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might thrill him. But there was only one woman currently in Diamond he was thinking about.
    I wonder how JJ would look at me…
    He grinned. Thinking of her tended to make him do that. That is, ever since last weekend. Maybe Diamond wouldn’t be so bad. He loved his nephew and his sister. But there was no way he could stay “under the radar” for three months. Between his few good buddies and the fact that Colt was already going nuts from the four surrounding walls, he would be out in town a lot more than in the past.
    But he might get a shot at having JJ again. That was something.
    “What’s it going to take for you to leave the rodeo and come home for good?” Lily’s voice was soft now. A tinge of guilt settled over him.
    Colt couldn’t answer Lily’s question because the truth would break her. Never. He would never move home permanently. He was barely on board with staying the summer.
    Though he visited Diamond and flew Lily and Alex to his place a couple times a year, it was still just them. The only three McCades left.
    When their parents had died in a car crash Colt’s senior year, there’d just been too many memories in Diamond to stay. He was eighteen and he and his sister were suddenly alone. Colt was grateful Ryder and Penny’s mom, Mrs. Diamond, took Lily in for the remainder of her high school years. Truth be told, Colt had been useless to his sister and, to this day, he hated himself for it. He had been so consumed in his own grief and anger that he drank and fought and barely graduated. Once he did, he took off. Unable to stomach being in the same town he grew up in, the same town where he had his parents ripped away from him, any longer. The only time the pain let up was when he was away and riding. So he got out of Diamond and kept himself busy.
    Another simple fact was that he wasn’t a permanent kind of guy. And he didn’t see that changing. Life was cruel and things, people, got stolen from you. Taken. The only things Colt would cling to were his sister and nephew. That was it. Getting attached to anything else was pointless.
    He hugged his sister. “I’m here now. And I’m telling you, after a few days with a dirty cowboy in your house, you’ll be praying to get rid of me.”
    She looked at him, her wide baby blues glossed with tears. “You’re here for the summer, Colt. No getting out of that. Even if I make you sleep on the porch, you’re staying until September.”
    He whistled in a breath. Lily wasn’t kidding about making him sleep on the porch.
    “Uncle Colt!” Alex bolted through the room, wearing a pair of blue swim trunks and matching goggles.
    “Hey, partner!” He hefted up his nephew and went to swing him around, but winced when a fresh dose of pain surged through his ribs.
    “Careful!” Lily shouted.
    Alex gasped and gently hugged Colt’s neck. “Oh, yeah. Mama says to be careful with you. No roughhousing cuz you’re a…” He glanced back at Lily. “What did you call him, Mama? A delicate flower?”
    Colt choked on his own spit and glared at Lily. “That’s right, honey. Uncle Colt has some owies and we need to be real gentle.”
    Colt rolled his eyes and set Alex down, ruffling his hair. “I think your mama’s being melodramatic.”
    Alex giggled. “Uncle Colt called you a melon, Mama.”
    Everyone laughed and the tension eased. “Come on, we need to get you to swimming lessons.” Lily slung on her purse and brushed her hands down her pink scrubs.
    “If you’ve got to get to work, I can take Alex.” Lily eyed him like he was a vase in the middle of the Daytona 500. “Christ, Lil, it’s the community pool. Down the road. I think I can handle it.”
    “Watch your mouth.” She looked at her watch. “Well, I am running late and the main route to the hospital is under construction…you sure you’re okay?”
    “You’re a good nurse, Lil. I promise I’m fine.”
    “All right then. Just make sure you ice it more when you get home and remember, the