Cole reached out to get her, slid, and once again, they were headed for another disaster. She tried to stop it from happening again. She clutched his arms. Between their combined efforts, they stayed steady. Eva wasn’t sure who was keeping who up.
She let out a laugh. “That’s it! We need to stop hanging out together. I’m completely accident prone when I’m around you.”
“You’re not usually like this?” He cracked a smile. “Weird. I feel like I barely know you then.”
Now he was teasing her. There was always a grain of truth to everything he said that cut her to the quick, though at times like these, his steady gaze on her felt like the guiding hand that steadied the boat in the storm.
She was always in a storm these days.
Strangely, the strength she felt through their clasped hands made her feel even more swept away, but… no, that wasn’t right. He was only looking out for her. It just felt unfamiliar when his brother kept forgetting to do that.
Andthose traitorous thoughtsweren’t fair to West.
West had a lot on his mind, secrets that she needed to root out so that she could help him untangle them… like Cole’s fingers through hers.
Oh, I need to release him.
She cleared her throat. “Are we good now?” she asked.
His mouth fell open, almost like he hadn’t been aware that he hadn’t let her go yet. “Yeah, yeah.” He stepped back. Their hands parted… not a moment too soon. A sleek silver Lexus drove down the muddy country road towards the pumpkin patch.
They’d taken too long to return. West was coming for them.
Taking a deep breath, Cole leaned down to inspect one of the pumpkins. “You need to pick out your own pumpkin to take home with you,” he said. “I’ll show you how fun it is, so you can stop worrying about all those poor bored little children.” He arched a brow at her. The rain poured down his wrinkled forehead.
She wasn’t going to lie. He looked really good soaked through.
Stop being weird.
She turned in determination. Her hands clasped together when she looked over the pumpkin patch. Cole was right. Selecting a pumpkin of her very own really did feel thrilling. Her attention was drawn to West’s approaching headlights. “Ooh, West and I can take the seeds out and–and make a Thanksgiving pie!”
She’d definitely need a how-to video on Rumble to figure out that one.
Cole ran his hand over his wet face. “Yeah, yeah, that would be good. West needs to get his hands a little dirty, too.” He looked over at his brother’s car, starting to mutter again, “It’s about time he started to care about things that are important.”
She laughed. “I heard that, boo! You’re too hard on him.”
He swung back around. His brow arched up at her. “You’re not hard enough.”
Maybe.
She noticed West had parked next to Cole’s truck, though West didn’t immediately jump out into the rain to be with them. The wipers slid sleekly across the windshield. The headlights cut through the misty air. She listened to the voices inside his car as he finished up a call on speaker phone. Though she couldn’t make out the words, the conversation sounded intense.
She shivered, not realizing how cold she was until now. At least it would be warm in West’s car.
West rolled down his window and shouted over at them. “Why are you standing out there? You’re getting all wet!”
To Cole’s credit, he didn’t immediately put the blame on Eva for running outside. He shrugged. “Why don’t you come out here and rescue your fiancée?”
West glared at his brother.
Eva dashed over to his car to stop them from fighting. “West! Help me pick out a pumpkin! I want the roundest, biggest one that I can find!”
West didn’t seem impressed, but then again, he’d grown up with this stuff. It was brand new for her. He stayed where he was.
She tried to drum up some enthusiasm from him. “I have a few ideas for the pumpkin festival… I mean, some of them weren’t too brilliant.”
“Of course, they were,” Cole said quickly… and after he’d shot down every single idea that she had! Her heart skipped at his unexpected defense. He strolled through the storm to reach them, looking like a sailor who’d been dunked and tortured at sea, and still he kept a calm face. “She wants to make a pumpkin catapult,” he said. “I’m sure you can help her out with that, West.”