Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Same,” Ry says.
“Ignore Aunt Wills,” Aiden adds. “She’s just in mama-bear mode, and that can be intense.”
“Oh, it’s fine—” Lena begins, but Ryker shakes his head.
“Welcome to the Triple Creek,” he says, and I can’t help but smile.
This is exactly how she should have been welcomed yesterday.
“All the horses are put away,” Malachi, one of our young ranch hands, says as he comes outside, but when he spots Lena, he blinks, and a slow smile spreads over his handsome face as his eyes travel up and down her body, pausing at the sight of her tight jeans. “Well, hi there.”
“Hello,” Lena says. “I’m—”
“My dream come true,” Malachi says, and before he can reach out and touch her, I step in front of her and pin the man in a hard stare. “Um. Sorry. Didn’t realize—”
“Don’t you have something to do?”
“Sure.” He looks around me and waves at Lena. “Nice to meetcha. Have a good day.”
He walks back inside, and Ryker and Aiden are both laughing. Lena’s hiding a smile behind her hand.
“What?”
“You could have just peed on her,” Aiden says, making me growl. Lena lets her laugh loose, and it sends electricity through me, and all I want in the world is to be alone with her right now.
Forty-eight hours and this woman is under my skin.
I’m fucked.
“Funny. Where are the packages?”
“Inside,” Aiden says, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. “Big pile of them, but they should fit in the back of your rig.”
“I want to see the horses,” Lena says with a sweet grin. And then she ruins it with her next comment. “Maybe Malachi will give me a tour of the barn.”
I narrow my eyes at her, then step closer and lower my lips beside her ear. “Keep it up, Rebel.”
“And what?”
“You’ll find out.”
“Well then, come on. Show me the horses, big guy.”
She’s sweet with them. Her voice is soft and soothing, and my horse, Rascal, nuzzles her neck.
Yeah, I get it, buddy. She’s fucking magical.
“Doesn’t anyone have a dog on this ranch?” Lena asks.
“We have a golden retriever,” Ryker says. “He’s only two, and a pain in the ass. He’s also attached to Willow, so he doesn’t come out to the barn much.”
“What about barn cats?” she counters.
“I didn’t know you liked animals.”
She shrugs. “They’re usually better than people.”
“You’re not wrong,” Aiden agrees. “There’s a few mousers around.”
Lena’s eyes find mine. “You need a couple of cats. Inside ones, so predators can’t get to them.”
Why am I suddenly considering adopting pets just for her?
Shaking my head, I lift some of the boxes. “I’m out training too much to have animals. Aiden, help me load these up.”
It only takes Aiden and me a few minutes to get all Lena’s things loaded into the back of the side-by-side, and then Lena and I are headed out so I can show her the rest of the ranch on the way back to my house.
“Are those your cows?” she asks, gesturing to the Black Angus cattle in the pasture.
“About half of them,” I confirm and turn to the left to loop back around.
There’s a fenced area nearby with a locking gate to keep animals out. Two headstones sit in the middle of it, and there’s plenty of room around them for the rest of us, when our times come.
“Your mom and dad?” Lena asks with a soft voice.
My gaze whips over to her, and she shrugs.
“Willow told me.”
“She told you too much.”
“She was just trying to make me understand, Gideon. I’m sorry that you lost them. And I’m sorry that I made that time more difficult for you.”
I brake next to the cemetery and turn to face Lena.
“You have to stop apologizing. You have to, Lena. None of it was your fault. My parents dying wasn’t on you. The shooting wasn’t your fault. None of it. I told Willow that she needs to let it go earlier, but you do too. You don’t need to carry around any guilt. Not for me.”
She nibbles that bitable lip and then offers me a smile. “Okay. I won’t apologize anymore. It’s annoying. This is a great place for a cemetery.”
“We thought so too.”
Putting the side-by-side back in gear, I point us toward the house.
“Let’s go look at your loot.”
Chapter Ten
Lena
“I need a sharp knife.”
Gideon’s eyebrow shoots up, and I can’t help but grin at him. He’s so freaking handsome.
“To open the boxes, not for nefarious acts.”
“Box cutter coming up,” he says and opens a drawer in the kitchen that’s obviously a junk drawer. Every home in America has one of these.
Except the White House. But that’s not a normal home.
“Be careful,” he warns me as he passes it to me, and I push the blade out with a triumphant grin. “Seriously.”
“Seriously, I’m twenty-four,” I remind him. “I’ve used a blade before. But maybe stay over there. Just in case. I wouldn’t want to accidentally draw blood.”