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Lincoln Donall’s ass was a mere three feet from her face and she wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or offended. Probably neither because Linc didn’t put all that much thought into his actions. Or hadn’t.
It didn’t seemed like he’d changed much in the intervening thirteen years except to get better looking which seemed completely unfair. That flirty, teasing tone wasn’t helping matters any.
“But a smarty pants like you could’ve ended up anywhere. How’d you end up at Rawhide Ranch of all places?”
“They offer a very good compensation package?” she offered, her brain feeling like it was going to short circuit because she could smell him and see the stubble coming in below the line of his neat beard.
Why did she have to say it like a question? Why couldn’t she be one of those blasé women who didn’t care? What did it even matter if Linc thought she was smart? He was… not nice, and she should know better than to let the torch she’d carried for him reignite.
“I bet the fringe benefits are very unique,” he told her with a wink.
If her cheeks had been smoldering before, her face was going up in flames now. Yes, it was true, and that was why she’d taken a pretty serious pay cut to take on this consulting gig and pick up a few other clients instead of staying at her extremely lucrative C-suite level corporate job. Because Rawhide Ranch offered things that would be considered at best inappropriate and at worst sexual harassment and assault at other employers. But it worked for her. And in exchange for their very particular perks, this little Ranch out in nowhere Montana got a world-class cybersecurity expert on staff part-time, which was really all they needed with Ryder handling the rest.
“Why are you here?” she managed to blurt, and was completely disarmed by his answer, delivered with a sly grin.
“I’m looking for a woman to wife up.”
Novalie Marchand surehad grown up, in all the best ways. She’d been a shy little cutie in high school with her long black hair, kelp-green eyes, and smooth olive skin. She’d also been bright as a new button, a good girl, and he’d had a thing for her throughout his teens. Had even been able to act on it one glorious night.
She was still goddamn adorable with those ruddy-red cheeks. It was fun to tease her, and see her mouth drop open in shock. He bet he could come up with some other ways to shock her good if given the chance.
“You w-what?” she stammered.
“I’m here to find a wife,” he repeated. “Who would also be my Little girl.”
Actually, Nova would make a great wife to some lucky man if she was still anything like she’d been in high school. Sweet and smart as hell, pretty and loyal. A man could do worse for a partner than Nova for sure.
His infatuation with her that he thought he’d buried long ago forced its way into his consciousness like crocuses through the snow. Had it just been lying in wait?
Maybe this hadn’t been so cracked. Maybe he’d walked in on exactly what he was looking for. He knew for a fact she was a dream to kiss.
But who the hell knew if she was a Little? And even if she were, what made him think she’d be interested in him? He’d been the resident fuckup back in Idaho and things hadn’t changed a whole lot since then.
How could a woman who was so on top of all her shit trust a footloose vagabond like him to take care of her? The idea verged on laughable, especially when it came to providing material possessions and the finer things in life. He was happy but he didn’t have much in the way of creature comforts and a girl like Nova probably wanted a white picket fence and all that.
But maybe not. Perhaps more importantly, she was here, so maybe they were more compatible than he would’ve thought. Unless she was a Top of some sort, although he was guessing not.
“That is—what? That’s preposterous.”
She was real cute when she spluttered like that.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” he asked, throwing his hands out to his sides.
“Because it’s a terrible idea.”
“Is it? I’ve actually heard that people have pretty good luck finding partners here, so I think there are more terrible ideas I could’ve had.”
“Always. Well, good luck with that.” Her eyes got big and she drew her lips together like purse strings, the very picture of skepticism.
That was clearly his cue to leave as she turned back to the screen of her laptop. He would’ve rather stayed and peppered her with more questions, but he didn’t want to bug her too much. She could be an asset in his search for a woman to bring back to Enclave. Or maybe be that woman herself.
Linc hopped down from her desk and gave her a friendly grin. Yep, he definitely wanted to stay on Nova’s good side.
“Guess I’ll see you around, then, Nova. Happy holidays.”
“Yeah, bye,” she muttered without looking up from her work.
Linc took his leave, but with a vision of Nova Marchand turned over his knee playing in his mind.
