by D. L. Roan
“It was good to see you again,” Matt said with a slap on the back.
“Same here.”
I’ll walk you back to your truck,” Grey offered.
“Don’t let me keep you from your work,” Clay assured him. “I can find my way back.” He felt like an ass for rushing out, but his memories were crushing in on him, making him itch to log some time in the sky. Maybe he could rent a plane from the municipal airport outside of town. It would be expensive, but at least he wouldn’t be stuck in a tin tube with a hundred other people, like cattle in a stock trailer.
“Thanks for stopping by.” Gabby offered him a hug and he awkwardly accepted, relieved to see none of her husbands seemed to think anything of it.
“I’ll call you as soon as I have the Flat Range dates lined up,” he told Grey, waving goodbye to the ranch hands before he started across the immense field that lay between him and his truck.
He was almost to the driveway when he heard a familiar string of animated curses coming from the barn near the main house.
“Sonofabitch!”
Clay veered toward the barn, rounding the corner into the aisle just in time to see Dani teetering at the top of a twelve-foot ladder, trying to unscrew a lightbulb.
“Whoa! Dammit!”
The ladder wobbled and Clay rushed to steady it.
Dani jolted when he gripped the back of her legs, whipping around to glare down at him. “What in the hell are you doing?”
Clay chuckled. “I’m helping.”
“Helping me do what? Break my neck?”
“I’d say you were doin’ a fine job of that yourself.”
Dani began to descend the ladder, but he tightened his grip. “Go on.” He tipped his chin at the light fixture hanging from the rafters. “I won’t let you fall.”
Dani arched a brow. “I appreciate this whole Prince Farming thing you’re doing, but I don’t need your help.”
“Sure you do,” Clay insisted with a wink. “You’re just too stubborn to admit it.”
Dani tried to step down again, but Clay refused to budge. “Just change the damn lightbulb before I have to start spoutin’ stupid jokes about how many cowgirls it takes to do the job.”
Dani narrowed her eyes, and Clay did the same, trying to keep his grin from ruining the effect. Dani caved first and turned back to the ladder. She climbed the extra step she needed to reach the fixture, the new position giving him the best view in the entire fucking universe.
Jesus flying footballs! Encased in hip-hugging denim, her ass was pure perfection. He was swamped with the sudden urge to sink his teeth into the round, firm flesh, right at the crease at the top of her long, lean thigh.
“I meant, what are you doing here,” she clarified. “Perpetuating your bromance with my dads?”
What? “No. I mean, yes.” Fuckin’ A. “Your dads are great, but I told you. I wanted to apologize to you in person.”
“I can feel you staring at my ass,” she said with a sigh.
Clay reached down and adjusted himself. “That makes two of us,” he muttered.
Dani stopped what she was doing and looked over her shoulder at him. “You’re not even going to deny it, are you?”
“Hell, woman,” he swore as he swiped the sweat from his brow. “It’s right in front of me. I’m a bonafide red-blooded Texan. Of course I’m gonna look.”
Dani considered him for a moment, then turned back to finish the job. The new lightbulb secured, she descended the ladder, but when she reached the bottom, Clay held tight to the frame, keeping her caged between him and the rungs.
“My horse died,” he said after she turned around.
His heartrate picked up as he stared down into her whiskey-colored eyes. The urge to kiss her was stronger than ever. When she licked her lips, he tightened his grip on the ladder. The timing wasn’t right. When he did finally kiss her, he planned to do it thoroughly, with plenty of time to savor her.
“What?” she finally asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“That’s why I left the drone project last winter,” he explained. “My horse died.”
She chewed on the inside of her lip in the most adorable way as she studied him. “Are you bullshitting me?”
Clay nodded. “No bullshit, I swear. She’d been sick for a while, but took a turn for the worse shortly after I got here. I’d had her since I was sixteen, Dani. When I got the call that she wouldn’t last another day, I had to go.” He left out the part about Gypsy being his mom’s horse before she’d died. He wasn’t ready to share that part of himself yet, and she’d just have to forgive him when he finally did tell her.
Her skepticism faded and she looked away. “I’m sorry,” she offered as she ducked beneath his arm and escaped his trap, “but why didn’t you just tell me that?”
Clay crossed his arms over his chest and met her gaze. “I was trying to impress you.” That part was one hundred percent true. “I’m not accustomed to allowing personal issues to interfere with business. I didn’t want to give you the impression I wasn’t completely committed to what I do, not when I was about to offer you a job I desperately need you to accept.”
Dani scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I would have understood that explanation a hell of a lot better than the lame lie you fed me. What rancher wouldn’t?”
“It wasn’t exactly a lie,” he pushed to explain. “I did have a wind turbine freeze up on one of my sites in Idaho, but I blew it off, too.” He uncrossed his arms and walked over to her, taking the blown bulb from her hands and laying it on the workbench beside them. “I’m sorry I ditched you and ruined your project.” Being able to say the words directly to her, instead of leaving them on a voicemail he was sure she deleted without even listening to first, felt good. “If I had it to do over, I’d still have left. I owed it to Gypsy to be there to say goodbye, but I should have told you the truth.”
Her arms crossed over her chest, she looked everywhere but at him, staring down at her boots when she finally muttered, “Apology accepted.”
Clay grinned. “Really?”
Dani’s arms fell to her sides with her incredulous sigh. “Your horse died.” She peered over at one of the horses stalled across from them, then walked over to a bale of hay and picked off a handful. “I could never hold that against you,” she said as she offered it to the dapple-gray mare. He didn’t have to ask if it was hers. As he joined her at the stall door, he could see the unique connection shared between horse and rider since the beginning of time.
“What’s her name?”
“Silverado,” she said, and the horse’s ears perked up. “She was my twelfth birthday present.”
“Can we start over?” he asked, turning to gauge her reaction. He hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but he couldn’t wait another second to know where they stood.
She didn’t immediately respond. He reached out and ran his hand down the horse’s nose.
“What do you think, Silver girl?” she asked. “Should we give him another chance?”
Silverado bobbed her head, and Clay laughed out loud. “There you go. You can’t ignore good advice like that.”
Dani gave him a sideways glance, her beautifully bowed lips curling into an incredulous smile.
“Okay,” she said, “but I’m still not coming to work for you.” She stepped away from the stall and Clay grabbed her hands, lacing their fingers together.
“Fine. Have dinner with me instead.”
Chapter Six
When their hands met, Dani’s mind went completely blank. “I…” Was he seriously asking her out? On a date? “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” Clay insisted. “Just say yes.”
“But…aren’t you flying home tonight?”
“I’ll cancel my flight.”
“You wouldn’t—I mean…you can’t.” Would he? Why?
His sexy grin grew into a hopeful smile, making Dani’s head spin in weird circles. Why did he have to have dimples? And why couldn’t
she stop staring at them?
“That look in your eyes is definitely not a no.”
Dani squeezed her eyes closed, cursing the heat that filled her cheeks. What was he doing to her?
“Come on,” he teased. She opened her eyes to find his smiling blue eyes level with hers. “I know I’ve left you speechless, but it’s just one little word. Three little letters. You can do it.”
“I can’t. Not tonight.” No! I mean, no!
“The next time you’re in Texas, then,” he said with a wink.
“Yeah, right.” She pulled her hands free from his, putting some much needed space between them. “I’ve never been to Texas, and like I’ve tried to tell you before, I have no plans of going anytime soon.”
Clay didn’t budge. He stood there, leaning against the stall door, a smug grin on his lips like he knew something about her she didn’t already know herself. How many times did she have to tell him?
“I’m not going to work for you,” she said for the umpteenth time. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer. I do. I’m flattered you asked me, but I have no interest in doing anything but running my family’s ranch. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and I’m closer than I’ve ever been to reaching that goal. No trip to Texas, or anywhere, is going to change my mind.”
“Say yes, then.” Clay walked over and stood in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of his body seeping through her shirt. The ground disappeared beneath her as he peered down at her, his eyes searching her face. “If you’re so sure, then what do you have to lose?”
Holy hell, he’s going to kiss me.
Dani’s heart beat so fast she thought her chest would crack open. She wasn’t sure she was even breathing, which would explain why the rest of the world had disappeared and all she could see was the curved line of Clay’s pink lips. What was he waiting for? Why was she silently encouraging him?
“Say yes,” he whispered.
The words fell across her lips like a hot, sweet mist and the world suddenly snapped back into place. Dani took an unsteady step backwards. “Fine. Whatever,” she stammered. “Yes, I’ll have dinner with you the next time I’m in Texas, which will be never.”
Clay chuckled as he retrieved his keys from his front pocket. “I have faith,” he said with a wink, backstepping down the aisle.
He didn’t turn around until he reached the door, and long after he was gone, Dani stood rooted in place, staring in shocked silence as she tried to piece together what had just happened.
“I’m losing my damn mind,” she mumbled to herself and headed back to the foreman’s office. Her new office. “That’s what’s happening.”
She sank down into the old leather chair, its rusty springs groaning as she reached for a stack of files in the far corner. That had to be it, because why else would she feel like she’d just lost a once in a lifetime chance? She couldn’t take that job, even if she wanted to.
None of her brothers had any interest in running the ranch. She was the only one who’d ever wanted the responsibility. Sure, Jonah and Cory, and Connor and Carson, all helped when they were needed, but they’d all built their own lives and careers outside of the ranch, for which she was happy for them. The heritage of Falcon Ridge fell squarely on her shoulders, and it was a weight she was glad to bear.
“Right.” That was it, then. She reached for another stack of folders and made quick work of organizing them. Duncan had been good at the hands-on tasks of a working ranch, but his organizational skills sucked. Before she could move forward with her plans to fully digitize their records, she had to be able to make sense of the data.
The sun was cutting deep into the western ridgeline when Mason knocked on the door. Dani jolted at the unexpected intrusion. “Hey, Dad.”
She closed the folder she’d been blankly staring at for God knew how long and tossed it on top of one of the many piles she’d started. Dammit! She’d been in a haze all afternoon and couldn’t seem to shake it. What had Clay Sterling done to her?
“You okay?” Mason asked, propping a hip on the corner of the desk.
“I’m fine,” Dani insisted. “Why?”
Mason studied her for a moment. “Grey stopped by my office today. Said you talked things out this morning. How’d that go?”
Relieved to think about her issues with Grey instead of a certain Texan, she released a long sigh and propped her boots up on the desk beside her dad. “He said I was his favorite and he loved me the most.”
Mason arched a brow, grinning in his calm, knowing way. “That bad, huh?”
Dani laughed. “It was kinda hard to stay mad at him after that.”
Mason chuckled. “I imagine so.”
“Are you saying I’m not your favorite?”
“Nope.” Mason shook his head. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“I was just—”
“I wanted to—” Mason said at the same time.
“Jinx.” They said together, laughing as they bumped fists. It felt a little childish, but she didn’t care. It was their thing, and just like with Grey’s hugs, she’d never tire of it.
“Go ahead,” Mason said.
“No, you go.” The last thing she wanted to talk about was the nonexistent progress she’d made with the filing system, or why.
Mason gestured for her to lift her feet and he slid further onto the desk, propping her feet in his lap when he was settled. He picked at the stitching on her boots for a moment, then took a deep breath before he spoke. “What Grey and Uncle Cade did was wrong—and I’m not offering any excuses for them, but…I understand why they did it.”
“Dad, I know—”
“I also understand what you were trying to tell us,” Mason forged ahead, raising a staying hand.
Dani sucked in a breath and held it to keep from arguing. One thing about having three dads was having to rehash everything three times. Sometimes four if her mom got involved. Each chat was a little different and longer than the last. Carson, having been the recipient of more of their chats than all her siblings combined, always said it was their form of cruel and unusual punishment. She was beginning to think he was right.
“All of us have treated you differently, and without reason,” Mason continued. “Including me. But I want you to know it stops today.”
“Dad.”
“Let me finish,” Mason insisted, and Dani reluctantly complied. “You’re all grown up.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did. I won’t speak for Grey, other than to say I know he loves you, but I never meant to make you feel like you couldn’t…date.”
He pulled at his collar and cleared his throat. Dani tried not to laugh, but a snicker escaped her effort.
“Go ahead and laugh,” Mason choked out. “I suck at this.”
Dani pulled her feet from his lap and reached for his hand. “Trust me,” she said, holding his hand to her cheek. “Of all my dads, you suck the least at this. Sometimes you tie with Matt, but—”
“Christ, don’t say that.” Mason chuckled, running his hand through his hair. “I’m guessing Matt apologized, too?”
Dani nodded.
When she’d finally made it out to the mulcher that morning, Matt pulled her into a hug and said his piece. That was one of the things she loved most about Matt. He saw most things in black or white, right or wrong. When something was wrong, he faced it head on and then forgot about it. When something was right, he fought tooth and nail for it. No matter who you were, there was never any question where you stood with him.
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Dad.” She slid onto the desk beside him. “It’s not that I felt like I couldn’t date. I mean, I didn’t do the boyfriend thing or pay much attention to guys when I was growing up, not the way other girls did.”
“Thank God for that,” Matt said, glancing up to the heavens.
“Grey way overstepped, but I shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of the rest of it. I guess I was just stressed out about Uncle
Cade.”
Mason nodded and pulled her into his arms. “We all are, sweetheart.” He gave her a squeeze and then slid to his feet. “Speaking of which, Uncle Cade’s feeling pretty bad about this, too. You might want to give him a call after dinner.”
Dani nodded. “I’ll go see him tonight.”
“Come on.” Mason turned them toward the door and she walked side-by-side in his embrace out into the barn. “Grey has dinner ready.”
“Ooh! Chicken parm?” The only thing besides barbeque Grey could cook.
“Mhm,” Mason hummed, “with a heaping side of crow, I imagine. So, are we good?” he asked as they walked up the hill toward the house.
“Yeah, Dad. We’re good.”
“Does this mean you won’t date until you’re thirty?”
“Dad!” Dani gave him a playful shove before they got to the steps.
“Kidding!” Mason bounded up the steps two at a time ahead of her and opened the door. “But if you ever decided that you don’t want to share your dating life with us, I wouldn’t complain.”
Dani had a smartass reply on the tip of her tongue but remembered her conversation with Clay.
“Deal.”
She was making a lot of deals today, but this one was easy. Even if she did find someone worth dating, which was highly unlikely anytime soon, her dads were clearly ill-prepared to handle it. Especially if that person was Clay, not that it ever would be. “I’ll just send you a postcard from my honeymoon.”
“Hey, baby girl,” Grey greeted her as she and Mason strolled down the hall toward the kitchen. Dani drew in a deep breath, savoring the Italian spices wafting up from the dish he’d just taken from the oven. “Go get washed up. Your mom could use some help setting the table.”
“I’ve got it,” Gabby said, giving Dani a drive-by hug on her way to the refrigerator. “Where have you been all day?” she asked, handing Mason a pitcher of tea. “Take that to the table for me?”
“Anything for you, sweetheart,” Mason said with a flirty wink as he took the pitcher.
Dani grinned, remembering a time when she used to pretend-gag herself when her parents got all sappy with each other. Now it seemed normal, almost cute. Almost.
