“Well,” he said with a grin. “This is your lucky day. Because in addition to this morning, I’ve been riding my whole life. My father may be all about cars, but my mother is a rancher’s daughter. We spent a lot of time on my grandad’s ranch growing up, and our mama made sure we could all handle ourselves on the back of a horse.”
This made her smile, the thought of a young Carter and his big brothers, ribbing each other like brothers do, riding around a ranch.
“Sounds like you and your family were really close growing up,” she said.
He nodded. “My father always preferred four wheels to four legs, but he managed.” His jaw tightened, and his smile faded.
“I feel like there’s another but in there somewhere,” she said.
He blew out a long breath. “He makes a good enough living doing what he does. My brothers do, too. And for a long time I was fine with following along.” He shrugged. “Meant I didn’t have to take school too seriously and it meant my parents weren’t breathing down my neck about grades and stuff like that as long as I was serious about the auto shop. And I was.”
She laid a hand on his forearm and gave him a gentle squeeze. “But it wasn’t important to you.”
He shook his head. “I’d trade everything to have Mason back, even if it meant fixing cars the rest of my life. But I know now that something would have always felt like it was missing if that was the path I took. I wish I’d figured out what I was meant to do in a different way, you know? But I’m happy where I am now. What I do means something to me, just like I’m sure what you do means something to you.”
Her hand slid off his arm and back into her lap. “I have a degree in fashion design,” she said. “The stuff I sell in the shop comes from a lot of local designers. But—some of it’s mine, too.” Her cheeks heated. She was proud of the few pieces she had in the shop and would be even prouder when she sold them. But after growing up with a firefighter for a father and watching her brother follow in his footsteps, it was still scary to share her creative side, to run the risk of someone not liking a design or thinking her work wasn’t as important, even when it was to her. “It’s not saving lives,” she blurted. “But it means something to me.”
He rounded a corner and came to a halt at a four-way stop sign on a rural road outside the main part of town. She could see the sign up ahead welcoming her to Meadow Valley Ranch, but Carter put the truck in park.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He turned to face her, one arm resting on top of the steering wheel.
“I’m making sure you can see the truth in my eyes when I say what I’m gonna say so you don’t think I’m blowing smoke.”
“Okaaay,” she said, drawing out the word with a nervous laugh.
“Is making clothes your passion, the one thing in your life you can’t live without? Filling your bucket and whatever other mumbo jumbo means you’ve found your calling?”
She nodded slowly, his ocean blue eyes holding her prisoner so that even if she wanted to look away, she couldn’t.
“Then don’t ever sound apologetic about it,” he said, his face serious. “Because you’re never going to change the minds of the naysayers, if there are any. And worrying about what other people think of what you do? All it does is rob you of some of the joy you’re due.”
He stared at her long and hard until she nodded her understanding, though she knew he was likely trying to convince himself even more than convince her. Still, the power of those words and the intensity in his gaze? No one had ever looked at her like that.
Once he got his response from her, he turned back to the wheel, put the car in drive, and drove them the final thirty seconds to the ranch.
After that speech and the way his eyes had bored into hers, she’d held her breath, thinking he might do something crazy like lean across the center console and kiss her right there. Only when they rolled to a stop in front of a stable and riding arena did she realize she hadn’t yet exhaled. Or how much she wished he had planted one on her right at the four-way stop.
“You ready?” he asked.
To ride a horse? To find herself even more attracted to him by the day’s end? To wonder if he did want to kiss her and what she’d do if it happened? Or how in the heck she was going to get this little crush out of her system once and for all? Because Carter Bowen could and would break her heart eventually. So no, she wasn’t ready for any of it. Not one little bit.
“As I’ll ever be,” she said instead, and Carter flashed her a smile that knocked the wind straight out of her lungs.
Honey, you are in trouble, she said to herself as he rounded the back of the truck and opened her door.
“Did you say something?” he asked, offering her a hand to help her down. He had a pack over his shoulder he must have grabbed from the bed of the truck.
“Just how much I’m looking forward to an evening ride,” she said.
Lies, lies, lies. Her words were nothing but lies. Only the flutter in her belly when her palm touched his spoke the truth. So she pushed it down deep, hiding it where she’d tried to hide her grief for two long years.
“Me, too,” he said. Then he laced his fingers with hers and led her toward the stable doors.
And just like that, butterflies clawed their way to the surface without any warning at all.
Trouble with a capital T.
Chapter Five
Carter held the door for Ivy as they entered the stable. Sam Callahan—one of the ranch owners and also a recent transplant to Meadow Valley—greeted them inside.
“Ivy Serrano, this is Sam Callahan. Not sure if you’ve met him or his brother Ben yet. Or Colt, the third owner of the ranch.”
Ivy shook her head and also shook the other man’s hand. “I’ve seen you about town but don’t believe I’ve officially made your acquaintance, Mr. Callahan. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s just Sam,” he said. “I’m not big on formalities, Ms.—Ivy,” he said, grinning and catching his own error.
Sam, Ben, and Colt were young transplants to Meadow Valley, just like Carter. When it felt like he didn’t yet fit in, which was most days, he at least had them as allies—and a horse to ride if he needed a quick escape.
“Ranch is officially open for business?” Ivy asked Sam.
“Sure is. It’s a slow start, but we hope to get things off and rolling in the next several months. First year in a new business is the most important. Keep your fingers crossed we start drawing more folks into the area.”
She smiled. “I’ll cross all my fingers and toes that you have a great first year. Business for you means more business for the town, so it sounds like a win-win to me.”
Sam shook Carter’s hand as well. “Glad to have you back. You did a heck of a job this morning, even if we only have ten total guests at the moment.”
Carter laughed. “Yeah, but those ten will tell ten more about it, and then those ten will tell ten more. You see where I’m going here?”
Sam shook his head ruefully, then waved his index finger at Carter. “I sure hope so. Building a new business in a new town isn’t as easy as I’d hoped.”
Carter shrugged. “If your mare treats Ivy well enough, she may just be the person to start spreading the news in town. Heck, when that happens and you’re booking my riding services on the regular, I’ll lower my commission from fifteen percent to ten.”
Sam clapped Carter on the shoulder. “I sure met you at the right time. Someday I may really be able to pay you.”
“As long as you let me ride the trails, consider me paid,” Carter said.
Sam grabbed a straw cowboy hat off a bale of hay and tossed it on his head. “Have a nice ride, you two. Ace and Barbara Ann are all ready to go. You’re welcome to stop by the dining hall when you get back, but I’m guessing by the saddle pack that you might have things under control.”
Carter nodded. “Thanks for the offer all the same.”
Sam turned back to Ivy. “It was nice to of
ficially meet you. I’m sure we’ll run into each other again sooner or later.” And with that he strode out of the stable.
Ivy stared after him as he left. And then she stared some more. If Carter were the jealous type, he’d be—well—jealous. But how could he envy a man who caught her attention when she was nothing more than a friend? Pretty easily, it turned out.
Carter cleared his throat. “Not that it matters, but if I were trying to properly court you, would I have just introduced you to my competition?”
She spun to face him, cheeks aflame. “What? No. I mean—competition for what?”
He laughed. “I’m just wondering—and this is only a hypothetical, because this is in no way a courting situation—if I’d have shot myself in the foot by introducing you to someone who not only doesn’t fight fires for a living but also must be pretty easy on the eyes for someone such as yourself.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and her blush deepened.
“I’ll admit that if anyone ever needed a visual display of what tall, dark, and handsome was supposed to be, it’s the cowboy who just strode out those stable doors. And he has a brother? My oh my,” she said, fanning herself.
He’d been teasing her initially, but now his confidence began to waiver.
“But,” she added, “there’s one big problem with all of that.”
Her tone encouraged him, so he took a step closer, even had the audacity to skim his fingers across her temple. “What’s the problem, darlin’?”
She blew out a breath. “It’s this other cowboy. One who, after barely knowing me, helped sober me up after a bad day and even made sure I got home safely. He also donates his free time to lead trail rides at a new ranch in town. And truth be told, I prefer something closer to a redhead than a brunette. In fact, if this particular cowboy didn’t risk his life for a living, I might very well be developing a little crush on him, which would make this a courting situation. But it’s not, correct?”
It wasn’t, as much as he wanted it to be. He’d thought about her the whole walk home last night, about what it would have been like to kiss her if she could only see him differently. Maybe that was what he hoped to accomplish by taking her out on the trail. All he knew was that sharing the view with ranch patrons earlier that day had been fun, but sharing it with Ivy would be something else. He hoped by the time they made it to the trail’s end he’d figure out what that something else was.
He dipped his head, his lips a breath away from her ear. She smelled like the lavender fields from the farm that bordered his granddaddy’s ranch, and he breathed her in, this intoxicating scent of home.
“No,” he whispered. “It’s not.” Because a new job in a new town was tough enough. He was being tested by the chief, his captain, and everyone in his company. If he lost focus and slipped up, then where would he go? But the real issue was her. If he lost focus while falling for someone who, in the end, couldn’t handle what he did for a living, then he wasn’t simply putting his career on the line but his heart, too. He understood that Ivy’s fear was based in reality, that she’d experienced a heartbreaking loss. And while he’d never push her into something she didn’t want, it was impossible to deny this thing between them.
“Courting you, Ivy, would eventually mean kissing you. And I’m not sure you could handle my kissin’.”
“Why’s that?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“Because,” he said softly, “I’d leave your lips swollen and your brain so foggy you won’t remember your own name.” Yet he wouldn’t push her too far too fast. She had to choose him. Because despite bad timing and he being the type of guy she swore she’d avoid, a part of him had already chosen her.
She sucked in a breath, and it took every ounce of his resolve to straighten and take a step back when all he wanted to do was exactly what he’d said.
“Then I guess we’re on the same page,” she said, but he could hear the slight tremble in her voice. It matched his quickened pulse and the irregular beat of his heart.
He nodded. “I’ll just throw my pack on Ace’s saddle, and we’ll be good to go.” He glanced down at her boots. They weren’t riding boots, but they looked sturdy enough for a motorcycle, which meant they were sturdy enough for a horse.
His gaze trailed up her toned legs. He could see every curve of muscle, her round and perfect backside, in those form-fitting pants.
“See something you like?” she teased, having regained her composure.
Good lord did he ever.
How the heck was he supposed to read that? He wanted something other than friendship from her but only under the right circumstances. But after all her protesting—was Ivy flirting back?
“Just making sure you had proper boots for riding. Those will do,” he said coolly, doing his best to maintain control.
He got Ace ready to go, then introduced Ivy to Barbara Ann and helped her into the saddle. At least, he tried to help her, offering to give her a boost, but she stuck one foot in the mare’s stirrup and hoisted herself into the saddle like she’d done it every day of her life.
She shrugged and stroked the horse’s mane. “Guess it’s like riding a bike. You never really forget.” She pulled her sunglasses from the collar of her shirt, batted her big brown eyes at him, and then covered them up. “I’m just waiting on you, cowboy.”
He crossed his arms and stared up at her. “You want to take her for a lap or two in the arena before we hit the trail to make sure you’ve got the hang of it?”
“Sure,” she said. “Meet you out there.”
He stepped aside, and Ivy led Barbara Ann out of her stall and into the arena with ease.
He laughed and shook his head. She could make clothes, cut hair, put out her own fires, and hop onto the back of a horse like she grew up on a ranch herself. She also seemed to be able to make him forget that there was no room in his life for romance right now, especially with a woman who couldn’t support what he did for a living.
He strode to a shelf right inside the stable’s entrance and grabbed the cowboy hat he kept in there for his trail rides, then headed back to Ace’s stall and mounted his own trusty steed. When they trotted into the arena, Ivy and Barbara Ann were galloping around the track. Damn she looked good on the back of a horse. Maybe this was their common ground. Back in town she was a woman still grieving an incomparable loss, and he was the man who—by the simple nature of his profession—reminded her of it. Maybe out here on the ranch for one perfect evening they could just be Carter and Ivy.
She rounded a turn and pulled on Barbara Ann’s reins so she came to a halt beside him and Ace.
“Color me impressed, Ms. Serrano,” he said. “You’re a natural.”
She beamed. “That. Was. Amazing! I’ve never felt so—so—”
“Alive?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Free. Free of all the worry swirling around my head, you know? Will the shop do well? Will my own designs sell? And everything else that gets me all twisted up in knots.” She blew out a breath. “Thank you for bringing me here. I don’t know if you knew it was what I needed or not, but wow. This is the perfect end to a stressful opening weekend.”
“Now you know why I help Sam and the boys out for free. Ain’t nothing like being on top of a horse and leaving the rest of the world behind every now and then.” He nodded toward a gate on the other side of the arena and a path that eventually forked into three different directions. “You ready? We’re going to do the open trail to the right.”
“Ready,” she said.
And they hit the trail.
* * *
How was it that Ivy had grown up in this town but had never seen these rolling green hills? It probably had something to do with there not having been a Meadow Valley Ranch or a stable full of horses until now. Maybe, though, the town wasn’t the only thing she was looking at from a different perspective.
She tugged gently on Barbara Ann’s reins and slowed to a stop a few yards behind where Carter was doin
g the same thing. When she’d met him yesterday, he was a walking, talking, embodiment of her biggest fear—losing someone she loved. But today he was this cowboy who gave her exactly what she’d needed at the end of a weekend that had started off on a very wrong foot.
He looked back at her over his shoulder and tipped his hat.
Her stomach flipped.
“Just a few paces ahead and we can tie off the horses. I brought snacks,” he called.
She nodded and followed him over the hill to where it leveled into a small clearing overlooking the ranch and beyond it the main street of town.
A short length of fence was set up—most likely by Sam Callahan and the other ranch owners—that seemed to be there for the sole purpose of making sure you could relax awhile without your horse running off.
She hopped down into the overgrown grass and walked Barbara Ann to an open spot on the fence. Carter secured his horse while she did the same with hers. He removed the saddle pack and tossed it over his shoulder.
“Sam said the horses like this spot for grazing, and riders like it for gazing down at the town or up at the stars on a clear night, so I said we should call it Gaze ’n’ Graze Hill.”
She snorted. “That’s the corniest thing I ever heard—but at the same time also kind of cute.”
He shook his head. “There you go again with that word. Cute. Cute in my uniform. Cute the way I name a hill. I’ve heard the word so much in the past two days that I’m starting to wonder about that vocabulary of yours.”
First Kiss with a Cowboy: Includes a bonus novella Page 28
