felt this way about. I like you, Ben. I don’t know what it means, honestly. It’s hard to even put into words. But I needed to try, so… here I am.”

Ben had to blink quickly to fight back the tears that had started to well up. He didn’t cry very often—the last time had been shortly after his parents died. But he was definitely in danger of becoming a sobbing wreck if Chase kept going.

“Wow…” Ben turned away quickly to swipe at his eyes. “I, um… I never knew you felt that way. I wish we would’ve had this conversation about eight years ago. Maybe even before that.”

Chase laughed. “I know, right. I wonder if things might have turned out differently.”

“I can think of a couple of things we might have tried,” Ben said, joining the laughter. “There were a lot of nights I spent thinking about that kiss back then.”

“I did, too,” Chase agreed. “I still think about it.”

For a moment, there was silence between them—but not an awkward silence this time. It was a moment of relief, a moment of clarity. To Ben, it felt like they were really seeing each other clearly for the first time in a really long time.

Maybe for the first time ever.

“I’m glad you told me,” Ben said, finally. “Even if it doesn’t change anything—even if it’s too late to see where it could have gone, I’m glad there isn’t this weird unspoken… thing… between us anymore.”

“Yeah, I totally agree.” Chase tilted his head to the side a little as he held Ben’s gaze. “But… do you really think it’s too late?”

Ben shrugged, furrowing his eyebrows. “Isn’t it? You’re leaving in a few days, right? Even if we wanted to take things a step further, I don’t see how we could.”

Even as he spoke the words, though, Ben could see the twinkle in Chase’s eyes. He could tell the wheels were turning. He’d seen the exact same look plenty of times before, and there was definitely a plan hatching inside that sexy brain.