Must Love Cowboys: This steamy and heart-warming cowboy rom-com is a must-read! (Once Upon A Time In, Carly Bloom [pocket ebook reader .TXT] 📗

“Yes. It’s a bit warm in here.”

“I think it feels fine—”

“And anyway, there is absolutely no chance that Beau Montgomery would want to go on a date with me, even if I wanted to go on a date with him. Which I don’t.” Because, holy guacamole, she’d be a hot, sweaty mess the entire time. “What would we even talk about?”

“I don’t know. But judging from the sounds his last date was making, I’d say that cowboy has a silver tongue.”

Chapter

Five

Beau leaned against a fence post and watched the sun come up. Yesterday, he and Bryce hadn’t talked at all about the Rockin’ H. After their meeting with Ford and Gerome, they’d ridden the fences as planned. But Worth Jarvis, Ford’s brother and Rancho Cañada Verde’s head herdsman, had ridden with them, making private conversation impossible. After that, they’d had dinner with the Kowalskis, a first-Sunday-of-the-month tradition. Ford, Gerome, and Bryce had talked nonstop about the dude ranch. Beau hadn’t had much to say about it.

When they’d gotten back to the foreman’s cabin, Bryce had gone straight to the shower and then to bed without so much as a word to Beau. The fucker never could handle confrontation.

This morning, Beau had gotten in the truck before Bryce was even awake. He’d driven to the northern cattle pens alone, because he could avoid confrontations, too, goddammit. And sometimes leaning against a fence post all by your lonesome and watching the sun come up was just what a man needed.

Tires crunched on the caliche gravel behind him. He didn’t turn around to see if it was Bryce, because he knew it was. A truck door slammed. “Hey, why didn’t you wait for me this morning? What’s the point of bringing two trucks down here?”

“I woke up early and was eager to get to work.”

“I don’t see you doing any.”

“I’m fixing to start. And anyway, we don’t have to do everything together, right?” He shook his head. “A dude ranch, Bryce. Jesus Christ.”

“A ranch is a ranch, and one of us was going to have to take it,” Bryce said. “I knew you wouldn’t want it. You’re happy here on Rancho Cañada Verde.”

“You’re not?”

His brother sighed. “I’m just curious as to what it might be like to live somewhere else. To do something else. And this is the perfect opportunity. I’d still be working for Gerome, but I won’t be stuck in the same spot where I was born for all of fucking eternity.”

Even though it was warm and muggy, the words stung like freezing rain. Because being right here, where they’d been born, was exactly where Beau wanted to be. And he and Bryce had always wanted the same things. “When did you start feeling this way?”

“Since forever, I guess.”

Forget the stinging rain. Now it was as if Beau had jumped into a pool of ice water. His body was frozen with shock. How had he not known this about Bryce? And why would his brother have kept such a secret—

Shit.

“Did you come home from A&M because of me?”

Unlike Beau, Bryce had been book smart. He’d been a good student, graduating from high school with honors. He’d received a scholarship to Texas A&M, and their parents had been so proud that they’d thrown a party, inviting the entire town. But Bryce had come home after a single semester, saying college wasn’t for him.

But what if he’d only come home because he’d sensed how lost Beau was without him? Because Beau had been lost. He’d felt left behind and abandoned. Hell, it had felt like somebody had fucking died, and he’d moped around for weeks, experiencing what their dad had jokingly referred to as “missing leg syndrome.”

He’d done his best to mask his feelings during phone calls with Bryce. But apparently, he hadn’t masked them enough.

Bryce stared at the dirt.

Great. He’d ruined his brother’s life. “Well, did you?” Beau asked.

Bryce shrugged. “I came home because I was scared shitless up there. The classes were hard, I was used to being a big fish in a small pond, and I missed my brother. So, at least part of it was you. But our dependency on each other is a two-way street, Beau. Don’t blame yourself for my mistakes.”

Beau hoped that what Bryce said was true. Because he couldn’t bear it if he was the reason his brother had given up on his dreams.

“We’re grown men now,” Bryce said. “We don’t need four legs to stand on. Two is enough.”

Beau frowned. Because Bryce had never really needed four legs. He’d always supported Beau. Now it was his turn to support his brother. “I hope things work out, and that you get to move to the Rockin’ H permanently, if that’s what you want. And I don’t want you to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“It might not be permanent.”

“Sounds like it will be.”

Bryce sighed. “I know you’re panicking.”

Jesus. He wasn’t panicking. But he was more than a little concerned about how he would handle the paperwork and correspondence aspect of being a foreman. Ford had recently implemented a new agricultural software program, and Bryce had been the one dealing with it. Now Beau would have to.

“There are apps and programs that will read out loud to you—”

“I’m not a child,” Beau snapped.

“I know that,” Bryce said. “You’re a smart man. But you’re one with an unaddressed learning disability.”

Beau crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s been addressed.”

“That was with Mrs. Martinez in the third grade.”

It wasn’t just the third grade. It had also been fourth and fifth. And in junior high, their mom had started driving him to a special tutoring center in Austin. He hated going, because it meant missing Rodeo Club, which he and Bryce had been involved in since they were eight years old. He’d whined like any kid would, saying it wasn’t fair that Bryce got to go to Rodeo Club while he went to tutoring.

But it was actually worse than that. Nobody was