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“Could’ve fooled me.”
Her face turns bright red, and all semblance of teasing leaves her features. Her fists clench, and I know she’s about to let me have it. I know the signs of an angry woman. I’ve experienced them enough. I raise an eyebrow, egging her on and waiting to see what damage she can do.
“Alright, enough.” Wells steps between us, clearly seeing the same signs that I do. “Don’t be a dick, Rhett.” He gives my chest a little shove, and I take a step back. It frees my head of her floral scent and clears my thoughts.
“You done fuckin’ around?” My eyes are on him now.
He rolls his eyes and sighs. “Yes. I’m about to take her over to the cabin. Just gotta run back to the main house to grab her stuff.”
“Good.” I turn my attention toward her. “This is a real job. This isn’t someplace you can come hang out at for the summer and chase cowboys. This is hard work, dirty work. My father seems to think you’re the best person for this job. I expect you to prove that to me.”
“Roger.” Her voice is devoid of any warmth.
“This ain’t the city—”
“Save it,” she interrupts. “You got your point across. You don’t like me. You think I’m some stupid city girl come here to get a good lay from a cowboy. That’s not who I am, and that’s not why I’m here. I’m not afraid of hard work and getting my hands dirty. So save your breath.”
We stare hard at each other for a moment. Why does she have to be so goddamn beautiful. After a long few seconds of Wells looking between us to see which one is going to make the first move, I sniff and tip my hat in her direction.
“Lovely to meet you.”
“Wish I could say the same.” The way she crosses her arms under her breasts makes them push up and together, giving me too good of a view. Between that and the way she flashed me her panties earlier, I’m done for the day. I need to cool the fuck off. Or chop some fucking wood. Something to get my mind off this woman.
I turn on my heel and stalk out of the barn, the heavy clomp of my boots the only sound in my wake. I know they’re going to talk shit about me the moment I’m out of earshot. I’m used to it, being the asshole of the family. But you have to be when you’re a single dad running an entire goddamn ranch that doesn’t seem to want to make money anymore.
But what I’m not expecting is to hear them both burst out laughing once I’m around the corner.
“What a grump!” I hear Poppy say between the fit of giggles.
“Told ya,” I hear Wells say right before I’m out of earshot and walking up the hill. Yeah, I definitely need to chop some damn wood. I need to sweat this whole interaction out of my system.
Wells takesme to my new home, a little cabin tucked against a tree line with a gorgeous view of the mountains from the front porch. He leaves me pretty quickly to get settled in, and I have to say, I appreciate it. I’ve had a long-ass day, and after that interaction with Rhett, I’m ready to have a drink and go to sleep.
“There are some groceries and a couple bottles of wine in the kitchen. Didn’t know what you liked, but didn’t want to leave you stranded without food before you could get into town.” Wells smiles at me as he stands in the doorway and watches me look around. “Coffee’s in the pantry, and cups, plates, silverware, all that good stuff is easy to find. Have a good look around, call me if you need anything. Oh, and Momma cooks breakfast and snacks for everyone pretty much every day. And you can always find a fresh jug of lemonade or sweet tea in the fridge. Help yourself — everyone else does!”
With that, he winks and is off, jogging across the wide expanse of land back to wherever his house is. They all live on the ranch, scattered about and in separate houses, but all within the confines of the land itself. Not that I blame them. This place is beautiful, and the land — for them — is free. Why not build on it?
Wells showed me around a lot of the ranch, pointing out where all the different animals are kept and where I’d be spending most of my time. Since I have the most experience with dogs, that’s where they’re going to start me. They have about a dozen at the moment, not counting the seriously cute but troublesome litter of puppies that so viciously attacked us earlier.
Which reminds me of the interaction with Rhett. Immediately, I start searching for the wine because that man has me all kinds of shook up. He looked at me like I was the shit on the bottom of his cowboy boots. Which is a shame because that is probably the most attractive man I have ever laid eyes on.
I find the wine and violently shove the corkscrew in.
They shouldn’t make men that attractive; it gets a girl’s hopes up. From his thighs like tree trunks to his broad shoulders and unkempt dark hair that stuck out from under his cowboy hat…that man is built like sin. He’s nothing like the bodybuilders I’m used to who spend too much time in the gym honing their muscles.
No, Rhett’s muscles are built from hard labor and a strong work ethic. And there were so many things I could picture him doing to me with those rough hands and big muscles. Hell, I bet he could throw me around a bedroom pretty easily, and that’s not an easy feat.
I swallow a hearty gulp of wine, cringing at the burn on the way down.
Luckily, he opened his mouth and ruined all of those fun daydreams. It’s for the best, really. The last thing I want to do is have a crush on my boss or, worse yet, jump into bed with him. That’s not what I came here for. And for him to insinuate I did…god, what an ass.
“Did you bring any other clothes?” I mock him out loud to the empty cabin, my voice whiny and nasally. “Did I bring any other clothes,” I say again, in my normal voice this time, as I toss one of my suitcases on the bed.
Setting the bottle of wine down on the nightstand, I unzip the suitcase and throw back the top. I gesture to the whole thing that’s stuffed to the brim with jeans and old T-shirts.
“Yes, I brought other clothes, you insufferable asshole.”
I groan and start unpacking, murmuring and mumbling to myself in between long pulls from the wine bottle. Sure, there are dresses and short shorts in this suitcase, but I’m not going to be working 24/7. I will have nights and weekends off, and maybe I’ll want to go out! Maybe I’ll want to go to the movies or a bar and have a drink with the locals.
