McKenzie Cousins Box Set 2

“I guess that puts me in my place, huh?” He glances out into the horizon wiping his sweaty brow.

“There’s some fresh lemonade in the fridge if you want to help yourself,” I offer.

He smiles. “Thanks. Don’t go anywhere.”

Disappearing inside, I can’t help but notice the way the denim molds to his thighs and firm bottom. I shouldn’t even look. I may have given my heart to someone else, but it doesn’t stop me from looking. I mean there is nothing wrong with my eyesight.

Reappearing with two glasses, filled with lemonade, he passes me one and then sits beside me in the rocking chair. He sighs, which draws my attention. “Everything okay?”

“I’m too old to be falling off a horse.” He groans.

My eyes widen in surpri

se. “You fell off?”

He frowns. “I wasn’t concentrating, and the horse got spooked. Spilled me to the ground. It’s been a long time since that’s happened.”

“Do you not need to get checked out?” I ask concerned, placing my sketching’s down on the side table and turning to face him.

He shakes his head and winces. “I’ll be fine. Bruised, but fine.”

“Geary...”

“I promise you that I’m fine. Please don’t push it,” he’s firm in his request.

I nod and settling back into my chair, change the subject, “You’d love my cousin, Olivia.”

His eyes shoot up and then he’s grinning. “There are more of you?”

I roll my eyes. “Olivia would eat you for breakfast.”

“Tell me more,” he begs his eyes filling with excitement.

Chuckling, I tell him, “She always seems so in control, but really, I think she’s just looking for someone to love her, to make her let her guard down. Her older brother is married, and her sister is married to Derek’s best friend, Garrett. Everyone is getting married in our family. I think she’s lonely.

“She doesn’t want or need someone in a suit, she just needs a hardworking guy to love her, who she can love equally and spend her free time with.” I laugh. “Actually, she never has any free time, but I think if the right man came along she would give him all of her time.”

“You love your cousin,” he observes.

“I love them all. Every weekend we’d be together from as far back as I can remember. I guess we’re more like siblings than cousins with how close we are.”

“It must be nice having a big family.”

I frown. “Don’t you have any family?”

He shakes his head. “No.” Not expanding on his no, we sit in silence.

“You don’t have many friends either,” I observe.

He looks at me and narrows his gaze, but I don’t give an inch. “I’m a loner. Always have been.”

“I’d like to be your friend,” I offer, wondering if I’ve lost my mind. I’m never so outspoken to strangers.

He pauses and then offers his hand. I slip mine into his larger one and sit holding hands with him. “I’d like that, and I promise to stop flirting with you.”

I smile. “Really?”

He groans. “Woman, I may be a loner but I’m not blind.” He laughs. “From this point forward, I have a friend.” He then adds, softly, “I think I like the idea of having a girl who is a friend.”