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“Of course, I love her. I love you, too, Lily.”
I felt my cheeks heat.
“Not in the same way, you know that. I love you more like a sister.”
Forcing myself to smile, I said, “Then we simply cut back on the time we spend together doing things.”
Ben sat back in his seat. “I still want to help with the riding camp this summer. I committed to one day a week and I won’t back out.”
“My mother and father will appreciate that.”
He smiled, then looked past my shoulder and frowned. “What is Maverick doing here?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled. “Granddad wasn’t feeling good, so my mother asked him if he would be Grams’s date.”
“That is so hot,” Renee said. “I would fall over right here on this table for him if he asked me to. I mean, look at him. Tall, brown hair that looks soft enough to run your fingers through, and eyes that look so light blue I could swim in them for days.”
Ben gagged.
Laughing, I looked back at Renee. “His eyes are gray.”
“How do you know?” Ben asked.
I focused back on Maverick, and a strange sensation swept over my body. “I see him every day on the ranch, Ben. It’s hard not to notice. And,” I said as I directed my attention to Renee. “He’s not only handsome, but one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. My father thinks of him like he’s part of the family.”
“Yeah, he eats dinner with you guys more than I ever did.”
I looked at Ben and frowned. “What? Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?”
He scoffed. “Over that guy? Don’t be ridiculous. I see the way he looks at you, though. I don’t like you being alone in the barn with him. Who knows where he even came from.”
My mouth fell open. “You don’t even know him, Ben. Have you even spoken two words to him?”
He snarled up his lip. “I’ve met guys like that. He’s a nobody, and your dad better be careful, or that guy could try to take over things.”
I stared at him in disbelief. When had he become such a snob? Had he always been and I had never noticed it before?”
Renee hit Ben on the arm. “Shut up! He’s coming this way!”
I felt a strange sensation in my chest as Maverick walked up and stopped at the table. “Renee, Ben,” turning to me he smiled bigger. “Lily.”
“Hey, Maverick,” Renee replied with a megawatt smile. Was she batting her eyelashes or was there something in her eye?
“What’s wrong with your eyes?” Ben asked.
Renee’s smile faltered for a second before she looked at Maverick once again.
Laughing, I glanced back up at him and couldn’t help but notice how incredibly good he looked. I had never seen him in a suit, and my, oh my. His gray eyes almost seemed like a light baby blue, after all, against the blue tie he wore. Renee had certainly been right about his light brown hair. It wasn’t covered by a cowboy hat or baseball cap, and it looked so soft and silky that my hands itched to run my fingers through it and see if it was as soft as it looked. He wasn’t too terribly tall, maybe around five foot eleven, but he was built. Even in the suit you could see how broad his shoulders were, and I knew if I touched his arm, I’d feel the muscles there as well.
I swallowed and looked down at my wine glass for a moment. Why was I thinking about touching the guy who worked for my father? Peeking back up at him, I smiled bigger. He wasn’t just a guy who worked on the ranch. It was Maverick. And since I’d graduated from college and been home full time, we had gotten to know each other better, and he really was a nice guy. And really nice to look at it.
“Would you like to join us?” Renee asked.
Ben shot her a confused look before he looked at me. Before I could second Renee’s request, Maverick spoke.
“I came over to ask Lily for the next dance.”
“Why?” Ben asked with a snarky laugh.
My head snapped to my left to look at him. “What do you mean why?”
Moving nervously in his seat, Ben looked from me to Maverick, then said, “It’s just, you work for her.”
“He doesn’t work for me, Ben. He works for my father.”
“Wow, snob much, Ben?” Renee said under her breath.
Maverick cleared his throat. “It’s okay, I’ll just go…”
His voice trailed off and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. With a smile in my direction, he turned to walk off in the direction of where Avery and Morgan were standing. Avery was my younger cousin, and I knew she wouldn’t turn down a dance from Maverick if that was where he had been heading. For some reason, I wasn’t okay with him dancing with her. Avery was a lot younger than Maverick. Eighteen to his twenty-six.
