Page 7 of Kicking Up Dust

“They’re not gonna have boiled peanuts in California,” Jameson tells her as she starts down the arena stairs, Tyler in tow. I assume this was probably already a talking point on the way over here between the three of them, but I elbow him to shut him up. As much as I love Tate, I need to talk to Jamie alone. If a wild goose chase for the snack she’s become obsessed with after having it one time on a road trip kept her busy, that was fine by me.

“Need money?” he calls instead, just to watch Tyler flip him off behind his back. Jamie and I wear matching grins. Giving Tyler a hard time about his crush on Tate was one of the things I missed the most about being home.

“She walks him like a goddamn dog.”

“He loves it. What’s up?”

Leave it to Jamie to cut to the chase.

“I need your help finding someone. A girl.”

He raises a brow. “A girl?”

“A bunny I met last night.”

“I’m going to need a lot more elaboration,” he says, leaning back against his seat. Our eyes follow our sister and her eventual husband as they turn the corner and head toward the concessions.

I sigh, raking a hand over my face. I’m going to sound ridiculous. “I met this girl last night. Woman. Blair. She’s…” I don’t have to see my face to know I’m smiling like a lunatic. “Anyway, we had a great night and then this morning I woke up, and she was gone.”

“Gone?”

“Like a freight train.”

He snorts. I can only hope the song I’m referencing will be stuck in his head for a little bit like it’s been stuck in mine all day.

“And you didn’t get her number or anything? I’m not sure how you expect me to help you find her. You should probably ask Bailey.”

“Not on my life.”

Jameson laughs. Bailey may be my twin sister, but that didn’t mean I was immune to her ire. She runs the social media page for the ranch—among about a million other things—so she probably would be a good resource, but… no. Just no.

“You haven’t been able to find her? It’s not like you’re some old man who doesn’t know how to use Instagram.”

“I don’t have much to go on. All I know is her first name and that she’s in college.”

He pushes out a breath. “That’s nothing to go on, bro. Do you even know which college?”

I do my best to think beyond how tight she was around my cock and how pretty her eyes were.

“No,” I admit reluctantly. “But her and her friends stayed in the city overnight, so probably not anywhere close.”

“Well as long as we’ve eliminated Los Angeles colleges, that only leaves… just about everywhere else,” Jamie deadpans. I groan, sliding down in my chair and leaning my head back to look up at the ceiling.

My snapback falls on the ground behind me, and a cute blonde picks it up with a smile. Until she reads it. Her smile falls and she passes it back. I’m beyond stoked that it’s the one that says two inches, take it or leave it, and that she can’t seem to take a joke, because my dick is completely uninterested in her.

In hindsight, that should’ve been my first clue.

Jamie nods toward our sister climbing the stairs back up to our seats, effectively interrupting our conversation. Behind her, Tyler wears a sour-looking face as he carries their two drinks, three boxes of candy, and I can’t tell how many foil-wrapped hot dogs.

“Nothing for us?” I ask, trying to snatch the Nerds Clusters out of Tyler’s arms. Tate is quick to wrap her hand around my wrist and twist until nothing’s funny anymore. Getting bucked off a bull? No big deal. Try to steal my sister’s candy? My shoulder almost gets dislocated.

“Okay, damn!” I toss the Nerds at her and she lets go of my arm.

Jameson laughs, and I glare at him. Fuck this family and their lack of pity for my nearly broken shoulder.

“I don’t know why you’d even try.”

“I was just fucking around.”