“She was just trying to be honest with you, as a friend would.”
He needed to keep his hands to himself and try not to remember how she’d felt when he’d had his fingers inside her, his mouth on her skin . . .
“Keep it down.” Kaiden glared at his groin. “We’re at work.”
“Talking to yourself again, Bro? Maybe you miss me more than you realize.”
He looked up to see his brother Ben grinning at him from the doorway.
“I miss you like a fly swarm.” Kaiden came around the bench to give his brother a bear hug and an attempt at a noogie, which was difficult when Ben was built like a linebacker. “Where’s your better half?”
“She’s at the store getting some supplies.”
“And you’re not helping her?”
“I wanted to see how you were.” Ben looked down at his scuffed boots. He wasn’t much better at communicating than Adam. “Like, check in with you, and stuff.”
Kaiden sighed. “You’ve been in LA too long, buddy. All this checking in with my feelings crap has got to stop.”
Ben gave him the finger, which somehow made Kaiden feel so much better.
“Did you come back to see Dad?” Kaiden asked.
“Yeah, and we’ve got some scheduled vaccinations to do at the ranch, which would be too much for Mr. Gomez to handle alone.”
“I can lend you a hand if you need me.” Kaiden looked up at the repaired ceiling. “I’m just about done on stage one of this place. Gotta let the architect back in to decide on the new wiring, floor plans and partitions.”
“It’s going to look great,” Ben said. “And, sure, any help is welcome at the ranch.” He paused. “How are things going with Dad?”
“About as well as you might expect. I had to read him the riot act this morning about disrespecting everyone.”
Ben winced. “How did he take that?”
“He didn’t like being told, but he was surprisingly subdued.” Kaiden hesitated. “I think this is hitting him harder than he expected. He just doesn’t know how to react, or how to deal with it.”
“At least he listens to you.”
“Sometimes.” Kaiden shrugged. “I’m just more direct than the rest of you are.”
Ben nodded. “Because you’re the most like him.”
“I’m nothing like him,” Kaiden protested. “I’m the charming one, remember?”
“Okay, maybe I phrased that wrong,” Ben said. “You’re as straightforward as him, but you don’t choose to express yourself in anger, but use humor to get your point across.”
“Too long in LA, Bro. You’ve finally lost it.” Kaiden sighed even as he noted that Julia and Ben were basically singing the same song. “You should go back and live there permanently.”
“Not happening.” Ben hesitated. “If you think Dad needs to talk to anyone, let me know, will you? I’ll see if we can find him a therapist. He might appreciate the opportunity to share his concerns with a professional.” Ben frowned as Kaiden started laughing. “What did I say?”
When Kaiden finally got ahold of himself again at the thought of his dad meeting a therapist, Ben was still talking.
“Silver was thinking of having a few friends around for dinner tomorrow night. We wondered if you’d like to come, and bring Julia with you.”
“Julia who?”
“Don’t be cute. You know who I’m talking about.” Ben met Kaiden’s gaze head-on. “You’ve always had a thing for her, and Silver thinks she likes you.”
“Does she now?” Kaiden smiled. “Well, maybe you could tell Silver that while Julia might ‘like’ me she has no intention of sticking around in Morgantown for the duration.”
To his annoyance, Ben just smiled.
“What?”
“You’re just pissed because she’s the first woman in a long time who hasn’t immediately fallen into line and worshipped you.”
“As I said, it really doesn’t matter whether I like her or not.” Kaiden was sick of playing games. “She’s not hanging around for the likes of me, and why should she?”
“That’s what I said about Silver.” Ben was positively smirking now.
“So what?”
“And we made it work.”
“Look, I love you, Ben, but you made it work because Silver has the kind of career and money that can transcend normal problems,” Kaiden said.
“Nah.”
Kaiden resisted the urge to punch his smug big brother. “Wow, that’s profound. What am I supposed to learn from that?”
“We made it work because we learned to trust each other, and our love was strong enough to deal with whatever happened.”
“Man.” Kaiden stared at his brother. “You sound like a cheesy greeting card. If that’s what love does to you, I want nothing to do with it.”
Ben chuckled. “Look, what I’m trying