Page 46 of The One Who Saw Her: Boone

"And aren't you that city girl who's staying at the Callahans'?" Maribelle snapped, implying nefarious things were afoot.

"She's staying with me," Rea announced as if she'd just decreed Vivi her official apprentice.

"Just for another few weeks," Vivi added. "I'm renting the ranch and Boone is staying in the barn quarters," she clarified and whispers broke out across the bar.

Lottie had to clap her hands to restore order.

"Which brings me to why I'm here today," Vivi began. "The Callahans need your help. They're turning their bunkhouses into a travel destination for city folks, who want a real taste of Bridlewood."

She stopped herself from going any further because Boone was a private man and would hate having his personal struggles aired in public.

"Anyway, I'm here asking for volunteers to help turn that place into a real getaway. I know how much this family has done for this town, and I'm asking you to give back. Who can I count on?"

Nearly every hand in the room went up.

Including her new friend, Sutton.

CHAPTER 19

Boone had worked himself past exhaustion and straight into stubbornness. The kind of bone-deep fatigue that came from trying to outwork your thoughts—and losing. Sweat ran down his temple, soaking the collar of his shirt as he hefted the last feed sack onto the stack by the barn. The morning sun was sitting low, turning the fields gold and making everything look softer than it really was.

It was lying light.

Nothing about his life—or the way he felt—was soft anymore.

He jammed his cowboy hat lower, trying to chase off the image that kept creeping back no matter how hard he pushed: Vivi, standing in his kitchen with that spark in her eye, asking if he wanted help making a dating bio. The question had been teasing but it hit like a punch.

He didn't want a fucking bio. He didn't want anyone else. And judging by the way she looked at him sometimes, he could've sworn she felt that same pull.

He exhaled hard, dragging a sleeve across his face. The attraction between them wasn't just inconvenient, it was a goddamn liability. He wasn't about to be the fool who fell for a woman already planning her exit. He'd done that once and still had the scar to prove it.

So, he'd made up his mind. Two more weeks. That's all he had to survive. Tomorrow, he'd tell her she could skip ranch duties and work exclusively on the bunkhouse. No more joint projects, no early mornings, no more moments that made him forget how to breathe.

He'd get through it, keep things professional, and keep his distance.

The problem was, he'd been telling himself that for two weeks now and the distance kept shrinking.

The ear-piercing beep of a tractor-truck backing up cut through his thoughts. He dropped the sack he was carrying and walked out of the barn and⁠—

What the actual fuck?

His sanctuary was under siege, and he hadn't even realized the war had begun.

The pasture was crawling with people. Lumber, hammers, paint cans, neighbors everywhere. And smack in the middle of the chaos was Vivi.

Clipboard in hand, issuing orders like a general in battle.

Boone stopped walking. He'd known she was ambitious. Maybe even fearless. But this? He took a slow breath. She'd pulled the entire town together, convinced strangers to donate their time, all for a guy who’s shot down her idea. The energy she radiated pulled at him, settled in his chest like a burning ember that was destined to cause a wildfire.

Being from a town of three thousand, there were faces he knew and faces he didn't. Most were neighbors and frequent flyers from the Drunken Rooster and the Tipsy Cow, but there were a handful of volunteers he'd never seen before—which both surprised and touched him in ways he hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever. He'd spent the last year with his head down, convinced this land was his burden alone to carry. Turns out the town had just been waiting for an invite.

Vivi had sent out the Save the Date card and they’d all shown up with their plus-one.

Boone had spent so long protecting this land, keeping it rigid and orderly, but watching her, seeing what she could inspire with nothing but sheer force of will, he felt something loosen in him that he'd kept nailed down for over a year.

He shook his head and tried to make himself stop staring. It didn’t work. Because Vivi was sporting a pair of cutoff jeans that cupped that heart-shaped ass of hers and a tank top doing a piss-poor job of containing her tits. Her hair—that silky blonde hair—was thrown up in some kind of messy ponytail that made him want to close his hand around it and tilt her head back slowly until she had nowhere to look but at him.

She was sweaty, dusty, bossy as hell, and making it impossible for him to remember what the fuck he was supposed to be doing.