Page 23 of Dust Storm

“At this moment, I don’t have a firm timeline. Depending on the scope of what you’re wanting to do, it could be a few weeks to a few months.”

Months.

Shit.

What was I going to do with her for afewmonths?

My dick twitched again.

What wasIgoing to do for a few months?

And changes?Geez, I couldn’t think of anything worse.

The ranch was finally doing well again. We’d made it through a drought that gutted our finances. There were lean years, and then there were years that were barebones.

We’d finally dug ourselves out of it.

We didn’t need this. Didn’t needher.

Cassandra cleared her throat. “I do need to know about my living accommodations.” She put on a placid smile. “The…cabinI was shown is unacceptable.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, running a hand over my beard.

Becks frowned. “I’d offer our place, but we’re not even sleeping there because of the water damage.”

“Bunkhouse is full,” CJ said around a mouthful of food. He cut his eyes at Cassandra, stealing a glance before quickly looking away. “Not that I’d recommend sleeping there anyway.”

“She can stay in my room!” Gracie squeaked.

I had just opened my mouth to say “no” when Cassandra beat me to it.

“Absolutely not,” she said with a patronizing laugh.

“Chris, you’ve got that spare room, don’t you?” Mom asked.

When I saw the state of the cabin, I knew that’s what the situation would probably come down to. But just because I was resigned to it didn’t mean I liked it.

I sighed. “You got some spare sheets I can borrow? I haven’t had a chance to catch up on laundry.”

Cassandra’s steel eyes darted around the table.

“Of course,” Mom said with a smile.

I withheld an eye roll.

I had snapped at Bree for rolling her eyes at me yesterday, and if she caught me doing it, she’d never let me forget it.

“Wait—what?” Cassandra stammered.

I wiped my mouth and tossed my napkin onto my cleaned plate. “I have a spare bedroom.”

She cut her eyes to Becks. “I’ll just go back and get a hotel room in the town I came through.”

Becks gave her a pitiful smile. “Trust me, you don’t want to do that. Not unless you want bedbugs. There are no good places to stay around here.”

Cassandra’s perfectly arched eyebrow twitched. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. On the overdramatic exhale she said, “Fine. Given that I’ve been awake in this nightmare for longer than I’d like, I’ll stay there tonight and find more appropriate accommodations tomorrow.”

“Good luck,” Dad said with a chuckle. “The only better accommodations you’ll find will be if you sleep in the stable like the baby Jesus. The barn cats do a good job at keeping the mice away.”

---