Chapter 1
Jesse Pleasant’s flight from Vegas to Ontario, California, touched down right on time. He’d managed to hold off the hangover he was positive would be waiting for him; still, leaving his brother and his soon-to-be sister-in-law’s weekend of fun on the strip a little early was the right move. He needed to pace himself for the week ahead. The whole extended Pleasant crew, currently spread far and wide, would gather in Malibu to celebrate the union of Zachariah Pleasant and renowned celebrity chef Yvonne “Evie” Buchanan.
Jesse had to admit, it was strange to be on the personal side of things this time around. Long before his father, Jesse Senior, relinquished control of their family business Big Rock Ranch to Jesse and his brother Zach, Jesse knew how important weddings had been to their profit margins. Fifty-two weeks a year, and nearly every one of those weekends since Jesse had been a kid had been booked with a wedding. He knew all the ins and outs of seating arrangements, menus, floral arrangements, rehearsal dinners, receptions—all with a clinical eye for the cost. This time though, he could sit back and enjoy the duties of best man and people wrangler.
Zach wasn’t the first Pleasant grandchild to get married, but thanks to Evie’s celebrity status, this wedding was definitely going to be the biggest, the most lavish, the most over-the-top. The photos had already been sold to People magazine. Jesse needed to be present and prepared for every minute of it. On hand to keep his play-cousin Corie in check. Eyes open just in case his actual cousin Lilah decided sometime during the reception was the right moment to cuss out her estranged father, who had assured Jesse several times he was in fact coming, even if Lilah didn’t want him there.
He’d keep an eye on his grandmother, Miss Leona, make sure she was comfortable. Keep his mother from trying to set him up with any single women in attendance, and if there was time he might hit the dance floor. It was a celebration after all, and if the week went well, maybe he’d be in the mood to celebrate by the time Evie walked down the aisle.
Jesse let out a deep breath and looked out the cabin window, waiting for the crew to give him the go-ahead to disembark. There was something about weddings, or knowing you have to give a best man speech for your own brother and a woman who was already close enough to be family, that had Jesse trying to shift through certain thoughts, certain memories. Picking out the good, for quality wedding toast’s sake, while avoiding the bad, mostly ’cause there was nothing he could do about it.
He never imagined he and his brothers,—hell, he and whole his family—would be where they are now. When his grandfather Justice, once a Hollywood animal trainer, and his young wife, film actress Leona Lovell, had secured the deed to Big Rock Ranch in the scenic valley town of Charming, California, there had been one goal, one plan. Build the ranch up as a source of wealth for their Black family. Their three sons had their own plans, though. Their oldest son moved to Chicago, where he was now a successful surgeon. Another son went off to wine country to build up a vineyard of his own, and Jesse Senior went on to claim a record number of champion buckles on the rodeo circuit.
When they were old enough, Zach and their youngest brother Sam had set out on the rodeo circuit with him. Senior and Sam had been scouted as stunt performers and that led to both of them pursuing their dreams of acting, unexpectedly following in Miss Leona’s footsteps.
Jesse was proud of them. Senior and their mom had relocated to London so Senior could work on a police drama, officially giving up the ranch to Jesse and Zach. They’d been living over there ever since. Sam was exactly where he belonged, one Oscar win under his belt and Jesse had no doubt there were more to come. He was dating a great young woman named Amanda McQueen, who was making her way as a screenwriter.
Evie had been along for almost the whole ride. After her parents had passed away, she moved to Big Rock to live with her grandmother Amelia Buchanan, the ranch’s lead trainer and Miss Leona’s oldest friend. Evie had fit right in, always out on the trails with Zach and Sam or in the kitchen learning to cook with Jesse and Miss Leona. Somewhere along the way she and Zach had fallen in love, even if Zach didn’t realize it.
Life and a little bit of stubbornness on Evie’s part and a lot of foolishness on Zach’s had sent them their separate ways after Amelia passed away too, but fate brought them back together. Sure, a piece of that fate involved Evie suffering a pretty nasty blow to the head at the hands of her former costar and losing her memory. But she was back in the fold now and the restaurant she’d just opened in Manhattan was doing great. She and Zach split their time between Charming and New York, and would keep that back and forth going after they were married.
Jesse sniffed and fought the urge to sigh again. The flight had only been forty-five minutes, but he needed to move and stretch his legs. First class on these tiny commercial jets didn’t provide the legroom Jesse needed for his six-foot-seven frame. He let out another deep breath, keeping his eyes on the window as he heard the sounds of the Jetway locking into place. His seatmate was already on her feet, shuffling and shimmying so she could get off the plane first.
She’d been antsy the whole damn flight, but lucky for him she wasn’t the chatty type. Jesse didn’t want to slip up and make eye contact with her, just in case she suddenly had some last-minute things to get off her chest. He turned off the airplane mode function on his phone and checked the text messages that popped up on his screen: a picture from his cousin Lilah, holding up a plate with a waffle the size of her head.
You definitely should have stayed for this.
He held his thumb on the message and sent her two exclamation points of excitement back. He did enjoy a good waffle, but not enough to spend another minute in Vegas with his brothers and cousins and their significant others. Yeah, Lilah was single, but she seemed to enjoy all the girl time she got with Evie, Corie, Amanda and Vega, formerly Evie’s private nurse following her incident, currently Corie’s girlfriend. Jesse liked hanging out with his brothers. He loved them, but for some reason this weekend he just wasn’t feeling it and instead of letting his emotions get the best of him, he used his early morning meeting as an excuse to skip out on the remaining hours of their bachelor/ette weekend.
He switched over to the message waiting for him from Bruce, one of the drivers from the ranch.
Waiting at pickup site B.
Let me know when you land, boss.
Landed.
Out in a few.
The cabin door opened and his seatmate was off, damn near plowing over the flight attendant to power walk up the Jetway. Jesse followed, Stetson in one hand, his carry-on in the other. He politely thanked the flight crew before he ducked his head and exited the plane. He waited till he cleared the enclosed bridge before he slid his Stetson on his bald head. The airport wasn’t too full, but he could feel several pairs of eyes on him as he made his way toward the exit. He knew what he looked like, dark brown skin, tall as fuck, wide as fuck, legs the size of tree trunks, well-dressed with a cowboy hat on his head, a manicured goatee that maybe one in a few thousand men could pull off.
He attracted attention wherever he went. Some of it good, some of it not. With his long strides it wasn’t long before he caught up with his seatmate, just before she darted into the women’s restroom. Probably explained her two-stepping to get the hell off the plane. Jesse continued on, past baggage claim and out into the warm desert sun. Bruce was waiting right at the curb in one of the ranch’s navy blue SLTVs. He hopped out as soon as he spotted Jesse and rushed around to open the trunk for his carry-on.