He watched as January sat uneasily on Midnight, a death grip on the reins. She caught his eyes and smiled hesitantly before returning her attention to the back of the horse. It was as if she were afraid breaking eye contact broke some sort of rider-horse code. He wasn’t sure what she thought the horse was going to do, but she had her eye on the old mare like Midnight might turn around and bite her at any moment.

For Brecken, it felt like a homecoming. Something instinctual and undeniable that he couldn’t escape any more than he could escape feelings for January.

“You have it now. We’re going up to that clearing.” He pointed to the familiar spot.

His spot.

Their spot. The “their” being Henry and him. They’d spent hours running around like hellions exploring every acre of the expansive ranch, but time and time again they’d ended up there. It was the spot of their most epic freeze tag races, later their football field, and for him, it was often a place he came to think.

Bringing Master to a stop, he swung his leg over and grabbed the reins. Midnight slowed as he moved in front of her, and he patted her nose for being so gentle with his girl. Whispering his thanks, he stepped to the side to help January down. Her hands were clammy as she handed him the reins, a plastered-on smile that looked as convincing as her trembling lips stretching wide.

“Oh, thank God. Solid ground,” she cried shakily.

Laughing, he led the horses to his old climbing tree. Her expression changed from anxious to awestruck as she turned a circle, looking at the landscape around them. “What is this place?”

“The trail we came up is a small portion of the land owned by Blackstone Ranch. This”—he looked up and around—“is my childhood hangout.”

She smiled, her brown eyes sparkling. “You had a hangout?”

“Mm-hmm. Complete with a tree house. We played here a lot as kids.” He grabbed the closest tree branch and pulled himself up before lending a hand down to help her climb.

“This is a day of many firsts for me. Are you sure that limb can hold us both?”

Eyeing the massive tree branch, which was so big his hands wouldn’t fit around it, he nodded. “Get up here.”

She navigated the low branch with extreme caution, holding on to it like she feared the three-foot drop to the ground.

“Don’t worry. Worst case scenario, you fall and somehow manage to break a bone.”

She shot daggers at him with wide eyes. “Not helping.”

He pulled her close and wrapped a steadying arm around her. “I’m kidding. I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

She rubbed her hands together and brought them to her face. “It’s beautiful out here. Cold, but beautiful.”

Tucking her in closer, he looked out to the open space around them. “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

“What does one do at a hangout?”

“You didn’t have one when you were a kid?”

She shook her head. “Not really. I suppose I had a coat closet that I used to hide in to read or listen to my Discman.”

“Oh man,” he said, feeling for the first time like his childhood had something better than hers. “We rode horses and four wheelers, had contests to see who could climb the farthest up this tree,” he looked up through the branches to the top.

“You and Henry?”

He nodded. “His parents both worked here, so he spent more time here than his own home.”

“Louisa said you were close…” her words trailed off.

“We were. I idolized him. He was everything I wasn’t. Athletic, popular, daring. I followed him around when we were kids—all over this ranch. We ran in different circles at school. I wasn’t exactly in the athletic and popular crowd, but to his credit he tried to include me in everything. Even when I really didn’t fit in.”

Chuckling, he thought back to the many times Henry had tried to get him to hang out with other kids from school. “He was a football player in high school, and this one time, he invited me to this party at one of his friend’s house. I showed up with my big glasses, wearing khakis and a tie because I thought, ‘Hey it’s a party, people will be dressed up.’ He didn’t bat an eye. Took me around and introduced me to everyone.”

Her smile lit up her face, and she nudged him with her shoulder. “Always stylin’. That sounds like you.”

He nodded, remembering how great Henry had made him feel despite how self-conscious he had been in those ridiculous clothes.

She grew quiet, waiting for him to say more. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he continued. “Henry is my brother. Half-brother. Though, he and I didn’t know it at the time.”

“What?” She shifted so fast that he had to catch her so she wouldn’t fall.

“Henry figured it out his senior year. He took a long hard look at his dark brown eyes and wondered how his blue-eyed parents had conceived a brown-eyed baby.” Letting out a deep breath, he continued, “I didn’t know. He grew more distant toward the end of his senior year of high school. I noticed, but I chalked it up to him getting ready for college. He’d already decided he wanted to be a doctor and had been accepted into Stanford. I don’t remember when or how it began, but eventually, he wouldn’t even acknowledge me at school. He left the week after graduation, and I never heard from him again.”

January studied him silently and bit her bottom lip.

“I finally found out a few months after he’d left. I overheard Louisa and Steven—Henry’s father—arguing. They were talking about Henry, and Steven had kept repeating over and over again how they should have told him sooner. I thought for sure Louisa was sick and Henry had gone off to find the cure for cancer. That seemed like something he’d do, you know? Anyway, I confronted my parents, hoping to somehow help, and my parents finally told me the truth. Henry is my half-brother. My father’s first son.”

“So, Henry didn’t tell you before he left?”

“No, he didn’t,” he said bitterly.

“And your parents never told either of you until Henry figured it out?”

Brecken shook his head. “I was upset that they’d all kept it from me and pissed that it had been what took Henry away. More than that, though, was that I couldn’t believe that my father had been able to go through life as if it were no big deal. To have no claim on his own son. I worked it out, Louisa would have been about three months pregnant when my parents married. He married one woman while another was knocked up with his kid.”

“Wow. That isn’t what I expected at all. So, Henry left, then you left, Louisa and Steven divorced, your mom got sick, and your dad was left all alone.”

“Yeah, pretty much. That one secret managed to break apart two families that had been as much a part of this ranch as the land itself.”

“Why didn’t they tell you and Henry sooner?”

“The million-dollar question,” he said, running his hands through her hair and watching the dark strands slide between his fingers.

“It’s sad, really. Don’t get me wrong. I understand your anger, but we all keep secrets from other people, even the ones closest to us, thinking we’re doing what’s best. I don’t disagree with what you did, but you have to wonder if they thought they were doing what was best for everyone.”

“What happened to always being honest?’”

“I still believe that, but I read the first entry in your father’s journal after you left home. He didn’t seem like a malicious man. What did your mother say about it all?”

“Nothing. I wouldn’t let her. Every time she tried to talk about it, I cut her off.” It hurt to breathe as he imagined all the things she had wanted to tell him and didn’t get a chance to say. “I was an asshole.”

“Maybe,” she said, and he loved that she didn’t make excuses for him. “Have you asked Louisa?”

“I thought about it, but no, I never asked her. I scoured that first journal for any smidge of information, but he said nothing. An entire childhood was just… contrived. When I sobered up, I vowed to never go back, and I kept that promise… until I met you.”

She turned to him with big eyes that he wanted to lose himself in and forget the pain in his chest from delving into the past. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.”

“Thank you.” He cleared his throat and shook off the feelings of insecurity that were building. She smiled softly and tilted her head to the side. He didn’t see pity in her eyes, something he would have hated, but he was ready to have the focus on anything but him “Your turn. Why did you really leave Chicago? Secret half-sister you didn’t find out about until you were eighteen?”

“No, nothing like that. I grew up in this lifestyle where everything had to appear perfect. The perfect father with his perfect daughter. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what he did because he loved me and what he did for show. Losing my mother was hard on him. I see that now, and we’re good. He did his best and I get that, but back then, I wanted the messy, fun childhood everyone else had. Or, you know, the ones I saw on television.”

“It’s easy to think everyone else has it better, I guess. I get that.”

“That’s the great thing about being an adult, we get to choose whatever life we want. I wanted to get out from under the Lyle family name and social circle, and I did that. You left this behind and built an amazing company.”

“And now what do you want?”

“Today, just this.” She squeezed his hand. “Someday, I want to get married and have a whole bunch of kids. A big van filled with them. Sunday dinners. Road trips Griswold style.”

“How many is a whole bunch?” Brecken asked, watching her closely.

“At least four.”

“Four?”

“I always wanted to be part of a big family. I was alone a lot as a kid. It would have been nice to have siblings to get into mischief with.”

“The mischief part is exactly what I’m worried about.”

Leaning in, he captured her face between his hands and brought his lips to hers. His heart beat in heavy thumps against his ribcage, and a new feeling of peace and contentment washed over him. He thought that telling her about his past would be hard, but it hadn’t been, and once he started talking, the words had kept coming.

The wind picked up, blowing January’s hair between them.

“We should get back before you freeze.”

“Wait.” She placed her hands on his chest. “Thank you. I know telling me that wasn’t easy. It means a lot to me.”

“Don’t worry. My confessions come with a price,” he said, jumping down from the tree and offering her a hand. She accepted it and placed her other hand on his shoulder as she hesitantly jumped down beside him.

“Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. I want sixty minutes added back to the clock and you in those strappy heels from last night.”

“Well, that’s going to have to wait. I promised Michael that I’d help at the bar tonight. We have duel stag parties and the place is going to be a madhouse.”

“I’ll come with you. Maybe I can help.”

“You want to help at the bar? Amidst the craziness of a bachelor and bachelorette party?” January looked from his crisp black button-down shirt to his dress pants that fit snug across his thighs. “Dressed like that?”

He leaned down, wrapping his arms around her and cupping her butt with two open palms. “Mm-hmm. That way, I can still grab your ass all night.”