“Of course, you’re gonna say that. Everything worked out for you.”
“And who said things weren’t gonna work out for you? I may not have known everyone as long, but Bishop… You’ve gotta be the dumbest son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met if you don’t think that woman is head over heels in love with you. There are literal hearts in her eyes when she glances your way.”
“What? No. I mean, I know she cares, but?—”
“Has she done anything that’d suggest otherwise?” he asked, cutting me off.
I closed my eyes, feeling every bit as stupid as Lincoln claimed I was being. I thought back, wondering if I’d missed any red flags, but came up empty-handed. Lennox always followed my lead. She may have pushed my buttons and smarted off, but if I said to pump the brakes, she did a hard stop.
“I’m gonna take your silence as confirmation that you’re just being a dumbass,” Lincoln said, finishing off the last of his lunch.
“Fuck off. I didn’t expect you to make sense,” I grumbled.
“It has nothing to do with making sense and everything to do with opening your eyes.” Lincoln adjusted his chair so that he was facing my direction. “Listen, I don’t know much aboutyour history other than what you told me on my first day here. I get that opening up and trusting others isn’t easy, but if you want to have a good life, then you’re gonna have to. Look at Josie and me… Neither one of us had a reason to trust the other. After a year, I showed up out of the blue, and she was with someone else. Tell me, what would you have done if you’d been in my boots?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have waited a goddamn year like an idiot.”
He waved me off. “Yeah, Yeah. I’m stupid. I’ve had this fight with Josie a thousand times, but unlike the others, I’m not gonna get make-up sex after you and I are done talkin’. Just answer the question.”
What would I have done? For starters, I probably wouldn’t have even been in the position. I wouldn’t have fallen in love after a five-night stand, and I damn sure wouldn’t have pined after that person for a year after no contact and showed up randomly to get them back. Every decision I made was cautious. Careful. There was nothing I wanted to risk this life for.
Until now.
Untilher.
Until I’d done something reckless, entirely out of character, and selfish.
Kissing Lennox Hayes for the first time had been life-altering. It made me want things I’d only dreamed about. It’d given me hope for a future—a better one where I could move away from my past and do something for myself.
My whole life has been spent taking care of others. I worked myself to the bone, earning enough to cover the bills my mom couldn’t—the ones my father should’ve been there to take care of. I never participated in any sports or activities, barely passing high school enough to graduate.
Even after she kicked me out, I immediately jumped in head first here at the ranch. I was grateful for the work. It gave me apurpose—a way to move past the shitty hand I’d been dealt and make something of myself.
But over the years, I grew jaded and reclusive. I’d become so laser-focused on being important to the people around me that I’d forgotten any dreams of my own. Maybe that’s why I’d given Lennox so much grief over the years.
I’d never felt dislike or even distrust toward her.
No, Ienviedher.
She was the opposite of me in so many ways and the embodiment of everything I wanted to be. I’d never met anyone with a wilder spirit or a harder worker. Her stubborn streak rivaled my own, but it was never out of selfishness. At the end of the day, she knew how good she had it, even if it took her a minute to realize it sometimes.
She knew what she wanted. If she didn’t, then she faked it until she made it. I could do that, worry less about others’ thoughts and take whatIwanted.
And what I want is her.
There was no denying it. I wanted her snark, her bite, her unimaginable wit. I wanted to work beside her, to cheer her on, and vice versa. I wanted a relationship like Doug and Ruby, one filled with love and laughter and enough memories to last us a lifetime.
Goddammit, I wanted it all. And there wasn’t anything stopping me from having it except for me.
I was my own worst enemy.
“Ah,” Lincoln said, dragging my attention back to him. “There it is.”
“There what is?” I asked.
“You found your answer,” he said, pushing to his feet. He jerked his chin toward the barn and grabbed our plates, tossing them into the trash. “Go get your girl, Bishop.”
“We’ve got the branding. I can’t just take off.”
