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“Miranda, did you find everything?” Austin called as he came into his bedroom.
“Yeah,” I answered and stood up.
He smiled at me. “I’m glad we were able to get you some of your belongings. Though do you have anything else to wear?”
I was hurt at his question, which was silly. He had been extremely kind to me within the last few days, and what did it matter whether he liked my taste in clothing or not? “No. This is pretty much all I have.”
“We need to go shopping then.”
“Listen, you may not like my taste in fashion, but I won’t be here for much longer. I can put a sweater on if it helps.”
He looked at me like I had grown another head and said, “I wasn’t saying I had to take you shopping because I didn’t like your outfit. I said it because as cute as your leggings look on you, you’ll need sturdy jeans. Animals will chew through that material with one bite. If you get wet at all, you’ll have to change not to mention it gets cold here at night. I don’t want you to catch a chill and get sick.”
Holy crap. I hadn’t seen any of that coming. No one had given that much thought about me in years. I wanted to cry at how my life had turned out.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” Austin began, but I held up my hand to cut him off.
“You did nothing wrong. It just means a lot to me that you want to make sure I’m dressed correctly for ranch life.”
“Of course, I do. What type of man would I be if I didn’t?”
He sure wouldn’t be like any of the men who had been gracing my life for the last twelve years. For that, I was grateful.
After morning chores, Austin and I headed to the mall. I was excited because it had been forever since I had gone shopping. Getting to walk around and look at different clothes and things for sale sounded magical. The only hump was who was going to pay. I wanted to, but Austin was being stubborn.
“Miranda, you need to get these new clothes because of my ranch. I will buy them.”
“Don’t be silly. They’re clothes for me.”
He pulled into a parking spot. After he’d parked the car, he turned toward me. “This is no longer up for discussion. I will be paying the bill because you need new clothes due to the fact you’re a guest on my ranch. Plus, and even more so, I am a gentleman. It’s my responsibility to take care of you. I know that’s some old-fashioned way of thinking, but it’s how we do things out here. If you keep protesting, I’ll be left with no choice but to put you over my knee and paddle your bottom.”
Wow. He really wasn’t joking around. I had mixed feelings on his threat. The predominant one was arousal. How long had it been that I had fantasized about finding a man who was firm in his beliefs, would take care of me, and punish me when necessary?
“Okay,” was all I was able to get out. My mouth was dry.
He smiled. “Good. Let’s go.”
We got out of the car and I was floored by the sheer size of the building. It was huge and had to have had at least four department anchor stores. Where I came from, we didn’t have places this size. Granted, I wasn’t doing much shopping then.
We walked through the door of Kohls’s and happened to have entered in the women’s section.
“Do you want to start or end here?” Austin asked.
“End, please.” I didn’t want to have to carry bags all over the place.
He nodded and led the way into the mall. It was so cool. There were so many shops. In the center, there was a fountain that shot up water. I watched in amazement at the synchronized mechanics of it all.
“Would you like to grab a bite to eat?” Austin asked. It was difficult for me to pull my attention away.
“Umm. Sure,” I answered without taking my eyes off the water.
“Come on,” he chuckled and guided me toward the food court.
After viewing all our choices, we had decided to get Chipotle which he’d shared was one of his favorites.
“I used to work at this location,” he admitted taking a bite out of his steak and brown-rice filled burrito. “Back when I was in high school.”
“Really? I thought folks who grew up on a ranch would work there since it seems like there is so much to do.”
