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“You, apparently.”
“Me? Why?”
I shrugged, bringing my mug to my lips as I gave her another once over. She turned to watch George walk away, which gave me a full view of the way her jeans cupped her ample ass. Damn, I was in trouble with this one, in a few different ways.
“He asked if I ran a background check on you,” I replied.
“Well, did you find out anything good?”
“My lawyer would’ve told me if anything didn’t look right, so it must have come back clean.”
She looked back at me, her eyes narrowed against the glare of the sun now peeking through the clouds.
“He caught me sitting out on the porch last night. I didn’t realize that was such a big deal.”
“It’s not,” I said, trying to give her a smile and also read the strange expression on her face. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, not a hint of it whatsoever. For whatever reason that made her eyes stand out even more, bright and blue and narrowed on mine.
“Well, maybe you run a background check on him since he likes to slink around at night.”
“I could, if that would make you more comfortable.”
She didn’t answer me, but blew another bubble and made it pop inside, her tongue darting out to catch the bubble. I exhaled deeply, clutching my mug tighter than I needed to as my body reacted to her tongue sliding along her lower lip.Fuck me.
“I have a meeting in an hour,” I said after a moment. “But I can meet you down at the ravine once that’s done.”
“I can go check it out on my own,” she replied, crossing her arms again as she looked around. The teenage interns were mending the side of the paddock, the squeal of metal against metal ripping through the air.
“Where’s the squirt?”
“In the Jeep, he’s going with,” she answered with a smile, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder at the Jeep. Her face lit up at the mention of her son, which eased some of the tension in my shoulders. I wasn’t really sure how to act around her. Being myself seemed out of the question, given that I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, and she was also totally unimpressed by the gruff, somewhat cold demeanor I put off.
“Well, I guess you both can come back here when you’re done taking a look at what I’m dealing with.” I shrugged. “There’s no reason for him to have to sit in the Jeep or the bunkhouse all day long.”
“Thanks,” she replied, turning on her heel as she started to walk back to the Jeep, but then she paused. “Look, Mr. Hallston—”
“Grant,” I corrected.
Her eyes shot to mine, and she nodded, peering at me with interest for a moment before continuing, “Grant… I’m not hiding anything. What you see is what you get with me. Day and I had a rough go of it a few years ago, when he was just a baby. That’s over now. I’m serious about what I do, and I wouldn’t have applied to come live out here on your property if I was bringing any baggage with me.” She took a few steps toward me, pursing her lips. “I’m not running from anything. I’m not sneaking around. I’m not afraid—” She hesitated, shaking her head. “I have to look out for Day because I’m the only one doing so.”
“I understand,” I said, meaning it.
She looked up at me, eyes glittering in the sunlight before she smiled softly and turned toward the Jeep again, hopping inside and peeling away before I could say anything else.
A while later I watched from the balcony off my office as her red Jeep sat at the far edge of the property, only a speck of red against acres and acres of green. I couldn’t see her at all from this far away, but it’d been over an hour now, and she was still out there, working whatever magic she could to save the slice of acreage from being forcefully taken from me because of something the previous owners did.
George walked into my office, dropping a worn manilla folder on my desk. I turned around, picking it up and scanning the contents.
“There’s an auction in a few weeks, I figured you’d want to see what might be available.”
“We do need a few more bulls,” I said, sitting down behind my desk and leaning back, exhaling deeply. “Maybe a horse to two.”
“I’ll let the auction know you’ll be there, then,” George said, tipping his hat before leaving the room.
I sighed, setting the file down on the desk and stretching my arms up over my head.
Being a rancher wasn’t easy. It wasn’t a retirement, that was for fucking sure.
I tucked back into the stacks of paperwork I’d inherited when I bought the ranch a few years ago, pulling out whatever Moira might find useful. I heard her Jeep pull up in front of the house a short time later.
