“Damn, you keep pitchin’ that same straw we’re never going to get done mucking these stalls,” Sin complained.
Bear shoveled a load into the wheelbarrow. “I’m working circles around you.”
“You seem distracted,” Sin said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Is it Aasia or did a horse kick the common sense out of you?”
“Yeah? I’m distracted? How can you tell when I’m shoveling horse shit?” Bear grumbled. He hadn’t felt like talking much the last couple of days. His thoughts were definitely on Aasia and thinking of reasons why he shouldn’t be near her. He didn’t care to consider one. She’d become his lifeline and he had no control over his desire for her.
“You’re done for, buddy.” Sin shook his head. “Done for!” he crooned.
“Mind your own business.”
“Can’t. We’re in a barn. Same as laying on the therapist’s table. What happens in the stalls stays in the stalls.”
“Thanks, but I stopped therapy months ago and I won’t be going back.” Bear didn’t have anything against therapy, but he’d managed to get past all his guilt over the things he’d done across the pond. Now he needed to let the demons stay buried in their graves.
“We deserve happiness. I see how happy Sharp is and damn, I won’t lie, I start wondering if I’ll ever find a woman who can tolerate my bullshit.”
Leaning on the handle of the shovel, Bear cleared his throat. “Just when you least expect it it’ll find you.”
Sin was younger than Bear by at least ten years. He was a good guy and a bit of a romantic. “I’m hoping to find someone with eyes like storm glass. A laugh that melts my heart. And sees me as more than just a hired hand that mends fences and mucks stalls.”
“You are more than a hand. Don’t forget the Texas rangers creed, buddy.” Bear leaned his shovel against the planked wall and dragged off his gloves, shoving them into his back pocket.
“Are we though? There are some days I can’t figure out if I’m more of a hand or an agent.”
“Just don’t overthink it and you’ll be fine.” Bear saw that Sin was still staring as if it were his main goal in life to figure out what Bear’s problem could possibly be.
He’d worked up a few layers of sweat over the last few hours and he needed a break. He stepped outside and heaved in fresh air on the bright and sunny afternoon. He looked up at the sky and squinted. What the hell had he gotten himself into? He should have never agreed to go to the gala event with Aasia. He’d been uptight because tomorrow was coming fast.
He heard his buddy’s footsteps behind him and a second later his hand was on Bear’s shoulder, giving it a good thump. That was his way of opening the floor to let Bear speak if he needed to.
“Things between Aasia and I got pretty out of control the other night,” he said on one breath.
“The night she slept at the bunkhouse?” Sin said.
Bear shot his buddy a curious look. “You knew?”
“I think we all knew, buddy.” Sin shifted his worn Stetson. “We’re all pretty good at the whole investigating thing.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“It was only a matter of time before you two slept together.”
“We didn’t.” Bear snapped his brows together. “We kissed, that’s all.
“Shit. That’s why you’re distracted. You’re sexually frustrated.” Sin snorted.
Bear rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumbs in a futile attempt at reliving some of the tension in his head that had been slowly building all day. “I’m not sexually frustrated.” Seeing the disbelief in Sin’s expression, Bear shrugged. “Okay. Maybe I am, but that’s not what has me discombobulated.”
“Spill it.”
“I agreed to go with Aasia to some uppity work function. Tux and the whole nine yards.”
Sin didn’t have a reaction at first. Then he ran his palm down his face. “That’s a bit close for comfort. What if someone you know sees you? Not to mention, Fletcher will see you and Aasia together.”
Bear stared at his dirty boots, debating the dilemma inside his head. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“Tell her you changed your mind. She’ll understand. Maybe.”
