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Just the way I wanted to spend my day.
“And don’t forget we have to go out and check on that heifer in the east pasture before we leave,” he said. “She’s gonna have that calf any day now, and she might need some help since it’ll be her first one.”
I shuddered at the possibility. Growing up on a ranch meant I’d known about the miracle of birth—and what it took to make it happen—since I’d been old enough to walk around a pasture. But with cows?
Maybe just because everything involved was so big and gross, but I swear to God I still had nightmares about the first time I saw a calf being born.
“Can’t wait,” I said, again not bothering with voicing my complaints even if I hadn’t exactly tried to hide my feelings. “What else?”
“Just the usual.” Uncle Justin shrugged. “Make the rounds, check the fences, pay some bills. Just another Tuesday.”
I nodded, thankful that it sounded like we might have a mostly uneventful day aside from the possibility of a new calf being born. Everything else was tedious, sure, but there was a certain rhythm to the monotony that was soothing in its own way.
Then again, it was still early. There was still plenty of time for something unpredictable to happen.
Just another Tuesday on the Triple J Ranch.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Uncle Justin leaned over to whisper as the old man speaking at the front of the room droned on and on and on about commodities and incremental shipping increases and I don’t even know what else. “You’ve been squirming around in your seat like you’ve got ants in your pants.”
Damn.
Was I being that obvious?
“I just can’t get comfortable,” I lied. Well, it wasn’t a total lie. The rows of long wooden benches in the cavernous meeting room couldn’t have been made with comfort in mind. But my aching bottom wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t sit still today.
“They should be wrapping things up pretty soon.” He reached over to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “And then we can head back home. Doesn’t seem like much of anything is going to get accomplished here anyway.”
I snorted, then tried to disguise the noise as a cough when I caught more than a few disapproving looks from the guys sitting around us.
But seriously, did anything ever get accomplished at these meetings? I’d been to a few over the past year, and they mostly seemed to be an excuse for every rancher in a fifty-mile radius to get together and complain about… well, everything.
And to make matters worse, I couldn’t even find my favorite distractions—aka the two most deliciously sexy men I’d ever seen, Boone Tate and Cade Winslow. Seeing the two of them, even from a distance, was the only part of these meetings I looked forward to, but I couldn’t find them among the sea of cowboy hats today.
Maybe they’d skipped this meeting. I sure couldn’t blame them for that. Their ranch was almost as big as ours, and Lord knows Uncle Justin and I could have made much better use of our time by staying home today.
If they were here, though, I wanted to find them. I hated the thought that we might all be in the same room together but I might miss the chance to talk to them anyway. I also hated the thought of having to linger by the door just to be sure as everyone else filed out of the meeting room, but I wasn’t above doing it.
Uncle Justin could wait in the truck for all I cared, but I needed my cowboy fix.
And then, just as the meeting ended and the first few people started to stand up, I saw them.
It was no wonder I’d missed them at first. Cade and Boone were all the way on the other side of the room and had already started moving toward the exit. If I didn’t get over there fast—like, right now—I’d probably miss them anyway.
“Hey, where are you going?” Uncle Justin nudged me as I tried to bolt past him. “We parked out back, remember? This way.” He pointed toward the door behind us. “You sure you’re okay today, sweetie? You’ve been acting awfully strange since we got here.”
“I just saw Boone Tate and Cade Winslow,” I said, nodding in their direction. “I want to say hi before we leave.”
My uncle scowled, but I pretended not to notice. I was already moving past him, using my hips and elbows and anything else I could to catch my cowboys before they made it out the door.
I understood why he wasn’t thrilled. Cade and Boone were at least ten years older than I was. Maybe fifteen. I’d never really asked. But it was probably pretty natural for my uncle to feel a little over-protective of me, especially after my parents’ accident.
And it probably didn’t help that I was pretty obviously trying to flirt with both of them at the same time. Poor Uncle Justin was probably scandalized every time we went to one of these dumb meetings together, but I just couldn’t help myself.
I wanted both of them. And I wanted both of them to know it.
I finally made eye contact with Cade across the crowd, and I gave a little wave as if I just happened to be there fighting against the flow of people and it just happened to be a coincidence that they happened to be right in my line of sight.
Pathetic, right?
