which Winchester children got all the brains. And which didn’t.”
“Yeah, well, at least one of us got the balls.”
“Enough!” West chimes in.
“You remember how to saddle a horse, darlin’?” Cash calls out.
“I think I got it.” Not two seconds later, Lemon strides out of the barn with Teraway in tow and hoists herself up.
She looks so at home in the saddle. But I suddenly wish I’d bowed out of this one and let Wyatt take my place because Lemon in that shirt and those jeans, with her tits all trussed up and bouncing with every step her horse takes, forces all the blood to drain from my body into my dick.
“Good luck,” Cash says, leaning over to clap me on the shoulder as his horse passes mine.
I roll my eyes and glare at West. “You want us to begin in the east pasture?”
“Yeah. That fence is down near the watering hole. Sheriff Adams called late last night, found some kids parked in their trucks. He reckons they ran right through it.”
I raise my brows, surprised he didn’t mention any of this at breakfast. Then again, he probably didn’t want to pile any more stress onto Mama Winchester’s plate. “You gonna press charges?”
“Nah. I told him to let them go with a warning,” West replies. “We were kids once too, doin’ stupid shit that kids do. Besides, half of our hometown has some real fond memories of that swimming hole. Wouldn’t be fair to take that away from the generations to come.”
I glance at Lemon, her eyes lock with mine and I know she’s remembering the summers we spent there, letting the water wash away the fever heat as we kissed and touched like we may never get the chance again.
“Are you two gonna work, or are you just gonna sit there all day making googly eyes at one another?” West asks, but he’s clearly not waiting on a reply because he nudges Blinkin’ Impressive forward and the horse breaks into a trot.
“Asshole,” Lemon mutters.
“Think you can keep up?” I ask, but she doesn’t bother replying either. She just digs her heels into the sides of her horse and takes off as Wyatt and Wade rev the engines of their ATVs.
I kick Knievel and we head out after Lemon. She’s flying down the dirt road and into the pasture and I give Knievel a little nudge, urging him to break into a canter. She’s riding Teraway though, and there’s nothing that horse loves more than to run. Knievel here, he practically comes to a screeching halt that might’ve thrown me from the saddle if I wasn’t already hanging on.
“What was that you were sayin’ about catchin’ up?”
“I forgot that I know better than to bet against Lemon Winchester.”
“Yeah, well. It looks like you’re the only one.”
We slow the horses to a much more manageable pace for everyone, and even though it hurts to glance over at her and see the autumn breeze stirring her wild, red hair under that hat, there’s something so right about it too.
“Don’t mind West. He’s been in a mood since before your daddy had his heart attack. Everyone knew it was coming, that one day William Winchester would be too old to ride and he’d hand the reins to West, but I don’t think anyone was quite ready for it to be so soon. Between you and me, I think your brother’s terrified of letting your folks down.”
“He’s not alone in that.”
“Lettin’ them down? How could you possibly be a disappointment to your parents, Lemon?”
“Well, let’s see. I did run off in the middle of the night without a damn word to anyone. There’s my engagement to a man they’d never met—a man who didn’t ask my daddy for my hand. There was not coming home when Daddy had his first heart attack, and then coming home now and feeling like no one wants me here.”
“That ain’t true.”
She laughs, but there’s no spark to it. “Isn’t it? You didn’t exactly roll out the welcome mat.”
“Even with your daddy passin’, you were the last person I ever expected to see pulling into that drive,” I admit. “You caught me off guard, is all.”
She arches a brow. “And every second we’ve shared a room since?”
“It’s gonna take a little getting used to.”
A slow smile plays on her lips. “Well, would you look at us, finally agreeing on something.”
“We used to agree on everything.”
“We were different people back then.”
“I guess we were.” I let out a bone-weary sigh and