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“Why are you staring at Mom and Dad’s front door?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not. I dropped Kipton off after showing her a bit of the ranch.”
Blayze gave me a look I couldn’t read, but I decided it was best if I didn’t. “Looks like a storm is coming in?”
He glanced up. “Just a small snow shower, nothing big.”
Nodding, I asked, “Did you need help with any of the animals?”
“Nah, Hank, Decker, and Clay are getting the four-wheelers ready now, and we’re about to head out and check the cattle in the south pasture.”
“I’ll come with you guys,” I said, wanting to do something to get my mind off everything and anything that had to do with Swipe Right.
Blayze raised a single brow, knowing there was something else in my tone.
“I could use the mental break.”
A smile broke out on my brother’s face. “What’s wrong, baby brother? Your first date not turn out so good?”
I exhaled and shot him a dirty look. “It was fine. I kissed her, though. Twice.”
His brows pulled down in confusion. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“I don’t know. I have nineteen other women to go on dates with, how does that look if I’m kissing each one? I guess when I thought about doing this that I only saw the dollar signs and not the logistics.”
“Answer me this, if it had been a regular date, would you have kissed her?”
My hand went to the back of my neck and rubbed at the ache there. “I guess so. I don’t know. I like Kimber, she’s a nice girl. But let’s be honest, I won’t end up with any of these women. They all live too far away, and I’m sure I have nothing in common with most of them.”
“Look at me and Georgie. She lived in Texas. We’re married now and expecting a baby.”
“I would never ask any of these women to give up the lives they’ve built for themselves. Nothing is supposed to be serious, Blayze. It’s a dating show, no one expects a proposal at the end. But it felt serious for Kimber last night. It was like she was really, really interested in me.”
Blayze smirked and hit my arm. “I’m sure they’d all love to date you, Hunter. You’re a catch. It’s in the genes.”
I rolled my eyes once again.
“Come on, I’ll meet you down at the main barn. Let’s go have some fun for a bit.”
Smiling, I nodded. “I’ll race you there.”
I stood off to the side as they recapped the first date and then went to a live shot of Kipton. We were in the middle of the main barn, and even though I had spent some time with Blayze yesterday messing around on the ranch, today he was back to business. And he was not happy about the film crew being in his barn. Again.
My father, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself as he sat in a chair and watched the whole process unfold. I had begged my mother and father to please not watch the live dates since it would be awkward for all of us knowing they would be watching. Mom promised she wouldn’t, but my father just laughed. Not sure what that was about, but it didn’t sound convincing.
“The time has come!” Kipton said with that practiced smile of hers. “Let’s bring Hunter on over and pick out his next date!”
The women were seated on the hay bales once again, some from the other day and some new. Randomly selected again, so no one knows ahead of time who’ll be vying for a date.
“Hunter,” Jack said in my ear, prompting me to pull my head out of my ass. I walked over to Kipton and gave her a quick hug hello.
“Are you ready to find out who’ll be date number two?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I stated with what I hoped was a smile that didn’t look forced.
Turning, Kipton reached for the bowl and put her hand in as she smiled. “And date number two is going to be with…”
I studied Kipton’s face as she glanced at the token. I couldn’t read her expression, and was wondering if I had read her all wrong on Wednesday when she seemed upset after drawing Kimber’s name.
