“Cole?” she asks.
“Yeah darlin’?”
“I really am hungry now,” she says.
I chuckle and finish toweling off. “Yeah I’ve worked up a bit of an appetite myself. What would you like?”
She thinks for a moment and then says, “Actually, I think I’d like to go into town to Madge’s. I’ve been thinking about that pie all day.”
We go to our rooms to dress and when I meet her again in the living room, Sydney is wearing a soft yellow fitted t-shirt and faded jeans that hug her curves in all the right places. It takes every ounce of my self-control not to throw her down and fuck the shit out of her right there on the floor.
We walk into the diner and the small dinner crowd greets us enthusiastically. Once we are seated, the other guests start peppering Sydney with questions: How does she like it so far? Am I being a good host? Will I be bringing her to the fair this weekend? Sydney graciously answers the questions, making sure that each person feels acknowledged. The way she is endearing herself to these folks I’ve known all my life makes me swell with pride. I simply have to find a way to keep her from going back to Chicago.
Once the rest return to their own tables, we place our orders and settle in to wait for our food. Sydney suddenly looks uncomfortable and I reach over the table to take her hand in mine.
“What’s up?” I ask.
She looks at me for a moment as if trying to figure out the best way to tell me something I’m not going to want to hear. I hold up my hand before she can say anything.
“Ben’s got a case, doesn’t he?” I ask.
She nods apologetically. “I’ve dug through every property law I can find but it’s all coming out as I suspected. Since the property was willed equally to the three of you, he is entitled to his third. And seeing as how the profits were made from business run on that land, he is entitled to that as well.”
I sit back in the booth and run a hand over my face, a knot forming in my stomach. “What are our options?” I ask.
Now its Sydney’s turn to look ill. “Well you can either cut him in on a third of the profits from here on out, or you and Luke can buy him out of his share of the land.”
My brain quickly starts to do the calculations. “And if we don’t have enough liquid cash to buy him out?”
“Then he could force you to sell the land and split the money in thirds according to your parents’ will,” she says.
Madge herself delivers our food and chats for a moment. I plaster my best fake smile on my face until she leaves us to eat, then I push my plate away, suddenly not in the least bit hungry.
“Is there any way to get Ben to reconsider?” Sydney asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t see that happening. After our parents died, Ben withdrew and all but refused to do any work on the ranch. Aunt Nora tried to make him help as much as she could but as soon as he turned seventeen, he filed for emancipation and took off. We’ve hardly seen him since.”
“Maybe if you and Luke could sit down with him and explain that you’d have to sell in order for him to get the money?” she asks.
I nearly laugh at the suggestion. “It will be a cold day in hell when Luke sits at the same table as Ben. They were best friends growing up and Luke was hurt when Ben left home. I don’t think he’ll ever get over it.”
We both pick at our food for a bit before calling Madge over for the check. Sydney asks for a piece of the lemon meringue to go and we head back to the ranch. After letting her into the house, I tell Sydney that I need to go break the news to Luke.
“Why don’t you move your stuff to my room?” I ask, wanting her close to me from here on out.
She nods and smiles and I kiss her before heading out to confr
ont Luke. I think I’d rather be kicked in the balls by one of the horses than break this news to my baby brother.
Chapter Eleven: Sydney
Cole leaves to go talk to Luke and I head to the guest room to gather my things. I’m almost giddy as I take my bags up to Cole’s room. I feel like I’m the lead in some cheesy romance novel, head over heels for the cowboy. My head is telling me this is all happening way too fast, that I have a life in Chicago that I’ll be going back to in a few weeks. But my heart is telling my head to shut the fuck up. And my pussy agrees.
I’ve never felt so satisfied in every sense of the word with a man before. Cole makes me feel beautiful, sexy, and appreciated; and it’s only been four days. My ex-fiancé hadn’t made me feel like that in damn near three years.
I flip on the light and survey Cole’s room. It is decidedly masculine, yet simple in style. A large four-poster king bed dominates one wall, and a stone fireplace sits across from it. I imagine being curled up on the floor in front of the fire with Cole and it sounds like pure heaven.
After a few minutes, I hear an engine go roaring past the house, followed by Cole muttering as he comes in the back door. I go down to the kitchen and find him punching numbers into his cell phone. After a minute, he tosses the phone on the table and shakes his head.