“I just came to make sure Paige knew what eggs to pick up. You know how Everett is on her about everything. I didn’t want her to have any more trouble,” he said, approaching Mia and putting his arm around her. “What brings you here, sweetheart?” he asked, dropping a kiss onto her check.
Paige excused herself and walked out, feeling both pairs of eyes on her back. Just as she shut the door to the houses, she could hear Mia hiss, “What were you doing in here with the princess? Is she part of your plan?”
Paige turned around and ran into Everett. He looked back at the door. “Trouble?” he asked.
“Nope,” said Paige. “Just needed a quick break.”
Everett pulled her basket toward him and peered in. His forehead was nearly touching hers and she could feel his breath on her neck. “Is this all you got?”
Paige shoved the basket toward him and stomped toward the house, keeping her head toward the ground to keep him from seeing how flushed her face was.
***
Everett watched Paige make her way angrily to the house, grumbling along the way. He looked back at the henhouse as Mia emerged with tears in her eyes, Ian following closely behind. What was it with those two lately? And what was Ian doing in the henhouse alone with Paige? He didn’t care for how angry that made him, but decided it was because he didn’t trust Ian, who should be out with the other ranch hands anyway.
He put the basket down and turned back toward the house. Might as well take an iced tea break now anyway.
He was met by Ethan and Connor at the porch.
“Great minds?” Connor smiled.
“Fifteen minutes, no more,” said Everett sternly.
“What was that all about?” asked Ethan, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Ian and Mia as Ian stood at her car door, arguing with her.
“No idea,” said Everett.
“And Paige was part of it?” Ethan continued, peering at Everett.
Everett shrugged. “Who knows what that girl is up to now? Seems she didn’t find gathering eggs up to her standard either. Or maybe she arranged a little rendezvous with Ian . . . figures.” He didn’t notice the feminine shadow pull back from the screen door into the house.
“Come on, man,” interrupted Connor. “Why don’t you lay off her? That didn’t look like a rendezvous to me. In fact, it didn’t look like anything that could be good, I’d say.”
“You really think something might be going on with Paige and Ian?” asked Ethan.
“You don’t?” He looked at his friends. Both shook their heads.
“Ain’t but one cowboy on this ranch she’s got eyes for,” laughed Connor. “And if you can’t see that, then you might want to have your vision checked.” He and Ethan chuckled and entered the house.
***
Back in her room, Paige sat on the floor next to the bed, pushing her palms against her eyes, trying to hold back the tears. A rendezvous? Ian? And Everett still wasn’t seeing how hard she was working? He thought she was playing? Flirting even? She laid her head back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling fan. What on Earth was she even doing here? How had she gotten herself into this mess? And why did the idea of Everett thinking she had something going on with Ian feel like she was losing her breath?
This was ridiculous. She would be going home at the end of the summer and could leave all of this behind her. She stood up and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Looking up in the mirror, she noted that she hadn’t done a bad job at all of keeping the tears at bay. “Buck up, sister,” she said sternly to the reflection. “This cowboy ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Chapter Ten
As soon as Paige unlocked her bedroom door, she stumbled inside and collapsed onto the bed, still panting from a full day of work. Another day of baling hay, grazing, and tending to the animals had completely depleted whatever stores of energy the anger from her humiliating confrontation with Ian and Mia and her subsequent pep talk and burst of enthusiasm had given her the day before. She picked up her phone and held it over her head as she scrolled down the feed of the New York Times.
Since it was Friday and Everett, for once, was not making her stay out late to tend to the animals, her day had ended a full two hours earlier than normal and she was finally getting time to re-engage with the world before falling into a welcome deep sleep. The sight of all of those black-and-white articles streaming down her feed overwhelmed her with a sense of homesickness. She longed to be back in Chicago where everything made sense to her, where she was rarely caught not knowing what the hell she was doing, where no one questioned her right or her worth.
She exited her New York Times application and went straight to her contacts, deciding that perhaps calling her dad would make her feel a lot better about herself. But when she reached his personal contact card, she decided against it. Talking to him would either be harmful because he might berate her for acting so weak about what was supposed to be a really good opportunity, or it would be harmful because, even if he was understanding and nice to her, it would only make her miss him to an unbearable degree.
As she placed her phone on her nightstand, she heard a knock on the door. She moaned to herself, assuming that Aunt Jana was trying to catch another glimpse of her work but called, “Come in!” anyway.
To her great relief, it was Ellie who walked through the door. Paige raised an eyebrow at how put-together and fresh-faced she looked even though the two of them had been working alongside each other for the entire smoldering day. “Hey! Are you okay?” Ellie asked, her smile fading at the sight of Paige lying on her bed, a clear expression of fatigue on her face.
Paige sat up, running her fingers through her hair to try to tussle it up a bit and look a little less like a train wreck. “Oh yeah, I’m totally fine. I’m just really tired.”
Ellie raised an eyebrow as she pressed into the room and took a seat at the foot of her bed. “Oh, well I’m really sorry to hear that.”
Paige laughed once. “Oh my God, it’s like you people are surprised that I get tired like a normal human being.”
Ellie winced. “You people?”
Paige’s face flushed as she realized how insulting her slip of the tongue might have been, but when she opened her mouth to drown Ellie in apologies, Ellie burst into genuine laughter. “Don’t worry about it.”
Paige’s lips stretched into a tight smile as she slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she muttered anyway.
Ellie nodded. “You get here, and there’s just so much to learn and everyone seems better adjusted than you, like they were born knowing how to saddle a horse.”
Paige raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you?”
Ellie’s smile grew wider. “I’ve only been here for a little over a year. I kept running away from home, and my parents didn’t know what to do with me. Everett and my brother were high school buddies. He convinced Aunt Jana to take me in.”
“Huh,” Paige murmured. She never in a million years would have guessed that someone as obviously good at doing things as Ellie could have been here such a short time. “I never would have thought . . .”
Ellie placed a reassuring hand on Paige’s knee. “That’s my point,” she explained. “You get used to it.”
Paige frowned. “I honestly don’t see that happening.”
Ellie giggled. “Well, you must be blind if you don’t see how made for this life you are.”
“Stop trying to make me feel better.”
“If I was just trying to make you feel better, I would have let you sit there and complain to me.”
Paige could think of no response, so she set her jaw and leaned back onto the headboard of her bed.
Ellie sucked in a deep breath and stood up. “Well, now that that’s settled, would you like to sit here and wallow all night or do you want to come drinking with us?”
Paige’s eyes went wide. “Drinking?”
Ellie scoffed. “You know, like at a bar? Mia bartends at this place, Cactus Jacks, just on the border of Cant
on County, and we all like to go hang out there every other week.”
Paige nodded slowly.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.
Paige shrugged. “I don’t know.” She added a fake yawn. “I think I just might be a little bit too tired.” She was very uncertain about the prospect of seeing Mia again.
Ellie laughed. “I get it. You’re tired . . . or scared. But I’m going tell you this right now. If you decide to stay here in this room while we all go party, they will talk about you.” She leaned into her, her face brandishing an ominous expression. “And you will never live it down.”
Paige gulped, then blinked twice. After sitting there for a short minute while those words bounced around in her head, she sighed. “Fine.”
Ellie laughed and pulled her off the bed. “Great. Now let’s go figure out what the heck you’re going wear.”
***
Everett stood outside of the front of the house, his hat sitting low on his face and his hands resting in each of his denim pockets. A calm smile sat on his face as he paced back and forth. This was the first moment he had had to himself in a long time, and he was using it to reflect on how many things he had accomplished in the last couple of weeks, despite also having to spend time training Paige. In fact he was almost disappointed at how wrong he had been about this whole process. She was getting all the information she needed to write that feature, and he was getting all the work he needed done in order to keep the ranch rolling.
“Hey, James!” Everett looked up to see Ethan, Ian, Ellie, and Connor walking from the direction of the barn.
Everett slipped his keys out of his pocket and swirled them around, making his way to the truck. “Are we ready?” he demanded, already pulling the door of the driver’s seat open.
There was a chorus of affirmative responses before Ellie replied, “Wait!”
Ethan, who had called dibs on the passenger seat, froze with his hands on the door. The rest of them looked up at her from where they had perched in the truck bed.
“What? Did you forget something again?” Everett asked.
Ellie laughed, “No, but you’re about to.”
Everett scoffed. “Why do you have to be so cryptic all the time?” he demanded.
Ian, who had obviously already had quite a bit to drink, chimed in. “Yeah, Ellie, just cut to the chase so we can get out of here,” he snapped.
“Paige is coming,” she declared.
Everett’s eyes widened. “And when were you going to tell me this?”
“I’m telling you now,” Ellie replied.
Everett’s lips stretched into a straight grimace. He realized that he was probably going to have to keep an eye on her the entire night, which was really cutting into his whole wanting-to-take-a-break-from-all-of-that mentality. He sighed.
Ellie cocked her head to one side. “I don’t understand why this is even an issue. It’s not like you’re going to have to teach her how to drink too.”
Everett scoffed and yanked open the door of the truck. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ellie,” he mumbled before he sat in the driver’s seat.
***
Paige stood on the other side of the front door, staring at the truck filled with people, her heart pounding against her chest. Spending time with these people on the range was one thing, but hanging out with them caused a whole new level of nervousness. She realized she was going to have to be interesting. She was going to have to get to know them, and they were going to want to get to know her. There’d probably be lots of questions. She enjoyed her life and she had a story or two to tell, so with one final deep breath, she opened the front door and stepped outside. She tilted her head back, sighing at the warm, clean air. This was the one thing she was going to miss when she finally went back to Chicago—the one thing the city and her home could never offer her. Everything always seemed so clear here.
Then a whistle took her out of her thoughts. “Damn, Prescott!!”
She froze in her tracks, her eyes wide in surprise. She knew she was going to a bar, so she figured she should at least try to look presentable. She had curled her hair, put on some makeup and pulled out the denim skirt with the new boots Aunt Jana had gifted her, but still . . .
As she got closer, Ellie playfully punched Ian in the arm. “Ian, stop it!” she hissed.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed, his hand flying to the afflicted area. “What the hell?” he demanded.
Ellie ignored him and looked up at Paige. “Sorry about that. He’s just a little drunk,” she explained in an apologetic voice.
Paige smiled and climbed inside, taking the remaining spot in the backseat of the cab, wedging herself uncomfortably between Ellie and Ian, and muttered, “All ready?” She glanced at Ian out of the corner of her eye, nervous about being so close to him again. She noticed he was leering at her.
Everett hung his head out of his window. “Are we finally ready to go?” he demanded in an impatient voice.
“Yeah, man. Let’s roll!” Ian yelled back to him and then leaned to Paige. She pulled away and he chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t bite,” he said, and then more quietly in her ear, “unless you want me to, honey bee.”
Paige narrowed her eyes and turned to glower at him.
***
In the next thirty minutes, they passed the wooden, illuminated sign welcoming them to Canton County, and they only had to ride for another ten minutes before the truck finally came to a stop in front of a wooden building. It had three large, smoky windows on its front side, including the one covered with blinds on the door. Warm light seeped from inside the bar to the parking lot, along with the sound of muffled music.
As soon as they all climbed out and were immersed in chatter, Ian again found his way to her. “So how ‘bout I buy your first drink for you,” he murmured in a voice that made her feel uncomfortably exposed.
“How ‘bout you not buy a drink from your girlfriend to give to another girl,” she snapped in reply.
Everett and Ethan finally climbed out and locked the truck. Everett pushed his way to the front of the group, then pivoted so that he was walking backwards. His eyes searched for a short moment before finally resting on Paige’s face.
Something about the way he looked at her put her at ease. But before she could think too much about it, he gave her a quick wink, then turned around and walked at an even quicker pace into Cactus Jacks.
“Oh, she won’t care,” Ian replied in a short voice.
As soon as they stepped inside the bar, Paige was stunned at how familiar the atmosphere actually was. The smells were the same; the people acted the same. The only thing that reminded her that she was in Canton County, Texas, and not downtown Chicago, was the number of cowboy hats she saw floating around.
Ellie turned around and caught sight of Paige, then nodded, a friendly smile stretching across her face, and beckoned her to join them at the bar. Ian slipped his hand around Paige’s wrist and pulled her behind him. She tried to pry herself out of his grip, but to no avail.
He marched right up to Mia, who had just finished pouring a whisky sour. Mia turned, her thick head of brown, wavy hair shifting with her every movement. Although her face was flushed and covered in a thin, shiny film of sweat, she still looked like a rock star with her heavy-lidded, perfectly made-up eyes, and her lips wearing just the right shade of crimson lipstick.
Paige’s awe was cut short when they reached the bar and Ian was still holding tight to her wrist.
Mia stood leaning over the counter; she obviously hadn’t realized where Ian’s hands were. “Hey, babe,” she muttered. Before Ian could reply, she reached over the counter and wrapped her arm around his neck, planting a deep kiss on his lips.
Paige’s stomach lurched, and she again tugged on her arm to get it out of his grip and again completely failed.
When Mia and Ian drew away from each other, Ian grunted, winking at her, and then turned his attention to Paige. “Get this babe a Blue Moon.”
“No thank you
, I don’t—” Paige offered in protest, but Ian shushed her and returned his gaze to Mia.
Mia glared at the two of them, her perfect lips folding into a sneer, before she turned around and grabbed a glass off the back shelf. While she was on the other side of the bar pouring the Blue Moon out of the tap, Paige turned to Ian and tried to reason with him. “Look, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”
Ian shook his head. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked as he released his grip of her wrist and traced his hand down the side of her arm.
She trembled and snatched her arm away, but he shifted his attention to her bare legs. “Honestly, no I don’t,” she asserted.
“Why, because I’m not Everett?” he pressed in a hard voice.
Paige cocked her head to the side. She had no idea why everyone thought that she and Everett were an item when she was sure that he couldn’t stand her.
“No, because you’re acting like a creep right now,” she replied, but even as she said it, he leaned closer and closer into her.
Mia came back with her pint of Blue Moon and slammed it against the wood of the bar. A bit of it splashed on Paige’s face. As she was wiping it off, she looked to find Mia glaring at her with enough force to make her wonder if looks could really kill.
“Thank you,” Paige murmured, but she was already stalking away.
“Oh, come on. Everett doesn’t see how beautiful you are,” he pressed. He was so close to her she could smell the tequila on his breath. It made her want to vomit.
As she opened her mouth to protest again, he grabbed the back of her hair and drew her head toward his, trying to kiss her. She placed both of her palms on his chest and shoved him away, immediately standing up. “What the hell is your problem!?” she demanded.
He looked up at her, a triumphant expression on his face and not an ounce of remorse.
Paige shoved him backward and over his shoulder saw Mia staring at the both of them, her eyes wide and glistening with the promise of tears. Her anger abated at the sight of Mia’s obvious hurt, but before she could say anything, Mia scurried to the other side of the bar.
Dare To Love A Cowboy (Canton County Cowboys 2) Page 9
