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Richard didn't take a deep breath until he was back in his office, alone. Between Joey being all pissed off and Levi looking at him like he was keeping secrets, he really would have liked to hide out for the rest of the day.
Of course that wasn't going to happen, though. In less than an hour he was hemmed in by Levi and Cruz, trapped behind his desk with no hope of escape until they finished drilling him for information.
Cruz was sitting on the corner of the desk, staring down at him. "Levi said there were issues this morning."
Richard wondered if playing dumb would work. "What issues?"
"Well that's the question, isn't it?" Cruz said.
"What was up with you two?" Levi was frowning at Cruz, but then he frowned at Richard, too. "Everything seemed fine last night, but then this morning I figured one of you wasn't coming out of the woods alive."
"I don't know what you mean..." Richard shifted his gaze toward some paperwork, hoping they would think he was busy and leave him alone.
Cruz huffed. "Oh, come on. You were kissing last night -.
Richard looked up sharply.
Cruz leaned in and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I saw that. And today, you hate each other's guts? That doesn't happen just because, Richard."
Richard rubbed his hands over his face. "Listen guys, I don't know what happened last night. Yes, he kissed me, but I didn't ask for it and I didn't expect it."
Cruz grinned. "Well, you sure as hell looked like you were enjoying it."
Richard groaned. "Well, whatever happened, it doesn't matter. By the way, I was told to invite everybody to a shindig at my place this weekend."
That worked. Cruz couldn't turn down a party. "I'll make potato salad, and maybe some of those little rolls you like." He stopped at looked at Richard. "Who's planning this party?"
Richard shrugged. "I guess Joey's guys. It was their idea."
Cruz shook his head and pursed his lips. "They're gonna need help. I'll call him now."
Then he was gone, leaving Richard staring and Levi grinning. "You did that on purpose," Levi said.
"Yeah, but it's true."
Levi sat, taking Cruz's spot on the corner of Richard's desk. "Well, you don't sound happy about it."
Richard sighed. He didn't want to go into it, mostly because he wasn't sure what 'it' was in the first place. "I'm just worried they'll get out of hand around Sasha, I think."
"They won't. We'll be there."
"You're right. Joey won't let his guys cause too much trouble with you around."
Levi smiled wryly. "I doubt he would, anyway. He seemed like he was really enjoying your company. And Sasha's."
Richard felt his gut tighten. "Well, he wasn't today, so I guess we'll see."
Levi didn't say anything else, he just gave Richard a long look before getting up and leaving the office.
When he was gone, Richard propped his forehead in his hands and sighed. He wanted to call Joey and figure out how to smooth things over between them, but he wasn't sure what the problem was in the first place, so how was he supposed to do that? Besides, it didn't really matter, did it? A few more days and Joey would be gone, back to Alabama or wherever, and Richard could get back to his normal life. Now that he thought about it, it felt like he'd been tied in knots for the last month, even though he'd only met Joey, what, a week ago? That was ridiculous.
He blamed Marshall Niven. Marshall's flirting had planted a seed in the back of Richard's mind, and then he'd met Joey, who was exactly the kind of guy to send Richard's libido into overdrive. It was pure coincidence, and that was the end of it.
"Just ride it out," Richard muttered to himself, opening a browser tab to check on a few banking items for Levi. "Just ride it out. He'll be gone in a couple of weeks, tops."
His voice sounded small and defiant in the quiet of the office.
By three the next morning, Richard had put the tension between himself and Joey out of his mind. Whatever it was, they could deal with it later. They were grown men, and there was nothing to keep them from being civil.
He hadn't been able to wipe the memory of that kiss away, though. No matter how involved he got with Sasha and her homework, no matter how hard he worked on sinking the first posts that would become a corral, the thought of it was there, floating in the back of his mind and threatening to derail his thoughts altogether. It wasn't uncomfortable, exactly...it was nerve-wracking. He felt out of control when he thought about it, like his body was going to go off and get involved with Joey without his permission. He shook his head and chuckled when he thought about it.
Now, early in the cold darkness of the unborn day, he noticed that Joey's big diesel wasn't in the driveway with the rest of the men. Richard figured he was just late, so he shrugged it off and hopped down out of the truck.
"Go on back home," Price said when he walked up to the rest of the men.
"What?" Richard asked, coming to a stop.
"Go on back home. Joey didn't call you?"
"Nope." Richard felt himself relax a little.
"Oh. Huh." It was Price's turn to shrug. "He had some kind of family thing, so he isn't going to make it. You can take the day off."
Richard looked toward the woods, the quadrant where he and Joey had been hunting. "I'll go ahead. I've hunted solo before."
Steve spoke up. "Naw, man. I don't think that's a good idea. Joey's rules."
Richard looked at him. There was no sense in going back home now. He was ready to go, and he'd already cleared his calendar of everything else for the week, so there wasn't much to do on the ranch. "Well, Joey isn't here, so I guess we're on our own."
Price held up both hands, as if to say he didn't want to argue.
"I'll just be careful," Richard said. "It's not like the coyotes will attack a grown man."
"They're getting pretty hungry," Price said, but Steve shook his head.
"You do what you want. I mean, this is more your ranch than ours. Just stay within your quadrant, all right? I don't want one of my guys accidentally shooting you."
"Got it," Richard said, turning away. "See you back here in a few hours."
The woods felt odd - too quiet and cold, a lot different than just the day before, when Joey had been beside him. It wasn't unnerving - he hadn't lied when he told those guys he was used to the woods, or that he had hunted alone. In fact, this morning was no different than a hundred other mornings when he'd been out here. The only difference was that he'd been hunting deer instead of coyotes. In other words, not that much difference. It had been a long time, though. He wasn't used to the emptiness of the dark woods or the quiet of the early morning. He'd get used to it.
He made his way up the mountainside, taking his time. It wasn't just the coyotes - there were a hundred ways to get hurt in the woods, some of them deadly. He wasn't about to risk his life, but he also didn't want to just go home, or sit at Levi's and drink coffee. He thought about all he'd learned from Joey and tried to decide whether to go to their original spot or find a new location to surprise the meandering pack. He wasn't sure.
It doesn't matter, some part of his mind nudged.
The thought surprised him so much that he stopped in his tracks on the trail and tried to figure out what it meant. Of course it mattered - the whole reason he was here was to hunt and kill coyotes. He should be able to do that better without the tension between him and Joey to distract him.
Right?
He thought about that first day, when he had volunteered to help. Had it really been just about Blueberry and Sasha? Of course that was part of it, but he knew damned well he could have found other ways to work off a payment for Levi. That was probably why Levi had looked at him so funny when he suggested it - coyote hunting was way out of Richard's wheelhouse.
And Joey was right, it was dangerous. So what really made Richard do it?
A picture of Joey, grinning at him like they were old buddies, flashed through his mind. Those steady, bright eyes, that made him look like he was hiding secrets. That strong face, framed with the ragged blond hair of a guy who looked like he didn't give a damn what you thought of him... And that swagger. Always that swagger, that said he was on top of the world and planned to stay there.
There was a lot there to like, and he knew it.
Hell, from the way Levi and Cruz stared at him every time Joey was in the vicinity, he guessed that everyone knew that and they expected him to...what? Notice? Because he did. Act on it? Maybe.
But how did a man do that? There was Sasha to consider, above all else. He had long ago made the decision to focus on her and keep her happy and safe, even at the cost of his own loneliness. Wasn't that what a good parent did? It was, and he refused to feel guilty about that.
Besides, Joey had some say in what happened between them, too, and now, after that kiss, he was gone. That said something about his attitude, and it wasn't a good sign. He knew there was some kind of emergency, but the situation spoke to Richard's deepest fear when it came to relationships - what happened when he and Sasha got firmly attached to someone and they just took off? What happened when they got tired of playing happy family and left him and his little girl in the dust, grieving over someone they loved.
Just like Alicia had done.
Richard winced, remembering the nights of Sasha crying for her mommy, the wondering where his wife had gone, the worry that something had happened to her. He remembered Alicia's voice, when it finally came days later. A voicemail. "I'm sorry, I can't. Go ahead without me. I won't bother you again."
That had been all, and that had been the night he made a decision to never share Sasha with anyone again. It was just too painful. Her little heart didn't need to be broken like that again, and it was his job to ensure it wouldn't.
Especially when it came to protecting her from someone like Joey, who made no secret of the fact that he came and went as he pleased. Whatever game Joey was playing, it didn't bode well for Richard and Sasha. Joey was a minefield that Richard refused to walk.