Wilde Love (Forever Wilde 6)

I spread my hands out flat on the kitchen table. “I don’t mean passing ownership of the property to him. I only mean having him take over as foreman and caretaker. We can have him oversee both properties and hire accordingly,” I suggested.

“Liam,” my dad began. “You know Weston is forty now and still unmarried.”

The nerves frothed up in my stomach. They were already plenty high for what I was planning with him later, but after our conversation before dinner, I thought I knew where my parents might be going with this.

“He’s an excellent foreman,” I said angrily. “A good man. And one of the hardest workers we’ve ever had here.”

My mom’s soft hand landed on mine on the table. “We know that, honey. We’re just concerned that he doesn’t have enough roots to stay here. We love him like a son and think that maybe he should go somewhere he can meet a nice girl and start his own family.”

“He has a family! Our family. He loves those kids like they’re his own. He loves you like you’re his parents. He loves me like…” I tripped over the word for the first time but said it anyway. “Like a brother.”

My mom’s face softened, and my dad looked at me with affection. “Of course,” my mom said. “That’s why we want him to be as happy as he can be.”

“Maybe staying here will make him happy,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as belligerent as I felt. But deep down I wondered if they were right. Was he only staying here for me? And by staying here in Hobie, was he giving up all chance at a happier life, a fulfilling relationship?

He could have moved to San Francisco or New York and been able to be more himself instead of hiding such a big part of himself.

“Maybe so,” Dad said. “But now that we’re discussing it, I see maybe I should have asked him rather than making the decision for him.”

“Well… I was going to go over and watch Logan’s Run and Quincy with him if that’s all right with you two. Maybe I could talk to him about it then.”

Dad squeezed my shoulder as he stood up. “Sounds good. You boys have fun. One of these days maybe you two should go down to the city for the weekend and have some fun now that you’re both single at the same time. I saw an advertisement for a disco club in Dallas. It sounds like American Bandstand or something. I don’t know, maybe you could meet some ladies at a—”

“Stan,” my mother interrupted with a laugh. “I don’t think poor Liam needs dating advice from his father.”

I tried to picture meeting and dating women I’d never met before, and nothing about the idea appealed to me. “I think I’ll stick with hanging out with Major for now. Not sure I’m ready for much else, you know?”

Mom frowned. “Of course, dear. We didn’t mean to push. I think your father just wanted you to know that it’s all right for you to have a life outside of work and the ranch. And the kids. We’re happy to help out so you and the major can get out and meet some people when you’re ready. That’s all.”

“Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it. Major mentioned there may be a card game later with the hands, so if I’m not back in the morning, I just bunked over there, all right?”

They sent me off with smiles and a six-pack of beer from the fridge. My mom even handed me half a sheet cake she had leftover. When I turned up at Major’s house with my hands full of alcohol and sweets, he laughed.

“If you’re trying to seduce me, Lieutenant, it’s working.”

“Shut up. I’m so embarrassed. I lied to my parents like I was sixteen years old again. By the way, we’re going to have to watch TV in case they want to talk about Quincy tomorrow.”

“It’s reruns tonight,” Major said with a shit-eating grin.

“Hot damn.”

I followed him into the small kitchen and helped put things away. When we were done, he handed me a beer and gestured toward the sofa.

My hands were shaking so hard, I put the beer on the coffee table and forgot to sit. Instead, I stood with my back against the wall and didn’t know where to put my hands. This was going to be awkward. We were going to sit here making excruciating small talk and pretend to watch TV until one of us finally got the nerve to make a move. I started to babble. “Oh, this coffee table looks familiar, because it is, because it used to be in our—”

Major walked right up and grabbed my face with both hands before crashing his mouth onto mine. He was hard and hot and tasted like beer already even though he smelled like clean Ivory soap. The stubble by his lips scratched at my skin, his tongue demanded entry, and someone, somewhere was mewling. All of my senses were overloaded and overflowing. Every nerve suddenly zinged with need and want.