by Loraine, Kim
Jealousy rolled off me at the thought of my brother showing Ever anything. “When you leaving?”
“Fifteen minutes. Just enough time for you to sign that fucking contract and get changed.”
“Where you taking them?”
He shrugged. “Thought they might like to ride the bull.”
My brow raised. “You can’t be serious. The Silver Spur?”
“Nothing like diving in headfirst. Besides, it’s ladies' night. They drink free.”
Heaving a sigh, I grabbed a pen and signed every place Ever had marked with a neon sticky arrow. I put the contract back into the folder, slipped that into the envelope, and sealed it. No going back now.
“I’ll be ready in ten.”
* * *
It only took me five minutes. I was waiting for them all in my truck, blankets across the front and back seats. It was bitterly cold tonight, and I knew it wouldn’t change until spring. In fact, it would only get colder.
Ever and Joey came out dressed in designer jeans and…fucking heels. I thought I was going to lose it over those heels. There was no denying they looked sexy on Ever, but they were dangerous here, where every step was uneven ground. She was gonna break her ankle out here.
“You girls need boots,” I grumbled, meeting them at the door.
“We don’t have any. In case you didn’t notice, we packed light.” Ever was the perfect challenge.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Eight. But I can’t wear most boots. I have wide calves.”
I grinned and glanced down at her shapely legs. “You’re perfect.” Then I turned my attention to Joey. “You?”
“I’m an eight too.”
I told them to stay put, and I ran inside to the mudroom. Sure enough, Sera had three pair of her boots stored in one of the cupboards. Snagging a couple pair of socks out of the clean laundry bin, I made my way back to the two women. I shoved the socks and boots into their arms. “Here. You can borrow these. I promise, by the end of the night, you’ll be thanking me when your ankle’s not broken.”
Joey grinned, but Ever snorted. “You act like I don’t know how to walk in heels.”
I cocked a brow in challenge.
“Asshole. Can you just let that go?”
“Once you stop trying to tell me you aren’t a fall risk.”
Buck strode toward us from the direction of his quarters. My brother didn’t like living in the house. He wanted his privacy, his independence. The two of us saw so many things differently. What I saw as duty to our family, he saw as restraints. He was always a little wild.
Ever and Joey were seated on the bench near the door, both of them tugging on their borrowed boots. When Ever stood, she grinned and clicked her heels together. “Nice. These are comfortable.”
“I told you. And you look much more…stable.”
Buck laughed and shook his head. “He’s overbearing, but he’s right. Y’all will blend in much better in those boots too. And, you’ll need ‘em for everything I’ve got in mind.”
Joey gives him a worried glance. “What do you have in mind?”
“Oh, a little of everything. Gotta introduce you to life in Sunrise, Montana.”
It didn’t take long before we were all situated in my truck. Ever in the front with me, Joey and Buck behind us. Ever shivered next to me as I started the engine. I turned up the heat, but it was gonna take a fair minute for the air to warm up. Grabbing the blanket, I laid it across her lap. “Here. The cold here’s bone deep. It’s not something any of us really get used to, but we learn to prepare ahead of time.”
She smiled at me and murmured, “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind for when I schedule filming. We don’t want our contestants freezing to death.”
“So, how far away is this place, anyway?” Joey asked.
“About half an hour. We don’t have much entertainment here in Sunrise. Gotta go into the big city of Morganville if we want to have any fun.” The sarcasm in Buck’s tone made me chuckle.
Morganville was about double the size of Sunrise, but it also had double the bars. The girls laughed, and Ever said, “It takes us half an hour to go a few miles in LA on a bad day.”
“Sounds terrible.”
“It’s not that bad.” Joey wasn’t convincing, and Ever’s chuckle only added to my doubt.
“I’ll pass. I’ll take open sky and no traffic over smog and freeways any day.”
We drove with the radio playing classic rock. Ever tapped her fingers on her lap when Carry On Wayward Son came on, and I fell a little bit in love with her then and there.
The Silver Spur was busy for a weeknight. There was a band playing, from the sound of things, and every ranch hand within a fifty-mile radius was here, ready to find a new bed to put his boots under. Ever and Joey were gonna be in the sights of each and every one of them tonight.
I parked the truck and glanced back at Buck. He nodded without ever needing to say a thing. We were on the same page. “All right, ladies, welcome to The Silver Spur. Tonight, you’re here with us, understand? These boys ain’t like the California playboys you know.”
I got out of the truck and held open the door for Ever. She took my hand as I helped her down from the cab, and there was a spark when our eyes met. I couldn’t deny it. Damn, I was right. This was gonna be dangerous.
* * *
Ever stood at the tall table in the corner, using the toe of her boot to push the sawdust around on the floor. I shouldn’t have been watching her so close, but she was easily the most beautiful woman in the entire bar. Fuck, she was the most beautiful I’d seen since Jess. And that was what scared me about her.
“She’s off limits, Clint. You said it yourself,” Buck said, handing me two beers before grabbing two more from the bar. “She won’t be around longer than it takes to get this show going. You know that.”
I nodded. “I know. Still doesn’t make it any easier not to look at her.”
“No harm in looking.” He clinked the bottle with mine, and the two of us walked toward the girls.
Already the sharks were circling. A cowboy with a belt buckle big enough to double as a fucking dinner plate was leaning against the table, grinning like he just won the lotto. Ever tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled back, but she wasn’t leaning in. She was keeping her distance, and when her eyes found mine across the dance floor, relief shined in them.
A new song started, this one a two-step, and I did something I never do. I walked right over to her and pulled her into my arms. “Come on, darlin’. Time for a dance.” I glanced at the cowboy and tipped my hat at him. “Maybe next time you’ll find a woman who ain’t spoken for.”
Ever grinned and held my hand tight as I pushed her around the floor. She laughed, and the light in her eyes made me smile too. “I don’t know the steps.”
I tightened my hold around her waist and locked gazes with her. “You don’t have to know the steps; you just have to trust me to lead.”
She did. She let me take her around for the entire song, and when it was over, I didn’t want to let her go. But Joey came bounding over, her smile broad and mischievous.
“Buck said we have to ride the bull. He says it’s like an initiation to the ranch.”
Ever looked up at me with a question in her eyes.
“Yeah, it’s true. We bring all the new ranch hands out here to test their seat on the bull.”
“Okay, then. Let’s see what this bull can do. How long do I have to stay on?”
I grinned at her. “We shoot for eight seconds around here.”
She bit her lower lip and nodded. “Eight. Got it.”
I watched her watch the mechanical bull as it writhed and bucked. The cowboy riding it was drunk enough to need both hands on the horn of the saddle. It picked up its pace until the man went flying off into the padded mats, and the crowd cheered.
Ever snatched my hat from my head and placed it on top of hers. I didn’t have the
heart to tell her that was a cardinal sin. You never took a cowboy’s hat. It was bad luck.
But she sure looked cute wearing my hat. “Giddy up, California girl.”
I watched her climb over the fence enclosure and straddle that bull. Damn, her ass looked good in those jeans. Then she looked over one shoulder and winked at me as she grabbed the horn. The bull started moving, slow at first, and with the way her hips moved, almost seductive. She stayed on as it got faster and harder, the bucking more intense, but then she lost her grip and tumbled backward. My heart lurched in my throat, and I was over the fence in the blink of an eye, pulling her to her feet.
“You okay?”
She was laughing, hair mussed, eyes bright. “Where’s your hat?”
I glanced at the mats and found it crumpled from where she’d landed on it. Bending down to pick it up, I tried to salvage it, but there was no use. It was a goner.
“Oh no. I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Nah, I’ve got more. I’ve got so many hats I could open my own damn store.”
“Well, in that case, I’m keeping this one.”
I couldn’t tell her how proud that made me. Sure the hat was in bad shape, but she wanted something of mine to take home with her. “Good. Looks good on you.”
She leaned against me, eyes locked on mine, and a smile brightening her face.
“Jesus, Ever, are you okay?” Joey asked, calling Ever’s attention away from me.
In the blink of an eye, the moment was over, and she was out of my arms. I wanted more. I climbed back over the railing and made eye contact with my brother. Buck stood there with two fresh beers in his hands. Ever and Joey each took one, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from her as she drank and laughed, chatting about the bull ride with her friend. Her cheeks were pink, and her lips were full and red. I wanted to know what they tasted like.
The band started a slow song, and Buck took Joey’s hand, leading her out onto the dance floor while Ever leaned against the small table to her left. She hadn’t even looked at me until I shifted toward her. Then her eyes met mine.
A stocky cowboy in a tacky western shirt and a bolo tie inserted himself between us. He was sloppy, and Ever took a step away from him.
“You look like a girl who’d be a fun ride around the arena,” he shouted.
I stood straighter, ready to come to her defense, but she laughed. “You look like you couldn’t handle much more than a broken-down old mule.”
“Stuck up bitch.”
No way. He didn’t get to talk to a woman that way just because she tossed his terrible pass back at him. I placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s more than enough.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are? I’m talking to her.” He turned to face me, and his eyes went wide. “Clint Ryker?”
“That’s right, and you’re disturbing my date. Why don’t you go ahead and apologize to the lady?”
Swallowing hard, he took off his hat to reveal a sweaty, balding head. “Apologies, ma’am. I didn’t realize you were with Clint.”
Ever’s eyes flashed with challenge, but I gave her a pleading look. She nodded. “That’s right. But it shouldn’t matter who a girl’s with. If she says no, that’s what she means.”
He slunk off, and I closed the distance between Ever and me. “Guess we should stick close for the rest of the night,” I offered.
“Why was he afraid of you?”
I took a drink of the beer I’d placed on the table before running to her side after she fell off the bull. “No reason.”
“Bullshit. There’s always a reason.”
“My family has a reputation.”
“What kind?”
“The Ryker boys tend to fight when it comes to our women. Dad got into many bar brawls defending Mama in their day. And the four of us spent a night in county jail for fighting when Sammy’s girl was getting unwanted attention from some frat boys up from Billings.”
“So, you’re a fighter.”
“Only when the cause is worth the punishment.”
“And you think I’m worth it?”
I grinned. “Absolutely.”
* * *
Ever’s head drooped as she fell asleep in the truck on the way home. She slumped until she rested on my shoulder, and I didn’t stop her. Her hair smelled like flowers and vanilla. I wanted to keep the scent with me as long as I could.
“That was fun,” Ever murmured, surprising me.
“I thought you were asleep.” She didn’t move her head from my shoulder. “You girls got off easy. It didn’t end in a bar fight. Things must be slow around here.”
“Do nights out usually end in a fight?”
“This one almost did. But young ranch hands have a lot of pent up energy. Add in alcohol, and you’re bound to get on the wrong side of someone.”
“Young? You act like you’re ancient.”
“Sometimes I feel it.”
“You can’t be more than thirty.”
“I’m thirty-seven.”
She sighed and sat up. “I’m thirty-five.”
“Good.”
“Good? What’s good about being considered too old to date?”
I laughed. “You’re living in the wrong place if anyone tells you that. Any man would be lucky to have you on his arm.”
She stared at me, and I had to force myself to keep my eyes on the road. “You’re…refreshing.”
“And you’re drunk.”
She hummed softly. “True.”
“Go back to sleep. I’ll get us home safe.”
A soft sigh left her, and she whispered, “Thank you, Clint.”
In the morning, she’d be back to her professional self, polished and focused, maybe with a headache. But right now, I had a real look at the woman Ever was. And damn, I liked her.
5
Three weeks later:
Ever
“You’re sure about this?” My co-worker, Georgette, asked me as I forwarded all my calls to my cell and shut down my computer for the next three weeks.
“It was this or lose the contract. You know I was already on Gresham’s shit list after the whole Bae-Watch debacle.”
She cringed. “I really thought that one would go over so well. I mean, it was such a great concept.”
“Well, it didn’t. And now I’ve got to put up or pack up my life and start a new career.”
“I think you should say you have to saddle up, don’t you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Hilarious.”
“It’s why I’m the comedy writer and you’re the…”
“Reality TV producer?”
She laughed. “Sure. It’s going to be a long three weeks around here without you.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Hitching my purse on my shoulder, I headed out of the office. I had a plane to catch and a cowboy to wrangle.
Joey followed behind me, her heels clacking on the tile floor all the way to the elevator. “Your car should be waiting for you at the rental place, I’ll feed your fish every day, and I really think you should reconsider your choice of footwear.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I bought some boots a few days ago.”
“You did?” her eyes widened.
“Yep. They’re adorable. I thought they’d be all clunky and uncomfortable, but they’re so cute.” Her brows lifted in response, and I just smiled. “Don’t worry. This will be a piece of cake. How hard can it be?”
“Famous last words.”
The elevator opened and I walked inside, nerves sending butterflies dancing in my belly. I had to get this right. The revised contract gave Clint the option of backing out if he wasn’t comfortable with teaching strangers how to…well, cowboy. If I messed up, it’d all go to Hell in a damn handbasket.
By the time I landed in Montana, I was truly a nervous wreck. For all the calm togetherness I exuded, I was a disaster inside. This was uncharted territory—dangerous ground. And there were animals.
What if I lost one? Or got kicked by a horse? Or… The possibilities were endless, and I knew if I kept letting them run rampant in my mind, I’d turn right back around and go home. I had to do this, and the Ryker boys were going to teach me everything I needed to know. I couldn’t show weakness. They had to think I had what it took to be a rancher.
When I stepped outside the climate-controlled airport, immediate, bone-deep cold hit me. Again, this place was so different from LA. I should have been ready. I’d thought my heavy coat and gloves were going to be enough, but I was wrong. Dead wrong.
“Of course, the kiosk is outside in the miserable cold,” I grumbled to myself as I walked across the parking lot, following the signs for car rentals. My phone buzzed incessantly as my signal finally connected to some random cell tower and all my emails and voicemails came through.
Pulling out my phone, I kept walking, tugging my suitcase behind me as I checked to see if there was anything that couldn’t be handled by Joey or couldn’t at least wait until the next day. Five texts from Joey appeared on my screen. All within a few minutes of each other.
Car unavailable.
I’m trying to find a solution.
Don’t panic.
I got you a ride.
It’s Clint.
My stomach twisted with an unwelcome combination of excitement and unease. That meant I’d be in a car with Clint Ryker for two straight hours. With his broad, muscular shoulders and sexy, broody eyes. With his rich leather and citrus scent. With…him. Oh, God. I didn’t know if I’d survive. He was too good looking to be trapped with.
I typed a text back to Joey.
Where am I meeting him? What does his car look like?
No response. I huffed and followed the signs for passenger pick-up and trudged back the way I came. My phone buzzed, and I nearly jumped in anticipation, but it was only a message failed to send alert. Damn terrible reception. The middle of nowhere might be beautiful, but it was no place for someone who needed contact with the outside world.
