Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

It wasn’t possible, though.

The fact that he could see so much of my skin was likely making him uncomfortable, so it was obvious he was more than willing to get me a t-shirt.

When he came back, he had a long-sleeved black t-shirt in his hand and a smile on his face.

He held it out to me and I took it reluctantly.

“This’ll look terrible,” I pointed out.

He shrugged, his eyes once again flicking back to my chest and away. “It’ll work for the time being, though.”

I unfolded it and the shirt unfurled, going down, down, down.

“This’ll be a dress on me,” I told him.

“Probably, but it’ll work for the time being,” he pointed out again.

And he was right. It would work for the time being.

It’d also drive me wild because it smelled all man-like, as if he’d just taken the damn thing off minutes before he’d come in to work out.

Then I got a look at the words.

“Nothing says I love you quite like fisting,” I read. “You’re kidding, right?”

Callum burst out laughing.

“Our brother got it for him,” Callum chuckled. “Darby thought it was the greatest present of all time when he was fifteen. Now that Darby’s older, he doesn’t find it anywhere near as funny. However, Ace still wears it to remind him of how young and punkish Darby used to be.”

I thought about not wearing the shirt for a full five seconds until I looked up to find Ace looking at me in a challenging way.

He didn’t think I’d wear the shirt.

I wouldn’t have… had he not been staring at me with a mocking look on that smart mouth.

As if he was about to laugh at me any second.

“Fine,” I said, gently setting my water bottle down and searching for the bottom hem of the t-shirt.

Once I had it, I shrugged it on over my head, then thrust my arms into the holes.

See, I didn’t necessarily feel small… until I was around Ace. And apparently it extended to Ace’s clothing, too. The arms were about six inches too long and came down well past the ends of my fingers. The rest of the shirt billowed out, hanging to my knees.

“You totally rock that shirt,” Desi teased.

I stuck my tongue out at her and shoved the ends of the sleeves up until they were resting at my elbows. Moments later, I tucked the shirt into the back of my workout pants and looked at the other three people standing there watching me.

“Ready?” I asked when nobody said anything.

“You look like a child wearing her father’s clothes,” Callum pointed out.

I rolled my eyes and started out the door, knowing that the other three would soon follow.

I kept my pace steady as I walked us in the direction of the deli. Eventually they all caught up with me… until Desi got tired and started falling behind.

Callum fell behind with her, leaving Ace and I walking about thirty paces in front of them.

“Were you actually going to this deli for lunch, or did you just say that so I’d go?” I asked.

I mean, it made sense. The deli was one of the healthiest places there was to eat. There was only the possibility of three places if you were wanting to eat moderately healthy.

“I was going to go to this place for lunch,” he answered immediately. “Though, I’d planned on going to the bank first, as well as hitting up the supermarket.”

“If you’d gone to the supermarket first,” I pointed out, “your groceries would’ve gotten hot.”

He looked up at the sky and nodded.

“Probably,” he agreed. “But I would’ve left the truck running.”

I stayed silent at that announcement.

“Did Poppy do better for you this morning?” he asked.

Apparently, he’d seen me riding the she-devil.

The only reason that I had was because she’d looked at me so sadly when I’d passed her on the way to the horse’s stall that was next to hers.

Once I’d gotten back from my ride on Dandy, I’d taken Poppy on a short one. A short one that’d turned into a longer one when Poppy had actually behaved herself.

“Yes,” I said as I started up the steep incline that would lead to the deli. “But I think it’s only because of her duplicity. She’s trying to lull me into thinking that she’s better. Then, BAM! When I least expect it, she’s going to try to kill me again. This time it’ll probably work because I won’t be expecting it.” I shook my head. “It’s always the quiet ones that fuck you over.”

Ace snorted. “It’s every woman. Not just the quiet ones.”

My brows rose as I turned to him and tried to act like I wasn’t getting out of breath due to the walk.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, blinking at him innocently.

He chuckled as he put on the jet packs, making it up the hill and to the front door of the deli in more than enough time to hold it open for me. He made sure to give me his best view—i.e., the rather large penis that was still quite predominant in his sweats—as he waited for me to get there.