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Hunter tilted his head and thought about it for a moment before he answered. “I don’t know. If you told me, I forgot. I think I told you I was going for finance.”
“It’s environmental horticulture.”
“No shit!”
I laughed. “Yes. I’ve always been fascinated by plants, gardens, you name it. My mother has a huge garden at our house back in Bozeman. I don’t ever remember her buying vegetables at the store, she always grew them.”
“That’s my grams. What do you want to do with your degree?”
It was my turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I had a big ranch outside Bozeman offer me a job. They want someone to handle their crop production. Plus, they want to go organic with their cattle, and are looking for the best ways to do that with growing their own feed.”
“Are you going to take the job?”
I looked straight ahead. “I don’t think so. I mean, the job sounds amazing, but I don’t think I’m ready to commit to anything just yet.”
When I turned back to look at him, he was watching me closely.
“Why did you pick finance?”
“Seemed like the logical thing to do. I want to help Blayze run this ranch, and once my father fully retires—which I think he’ll do after I graduate—then someone has to handle the money and numbers. God knows we can’t trust Blayze with that.”
I laughed. “That’s mean. I’m sure your brother is great with numbers.”
“He’s okay, but he’s better at managing the cattle and that side of the ranch. We both agreed when we were younger, he’d be in charge of the animals, I’d be in charge of the money.”
My brows rose. “You both already decided? What if Joshua or Nathan want to help run the ranch?”
“They’re a lot younger than us, and if that’s something they want to do, then we’ll bring them on.”
We rode for a few moments in silence. “It really is a family business.”
He nodded and smiled. “Okay, so from here we need to get off the horses and walk the rest of the way up.”
“Do we need to tie them?”
“Nah, they’ll wait here for us.”
Hunter took my hand when we hopped down, and my heart felt like it leaped in my chest. Goodness, I loved the way my body reacted when Hunter was near me, brushed against me, or touched me in any way.
We walked up a small path that still had some snow on it. The rest of the snow in the pastures had been melting quickly with the warmer weather we’d been having.
“It’s right up here,” Hunter said, helping me climb up the last bit. When I looked up from watching where I was putting my feet, I gasped. It was a view of the whole valley.
“Oh my goodness. This is beautiful, Hunter.”
“It’s one of my favorite places on the ranch.”
I looked down and saw the pastures dotted with both cattle and horses. Off in the distance was a beautiful lake that appeared to butt up against the mountains. Puffy white clouds looked as if someone had hand-placed them across the sky, the blue standing out vividly among the dots of white. The sky and mountains reflected in the water, and if I hadn’t known better, I would think it was a painting. It all looked so perfect.
I let out a peaceful sigh. “I’ve lived in Montana my entire life, and I’ve never really stopped to look at how beautiful she is.”
“She’s very beautiful.”
When I turned to look at him, Hunter was watching me. I felt my cheeks heat, so I returned my gaze to the view. He took my hand and turned me so I faced him again.
“More beautiful than anything I’ve ever laid my eyes on before.”
I chewed nervously on my lower lip before my eyes met his, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I whispered, “Will you kiss me?”
