that’s how it’s done,” she said in defense.
He grinned, took a sip of his coffee, then nodded, his lips pursed. “Like I said, it’s your life. Don’t waste it sweatin’ the small stuff. Go along for the ride. See where it goes. You never know. Those boys might surprise you.”
Bristol didn’t have to tell him they already had. She was fairly certain it was written all over her face.
*
“Where’re we goin’?” Keegan asked when Kaden turned the truck in the opposite direction of the ranch after leaving the church parking lot.
“The shop,” he told his brother.
“For?”
“I need to get the part ordered for Bristol’s car.”
“I thought you did that yesterday.”
“Nope. Meant to, got hung up.”
More accurately, he’d gotten distracted by the sexy little daycare owner. Even now, Kaden would’ve preferred going to her house, climbing back into bed with her, and spending a lazy Sunday doing nothing. A lot of naked nothing. And he might have if it didn’t feel like that was all they were doing.
“You check the spark plugs and all that?” Keegan asked.
“Nope.”
“We can give it a quick once-over,” Keegan told him. “Then what’s on the agenda for the day?”
What he wanted to do was spend time with Bristol. What he needed to do was focus on the house. They’d made strides in getting things repaired, even begun to renovate some. He needed to give it his undivided attention if he expected them to ever finish it.
His thoughts drifted to the ranch, only this time, he superimposed Bristol into the picture. She would look good there, he realized. Living with him and Keegan. Married. Some kids running around.
Yeah, he knew he was moving fast where the future was concerned, but he honestly didn’t care. At this point in his life, what did he have to lose? He’d spent the past couple of years attempting to get close to this woman. Now that he was, he didn’t want to waste a minute. All that taking-things-slow shit didn’t appeal to him in the least. Nor did the hiding part. Perhaps it would have if he hadn’t been doing exactly that since the first day he met her.
“We need to get an order placed for flooring,” he told his brother, pulling himself out of those wayward thoughts.
“You decide on which wood you’re gonna go with?”
He shook his head.
“Then I suggest you close your eyes and point,” Keegan said with a chuckle. “‘Cause it ain’t gonna get done if we can’t get it ordered.”
Yeah, yeah.
“Right now,” he told Keegan, “we’ll get a better look at the car, see what else’s needed. In the meantime, we’ll let her keep yours.” No way was he leaving her without a vehicle.
“Good plan.”
Kaden parked the truck in front of the mechanic shop, grabbed the keys from the center console, then got out.
“I didn’t know Ethan was workin’ today,” Keegan said as they passed the big black Chevy parked directly in front of the door.
Kaden hadn’t been aware of it either. And since he knew Beau’s mother tended to watch the little ones after church on Sundays, he figured a knock on the door was necessary before they barged in and got an eyeful of husband and husband going at it.
He rapped his knuckles on the door, waited. There was no answer and he knew that could mean one of two things: Ethan and Beau were busy, too caught up to notice the knock. Or Ethan was there alone, had his headphones in, and was working away.
It was a crapshoot as to what they were going to walk in on, but Kaden figured he didn’t have much of a choice.
The keys weren’t necessary because the door was unlocked, so he opened it, listened. When there were no moans or groans to greet them, Kaden stepped inside.
The good news was, Ethan was working, not indulging. Didn’t look as though Beau was there, but Kaden could see Ethan’s expression, knew the man’s brain was hard at work.
“Hey, man,” he said, projecting his voice to be heard over the music in Ethan’s ears.
Either hearing them or sensing them, Ethan turned, tugged the earbuds out.
“Hey.” Ethan planted his hands on his hips. “What’re you doin’ here?”
Kaden nodded at the newest vehicular resident. “Bristol’s car crapped out on her the other night. Told her we’d give it a look, see if we can get it fixed. You?”
“Travis just left. We were talkin’ about Autumn. He wanted to know how she’s doin’.”
Kaden leaned against the car. “What’d you tell him?”
“That she’ll do.”