Page 10 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

She snuggled under the covers and switched the light off before she pulled the site up again. Her heart was beating rapidly as she clicked on the message.

Hi Shayna

My name’s Tyler – but I guess you already know that from April.

To tell you the truth, I’m not sure if I should send this message.

I thought I’d give it a go. If you don’t want to talk to me, not a problem.

Would you do me a favor and message me back to say so?

I’d be interested in talking to you, if you want to – understand if you don’t.

Tyler

She blew out a sigh. The message wasn’t anything exciting. It didn’t give away anything about him, but … no, that wasn’t true. He’d reached out, and he hadn’t put any pressure on her. He might not have said much, but he had no idea who she was – just as she had no real idea about him.

She reread the message a couple of times. She was tempted to write him back about how weird this whole deal was, but that’d get too long, and she might give too much away about herselfbefore she knew enough about him. Instead, she decided to follow his example.

Hi Tyler.

Thanks for reaching out. I’m glad you did.

I felt a bit awkward about April messaging you like that.

I’d be interested in talking to you, too.

I just got home from work, and I have to be up early in the morning so – more soon.

Shayna.

She hit send before she talked herself out of it or added a whole bunch more. She was starting to feel a tingle of excitement creeping in, but she had to get to sleep – she needed to be up early to get to her other job at the barn.

Chapter Three

Ty sat at the big table in the kitchen staring at his laptop. He was glad that Shayna had answered him, but he’d been hoping for more of a message than she’d sent. It was brief and gave nothing away. Then again, that wasn’t true. She’d thanked him for reaching out – that said a lot. She’d said she was glad that he had. And perhaps most telling, she’d said that she felt awkward about April messaging him. He liked that. Not that she felt bad but that it wasn’t all some big joke to her.

He couldn’t blame her for keeping her message brief – it matched the one that he’d sent her. Why should she give much away when he hadn’t? He blew out a sigh. He wasn’t looking for a polite back and forth, though. If he was going to explore whether she might be someone he wanted to meet, he was going to have to be the one to open up more. He didn’t mind. It made sense for him to do it. He frowned. It hadn’t occurred to him before, but if she was a real small-town girl, like both Chance and April had said, then the whole online dating thing might be nerve-wracking for her.

He sipped his coffee and stared at the screen. Tanner came wandering into the kitchen and greeted him with a bleary smile.

“What are you doing today?”

“Not much.” Weekends were a bit different at the lodge. The folks who were only here for a couple of days were more interested in getting up and heading out early. They weren’t like the folks who stayed the whole week and had more time to hang around and enjoy the lodge and the ranch. Wade had told Ty when he first came home and took the job that his weekendswould be his own. The other staff set up buffet style meals, and Ty was fine with that.

“Want to come down to the barn this afternoon? You can help out if you like.”

He laughed. “Why don’t you ask for my help instead of making out that you’re the one doing me a favor?”

“Because I know you enjoy it, and I don’tneedthe help, I just enjoy having my little brother around.”

Ty rolled his eyes when Tanner ruffled his hair before sitting down beside him.

Tanner grinned when he looked at the screen. “Did you check out those chicks I saved for you?”

“I did.” Ty didn’t manage to hide his smile.

“What? What’s that look for? Did you talk to one of them?”

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