Going Hard: Boys of Fall by Cari Quinn Page B

any time to learn, even back in high school. True, he hadn’t been a monk, but close enough. His number of lovers barely ranked higher than Hollie’s.
    He sucked at small talk, and he had no game.
    Less than none. The little bit he’d thought he had, she’d squashed with her assessment of his lovemaking skills. Definitely made a guy want to run right out and sign up for match.com.
    Jesus. Like hell.
    “Yeah. Hey guys.” He smiled at Wade and Jackson and Tucker, who were all clustered at the mouth of the stables, staring at him as if he’d gotten lost. Joel and Oakley were there too, just farther back.
    So he didn’t come to Coach’s all that often. He was trying to make more time for it. God knows it was hard to drag himself away from the stack of paperwork waiting for him on his coffee table at home, but he couldn’t just stay inside all day. He’d left work early on a Friday afternoon because he needed some fresh air and sunshine.
    Not brooding about Hol would help too.
    He picked up a hoe and stared at it. Manual work. Right. He could do that. It had been a few years since he’d mucked out a stall, since he usually helped out with some of the bookkeeping type-stuff at the ranch rather than the physical side. He was no accountant, but he’d taken some classes in college and he knew his gifts definitely weren’t in ranching. But he could figure it out.
    Sure he could. Just like he could figure out how to pleasure a woman so she didn’t have to tell her girlfriends that he couldn’t even make her come.
    Rafe’s eyes widened. Fuck, had Hollie told her friends that?
    “Whatcha doing here, man?” Wade clapped him on the shoulder. “Not that it’s not damn good to see you, but we don’t get a lot of alligator shoes back here.”
    Rafe scowled. “What do my shoes have to do with anything?” And yeah, he should’ve gone for boots.
    “Just saying, they’re kind of fancy for mucking back here. Unless you’re here to work on Lorelie’s books?”
    “I can do more than just designing buildings and tabulating figures.”
    “Never said you couldn’t.” Wade exchanged a glance with the other guys and cleared his throat. “Just that you usually tend to ride a desk more than you tackle the more glamorous jobs back here. But hey, we’re happy to have the help, now that Colt, Char and Hol headed in to—”
    Rafe heard one name and one name only. “Hollie’s here?”
    “Yeah. Seems like a lot of our schedules just converged today. Me, at loose ends while working on a song. School’s out today, so Jackson had a few hours, and Tucker decided to swing by too.” Wade grinned. “It’s just like old times, skipping out on a Friday with these morons. Not that you ever skipped, brownnoser.”
    Rafe ignored the taunt. “Charlene should be at work. Why isn’t she?”
    “She took an early dinner. She’ll head back in later. Got us some good news.”
    Rafe smiled and let the hoe tip against the wall. Good news. He’d just love some. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
    “New single’s rocketing up the charts. It’s looking like I might actually be able to spring for that new dining room set your sister’s been eyeing.”
    Rafe’s smile broadened. “That’s great.”
    Dodged another bullet .
    He was just waiting for the day Wade told them he was taking Charli away from all of them and putting down roots in Nashville instead. He had serious doubts Wade would ever settle for long in Quinn again. Even now that he’d made his homebase there, he was gone almost as much as he was in town. Always traveling to Nashville, or out to LA to meet with his new songwriting partners. He was frequently on the move, no matter what tune he sang about loving being home again.
    Sure he did. Just like he’d loved it so much the first time. That was why he’d taken off with barely a word for Rafe and Charli—his supposed best friends in the world—back when he’d been lured by the siren call of music.
    Just went to show you