“Okay, so we have the glasses,” she said, lifting the corner of her lips. She sat them on top of the dresser and went in for more.
“What more are you looking to find?” I asked, shifting on my feet. “You found my glasses already.”
“Nuh-uh,” Lennox said, shaking her head. “There’s no way that’s all—aha!”
And then she pulled out the small e-reader, smiling as she held it between us. “You don’t know how to FaceTime, but you have one ofthese?” She pressed the button, swiping up to go to my library. I closed my eyes as she began scrolling through the titles, praying to any higher power out there to swallow me up so I could die in peace.
“Holy shit, you’re a secret smut slut!”
I peeked through one of my eyes, watching Lennox light up as she scrolled through my limited library before I snagged it from her hand. “Alright, that’s enough of that.”
“Hey! Give that back!” she said, jumping for it, but I held itabove her head. There was no way for her to reach it. “That’s not fair.”
“Fair?” I asked, looking pointedly at the drawer that was currently disheveled. “You literally just rifled through my shit for something that you didn’t even know was there until five minutes ago.”
Lennox tightened her towel grip and tried jumping to reach the e-reader. All it’d done was draw my eyes to the tops of her breasts, and we really didn’t have time for me to get distracted like that. “Okay, but how am I supposed to just let this go? Bishop, baby, you have porn hidden away in your underwear drawer,” she said, cupping my face and giving me a chaste kiss through her giggles. “I mean, that’s so cliche.”
“Cliché, huh?” I said, tossing the e-reader on the dresser and grabbing Lennox around her waist. She yelled as we both fell on the bed. I captured her hands in my own, pinning them above her head, while the other slowly moved her towel out of the way. “Sweetheart, it’s not cliché if I’m learning from it.”
She raised her brows, lips parting in an O shape. “Really?” I nodded, dragging my fingers slowly over each of her taut nipples. “Maybe you should show me what you’ve learned.”
“We don’t have time,” I said, dipping my head and inhaling deeply. She’d used my body wash this morning. The fact she smelled like me awoke some deep instinct, I felt like a damn wild animal.
Moving to the edge of the bed, I got down on my knees and pulled her body closer. Nothing had changed. We didn’t have time, but I didn’t care. I may have acted like I was in charge around her, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth.
I may not have known much, but I knew one thing.
Lennox Hayes was mine, and I wanted to make sure she stayed that way.
“Hold her steady,”I called, pressing the copper brand against the calf’s left hip. I gently rotated the brand, rolling it in small circles to keep it in contact with the skin.
“Yeah, that’s a good girl,” I said, patting her neck. I put the brand back in the cooler with the brand mixture, letting it cool down for the next go. “Tag her and switch!”
This was the first branding we had since Lincoln had joined. We both manned a line to try and get through as many as we could today. Our goal was to run through a hundred, but it always took us a minute to get back in the swing. Other ranch hands worked on tagging the calves with a number and marking them as complete, or shearing the hair where the brand would go.
With a single nod, Lennox pulled the lever and released the calf from the chute. We had workers ready to usher it into the arena with the others we’d gotten done. There was only one left in our line until we were calling it for lunch. Cleo and Ruby were by Cook’s wagon, laying everything out to move the workers through as quickly as possible.
I lifted my hat, wiping away the sweat beading along my hairline. It may have been nearly December, but it was one of the hottest days in weeks. It was barely one in the afternoon and damn near eighty-five degrees.
Lennox swung her braid over her shoulder, removing her hat to fan herself. “You sure know how to pick the best days to do this shit,” she muttered.
“I don’t control the weather, killer,” I shot back, closing the gates as the last cow ran through. “This was all supposed to be done by now.”
“Alright, let’s just get this one done so I caneat,” she said, jerking her chin toward the wide-eyed animal staring at us. “Someone forced me to skip breakfast this morning.”
“That’s such a shame,” I said with a wink. I grabbed the spray bottle filled with alcohol and doused the cut area thoroughly. “My meal was fucking delicious.”
She threw her head back in laughter. “God, you’re shameless.”
I turned to grab the iron, lining it up in the sheared square, pressing it to the skin, and repeating the same process I’d been doing all morning. It was all muscle memory at this point. “Only for you.”
Lennox looked over, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Who are you, and what have you done with Bishop Bryant?”
“Dunno,” I said, ducking my head so I didn’t have to look at her. “Heard he went and fell in love.”
I was silent under the weight of her gaze as I focused on rolling the iron. At forty-seven seconds, I pulled it off and stuck it with the rest. Lennox didn’t need any direction as she noted the tag number before releasing the animal with the rest.
The work kept me busy, kept my mind occupied so I wasn’t agonizing over the words to say, but now we were breaking for lunch, and I couldn’t hide anymore. Lennox still hadn’t said anything, though. Not even as we fell into step with one another on the way to grab food.
