Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“How’s work goin’?” I ask Payton just as he takes a huge bite of chicken.
“Nothing but a bunch of fuckin’,” he says with a laugh, and it causes me to snort. “But that’s the business.”
Payton works at the stud operation with my older twin brothers, Kane and Knox. It’s been super successful, and he’s been their right-hand man since the very beginning. I honestly don’t know how Knox pulled it off, considering how much trouble he used to get in. But since he married Hadleigh and had a couple of kids, he’s a new man. Sorta. My brother can still be a raging asshole, but I love him regardless.
“What about you?” he asks.
“Same shit, different day. Though I fell off twice and nearly got kicked in the head this mornin’ so that was fun.”
“Yikes. Good thing you’re as tough as nails.”
“That’s for damn sure. Nothing I can’t handle. I’m gonna have that little pony trained whether he likes it or not. But get this, his name is Widowmaker.”
“Fuck,” Payton hisses. “Who’d he kill?”
“No one. Yet. Probably me, though, if he had the choice.”
Payton has nearly cleaned his plate by the time I take a bite of potato salad and goes back to the buffet for round two. That’s the thing about these ranch hands. They can eat a person out of house and home. As he picks up one set of tongs to get more chicken, I notice a cute brunette eye-fucking him. He laughs when they go for the same piece.
“It’s all yours, sweetheart,” he kindly tells her.
She smiles. “Go ahead. I’ll take this one. It’s bigger. You work on the ranch?”
“Yes, ma’am. Have been workin’ on ranches my whole life.”
“I can tell.” The airy tone isn’t lost on me. By the time they make it to the end of the line, she’s nearly told him her life story and touched his arm at least three times. Not that I’m counting. Before walking away, she not-so-casually tells him she’ll be staying at the B&B for the next week, then hands him her business card. “Call me sometime. Maybe you can show me ’round.”
“Sure thing.” He shoves the card in his pocket, then returns to the table.
He immediately digs into his second plate. I glare at him, and almost a whole minute passes before he notices.
“What? I got shit on my face or somethin’?”
I roll my eyes and lean forward, keeping my voice low. “You gonna call her?”
“Who?”
Is he really that dense? “That woman who just gave you her number with a side of cleavage.”
He finishes chewing, then meets my gaze. “No. Why would I?”
“Because she’s cute and obviously interested.”
“So?”
“So? Jesus, Payton. We can’t both stay single for the rest of our lives. At least you’re gettin’ hits. I don’t think a man has blinked in my direction in two years.”
He shrugs. “Then you call her. I’m good.”
“She’s gorgeous. Obviously has her shit together. Professional. And she has a nice ass.”
“Didn’t notice. The last thing I need to do is hook up with someone from out of town. My luck, she’d be a psycho. I’d knock her up, and she’d want to move to the city or some basic shit, and everything I love about my life would change. No thanks.”
His rough confession has me snorting. “I honestly wish some rando would stay at the B&B and knock me up. Then he can go back to wherever he came from. A dream come true.”
He chuckles. “Probably need a vacuum cleaner for those cobwebs.”
“It hasn’t been that long since I’ve had sex!” I throw my biscuit at him, but he catches it and takes a huge bite before setting it back down on my plate.
“If your cousin sees you wastin’ food like that, she’ll have your head.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” I shrug just as Maize brings out more food.
He looks over his shoulder. “Better behave yourself.”
“I know. She’s already in a mood about some imported vanilla she spilled or some shit. Don’t need to give her a reason to blow a gasket.”
“There are three people on this ranch whose bad sides I hope to never get on. She’s one of them,” he admits.
“And the others?”
“Your grandma.”
I chuckle. “And who else?”
“You. Actually, you’re at the top of the list.”
For some reason, that statement brings me joy. “Well, you know what I always say—don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.”
“No truer words have ever been spoken.”
CHAPTER TWO
PAYTON
I sit in the back of the little white chapel on Main Street with the rest of Eldorado to watch Kane Bishop marry the woman of his dreams—Ivy Callaway. The ceremony is perfect, but it’s also a reminder of what’s still missing in my life.
As far as I’m concerned, relationships aren’t in my future. I’ve lived in Eldorado for over seven years, and I’ve been single ever since. Though there have been a few interested girls I’ve hooked up with, it was never serious.