Page 13 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

He shook his head rapidly. “Nope! And don’t you go getting any ideas about setting me up with anyone. I’m not interested.”

Shayna smiled – she already knew that. He was still at the stage where he found girls intimidating. She didn’t know if that was because of his age or because of his background. Whatever the reason, dating wasn’t on his radar yet.

When they got home, she let him out before she pulled into the garage.

“See you tomorrow,” she told him.

“Yep, and don’t work too hard,” he replied.

“I’ll do my best. What are you doing this afternoon?”

“I’m taking the truck over to see Gramps. He’s going to teach me how to do an oil change.”

“Awesome! Tell him I said hi.”

“I will. Want me to drive us tomorrow morning?”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind.” It made sense for them to ride over to the barn together whenever they were working there. Even though Booker loved driving the old truck that Gramps Douglas had given him, Shayna didn’t want him spending his money on gas.

He met her gaze and held it for a moment. “Thanks, Shay. You’re the best big sis in the world.”

“Aww! Love you, too, squirt!”

He made a face and turned to go into the house, and Shayna ran up to her apartment. She needed a quick shower, something to eat and one of her energy drinks to keep her going through her shift at the grocery store.

After her shower, she sat at the breakfast bar to eat a bowl of oatmeal. She smiled to herself as she opened the dating site on her phone. He might not have answered yet, but she was hoping that she’d have a message from Tyler.

Her heart rate picked up when she saw that she did. Hopefully, this time he’d have more to say for himself. When she clicked to open the message, it seemed that he had a lot to say.

She gave an excited little squeak and balanced her phone against the bowl so that she could read while she ate.

Hi Shayna.

Thanks for answering so quickly. I was half expecting that you might leave me in limbo for a while, wondering if you were going to get back to me or not.

This is weird, I don’t really know what to say. One of my friends set up the profile for me, and I haven’t talked to anyone on here yet. I don’t know about you, but most of the messages I get on here make me want to block the sender, not reply to them.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know if it’s going to be worth our time talking to each other. I mean, Cali is a long way from Montana. But since April made the connection, I feel like we should explore it.

I guess you need to know more about me before you can decide if you even want to do that. So, here goes … I guess you could call me a cowboy. I grew up on a ranch where we raise cattle and breed horses. I was gone for years though – I served in the Navy. Since I’ve been home, I help with the cattle and the horses whenever I’m needed, but my main job is as the chef at the lodge. One of my brothers opened a guest lodge, and I’m in charge of the kitchen. I love to cook. My dream is to own a restaurant of my own. I’ll make it happen one day.

Jesus, I just read what I wrote – I sound boring, don’t I? So how about I hit send and see what you think so far. I was going to attach a photo but now I don’t think I should. If I do and you answer me, I’ll never know if you think I’m a dweeb, but you don’t care because you like the way I look!

Hope to hear back from you – totally understand if I don’t.

I want to ask you at least a dozen questions but I’ll wait for you to tell me what you want me to know first – that seems fairer.

Tyler

Shayna couldn’t stop smiling as she read and reread the message. He sounded normal. He didn’t know what he was doing any more than she did. He wasn’t trying to impress her; he was just being honest. At least, it seemed like he was. She checked the time. She had a few minutes before she needed to go. She started to tap out a reply.

Just as she was backing out of the garage, Booker appeared next to her window and motioned for her to put it down.

“What’s up?” she asked. “Tell me quick, because I can’t be late. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I was thinking about you talking to that guy online and I wanted to tell you something.”

“What?” She didn’t want to brush him off, but she needed to get going.

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