“You’ll also hear that I’m a gold digger who thinks she’s too good for this town.”
“That’s it?”
She laughed and her big green eyes sparkled with mischief.“I left out the part that my father was enjoying one of his many girlfriend’s charms when he had his last heart attack.”
“Wow, this town must love your family.”
“Love talking about us, you mean.”
He finished the second stall and moved on to the third and they worked in companionable silence until all ten stalls being used were cleaned.
“You do good work.I guess you can come visit these beasts anytime you get to missing home.”
He was surprised she made the offer because she projected thisstay backtype of persona.“What if I want to come by to see you?”he asked looking her in the eyes so there was no doubt how much he wanted her.
She sighed and met his stare.“The other night was amazing, and if I were going to live up to my bad reputation I would drag you into one of these stalls and let you do all the things I’ve imagined you could do to me right now.”
His heart skipped a beat.
“But my little brother and stepmom need me back inside to cook dinner, and I’ll be up at the crack of dawn for more chores.I don’t have the kind of freedom or time to have a careless affair.”
He nodded.“Who said anything about an affair?Look, I’m not sure how long I’ll be in town, but I’d like to spend more time with you.”
Miranda walked closer and held out her hand.“You’re welcome to come by and clean a stall or ride a horse anytime.And I won’t think any less of you if you change your mind.”
He held her soft but strong hand in his a beat longer than was probably necessary, but he couldn’t help feeling entranced by her.
“Deal, and maybe we could go out for that ice cream?”
Her smile was so big it touched her green eyes and made her look carefree.“You must really like ice cream and trouble,” she said, shaking her head.“But I don’t think you want to be linked to me.”
“I think I do, but we can be discreet if you’re worried about more gossip.”He still held her hand and she didn’t pull away, which he took as a good sign.
She shook her head.“No offense, but last night was a one-time thing.I’m too busy and not looking to complicate my relationship with the Harts.They’ve always been good to me.”
He nodded.“I’d like a chance to be good to you too.”
“I guess we’ll see,” she said, dropping his hand and taking his pitchfork to put it back on the wall.Then he followed her back outside the barn where the night sky was lit with stars.
“I almost forgot how the sky looks outside the city,” he said.
“Feel free to stare at the stars as long as you like, but I’ve got to get started on dinner,” she said before walking away, effectively putting her wall back up.
Leaving the Sutton Ranch he felt an odd stirring in his soul.Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.It was comforting and worrisome because he wasn’t convinced the Hart family would want him to stick around too much longer, and Miranda had made it clear she wasn’t looking for anything beyond what they’d already shared.But he was used to having to put in some work for what he wanted.He definitely wanted to spend some more time with her.
Back at the inn he took a long shower and checked his phone.There were multiple calls from his agent and a dozen media outlets.He was going to have to decide what to do about his contract soon.Did he want to stay in Georgia or not?Did he even want to accept any of the offers to be a starting quarterback?It was such an unexpected change in his career, he still couldn’t believe it.Everything had changed in the matter of a few months, and he couldn’t help but think he needed to stay in Sandy Point to find the answers.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Miranda
The Hard Way
Although Wes saidhe and Levi would rebuild the side of her barn in a few weeks, Miranda couldn’t wait that long on the fencing that had been damaged by the tree.She used the large pens to train her horses and with less than a week until the first official event for the Beautiful Beasts to be seen at auction, she needed that pen.
The last two years she’d been fixing minor things around the ranch herself, or would hire a local handyman, but she didn’t have the extra funds for this big of a job.So, after watching too many videos on how to rebuild a fence she drove her truck to the local hardware store and parked in the back.The last thing she needed was one of her old friends from the beach club spotting her hauling two-by-fours into her truck.She didn’t even know why she cared, but there was still a part of her that wanted to show everyone in this town who had ever judged her that they were wrong.
After she grabbed one of the big utility carts, she moved up and down the aisles checking off all the items on her list.One of the fence posts had split under the pressure of the downed tree, so she was going to have to put a new post in.Which meant she’d need some cement to make the new post sturdy, and a special type of shovel to dig the hole for the post.Next, she rolled her cart to the lumber section and checked all the sizes, but before she could pull down the huge post a deep voice stopped her in her tracks.
