Page 41 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘You know I play games?’

‘I can see that.’ She tapped on his gamer’s chair.

‘I want to gamify the station somehow.’

She arched her eyebrows at him.

‘The reason I’m talking to you is I need a sounding board over this idea, and if you’ve been to Belgium, you know what goes on out there in the world. My brothers, they’re …’

‘Set in their ways?’

He nodded. ‘Ryder wants to put in security cameras, and I was thinking about using those security cameras for the cattle.’

‘Sounds fair.’

‘But I want to create an in-house system accessing each paddock using those cameras.’

‘You want to create an intranet?’

‘We don’t get internet access past the homestead.’

‘No, in-tra-net. It’s a private network companies use to securely share in-house data. I don’t know how much information you’d need to store for a cattle station, but I know government departments have been effectively using intranets for decades.’

‘So you’ve used intranets before?’

She nodded. ‘If you want to gamify the station, having an intranet would allow for in-house wi-fi access to your cameras, making it a smart investment in the right direction.’ She tapped his gaming chair. ‘I’ve seen security teams watch large buildings all from their air-conditioned offices. To lock and unlock doors—’

‘Like paddock gates?’

‘To adjust the temperature in rooms.’

‘Like adjusting water heights in water troughs, so I don’t need to check on them all the time, especially if we’re getting more cattle.’

She squinted up at him with a coy grin, but the shine, that spark was playful. It was a good look on her. ‘You really hate that job, don’t you?’

‘Do you even know what that job is?’ He smirked at her.

She shook her head, where her grin grew into cheeky smile. It was adorable. It had to be in the top ten of her file of smiles.

‘Thank you for your opinion, and for giving me a good idea of what I’m looking for.’ And for smiling at him. What else could he do to get her to smile?

‘I’m not a tech genius. I wouldn’t know where you’d start setting up something like that, but I know how to use them.’

‘I do. I enjoy playing with tech, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since Ryder wanted to put in cameras. There has to be a way we can use them for the station, to cut down on the need for burning fossil fuels to do the simple task of checking troughs. I’d estimate it’d save us thousands on diesel costs, wear and tear on the vehicles, and saving time—’

‘I’m all for processes that save time on things.’

‘Well, I’m hoping to use that time for other things.’

‘Your drone would play a big part in that, too.’

‘Exactly.’ He nodded, relieved someone else could see it.

They shared a smile for a long beat, but she turned away and looked over his computer desk and its silent screens. It gave him a chance to admire her dainty profile, her delicate chin, slender jaw, and slightly upturned nose. Her ivory skin was so soft, he wanted to gently brush his knuckles over her cheek, to sweep his thumb over those plump lips.

Then the small boy stirred next door.

‘Mason’s awake.’

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