Page 31 of Cowboy Friend Zone for Christmas

They shared a chuckle, knowing he wasn’t exaggerating.

She was silent for a few seconds. “The way I just described your world, Nash and his brothers don’t have any of that, and neither do I. So maybe…” She darted a quick look at him from the corner of her eye, “Just maybe when I came to work for you at Bear Mountain Ranch, nursing a wounded heart and bleeding daddy issues, I might’ve accidentally built you into something you were never meant to be.” She paused miserably. “Inside my head, at least.”

He waved a hand at her. “If that’s your way of saying?—”

“I had a crush on you, alright?” She couldn’t believe he was making her spell it out in such painful detail. “I know you didn’t ask for it or mean for it to happen, but it did. And that’s the other reason why I left when I did. I had to.” He was about to get married to Adeline, for crying out loud! She didn’t want to do anything to mess that up.

“Eh, maybe I didn’t ask for it to happen, but Shelly did a pretty good job of pointing out that I may have inadvertently contributed to it.” He sounded so contrite that Noelle started to laugh.

He scowled at her. “What’s so funny?”

She laughed harder. “Are you honestly trying to apologize for not crushing back?”

“Maybe. The truth is that I was trying so hard to get over Adeline when you and I first met that I did…consider the possibilities.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Between us.”

“You’re kidding!” Nash had said something to that effect to her a while back when he’d claimed that Brady must have been giving off some sort of vibes.

“Not sure why you’re so surprised,” Brady growled. “Everybody loves you, and I mean everybody. Every ranch hand, every child, every horse, every blasted house fly?—”

“Not Black Lightning.” She shivered at the memory of being kicked by the spirited stallion. She was pretty sure her parents wished they’d given birth to someone besides her, too. Someone less independent. Someone they could control with their money.

“You know what I mean.”

“You like me, boss man. Check.” A warm feeling of acceptance pooled inside her, erasing a lot of the questions and hurt that had been riding between them for so long.

“Will you just hear me out?”

She sent him a mock salute as he pulled into the entrance of Bear Mountain Ranch.

“What I’m trying to say is that you’re a great horse trainer and an even more wonderful person, Noelle.”

“I’m an okay horse trainer,” she corrected, “but I try to make up for it with my lame jokes and my overall adorableness.”

He drove up to the barn that housed the ranch offices and pulled into his favorite spot at the side of the building. “Why are you always putting yourself down like that?”

She shrugged, not seeing it that way at all. “I know what I am, and I know what I’m not.” Humor was like her superpower. So was keeping a humble attitude.

“Do you?” He pushed open his door and reached for the food boxes. “My sister is afraid she might go into labor early, and you’re the person she’s asking for. I mentioned to the staff this morning that you might drop by and help out today, and they about raised the roof with their cheering. That’s the kind of person you are, Noelle. The kind of person other folks want to be around.”

Everyone except my parents. Grateful tears stung her eyes. “You didn’t have to say that.”

“Yeah, I think I did, especially since I’m pretty sure I’m the guy who drove you out of town. I’m in love with my wife. Don’t get me wrong. But I still think the world of you, Noelle Ward. The only reason I didn’t ask you on a date when I had the chance was because God had other plans for my life.” He stepped to the ground with the food boxes.

She dabbed at the corners of her eyes. It helped to hear him say that. “You made the right choice, Brady,” she called after him.

“So will you.” He ducked his head back inside the cab and lowered his voice. “Nash is a good guy, Noelle. I hope you’ll give him a chance. A real chance.”

She blinked in surprise, completely caught off guard by the rapid change in direction their conversation had taken. “Just stop while you’re ahead, boss man.” She didn’t like discussing Nash behind his back.

“Bugging off as requested.” Brady stepped away from the truck, kicked the door shut, and headed around the corner of the barn, whistling.

Noelle was glad to have a moment alone to collect her emotions. Though she hopped to the ground, she took an extra few seconds to send the text to Nash that she’d been composing inside her head for the past several minutes.

Don’t forget…while you’re canoodling with the elves, I’m out here mucking horse stalls!

She was kidding about mucking horse stalls. It sounded like Brady’s biggest reason for bringing her to the ranch today was to spend time with Shelly again. Noelle was hoping for some reassurance that Nash was spending his time just as productively in her absence.

His response to her text came within seconds. If that means you’re toying with the idea of giving me a two-week notice, REQUEST DENIED!

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