Page 34 of Snowed In with the Rancher

Asher grunted again. “Yeah, been giving me a bit of a hard time getting him in and out of his stall, but he was great for Triss. Just wondering if it’s me or something. What about the other guys?”

Nate made a dismissive noise. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Hmm.”

“You gonna be okay by yourself for a couple more days? I didn’t plan to be gone this long. I know it’s a lot of work for just one person. I told you we shouldn’t have given all the hands that time off.”

“Triss is helping.”

“She is?” His brother sounded genuinely surprised. “Does she have ranch experience?”

“Two weeks at ranch camp when she was a kid, so you know, basically on par with you.”

Nate snorted. “You’re hilarious. Well, I’m glad that you’re not doing it alone, and that you’ve managed to score a hump buddy out of it, too.”

“Not you, too,” Asher groaned. “Did Hannah use that term and you jumped on it?”

“It’s just too perfect.”

“You’re a child.”

Nate was still laughing. “I know. And hey, today is Wednesday.”

“So?”

“Hump Day, bro.” Nate’s chuckle echoed through the barn.

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait, send me a picture of Tilly, then go hump your new hump buddy, maybe she’ll suck that miserable right out of you.”

Asher hung up on his brother, but he did go take a picture of Tilly and send it to Nate, along with a picture of Asher giving the camera the finger.

Now he knew exactly how Triss probably felt the other night when her sisters were non-stop ribbing her about saving a horse and riding a cowboy. He’d really had to keep himself from snickering when she corrected them that he was a rancher and not a cowboy.

The door from outside opened, bringing with it a cool gust of air and a beautiful, yawning vixen with tired eyes and bite marks on her neck.

His cock jerked in his jeans seeing those bites. His bites. His marks. Because he’d marked her as his. Claimed her.

Even if it was just temporarily.

“Morning, cowboy,” she said on another yawn. “You should have woken me up, I would have come help.”

“Rancher,” he corrected, smiling as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his feet had taken him to her before he even knew he was moving. “You just looked so peaceful sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Her brows lifted. “So uh … last night …”

“Last night …” Was she regretting it?

“Was fun.”

Oh, thank God. His shoulders left his ears and the tightness that had entered his chest a moment ago disappeared. “It was,” he said with a smile. “All of yesterday and last night was a lot of fun.”

She dipped her head and glanced up at him from beneath her lashes, her cheeks a cute pink and her smile small. “Umm … is it wrong of me to assume or … hope that we can keep doing that while I’m here? That it wasn’t just a one-time—well, technically eight-time thing.”

Growling, low and deep in his throat, his fingers found their way into her hair and he had her back pressed up against the side of Dare’s stall, her eyes wide and full of excitement with just a dash of fear. “Triss,” he said, flicking his tongue out and swiping it over her bottom lip, making her shudder against him. “You’re in my bed until you leave. Got it?”

Her shiny lips split into a big grin and she nodded. “Got it.”

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