Page 6 of Honey Bee Hearts

Colt shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. It’s worse.”

I tense. “Spit it out, King.”

“Someone booked a stay,” he finally says.

I blink. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, someone went onto our website and booked a stay here on Circle Bee Ranch.”

“I thought Amy took that down off the website years ago?”

“I thought so, too. Apparently, she forgot, and everything is automated, so we all missed it until now. She didn’t even realize there was money sitting in the accounts for reservations,” Colt says before standing up. “She’s frantic so I thought I’d tell you.”

“Okay? So cancel it,” I tell him, frowning.

Colt winces. “Can’t.”

“Why the hell not?” I scowl. “It should be easy enough to?—”

“It’s been booked for over seven months, Rhett. Somehow we missed it, but?—”

“What does that have to do with cancelling it?” I growl. “Just do it.”

Colt levels his gaze and I’m reminded again how good of a cop he’d been, and then about how bad of one he’d been. There’s always this duality to Colt that we don’t often see, but it’s there.Inside my friend that’s as close as a brother to me is both the good cop and the bad cop. One man. Both sides of the coin.

“It’s paid in full, Rhett. Whole month,” he says.

I clamp my lips shut. Shit. We need that money. We always need the money. “So they paid. . .”

“Ten grand. Yep.”

I run a hand through my hair and whistle. “Highest package?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” I grunt.

“Exactly,” Colt nods. “That’s what I’m saying.”

“Please tell me it’s not some city jerk wads on a bachelor retreat? I can’t handle the shit that happened last time. We still never fixed the four-wheeler they wrecked,” I grunt. The assholes had been a nightmare and they’d only been on the ranch for three days. I couldn’t imagine how a whole month of that would go.

“It’s just two women,” Colt replies. “That’s what Amy said.”

I stare at him. “That’s it?” When Colt nods, I sigh. “You tell Amy to get the cabin ready?”

“Already did,” Colt nods again.

“Good. Tell Gunnar and Trent. How long we got until they get here?”

“A month.”

“Fuck,” I draw out. “Tell everyone to start prepping. We can’t have anyone stumbling into places they shouldn’t be. We’ll just keep ‘em busy. Shouldn’t be too hard. Most city folk grow tired of ranch life fast and if they leave early, we don’t have to refund the money. It’s in the contract. Maybe they’ll just leave after a few days.”

Colt shrugs. “Maybe. Trent ain’t gonna like it.”

“Yeah, well, lead with the ten grand when he complains. He’ll come around to it,” I grumble, before picking up the crate again.“And make sure Amy knows I ain’t mad at her. Shit happens. We just gotta be vigilant. And for fuck’s sake, have her take the reservations down this time. I don’t want this to happen again.”

“I’ll tell her.” He whistles and Dolly stands up and follows him down the steps. “Oh, and Rhett?”

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