Always Mine (Love in Eden 1)

But I wasn't stupid. He’d lulled me into a certain level of contentment so he could bring up the questions about Curtis's finances. He hadn't come out directly and accused me of anything, but it was just a matter of time. I’d wondered what his avenue of attack would be for getting me off his uncle’s ranch and now I knew.

So much for thinking maybe we’d turned some strange corner.

Neither of us spoke as we made our way down to the base of the mountain and reached the ranch. The heavens above us broke out just moments after we cleared the tree line. Curtis came tearing out of the house, moving much faster than any man his age probably had a right to.

"Brooks, my boy," Curtis called. I pulled Grover to a stop and told Brooks to swing his leg over Grover's back. I used my arm to hang on to him. The second his feet hit the ground, I released him, and Curtis was there and dragging him into his arms. I heard Brooks mumbling an apology to the older man and Curtis saying it didn't matter.

That was all I listened to.

I nudged Grover into a walk. As water rained down around us, I was quickly soaked, and I dimly heard Curtis call from behind me to come into the house when I was done putting Grover away. I gave him a wave but shook my head at the few ranch hands who came and offered to put Grover away for me.

As exhausted as I was, there was only one thing I wanted more than anything else at the moment…to get as far away from Brooks Cunningham as I could.

Chapter 7

Brooks

Humiliated.

That was the only word to describe how I felt.

It would've been bad enough if it had just been about me having to be brought home like an errant lost child, but the whole thing had been made a thousand times worse by my reaction to waking up in Xavier's arms that morning. The memories of the night before had started to come back to me one by one, just as I’d started throwing accusations at Xavier. Granted, waking up naked against the man had been confusing as fuck. But my reaction had been cruel and my suspicions ugly and unwarranted.

In hindsight, common sense explained the whole thing, but common sense had been sorely lacking in the moment that I’d needed it most. Of course I'd woken up naked in Xavier's arms… my clothes would've been soaked through and the survival blanket he’d covered me with wouldn’t have done a fast enough job of warming me up. Xavier hadn't gotten undressed and lain next to me to take advantage of me; he’d done it to help me warm up faster. But instead of thanking him, I'd accused him of some very ugly things. If ever there was a moment I could go back in time and undo something, that would be at the top of the list.

Right behind the moment where I’d dreamed about running my lips over Xavier's hot, delicious skin. I knew in my heart it hadn’t been a dream. I’d tasted the saltiness of his skin for the entire ride home and even now, hours later, it seemed to linger.

My body began to react to the memory as if it had just occurred. If anyone could accuse anyone of anything inappropriate, it would be Xavier calling me out. I'd been in that dream stage of waking, so part of my muddled brain had known I’d been the one doing the accosting. I’d felt his hardness against mine, but I wasn’t foolish enough to read anything into that considering most guys woke up in that condition every morning.

The bottom line was that I’d fucked up royally.

What else is new?

I still wasn't sure why Xavier had gotten so upset with me when I'd mentioned the ranch’s finances, though. An unwelcome thought took root in my mind as I sat in the bedroom staring at the little bundle of clothes I’d just folded after fishing them out of the dryer.

Why had he gotten so upset?

I shook my head because I didn't want to believe it. But the man had been accused of far worse, had done far worse, than steal. My own father had said Xavier was stealing from the ranch when we’d been kids. I hadn’t believed it back then, but I’d had no choice when the young man I’d thought was my friend had tried to take my father's life.

So it wasn't a big leap to consider that he might be stealing from Uncle Curtis. The reality was that there was only one way to find out. I needed to prove it. And the proof would be down in all those boxes of receipts and invoices and bills. If I could just make sense of all those things, put them in order, see the numbers for myself, I’d have the proof I needed to get Xavier away from my uncle. Yes, I was beyond grateful for what Xavier had done, but maybe his intentions hadn’t been completely honorable. Maybe it had been a way to ingratiate himself more with my uncle.