Every set of eyes in the kitchen turns to me. But Hunters are the only ones I see. His lips curve into a grin that starts slow and spreads across his whole face.
“Morning,” I say to the room, then turn back to Wyatt.
He looks better today. His eyes aren’t so red. He’s not so hollow. Kids are resilient in a way that humbles me; they bend where adults would break. And he has a good family around him. A loud, chaotic, spatula-wielding family that fills every corner of this house with noise and warmth.
He’s going to be just fine.
“Hey, you,” I whisper.
“Daddy said I can take you to meet Gary today!” He’s vibrating with excitement, bouncing on the balls of his boots.
I smile. “Oh, did he now?” I say, turning to Hunter.
But he’s no longer at the stove. He’s right beside me. Close enough that I can smell the coffee on him and the cedar underneath it. He’s holding out a mug to me.
I look up at him, and my breath catches.Thank you, I mouth.
I don’t know how to behave. I don’t know what his family really knows about me. Do they think I’m the woman their brother dragged home in the middle of the night like a stray he refused to leave on the road?
Hunter makes the decision for me. He leans in and presses his lips against mine. Right there. In front of all of them. “Mornin’, firefly,” he says.
His hand rests on my cheek, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw. And then his lips move to my ear. “You wearin’ that in front of my brothers is dangerous, Lola.”
My eyes go wide, and he chuckles. “Not because of them. They’ll show you nothin’ but respect.” His breath is warm against my skin. “But me? I’m about to drag you out to the barn and tie you up.”
I am on fire. From my throat to my toes. I want that. Maybe when my body hurts less, but even then, I think I’d still want it with the pain.
“Enough of this. You have bacon to cook.” The more tatted one shoves the spatula between us like a referee breaking up a fight, physically separating us with a grin so wide it takes up half his face.
Hunter mutters something under his breath that I don’t quite catch, but it makes his brother bark out a laugh.
“I’m Ace. The youngest brother.” He gives me a bright, unapologetic grin. The kind that says I am going to be a problem and you’re going to love me for it.
“Nice to meet you,” I smile back.
Ace looks at me. Not in a horrible way. Not like he’s studying me or sizing me up. More like he’s seeing something he recognizes. And then he looks at Hunter.
I follow his gaze. But I stop on Hunter’s hands. The cuts across his knuckles. The bruising along his fingers. Skin split in places that have nothing to do with ranch work.
I step forward and grab his hand and hold it up between us. Hunter watches me. But he doesn’t pull away or try to hide this side of himself from me.
“Does his face look bad?” I ask.
“Yep. Really fuckin’ bad.” He doesn’t blink. “And his house. And his hand.”
Ace chuckles behind us.
“Thank you, Hunter,” I tell him. And I mean it. Honestly, deeply mean it. Because knowing that Reese felt even a fraction of what I felt last night makes something inside me unclench for the first time since his fist connected with my world.
I lift his battered hand to my lips and press a kiss against his split knuckles. Wyatt appears by my side and nudges me. As I look down, he’s holding out a Band-Aid with a dinosaur on it with a huge smile on his face.
“Put this on daddy, he needs it.”
I take it from him. “Okay, buddy. I’ll look after your daddy.”
“Dad always told us a woman would tame us,” Ace says beside us, nudging his brother. “Not her. She’s going to send him wild.”
“That ain’t a bad thing,” the other one replies.