“Do you know what could happen out there?? You could fall, and we wouldn’t find you until it thaws.”
“Dramatic much?” I deadpanned. “I said okay,Cowboy.” I could be a reasonable adult. I could be agreeable… although, hell, that was pushing it.
He held out the radio, and it occurred to me that I needed to put it somewhere, and I patted the pockets of my close-fittingjeans. “In these pants?” I joked.
Jesse’s gaze dropped before he could stop it. Not lingering—just an automatic flick.
His eyes widened.
The air shifted.
I realized what I’d done about half a second too late.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Heat climbed my neck. I hadn’t meant to say that shit. Not consciously. It had just… come out of me, easy and stupid and entirely inappropriate. Wanting him meant losing ground, and I couldn’t afford to give an inch—not here, not now. I opened my mouth to backpedal, to say something normal and non-sexual and ranch-appropriate?—
But Jesse had already straightened.
“Doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, City,” he said. Flat. Controlled. “You take the radio.”
“I’m checking out the guest cabins again today,” I explained to his back. “Y’know, if you need to be sure where I am.”
“Noted.”
Guess that was all I was getting, although I couldn’t fail to notice the way his shoulders stiffened, and he seemed tense. I didn’t understand how I made him act like that—they were cabins, I was checking them, no big deal. This was just another part of me building a picture of the ranch.
Asshole.
I walked to the guest cabins the long way round, boots crunching over old snow and ice, the wind bracing enough to keep my head clear as I reached them. They sat there like abad idea no one had quite finished with—solid enough to have cost money, empty enough to feel like waste.
I went into the middle cabin, the one that looked furthest along. It smelled of old wood and freezing air. I took photos as I moved methodically until I reached what was meant to be the bedroom. Built-in bookshelves filled one corner, beautifully done, fitted to the walls, the wood sanded smooth as silk. Real craftsmanship. On one shelf sat a Broncos mug, abandoned so long it had probably grown its own ecosystem, though when I peered inside, I couldn’t see any mold. Was it too cold out here for mold to grow? Who did the mug belong to? It was the only sign anyone had ever really been here at all—maybe the person who’d made the shelves had stepped back to admire their work and set the mug down before leaving for good.
The thought caught me sideways. It was kind of sad. And for reasons I didn’t understand, it hit harder than it should have.
What the hell was wrong with me that these cabins made me feel so weird?
No one was staying here or had stayed in them as far as I could ascertain, and I wasn’t asking Jesse who was pricklier than a cactus. The cabins would have to come down eventually; that was reality. I ran a finger along the edge of the shelving, smooth and warm despite the cold, then nudged the mug farther back so it wouldn’t fall.
Yes, I was aware I was being an idiot.
I crossed to the window and stopped. The view punched the breath out of me—gaps through the trees opening onto land that went on and on, pristine white laid open under thesky. I stood there longer than I meant to, lungs easing, shoulders loosening, realizing I could breathe out here in a way I hadn’t in years, not even when I was at the charity working with Rebecca and the guests there.
I headed back towards the ranch, not seeing a single person.
Ranch life must be so damn lonely.
Drawn by the sound of a horse whinnying somewhere to my left, I changed direction and headed for the barn. For a moment, I let myself hope there might be an actual person in there—someone to exchange a few words with, something human—but no. Just horses.
I didn’t see Boone, Jesse’s horse, but there was a big gray horse at the back. I approached slowly, hand out where he could see it. “Hey,” I said.
He snorted, ears flicking, then stepped closer like we were already old friends.
“That’s confidence,” I murmured, scratching the spot between his eyes. “You do this to everyone, or am I special?”
The horse nudged my jacket pocket with his nose.
