IT WAS TYPICAL of his family to be having noisy, boisterous discussion over food. And tonight was no different. Though, what wasn’t quite so typical was that Dallas was joining in the discussion. He was laughing and joking, and talking about Lucy, the horse that he had ridden earlier in the day. Jamie was of course thrilled to have another enthusiast in her midst.
And then, Bennett couldn’t decide if he wanted to hug his brother Wyatt or smack him on the back of the head when he started to talk about his experience riding bulls in the Pro Rodeo circuit.
“It’s like riding on top of a freight train. Except the freight train wants to kill you,” Wyatt announced, in typical Wyatt fashion.
“Wow,” Dallas responded.
“Wyatt is an idiot,” Bennett said. “And he probably has brain damage.”
Wyatt shot him a glare, and Kaylee laughed and stood up from her position at the table, migrating over to the counter to grab a handful of chips.
“You know,” Grant said, “a lot of bull riders wear helmets now for a reason.”
“Yeah. And do you think those guys get as much action? Helmets don’t have the same effect on women as cowboy hats, bro.”
The interaction with all of them had been easy tonight, and he was grateful for that. Wyatt knew about the change in his and Kaylee’s relationship, but apparently, as far as Wyatt was concerned the fact that it was new was the revelation, so he wasn’t acting any differently. No one else knew unless Wyatt had told them, but Bennett doubted it.
Wyatt was tough. He was brash, and he was overconfident at the best of times. He also got under Bennett’s skin like a damned weevil.
Bennett was cautious of his older brother’s recklessness as well. Wyatt ran his mouth not caring what anyone thought, all the while doing whatever the hell he wanted.
Bennett tended to keep his mouth shut. All the while doing whatever the hell he wanted.
But he didn’t like making things a discussion. Wyatt seemed to consider a healthy debate a part of a good day. But Wyatt was also loyal. The amount of blood he’d soaked into the ranch in the last couple years, all the sweat and tears that were here... Wyatt was a cocky bastard, and he ran his mouth about things that didn’t matter much.
But he was loyal to family.
“You just rode a horse for the first time today,” Wyatt said. “Leave the bulls for later.”
“Leave the bulls for never,” Kaylee said, breaking into the conversation. “You’ve got too symmetrical of a face to tempt a wild animal like that.”
“Excuse me,” Wyatt said. “He’s too symmetrical. What about me? Am I lopsided?”
“A little bit,” Kaylee said. “I mean, in that hot roguish kind of way. But...”
“Yeah,” Bennett said. “He was born that way. You can’t blame it on the bulls.”
Wyatt snorted. “Hasn’t impacted my life negatively at all.”
“Is this the part where you make great pains to let us know what a stud you are?” Jamie asked. “Because I’m gonna pass on that.”
“We’ll keep it PG,” Wyatt said. “We have a minor in our midst. Anyway, that kind of talk only gets really heated up when the other rodeo guys are here.”
Jamie made a gagging noise. “I could do without them.”
“Which is half of why having them around sometimes is interesting. It drives you nuts. And that’s endless entertainment as far as I’m concerned.”
Bennett heard the front door open and he looked around the room quickly, trying to take stock of who was here, and who would walk in without knocking. Well, Luke would. Luke spent more time at his own ranch now than he did on Get Out of Dodge, but he had lived on the property starting at the age of sixteen until he was in his twenties, so he felt pretty at home. But other than him? No one.
He was the only one who had noticed. Jamie was trying to razz a smile out of Grant and Wyatt had just turned his interest in joining in. Kaylee was downing chips and Dallas was watching the whole thing.
Bennett stood and turned toward the kitchen entryway that faced the living room and the entry hall between.
And then his heart dropped to his feet.
“This is just how I left y’all. Sitting around eating.”
Well, hell. It was his dad.