It Started with a Crack by Piper James

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Noah

“What are you grinning about?”

“Nothing,” I said, shoving my phone into my pocket to look at Chase. “Just texting with Dakota.”

“You’re smitten,” Ryder teased.

I shrugged. “Yeah. So?”

“Wow,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I mean, I knew you liked her, but this is…new. I’ve never seen you so…giddy.”

“I could’ve said the same about you when you fell in love with Belle,” I shot back, arching a brow. “Shit, you’re still tough to be around, and it’s been months.”

He and Chase went completely still, staring at me with matching shocked expressions.

“What?” I asked, looking back and forth between them.

“Are you in love with Dakota?” Chase asked.

“What? No. That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I just meant you were never serious or committed to anyone before her.”

“Why’s he getting so defensive?” Ryder asked Chase in a dramatic stage whisper as if I couldn’t hear him.

“I don’t know, but it’s highly suspicious,” Chase replied, shaking his head in wonder.

“Shut the fuck up, assholes,” I said, making them both laugh.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late. What’d I miss?”

Ethan plopped down into his usual seat and dug into the omelet he’d asked Chase to order for him. Shoveling a big bite into his mouth, he looked up at Ryder when he spoke.

“Oh, nothing. Just harassing Noah for being in love.”

Ethan looked at me. “You’re in love?”

“No,” I gritted out, narrowing my eyes at Ryder. Then, I looked at Ethan and repeated, “No.”

“If you say so,” Ethan said, shrugging as he returned his attention to his food.

I squeezed my eyes closed and took a big breath. They were already up my ass about my feelings for Dakota, so I knew they were going to have a fucking field day with what I was about to say next. But I wasn’t going to change my mind because of a little teasing. I could take it. So, I steeled my spine and folded my hands around my coffee mug.

“Now that Ethan is here, there is something important I wanted to talk to you guys about.”

“Is Dakota pregnant?” Ryder asked.

“What? Jesus. No,” I said. “Nothing like that.”

An image of Dakota, her belly swollen with my baby flashed through my mind, and my breath caught in my throat at the pure pleasure the picture invoked. Shaking my head, I banished the thought.

Fucking Ryder and his baby-brain.

Ever since he found out Belle was pregnant, he thought—or talked—of little else. I didn’t begrudge him his happiness. It was fucking awesome he was having a son. And I couldn’t wait to meet my new nephew. But he was starting to project, wishing pregnancy on first Chase and Sage, and now, apparently, Dakota and me.

“What’s up, bro?” Ethan asked.

I took a deep breath, met each of their gazes, and then blurted out the words on the exhale. “I want to take the ranch off the market and keep it.”

Chase shrugged. “Okay.”

Ethan nodded.

Ryder mimicked Chase’s shrug and took a bite of his biscuits and gravy.

“That’s it? Okay? No twenty-questions or wild accusations about my motives?” I asked as I looked at each of them incredulously.

Chase shrugged again. “We knew this was coming.”

“It was just a matter of when,” Ethan added.

“Because you’re in l-o-v-e,” Ryder sing-songed.

And there it is.

“Seriously though,” Ryder said, still grinning, “we already talked about it, and I had Marshall draw up the paperwork to take our names off the deed. All you have to do is sign, and it’s all yours.”

Marshall Parker was Belle’s brother and a lawyer, as was his twin, Max, but that one had left the firm to enjoy life with his new wife shortly after they set up shop. Marshall’s wife, Felicia, was a lawyer, too, and she’d taken over Max’s position when he left. They lived in Georgia, but we’d met them when they came to visit a few months ago.

“How did you know I’d want to keep it?” I asked, honestly dumfounded.

“We can all see how much happier you are, now,” Ethan said. “And you’re the only one of us that doesn’t already have a real home…though mine still has a lot of work to be done before I can call it a home.”

“Are you going to ask Dakota to stay with you? You know she’s counting on that commission check,” Ryder said. “And I didn’t tell Belle about the paperwork. I wanted to let you decide on your own if you wanted the ranch, or not. And I knew Belle would tell Dakota, who would confront you, and you’d be put on the spot.”

“I didn’t tell Sage yet, either,” Chase said.

“Yes,” I said before Chase could erupt into a long spiel like Ryder did. “I’m going to ask her to stay. Indefinitely.”

“Because you love her,” Ethan said seriously, pointing his fork at me.

“No, because I enjoy being around her. She makes me happy, and I don’t want that to end. She’s strong, and gorgeous, and brilliant, and hilarious, and I’m pretty sure that ranch would be an empty shell without her in its walls. And God, she’s so fucking sexy. So generous and kind. And she loves my dog. And she makes me feel like I’m the king of the goddamn world.”

I snapped my mouth shut, realizing I’d just suffered a deadly case of diarrhea-of-the-mouth. My brothers wore matching shit-eating grins, and I dropped my head into my hands with a groan. Ryder burst into laughter before humming a familiar nursery rhyme about lovers sitting in a tree and kissing.

“Real fucking mature, asshole,” I grunted, spearing him with an angry gaze.

“First comes love, then comes—”

Chase’s hand smacking against the back of Ryder’s head shut him up, and I smiled with satisfaction. My smile fell when Chase turned his serious gaze on me.

“You know why he’s doing this, right?”

“Because he’s a douchebag?” I offered.

Chase tilted his head. “His behavior doesn’t seem at all familiar to you?”

Fuck.

Of the four of us, I’d always been the one quickest to tease the others, particularly when there was a woman involved. I made light of the situation, cranked out the jokes, teased them about being whipped, and scoffed at the idea that I’d ever let a woman become that important to me.

Payback was a bitch, and Ryder was enjoying the hell out of this.

I’d teased him mercilessly when he married Belle—a marriage that was fake to fool her dickhead dad. But it morphed into something real pretty quickly, and now they were insanely happy and expecting their first child.

“Okay, fine,” I said, my whole body sagging. “I deserve this. But that doesn’t mean I’m in love.”

“We’ll see,” Ryder said, giving me an actual real smile filled with warmth. “I’ll bring the paperwork to the jobsite tomorrow.”

“Thank you, brother,” I said, nodding my head. I looked at the others, saying, “Thanks to all of you.”

“Of course,” Ethan said. “Congratulations on your new home.”

“Yeah,” Chase added, slapping me on the shoulder, “and congrats on your first real girlfriend. Don’t fuck it up.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I deadpanned.

There was absolutely no way I was going to do anything to fuck this up. I was too happy, and Dakota meant too much to me.

I was going to convince her to stay with me, and I was going to spend every damn day showing her how much I appreciated her and enjoyed being with her.

I may not have been ready to admit I was in love—even to myself—but deep down inside, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got there. And I wanted to make sure that when that time came, Dakota was on the same page as me.

Because with her by my side, my future was looking brighter than I’d ever seen it. And I couldn’t wait to get started.