RIDE: The Complete Delancey Brothers Trilogy

I would tell her so if she would call me back!

I scowled at my laptop screen. I was distracted. I wanted to look at the pictures I had found of her online but I knew I would never live it down if Jake saw what I was doing.

"Are you inviting her?"

"Who?"

He laughed again, shaking his head.

"You don't fool me Jackson."

I leaned back in my seat. I wasn't good at hiding my feelings for Angelina. I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

"Fine. I would invite her if she would call me back."

"I can have Elle invite her. She might have already."

"There's no guarantee she will come. The woman seems to hate me! I don't know what I did to deserve that."

It was a sad day when I admitted defeat to my youngest brother. But instead of gloating, he sat down and stared at me. Jake had a sincere look of sympathy in his eyes.

"Jackson..."

"I really don't know Jake. I can't concentrate at all. And she's right there, just out of reach."

"Did you tell her how you felt?"

"I tried to. It seemed to work. And then she changed her mind again."

He leaned back in his seat, deep in thought.

"Maybe you were too high handed about it."

"What do you mean?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"You can be a bit... bossy."

I frowned. Maybe he was right. But the woman needed things explained to her! Was it my fault that she was as thick skulled as a donkey?

"All I did was drag her away from her date and make her scream with pleasure."

Jake was trying not to laugh. I scowled at him.

"Go ahead and laugh. It was funny as hell."

He nearly bent over with laughter. It took him a while before he could put two words together.

"Was Pete mad?"

"He looked more surprised than anything."

"I wish I could have seen that."

"Everyone else in town did."

I sighed.

"What am I going to do Jake?"

He leaned forward.

"Let me tell you a little story about how I finally got Elle to stay put. It just so happened to help Daniel with his Francesca problem as well."

I leaned forward, all ears.

Ten minutes later I was grinning.

Oh yes, I could definitely handle that. All I needed to do was get Angie alone for a day or two.

My smile widened.

Or three.





Angelina





I ran the hand tiller down the row for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was practically an antique, with one large wheel and a small deep rake that turned the soil behind it.

It was amazing what you could find on eBay.

Of course, I would have to get a mechanical plow and more when I started the farm. But for now, I decided it was better just to figure out what the hell I was doing.

Besides I didn't want a lot of machinery blowing exhaust everywhere. When the time came, I planned on investing in electric equipment and a solar generator.

"Ow!"

I stopped short, staring down at the ground. Just like I did every time the tiller hit another rock. I bent down and picked it up, chucking it in the rock pile I had made at the near end of the garden patch.

The pile was rapidly growing.

The damn farm seemed to be more rocks than dirt!

Tomorrow I would add a layer of store bought compost and till the 20 by 40 foot garden plot one more time. Then I would lay the drip irrigation system I had pieced together, once again from yard sales and eBay. Then and only then would the garden be ready for planting.

Casey was doing her part too, nursing some seedlings in the sunroom. There were egg crates full of peat moss propped up along the windowsills, resting on top of her books and drawing supplies, basically every flat surface with good light.

In the fall we would get a greenhouse for seedlings and winter crops. We would start canning and pickling as the crops came in, maybe try to sell the pickled veggies to some gourmet markets. It would take a while to get certified organic, but minimally processed food was still in high demand.

We had it all planned out. It was a simple, wholesome life we were after out here in the country. Of course, the two of us knew better than most how God sometimes laughed at plans.

But we had hope. And when one of us faltered, the other one propped us up again.

As long as we could keep our heads above water, we could survive for a year or two. I'd bought the farm outright, so we didn't have a mortgage. And Casey had contributed her share of the money our folks had left us.

So we would survive.

The only question was, would we flourish?

The best part so far was how Casey seemed to be thriving. She loved the house and her sunny bright little room. She even loved the people we'd met, most notably the Delancey's.

She even seemed to adore Jackson, mentioning him several times a day.

I almost thought she was doing it on purpose to see how I would react. But she looked so innocent that I discounted it. I hadn't told her how Jackson made me feel. Hot and cold. Out of control and helpless.

Scared too. And just a little bit heartsore now that I'd broken it off.

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