Oh shit. I swear I wasn’t aiming at you.

Sure you weren’t. Just text me when you get to my house and I’ll meet you with your CAC.

Thx.

A moment later, her address popped up on my phone. I locked it and tossed it to the side, resuming my rhythmic petting of Muffin.

With a smile, I leaned my head back, rather surprised that there was a modicum of excitement rolling through me. The idea of seeing her just one more time intrigued me. And her nickname for me finally made sense, though I knew that I was going to have to spend quite a bit of time convincing her that I really hadn’t meant to flick the damn thing at her.

Suddenly, a yowl snapped my attention to Muffin as she widened her eyes and swatted at my hand. I furrowed my brows and reached for another pet when she swatted me again. Sharp needles pierced my skin, and a sting ripped through the back of my hand. Muffin’s little claws retracted away as quickly as I jerked my hand toward my chest.

“Ow. The fuck was that?” I asked, staring at the cat. She stretched her legs out, then with a yawn rose off my stomach and jumped down.

I watched her strut across my bed and then launch herself with grace to the floor.

“Well, alrighty then. I guess I’ll go make that dinner,” I grumbled and pushed myself upright.

The winding road took me further away from town. Away from people and deeper into a dense forest of rising aspens and pines. Such a beautiful drive, with exquisite scenery as my trip took me closer and closer to Kat’s house.

Or to a place where she was waiting to kill me, because, if I was being honest, I was zero for two when it came to impressions with this chick. Besides, who lived all the way out in the boonies like this other than Ford and his family who liked their fucking swamp loneliness in Louisiana?

Shaking my head, I rested an elbow on the windowsill and slid my palm against the wheel, guiding the vehicle around another corner. Involuntarily, my eyes widened as the trees all but disappeared and, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but fields to my left with a speckling of a few buildings scattered throughout the rolling pastures. Down the lone dirt road were rows of trucks and cars, parked without much rhyme or reason, and dust billowing from whatever chaos ensued across one pasture.

I eased the 4Runner to the side of the road and double-checked the address. This was it. A fucking ranch. She lived on a cattle ranch. I’d never even touched a damn cow in my entire life and this woman lived here.

Rolling my window down, I let the sounds dance into the cab. As clear as if I were watching it on my own television, the bellowing of cattle,barking of dogs, and shouts of human voices mixed together as seamlessly as the constant white noise of gunfire overseas.

There was nothing else out here but this ranch and a life I knew nothing of. No one would notice if I simply just…kept driving? Ran out of gas somewhere and grabbed that little thing from my glove box that had been collecting dust since Dad put it there…

Taking a deep breath of shockingly fresh air, I shook out that fleeting thought and pressed the gas. The 4Runner bumped over gravel and rocks, crunching down the dirt road, edging closer and closer toward the chaos that seemed so much more comforting than the usual silence that had filled my ears for the past few weeks.

The randomly spaced vehicles fell into more of a manageable layout as I pulled in between two well-used farm trucks parked off to the side and threw mine into park.

As I turned off the ignition and reached into the center console, a tap sounded on the frame of my vehicle. “You’re late,” a gruff voice snarled, snapping my attention away from my phone. Out of instinct, I sat upright and stared forward.

“Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again,” I stated as clearly and crisply as possible. Wait, what the fuck was I doing? This wasn’t a sergeant chewing me out back at boot camp…

A calloused hand slammed against my shoulder. “Well, get the hell out of your vehicle and over to the paddock. We’ve got sorting to get started. And bring your damn hat.”

Swiveling to look out my window, my mouth flew open to respond, but the man was already walking away. He had broad shoulders, stoodmaybe five foot five inches tall, and the spurs on his worn bootstinkedwith every step. His fingers swept through his thinning gray hair, and I saw sweat coating the collar of his pearl snap shirt beneath, before he replaced the cowboy hat on his head.

A real fucking cowboy.

“Next time, I’ll be the one hiring day hands ’cause this is a mess,” he grumbled under his breath, strutting away.

The hell just happened?

“Hurry up, boy!” the man shouted. “I ain’t got all fucking day!”

And I flew out of my vehicle while snatching the ball cap off my dash.

Chapter 5

BERNIE

Istared at the strangest tools in the same older gentleman’s hands. “You gonna take them or not?” he asked, offering them again. “Or you can use a good ole pocketknife, but this’ll make it easier for you, newbie.”

Hesitantly, I reached forward and slid them off his yellow gloves and then raised my eyes to him. “Call me an idiot, but run this by me one more time,” I asked, and he shook his head.