Page 14 of Honey Bee Hearts

“Well, ‘baby’ works just fine, too,” he teases. “Anyways, Gunnar told me he left you to get settled in, so I thought I’d come on over, show you around, and explain the rules.”

“Okay. Lay it on me,” I say, stepping outside the cabin and closing the door behind me. “What are the rules? Don’t get lost in the mountains?”

Rhett laughs. “Circle Bee doesn’t butt up against the mountains, so we don’t include that rule. If you want to go hiking though, feel free to ask me. I’ll show you the best places where no one will disturb you.”

I raise my brows. “Because you’re going to murder me?”

He blinks. “Oh, wow. Yeah, I can see now how that may have multiple meanings. No. I definitely didn’t mean I’d murder you.Only that I’d murder that. . . you know what? Never mind,” he laughs. “Follow me, Ms. Everhart.”

“Fable,” I correct. “No need for formalities. Especially since you showed up asking me to call you daddy.”

He flashes his grin at me. “Too strong?”

“Maybe,” I laugh. “If you’re the owner, I’m not sure flirting with your customers is exactly professional.”

“Ah, well, I never claimed to be professional,” he purrs before immediately switching into business mode. “However, we do have rules here. Five of them to be exact.”

“Okay,” I nod. “Rules are good.”

He offers me a hand to step down off the small step and I take it without thinking. His warm hand in mine makes something low in my belly tighten. He doesn’t seem to notice my wobble as my leg gets a little stiff.

“Rule number one: stay out of the barn, especially if the doors are locked. We ask that you respect our privacy and any locked doors here.” He leans closer. “My bedroom door is never locked.”

“Yep. I figured as much,” I answer, curious why he’s laying it on so thick. I don’t think I’ve been so aggressively flirted with before.

“Take him up on that offer,” Jinx says from beside me. “I bet he’ll rock your world. Or he’ll be garbage. There’s no in between with men like him.”

“Rule number two: don’t touch any machines without supervision. Some of the things on this ranch can really mess you up if you don’t know what you’re doing. So if you wanna go for a ride on a tractor, ask and I’ll take you for a ride.”

He shoots a look at me, as if to see if I caught his innuendo.

I clear my throat. “Is every rule going to come with an offer for sex?”

He grins. “Too much?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“Alright. Alright.” He turns and points out to the pastures. “Don’t mistreat any animals. If caught doing so, your stay is forfeit and you’ll be asked to leave. Breakfast is at seven in the morning, dinner is at six at night, and lunch is had on the fly.”

I nod. “Okay. And the last rule?”

“Oh, the most important of them all,” he nods seriously. “Rule number five is never fall in love with cowboys.”

“Seriously?” I ask, laughing. “You added that in the rules?”

“Hey, if you want your heart broken, break that rule as much as you want,” he says, smiling, and the genuine smile makes him even more handsome. “Alas, I didn’t make it. That rule has been in effect since I was a kid. I think my mom added it, actually, to be fun.”

“Oh, well then that’s cute,” I muse. “Will I get to meet her?”

His smile falls and he immediately looks away. “No. She died a while ago.”

My heart squeezes. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

He waves my words away, much like I do if someone mentions Jinx. Those words don’t actually help anything, and they certainly don’t make me feel better, so I understand why he changes the subject quickly.

“This way,” he instructs, and I follow him toward the main house. “Meals are served in the house. Just let yourself in and the dining room is to the left as soon as you walk in. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be there. Our cook, Mel, makes the best burgers. I think he’s planning on cooking that tonight to welcome you.”

“I am living for the homecooked meals,” I say, smiling. The gravel beneath my prosthetic almost rolls my foot out, but I do my best to hide it. I don’t know why I’m keeping my leg a secret. I should tell them in case there are accessibility issues, but I can’t quite bring myself to reveal it. I just want to be normal for a littlewhile. I don’t want them to fawn over me, or worse, get weird. I’ve worked hard these past eight months to make sure I can get around by myself. The doctors think it’s because of strength. It’s not strength at all.

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