Page 60 of When Sparks Fly

A black, soft-sided wagon is parked a few feet behind her full of pumpkins and blankets. I hope she doesn’t think I know what to do with all of it. She catches my look. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle that.”

All I can do is nod and shove my hands in my pockets. The urge to touch her is almost unbearable. As she approaches, she pats my chest, her touch cool through my shirt, and electricity shoots through my body.

She sets to work placing pumpkins around the open gate and off the sides of the trailer, cocking her head side-to-side as she assesses. Then she’s pulling the blankets from the wagon and interacting similarly with them.

I’m beginning to feel like an ass just standing around watching when she starts talking. “How’s the ranch?” She looks up at me when I don’t respond immediately.

“Busy.” It’s so much easier when she does the talking. “We have some big things on the horizon.”

“Oh?” Her interest seems genuine, which is a little surprising because I don’t get the feeling she’s spent much time on a ranch, even if I do think she could hold her own under any condition. She sets a black structured backpack on a small table that the event staff must have left and begins to organize a few items there.

“Yeah. I’m hoping to finalize a purchase that will increase our land by four hundred percent.”

Her eyebrows shoot up and she stops moving to look at me. “That’s incredible, Sutton.”

Holy hell. I have to figure out how to make her say my name again.

Iswallow. “It’s exciting. I have some plans to make everything run as smoothly as possible, but I feel like I’m missing something to use the properties to their full potential.”

Finished with the table, she straps the backpack onto her back again, a large camera in hand. “Aside from an ass ton of cows, what goes on out there?” She smirks at me.

I shake my head at her. She may not understand everything about the ranch, but I know she’s playing. Maci doesn’t need to spout off facts and figures for me to know she’s intelligent. “Our property is focused on cattle right now, but the property we're looking at is set up for horses. I believe they host guided hunts, too.”

She tilts her head softly side-to-side, as if she’s thinking on what I’ve said. “Are you continuing those?”

“I plan to. Cattle, hunts, sectioning areas off for leases—"

“Leases?”

“Yeah. People purchase a contract to hunt the land themselves for a season.”

She considers this and moves back toward the trailer. I follow. “So what do you think you’re missing?”

“I want to make sure we’re using the land effectively without taxing it. Adding too many animals would give us little opportunity to cycle through the pastures. We rest several each season.”

She sets her bag just inside the trailer and turns to me, stepping closer. “Are there horse trails?”

“Not especially. Maybe on the land we’re adding.”

“Maybe you could incorporate something like ‘A Day on the Ranch’ for visitors to come and see how things work. It would give you a bigger presencein the community and take advantage of tourism in the area. Plus, people would pay you to be additional manpower.”

“A dude ranch.” My arms cross on their own. Her lips press together in amusement like I’m being ridiculous and she places her hands on my crossed arms, the cool feeling of her palms seeping through my flannel again.

“You can do it whenever it’s convenient and set the terms. Only want to deal with lay people once a month? Fine.” Her emphasis on lay, as if we look down on everyone else, is obviously a joke.

“If you want to get really fancy, you could set up an area or two somewhere secluded on the property and build some smaller housing there for vacation rentals or something.” Her lips purse. “I guess you’d have to consider having random people near the animals though, so maybe not. I don’t know. Just a thought.” Her hands fall to her sides.

Why did she immediately dismiss herself?

“I think you have great ideas. I may be able to make something like that work and I see where you’re coming from. The vacation rentals do fit. To an extent.” She looks up at me with soft eyes and I can’t help it anymore. My hands find her hips.

“It’s all about the experience. I’m sure you’ll get it figured out.” A fleeting smile passes her lips and her cheeks blush. I’m about to claim her right here in front of everyone.

Her eyes dart past me and she waves. “Hi!”

A woman walking up with three kids in tow waves back. That’s my cue to get out of here.

“I promised my mom I’d stop by her setup.” I angle my head down, catching a whiff of her shampoo. Something spicy like cinnamon greets me. “You ok if I meet back up with you later?”

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