Page 58 of Fastlander Fealty

Hallie shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m curious.”

Gunner heaved a huge sigh and glared at Silver. She didn’t know how to respond, so she waved and called meekly, “Good morning.”

Captain laughed from the house beside Owen’s.

“Um, I promise not to gather intel!” she called, hoping it helped.

“You have one minute to get in the truck,” Gunner gritted out to Owen.

“I’m not riding with you.”

“Yes, you are!”

Gunner kicked at the dirt and stormed back into his house, while Owen rolled his eyes closed and inhaled deeply. “This’ll be a blast,” he muttered as he made his way back toward his home. His hat and shoulders were soaking wet by the time he got inside.

“I’m so sorry—”

“No,” Owen told her, squeezing her hip gently as he passed. “Don’t apologize for stuff you aren’t doing wrong. Gunner is being an asshole.”

“He’s being protective. He’s being a good Alpha. He thinks I’m here for the wrong reasons.”

“Well, he’ll get over that when he gets to know you better.”

“It’s just one day, and then I’ll leave,” she said. Probably. Just one date to the rodeo and then she would probably head to Texas to start her new rogue lion life.

Owen tossed her a narrow-eyed glance. “I don’t like when you talk about leaving. We made a deal—one day at a time.”

They had made that deal last night at the cowboy bar.

He leaned in and kissed her good, held the back of her neck, and then dipped down and play-bit her throat. It tickled so she giggled, and he lifted her suddenly off her feet and carried her through the living room. “This is the kitchen.”

“Oh, you’re carrying me through the tour?”

“And this is the bathroom,” he announced, carrying her down a hallway. “And this is the bedroom where I’ll be fucking that little I’m-leaving-in-the-morning attitude right out of you after the rodeo tonight.” He smacked her butt and she laughed and kicked her legs helplessly.

Owen set her down on her feet and pulled a dry shirt out of his drawers, put it on and changed into some work pants that looked like they’d gone through hell and back.

He pulled on socks and disappeared into the bathroom, finished getting ready for the day before he jogged to the front door where a pair of dirty boots sat right beside it.

He sat on a bench there and began tying his boots quickly. A honk sounded from outside, and he growled, and then looked up at her as he tied the second one. “Send me nudes all day long.”

“Owen!” she exclaimed, laughing. “I don’t do that. I’m a proper lady.”

“I have a picture of you lying on a bathroom floor, smiling like you got drunk on dick that says otherwise. Two nudes.”

“You’re negotiating?” she joked as he stood and pulled her in against him.

“One before lunch, and one after,” he said.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good enough. See you after work. Pray for me, I have to deal with Captain Dipshit all day.”

“Hey,” Captain complained from outside.

“I’m talking about your brother,” Owen barked as he jogged down the stairs. He threw Captain the bird, and Silver bit back a smile as she stood on the porch and watched Owen climb smoothly into the passenger’s side of Gunner’s truck.

Gunner peeled out, spinning his back tires through the wet gravel as he sped away. “They’re going to fight all day, aren’t they?” she asked Captain.

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