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My own fingers twitched, wanting to reach out and tame a wayward strand that fell across his forehead. My heart ticked up at the sight of him, the pressure in my chest only growing as he took in the room, nodding at Jed and then at Tyler. I held my breath, waiting for him to notice me, and tried not to stare at him as I drank in his sexy presence. The man radiated masculine authority in a way that made me hard as nails beneath the kitchen table. My cheeks heated, and I felt the burn down the back of my neck.
He still hadn’t given any indication he’d seen me as he crossed behind me on his way to his seat at the head of the table. Already, I could feel the threat of tears deep in my throat. If he ignored me completely, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to stay there. I thought I might sprint all the way back to my room, grab my suitcases, and run for the hills.
But then he paused behind me. I felt his hand land on my shoulder. The heat of his touch seared through me, jump-starting my heart and causing my pulse to skitter. He bent toward me.
“Hey,” he murmured in my ear.
I wanted to say hey back, but my throat was squeezed too tight to let any air pass.
He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Missed you today.”
Then he dropped a kiss on my head as casual as could be and continued on to the head of the table to take his seat.
The room was silent. Curious eyes began ping-ponging between the two of us. My cheeks were blazing hot, and I couldn’t suppress my dopey grin no matter how hard I tried.
Boone, for his part, looked utterly at ease. He shot me a wolfish smile and winked. Everyone noticed. I wanted to melt into a puddle of hot lava and slide under the table to the floor.
Norma was the one to put everything to rights. “As long as your mouths are hanging open, might as well start putting food in there.”
I ducked my face down to stare at my plate when what I really wanted to do was leap onto the table and break into song. My brain whirred like the industrial fan mounted over Daffodil’s stall, but it just kept pushing the same thought around in circles.
He kissed me in front of the hands. He kissed me in front of the hands. He kissed me…
“Dude, take it. I know you want it.”
My head shot up, and I saw Harrison trying to hand me the bowl of mashed potatoes. I took it without thinking and plunked a helping onto my plate before passing it along. Norma had graciously added some roast chicken to the beef she was serving, and I took a big helping of it when it came my way too. Thankfully, the din had picked back up, and people seemed to be talking about an upcoming rodeo next weekend in Casper.
“We’ll have to take McQueen,” Mercy said. “Pop his rodeo cherry.”
Beside me, Harrison opened his mouth to make his usual kind of teasing quip, but he glanced at Boone before changing his mind and nodding instead.
Suddenly, my unadulterated joy waned a bit. Was this going to be a problem? Would the hands treat me differently or respect me less if they knew I’d slept with the boss? Would they be less likely to speak freely in front of me?
I cleared my throat and decided to take the bull by the horns. I’d never been considered a shy man. “I’d like that. I’ve always daydreamed about having my cherry popped by a gang of muscular cowboys.”
Jed almost choked on his dinner while Hiram hooted with laughter, and even PeeWee snickered to himself. I watched to see how Boone would react, but the only thing I noticed was the slightest tightening of his jaw.
Shit, had I completely misjudged the situation? I fell silent, self-doubts starting to crowd in again.
Everyone laughed and joked around, making plans for the rodeo and making sure to include Tyler too. I felt the itch of Boone’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet his glare.
Harrison leaned over and spoke low enough so only I could hear him. “You’re reading him wrong. He’s jealous.”
I blinked up at him. His face was full of sincere understanding, so much that I wanted to cry. “You think?”
He nodded and murmured, “Watch this.”
I opened my mouth to stop him from doing something stupid, but it was too late.
“What do y’all think about me setting McQueen here up with Tommy Prescott? Maybe that’ll finally get ole Tommy off Boone’s back, and McQueen here can live out his cowboy fantasies.”
Mercy knew exactly what Harrison was doing. “Good idea. The man’s not bad-looking, and he makes a fine living with his dairy farm. Just think, if things worked out, we could keep McQueen here in Wyoming forever. He could be a milkmaid.”
