Page 9 of Honey Bee Hearts

My chest tightens and I almost miss the cue to step off the escalator, resulting in me stumbling off it ungracefully with my prosthetic. I’m wearing baggy pants, so no one knows that I’m walking on it, but still, I flush in embarrassment when everyone looks over at me. No one reaches out to help. No one asks if I’m okay as I catch my bearings and walk over to the man. I have to swallow back tears at the sight of Jinx’s name. I should have emailed them and explained it would just be me. I could have avoided this.

“Aaooga! Aaooga!” Jinx’s voice echoes beside me. “That man is scrumdiliumptious!”

My flush brightens when I walk toward him, my thigh starting to burn from all the walking through the airports. I could have had them wheel me around in a wheelchair, but I didn’t want to make any fuss, and I prefer people don’t know. Not until I want them to.

“Um, hi,” I tell him as he focuses those pretty, deep amber-colored eyes on me. “I’m Fable Everhart.”

His teeth are bright white as he flashes a large smile at me. “Afternoon, ma’am,” he says, tipping his cowboy hat to me in a way that makes my heart flutter for a different reason. He glances behind me, looking around. “Are we waiting for your companion or. . .”

“No,” I rasp, before clearing my throat in the hopes of getting rid of the roughness there. “Um, it’s just me. Jinx. . . she couldn’t make it.”

He seems to notice my unease, but he chooses not to comment on it. Instead, he reaches for the craft bag in my hand. “Alright. Let me help you with your bags then, Ms. Everhart.” He hoists my bag with ease despite the heavy sewing machine in it. “Cool last name by the way.”

“Thanks,” I say, watching the way his forearms flex as he reaches for my suitcase. “We picked it.”

“That’s right! We fucking did!” Jinx exclaims in my ear. As the man starts to walk toward the automatic doors, I follow, and Jinx is right beside me.

“I’m Gunnar Hall, the barn manager for Circle Bee Ranch, but today, I’m your limousine. You can call me Gunnar, or Gun, or baby. I’m not picky,” he teases with a flirty smile.

I smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Gunnar. You can just call me Fable.”

He leads me through the doors. When he realizes my pace is significantly slower than his, he immediately slows his own steps until I’m able to keep up with him.

“Fable,” he repeats with a smoothness and a drawl that makes me wonder if I’ve ever heard my name spoken correctly before. “It’s nice to meet you, Fable Everhart.”

“Look at that ass, Everhart,” Jinx says beside me. “I bet you could bounce a coin off that thing.”

I pretend to cough to cover my chuckle, and Gunnar looks over his shoulder at me, a smile on his very kissable lips. Jinx isn’t wrong. The way this man’s ass looks in those jeans should be a sin. Apparently, the myth of cowboys and their wranglers isn’t a myth at all.

Gunnar carries my heavy bags with ease as he steps outside in the crisp mountain air. Right away, I see a large pick-up truck parked in the no parking zone. A cop is writing a ticket as we walk up, and Gunnar only smiles at him and takes the ticket.

“Thanks for watching her for me, officer. I’ll pay this promptly,” he declares before lifting my bags into the back seat and tucking the paper into his breast pocket. He turns to me before gesturing for the back seat. “Your limousine, ma’am.”

I freeze, my eyes on the backseat. “I can’t. . . um, this is embarrassing,” I begin, wringing my hands together. “But is there. . . I have. . . issues with riding in a car.”

He closes the back door. “No worries. My mama used to get car sick in the back. You can sit that pretty little behind up front with me.” He opens the front door, and I hesitate, staring at the front passenger seat. “Unless you’d like to drive?” he adds jokingly.

My eyes dart to him. “Can I?”

He blinks, surprised. “Well, I was just joking, but. . . if you really wanna drive, I suppose you can. You ever driver a 3500 before?”

“Is that what this is?” I ask. It’s a large truck and besides knowing it’s a Chevy, I don’t know much else about it, but it’s not like I don’t see these kinds of things all the time back in Florida.I’ve heard guys call them duallies, but I usually avoid anyone with an oversized truck since those guys are usually douchebags back home. This truck seems like it’s large out of necessity though more than for show. At least there aren’t any plastic balls hanging off the back of it. I’ll never understand that trend. Men really like adding balls onto things that have no business having them.

“Could you imagine if women put vulvas on everything like men put balls?” Jinx laughs, shaking her head. “The riots that would ensue.”

It’s a talk we’ve had before, one that we’ve laughed about. Right now, it takes everything in me not to giggle.

Gunnar winces. “I’ll let you drive, but we go slow. You’ve got your license, right?” At my nod, he sighs and offers me his hand. When I slide mine into his, he leads me around to the driver’s side, careful to make sure I don’t get run over by the moving vehicles. He opens the door and helps me hoist myself up into the driver’s seat. Only once I’m settled inside does he close the door and jog around to the passenger side. He climbs in and buckles his seatbelt. “Feel free to adjust the seat and mirrors. I’m taller than you so you probably can’t see over the steering wheel right now.”

I immediately reach for the controls and raise it higher. “Oh yeah. I couldn’t see nothing before.”

“Us skyscrapers gotta make sure to lift you shorties higher,” he jokes with a wink.

I laugh. I’m hardly short, but Gunnar is definitely at least four inches taller than me. “I’d hardly call you a skyscraper. Maybe just a multistory condo building.”

He holds a hand to heart. “The wound! Oh! I’m wounded!” he jokes with a grin. Then he points out the windshield. “We’re gonna follow the roads that way. I’ll give you directions as wego.” He pats the dashboard. “Be easy on my baby. She gets enough wear and tear from the ranch.”

I nod and throw the truck into drive before easing out of the parking spot Gunnar had made. People move out of the way, respecting the size instead of trying to cut me off. My eyes flick up to the rearview mirror where I catch sight of Jinx in the backseat, grinning, her eyes as bright as they always were.

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