Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
“And now you’re acting like nothing happened.”
“Nothin’ did.”
The answer shouldn’t have bothered me. It did. I looked down at my plate. “Right.”
Ryder was quiet for several seconds. “When I touch you, Lila, you won’t be wonderin’ if it happened.”
My breath caught, and I sharply glanced up. Ryder picked up his coffee mug and took a slow drink as if he hadn’t just sent a wave of heat straight through me.
I reached for my own mug, mostly because my hands suddenly needed somewhere to go. “That sounds awfully confident.”
“It is.”
I should have had a clever response. Something sharp enough to push him back behind the boundary I was trying to keep. Nothing came.
Kash lifted his head from the floor as my phone buzzed on the table beside me. Ryder’s attention shifted toward it.
I glanced at the screen. Kacey. I answered. “Hey.”
“Hey, I went by the ranch, but you weren’t there. Saw a limb through your living room window. Everything okay?”
“I’m fine. The house, not so much. I’m at my neighbor’s, Ryder Kane. His ranch borders mine on the west side.”
There was a short pause on the other end. “Oh. Okay. I have the listing paperwork ready. Mind if I swing by there? The roads are clearing up.”
I hesitated for half a second. “Sure. Come on over.”
Ryder’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. A little while later, a knock sounded at the front door.
“I’ll get it,” I said.
Kacey stood on the porch holding a leather briefcase in one hand and a manila envelope beneath one arm. His blonde hair was swept over to the side and secured in place by an ungodly amount of gel, and he wore rubber rain boots with his dress pants tucked into them.
He offered a friendly, slightly awkward smile when he saw me.
“Well, this is not how I pictured today going,” he said with a light laugh. “Power outage and storm damage on the same night? Mother Nature really rolled out the welcome mat for you.”
“The storm made a bigger mess than I expected.”
His gaze moved past me into the house. “Clearly. Your neighbor has a nice place, though.”
I stepped aside before he could make the moment more awkward than it already was.
Ryder remained in the kitchen, clearing the plates as Kacey stepped inside. He gave him a brief, polite nod.
“Morning,” Kacey said, keeping it professional.
Ryder returned the nod. “Mornin’.”
Kacey turned back to me with an easy smile. “You said you had time to go over everything?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Kacey spread the contracts across the dining room table. Most of it was standard language I’d already reviewed electronically. The asking price, the length of the listing agreement, and the percentage of commission. There was also a section outlining the repairs and disclosures that might be needed before a buyer could secure financing.
The rest of the estate paperwork had been surprisingly straightforward. Since I was the only next of kin and hadn’t been able to get back for the cremation, Kacey had handled most of the arrangements through the county. A quick cremation with no service, just like my father would have wanted. No fuss, no gathering, and especially no one pretending to mourn.
The estate attorney had already sent me the forms to sign for the final disposition of the ashes before I arrived, which were still being held at the funeral home until I decided what to do with them. It could take weeks for everything to be officially released, he’d explained, but the legal side was mostly done. I was grateful I hadn’t had to deal with any of it in person.
Ryder didn’t join us, but he did move around the kitchen, wiping down counters that were already clean and keeping busy. I felt his attention with every page I initialed.
“The market’s good right now,” Kacey said, his tone bright and encouraging. “Properties with this much acreage don’t come up often. I’m going to push it as a working ranch first, whether that be cattle or horses will be left up to the future buyer, but we should be prepared in case developers show interest. Fingers crossed we get the right buyer.”
The pen paused in my hand. “Developers?”
“It depends on the buyer. Someone could divide the acreage into smaller parcels.”
Across the room, a cabinet door closed harder than necessary.
Kacey glanced toward Ryder then quickly back to the papers with a small, nervous chuckle. “Anyway, the important thing is you’re in control of what offers you accept.”
I signed the last page. The scratch of the pen sounded unnaturally loud.
When I looked up, Ryder stood near the counter with both hands braced against the edge. His expression hadn’t changed, but the disappointment in his eyes was impossible to miss.
I shifted in my chair, spine straightening while my blood simmered through my veins, teeth clenched and jaw ticked up.