Page 14 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“You should tell him that we’re your family – like, for real.”

She gave him a puzzled smile. “You know I think of you that way.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m not being sappy. It’s just … they used to have people come into the group home to give us talks about different things. Some of them were dumb, but there was this one time when they brought a guy in to talk about human trafficking. He said that we should be suspicious of pretty much everyone, but especially people online since you can’t know if they are who they say they are.

“He said that any time you talk to someone online, you should talk about being close with your family and having lots of friends.”

Shayna let out a short laugh. “In my case, that’d be a big fat lie!”

“Exactly, and that’s the point. Predators are looking for people who won’t be missed. If they think you have people who’ll kick up a stink if you go missing, they’re not as likely to target you. But if they think no one’s going to notice or care, they see you as an easy target. That’s how they saw us – foster kids – and they were right, we didn’t have anyone.”

Shayna reached through the window to touch his shoulder. “You do now! You have us.”

He smiled. “I know, and so do you. I know you’re probably thinking that it’s a dumb idea, but it can’t do any harm. Think about it; if you just chat with this cowboy guy for a while and it doesn’t go anywhere, it doesn’t matter what you told him. If you end up getting to know him better and actually meeting him, you can tell him the truth later.”

He held her gaze. “It can’t do any harm, and it could do some good.”

“Okay.” She could see that he had a point. She didn’t think that Tyler was up to anything nefarious, given that April and Chance both knew him and had vouched for him, but it wouldn’t do any harm to be cautious.

“Promise me?”

She nodded slowly. As he said, there was no harm in it, and she really had to get to work. “I promise.” She laughed. “But if I end up seeing him, I’m going to make you explain to him why I lied.”

Booker smiled. “I’ll do it, no problem. And it’s not really a lie, is it?”

She smiled back. “No, it isn’t.”

~ ~ ~

Ty sat perched on the top rail of the fence as he watched Tanner work one of the youngsters in the round pen.

He turned when Tanner waved to someone coming down the path from the big house behind him.

He grinned when he saw his twin, Kolby.

“Yo, bro!” Kolby pushed at him when he reached him, but Ty held on tight and laughed.

“What are you doing out here? Where’s Callie?”

“She’s gone to hang out with Sierra and little Maya. I thought I’d come see what you were up to.”

“Not much.”

Tanner came over to join them. “Don’t believe him – he’s chasing some hot blonde in California!”

Kolby raised his eyebrows. “Someone you met at Chico?”

Tanner laughed before Ty could answer. “Nope, someone he hasn’t met at all – someone he met online.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

He explained the whole story to Kolby, who smiled and said, “You know who lives in Summer Lake now, don’t you?”

“I know Chance has a house there and he’s there visiting his dad and his sister this weekend.”

“Yeah, but I don’t mean him – I mean Xander.”

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