Page 86 of Love in the Wild

He nuzzled against her neck. “How’s my sunshine?”

“Uncomfortable, but I’ll survive.” She dropped her hands to her sides. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah. Emerson should be right behind me.”

His truck was full of Emerson’s stuff waiting to be moved into Hadley’s house. After hearing Emerson was still living in a house her dad owned, Hadley offered up her extra bedroom. Mr. Chambers even gave Emerson a job working in the kitchen at the ranch when the season started.

“We’ll wait for her and head on over,” Brett said.

Hadley grabbed Gage’s hand and led him toward the door. “Let’s get to work. We can unload the boxes, and she can unpack when she gets here.”

Why was Hadley always first to volunteer to help? She didn’t know anything about Emerson, and Gage wasn’t convinced the two would get along. Yet, Hadley quickly decided that Emerson should be her new roommate now that Thea had moved out.

“You sure about this?” Gage asked as he followed her to his truck.

“How many times are you gonna ask me that?”

“Probably a dozen more. Emerson is kinda hard to get along with.”

Hadley turned around to show him how hard she could roll her eyes. “I get along with Jess. I think I can handle anyone at this point.”

“That’s because you’re determined to like people. Not everyone thinks that way.” He’d already had many talks with Emerson trying to convince her not to screw this up, but she couldn’t just change her whole personality overnight.

Emerson was like a rose minus the petals. Just thorns.

“Then I’ll be agreeable enough for the both of us.”

Hadley jumped in the passenger side of his truck. “Come on, hot stuff. We’re wastin’ daylight.”

Hot stuff. There wasn’t a minute that went by when Gage wasn’t amazed at how Hadley’s mind worked. She always knew the right thing to say, and failure just wasn’t an option. He loved that about her.

But he’d failed her in so many ways, and as much as she tried to convince him he was “good,” the label wasn’t sticking.

He walked around the truck and got in. “Where to?”

“Head back that way.” She pointed to the road leading back out of the ranch.

He followed Hadley’s directions past the stables, a rodeo arena, and a pavilion to a quieter area. The path continued over a few small hills until a row of cabins came into view.

“It’s that one,” Hadley said, pointing out the windshield.

The cabin was small with a porch on the front and a chimney on the side. The grass was worn down right in front of the porch in an area big enough to fit two vehicles. “Nice place.”

“I love it. These cabins are new, and just the right size for two people to live comfortably. Well, I guess if you had a lot of stuff it would be a tight fit, but I don’t need much, so.” She shrugged one shoulder and grinned up at him.

“Emerson doesn’t have a lot either. We’ll have everything moved in with one more load.”

“Supper should be ready by then. Will you stay and eat with us?”

They got out and met at the back of the truck where Gage lowered the tailgate. He wasn’t the assimilating type. His acquaintances were few and far between, and those connections mostly stemmed from a code of loyalty and favors they owed each other.

“Who is us?”

“A few of us who work here. Maybe a dozen.”

Gage pulled out the first box and stacked it on top of another. “Can you get the door?”

“Oh, sure.”

---