Kick Start: Dangerous Ground 5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

beautiful.”
    Growing up, Will had taken home for granted, but seeing the place through Taylor’s eyes, he realized it was beautiful. Just looking at it gave him a lump in his throat.
    He grinned. “Relieved?”
    “Hell, yeah. This looks like there might even be indoor plumbing.”
    “There is, but we only use it for special occasions.”
    “No worries,” Taylor said. “A real man can hold it.”
    Will laughed. He’d teased Taylor about the place being a log cabin. Or maybe subconsciously he’d made it sound worse than it was to discourage Taylor from coming. He hoped that wasn’t true, but there was no denying he could feel himself tensing now that the moment of truth was upon them.
    Riley stood on the backseat, tail wagging furiously, tags jingling. Will glanced back at him. “You know where you are, don’t you?” Will asked him. “You recognize this place.”
    Riley licked his chops.
    Will drove up the hill and parked in front of the double garages beneath the open deck at the front of the house. He turned off the engine, cutting Emmylou off. The silence was instant and profound. Just the ticking of the falling rain.
    He could feel Taylor looking at him and he wished — and was immediately ashamed — that he could have made this trip alone. Or arrived first. Something. He’d told his dad he was bringing Taylor, but he’d left it at that, and now he wished he’d given more of a clue as to what that really meant. He should have prepared them, his dad and Grant, for this.
    Not least because he was liable to dump Taylor in an embarrassing situation.
    And yet at the same time he was glad Taylor was here. He wanted Taylor to meet his family. Wanted Taylor to see where he’d grown up. So he unsnapped his seatbelt, turned to Taylor, and smiled. It was probably a grim sort of smile because Taylor studied him and then said, “If you want me to be your fishing buddy this weekend, I can do that.”
    Will felt his face redden.  “I hope you’re kidding, MacAllister.”
    Taylor didn’t answer, just kept watching him with those enigmatic green eyes.
    “Hell no, I don’t want that!”
    “Okay.”
    “I don’t want that. I’m not in the goddamned closet!”
    “You are up here, Brandt.”
    It was a jolt to hear it. In particular, a jolt to hear it from Taylor. Will said, “Look, I want my dad and my brother to know…you. Us. I’m not going to pretend we’re anything but what we are. And I appreciate what you’re offering in an unconditional support kind of way, but I don’t want that from you.”
    “Okay.”
    “I mean, I want support, yeah. I don’t want you thinking you need to support me by encouraging me to be gutless.”
    Taylor said again, mildly, “Okay.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Incoming. Six o’clock.”
    Will ignored that, reaching over, locking his hand on the back of Taylor’s neck. He drew Taylor forward for a quick, hard kiss.
    The next minute Will was out of the SUV, raising a hand in greeting to his father and brother, who were walking down the wide fieldstone path to meet them. He opened the passenger door so Riley could jump down. Riley immediately sprang away to greet Roxie, his sister. Roxie greeted him by trying to chew his face, her tail wagging as furiously as Riley’s.
    Will was aware, as always, of Taylor in his peripheral vision, taking his time getting out of the SUV, giving Will time to go ahead and do his meet and greet. He strode up the hillside to meet his dad.
    “Son.” Bill Brandt was in his early sixties. They were the same height, but his father was a little heavier and a lot grayer since the last time Will had seen him. Even his dad’s mustache was iron gray.
    “Pop,” he said gruffly.
    “Welcome home, William.” His father’s big, muscular arms closed around him and they embraced briefly but tightly. Will shut his eyes for an instant. That was something you just didn’t outgrow — the pleasure of getting a hug from your dad.
    He smiled over