That was Sawyer, though. Whether he realized it or not. Through sheer force of will, the man was always bound and determined to make better a bad situation. And he never failed at it.
Wolf did not have the same touch.
Darker, more intense than his older brother, Wolf certainly had his own manner of success with women. They loved the bad boy. And Wolf was happy to accommodate. Sawyer on the other hand was basically Captain America.
And good for him. Just wasn’t Wolf’s skillset.
“Well, I’m making cake. That’s all. I’m just going to throw that out there.”
“I’llbe here,” Elsie said. His youngest sister was always quick to try and shine by comparison.
Little termite.
Granted, he didn’t mind. Mostly because he didn’t worry all that much about looking good. That wasn’t his problem. If people didn’t like what he did, they could deal with it. Or not. Wasn’t any skin off his nose.
His mother hadn’t liked dealing with him, so she’d left. As far as he was concerned, that said it all. If he couldn’t keep his own mother around, there wasn’t much point trying it with someone else.
An old wound made his heart feel dull.
Breannahad understood him.
When you found something like that, you knew how special it was. He also knew well enough to know you didn’t find it again.
“Elsie, are you trying to start a brawl?” Hunter McCloud, part of the neighboring family, and Sawyer’s best friend, who often joined them for dinner, said.
“Me? No. I don’ttryto start brawls. If I want one, I’ll have one.” It was epically funny, coming from Elsie, who was a pint-size horse girl with more mouth than brawn, that was for sure.
“You’d start a brawl and then we’d have to go finish it,” Hunter said.
Elsie shrugged. “No one would make you. Your knight-in-shining-armor complex is your problem.”
Hunter smiled, slow and mean at Elsie. “Best believe I’m no one’s knight in shining armor. I just like a bar fight.”
Elsie huffed. “Either way, more cake for me.”
“Hey, none of us have been to see them in...ever.”
It was true. He’d never been up to their ranch. They had come down to Four Corners a time or two over the years, but it had been at least ten years since he’d seen any of them.
“Well,” Sawyer said, “have fun in Copper Ridge, I guess.”
“I’m sure I can make some fun.” That was part of his goal. A little bit of new scenery. Some new women. Wolf wasn’t the kind of guy to do relationships. He liked mystery. He liked fun. He spent a decent amount of time driving to bars in the surrounding areas every few weeks. Looking for girls who liked a good time. The kind of girls who got all excited about guys like him.
But somewhere new? Yeah, that sounded even better.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Elsie said.
“Squirt, if I lived my life that way, I wouldn’t do a damn thing.”
He looked across the table at his brother, who was now doting on June.
And his heart gave another strange, aching thud.
Yeah. Some time away was exactly what he needed.
VIOLETDONNELLYHUMMEDa tune as she took a tray full of cookies from the oven. It joined the cakes, mini pies and quiches already sitting on the counter at her stepmother’s bakery.
She had been a little worried at first about the logistics of splitting her time between her new post as innkeeper at the bed-and-breakfast on the Garrett ranch, and her work at the bakery, but so far everything was working really well. She had a lovely room to stay in, and she got to arrange breakfasts for the guests, and she was still able to do shifts at the place she loved most.