Frog by Mary Calmes (read along books TXT) 📗

me Rachel, if that’s okay.”

“It’s okay.” I smiled at her.

“My brother-in-law is head over heels in love with you, my girls think you’re the second coming, and my husband probably won’t be able to look you in the eye this morning.”

“And why’s that?”

She arched one perfectly shaped, raven black brow at me. “You know very well why.”

I shrugged. “He meant well bringing his stockbroker friend up here.”

“My mother-in-law doesn’t see it that way.”

“Oh, poor bastard.” I chuckled. “Did she get a hold of him?”

She laughed with me. “Oh yes, she even came to our room last night to ream him out.”

“Now I feel bad.”

“You shouldn’t. I’ve known Cy for over ten years, and he has never been anything but logical and practical and, honestly, more than a little cold.”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Come on, I know a good trail.”

Silently, I followed her back behind the house, but instead of veering right toward the stables, we went left over some rocky ground that quickly became dirt. It opened out into a larger area, and I saw other joggers. It was cold and foggy, but the green of the trees, the smell of wet earth and grass, and the gray of the sky all soothed me.

“I don’t understand,” I said as we began the slow climb of the trail, “what you were tryin’ to say before.”

“He’s different.” She grinned at me. “Cy. He’s completely changed when you’re around.”

“How do ya mean?”

“That guy yesterday—happy, smiling, warm guy—I’ve never met him before.”

“I am so lost,” I told her.

She stopped jogging and stepped off the trail, because apparently she really wanted me to hear what she was about to say. “He never laughs. He’s always serious. And that’s not to say that he doesn’t love his family. We know he does, we all feel his regard, but he’s just so driven and so focused that he comes off wooden and harsh and so lost in his own head sometimes. I can tell you that we all look forward to him leaving so the rest of us can relax and laugh and just have fun once he’s gone.”

But that made no sense at all.

“Don’t get me wrong. If I had a brain tumor, if I needed someone to tinker around inside of my skull, Cy’s the guy I would go to in a heartbeat,” she assured me. “But the face he made yesterday when he saw you playing with the dogs, his smile, the way he can’t keep his hands off you… I really had no idea he had that in him. I’m as floored as the rest of them. Lyn said being with you guys at his house was absolutely surreal.”

I squinted at her.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

“No, I truly do not.”

She nodded. “C’mon, run with me.”

So I let it go. We ran in silence, and it was nice, because normally I did it alone. It was comforting to know someone else was there. I could get used to not being by myself—very easily, if I wasn’t careful.

Everyone was up when we got back, and Brett walked over to me while I was drinking water with Rachel in the kitchen before we served ourselves breakfast.

“Thank you for running with her. I don’t like her going out alone, but I hurt my knee so I can’t go anymore.”

I nodded. “It was my pleasure.”

“I went with him, actually,” she told her husband pointedly. “He was up and out already.”

He forced a smile and then asked if he could have a word.

I walked with him out to the back deck, and he leaned forward so he could look out at the yard and not at me.

“I was trying to get my brother a life, but I was a dick to you, and that was shit.”

I chuckled, and he turned to look at me. “We’re good. Don’t strain nothin’.”

He huffed out a sigh and nodded. “Let’s eat. You must be hungry. You actually did something this morning.”

“Sleeping burns calories.” I arched an eyebrow for him.

He flipped me off, and we went in. Cy was in the kitchen, and I walked over to him and kissed his cheek.

“Good morning, cowboy,” he said, making sure only his lips touched me.

“What?”

He made a face. “You’re all sweaty.”

“You like me sweaty.”

“When I’m sweaty too.” His face told me I was disgusting as he pointed away from him. “Just go over there. Don’t touch me, okay?”

“C’mere.”

“No.” He started chuckling. “Gross.”

I made a move to grab him, and he jumped back.

“Weber!”

“Here kitty.”

“No,” he said, laughing, putting the counter between him and me. “Eat or go take a shower.”

I waggled my eyebrows at him and lunged. The sound that came out of the man—laugh, squeal, shriek—was a joy to hear. He ran into the great room, went left when he should have gone right, and I had him, pile driving him down onto the couch under me.

He was laughing so hard, and I straddled his thighs and grabbed his wrists, holding them immobile over his head.

“Gimme kiss.”

But he was howling with laughter, and I gave up, releasing him, watching him go fetal instead. Standing up, I was surprised to see his entire family in the kitchen staring at me. All eyes wide, mouths open, stunned expressions on their faces.

“What?”

Angie recovered first, pressing her lips together as her eyes filled.

“It’s nothing.” Carolyn smiled at me. “Just you guys.”

I had no idea what that meant, so I shoved Cy off the couch and told him to get up and eat with me.

He was still giggling when we walked back into the kitchen.

The rest of the day was spent doing nothing. The kids were bouncing off the walls because it started to rain and they couldn’t go outside, so I told them we’d play hide and seek. I asked Angie where she didn’t want us to go, and she appreciated being asked before we started.

The little kids were easy to find because when I growled, they squealed. The others were