Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“He was seen leaving Grace’s room early this morning,” I say flatly. “She was still in bed.”
There’s a sharp inhale from Cody. Brody’s expression darkens instantly. Lennon freezes mid-step and mutters under his breath, “Shit.”
Cody whistles low. “Jaxon. Jesus.”
Jaxon holds up both hands. “I didn’t do anything she didn’t want.” His voice softens. “She asked me to stay.”
“Not the point,” I growl. “We’ve spent years trying to agree on how to make this place work, and we have to be taken seriously. You both handed every gossip rag in the country the story they want.”
The group falls into a heavy, loaded silence.
Brody speaks first, voice rough. “Maybe this was a mistake. All of it. Putting out that damn ad. Dragging a city girl like her into this. Now we’re going to lose everything we’re working towards.”
Cody shakes his head. “Or maybe we don’t need the ad at all.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Cody shrugs, slow and deliberate. “Maybe the right woman already walked onto this ranch. Maybe we don’t have to convince her with an ad or a contract or show her how best to advertise us to the rest of the women in this great country. Maybe we have to give her a reason to want to stay.”
Levi, still tense, lets out a slow breath. “He’s not wrong.”
Jaxon speaks for the first time, his voice low but clear. “I don’t want anyone else walking through that door. We asked the world to send us someone… and it already did. She needs us as much as we need her.”
He proceeds to share some of Grace’s story, leaving the group stunned and my stomach tight. This is dangerous. Hope masquerading as logic.
Lennon crosses his arms, frowning.
Brody’s voice cuts through the quiet. Harsh. “You’re talking about throwing the plan out the window? On what? Feelings? A couple of days of flirting? Some furtive sex? A woman’s sob story that you don’t even know to be true. We built this home as a team. Don’t tell me one woman changes everything we planned.”
The group fractures into low arguments, overlapping voices, and frustration simmering under the surface. I let it wash over me, as my gaze locks on the empty horizon outside the barn doors. They’re divided, and for the first time in a long while, I don’t have the answer to unite them.
Their voices grow louder, and the calm we pride ourselves on is gone.
Levi rounds on Brody, jaw clenched. “You think I don’t know I screwed up? You think I wanted to risk this?” He swipes a hand through his hair, pacing. “I’ve spent my whole goddamn life being good for nothing except my pretty face and my quick hands. I didn’t mean to make things messy.”
Cody steps forward, voice low but sharp. “Then fix it, Levi. Start acting like a man who deserves her, not a boy chasing a thrill.”
Levi flinches but nods. “I will.”
I watch the exchange, my jaw grinding tight. The worst part is… Levi looks genuine. Contrite. Maybe for the first time.
Cody rests a heavy hand on Jaxon’s shoulder. “And you?”
Jaxon doesn’t flinch. “I won’t apologize for wanting her. Or for her wanting me. I won’t. You weren’t in that bedroom with us last night. You don’t know what it felt like… what was between us.”
The horses shift restlessly in the stalls, and Cody steps in, breaking the stand-off with his usual ease. “We might want her…” He glances at Brody. “Well, some of us, but this isn’t only about what we want. It’s about what she wants.”
Silence descends again. The final truth spoken.
When I speak, my voice cuts through clean and hard. “You know the rules. We vote as a family. No decision gets made in isolation.” Tension softens, but barely. “Tonight,” I add. “After chores.”
No one argues. Not even Brody.
For now, we go back to work. Ranch life doesn’t pause for emotions.
By the time we saddle up, the sun has started its slow climb. The familiar scrape of leather, the sharp scent of hay and horse sweat, grounds me and settles my pulse into something steadier.
Jaxon swings up first, silent as always, but there’s a harder line to his mouth today. Levi lingers, hands buried deep in his pockets, staring out at the fields like he’s trying to spot an answer out there in the grass.
I walk past them both toward my horse as the others file out. The ranch hums to life around us. Gates are opened, cattle move, and kids shout in the distance.
I mount up and glance back toward the house once, finding her window. I think a curtain shifts.
I’m not a man prone to hope. I deal with reality, but something feels different today.
No decisions have been made yet, but maybe we’re starting to wonder if the answer isn’t going to come from an ad, or a plan, or some perfect solution.