Page 117 of Burned & Bound

I just stared at him. There was no fucking way the man in front of me was qualified to sell anything. He was more likely to scare them all away.

“Don’t give me that goddamn look, cowboy,” he retorted as if reading my mind. “I sold all seven of his horses before his plane fucking landed this morning.”

Shifting uncomfortably, he pulled his wallet out of his front pocket and tossed a check on the table.

“That’s for you,” he told me. I frowned as I took the check and unfolded it. The number stopped me in my tracks.So did my name on it.

“What the hell is this?” I demanded.

“Well, I am an employee of Double Arrow, which makes you my boss,” West explained. “I contracted with him as a service offered by the ranch, and I put his quote together by the horse for the whole thing, not by mileage. Figured you could use it for the ranch.”

“West,” I faltered. The gesture was unexpected. “I can’t take this. You earned this.”

“Nope.” He lazily popped the ‘p’ as he said it. “Mickey drew up a contract for overtime hours, so you still have to pay me my normal rate for yesterday and today. And I need somewhere to sleep.”

“I think I can arrange that.”There was no way in hell he was sleeping anywhere that wasn’t with me.Folding the check again, I lifted it a slight bit as I said, “Thank you for this.”

“Anytime, cowboy.” West dropped his hat over his face again and slouched down in the seat. “Wake me when my food shows up.”

CHAPTER 81

jackson

Sneaking West into myroom proved to be more of a fucking feat than I wanted. In the end, I gave him my only key and told the main desk I’d locked myself out. I hated it, but it was easier to avoid people that way.

The last thing I needed was for some misconstrued gossip article to end up on the internet about me and West. Amy would kill me, and I had no idea how West would handle it. We hadn’t talked about that part of my life. While I wasn’t some famous celebrity, the circuit was popular. I did interviews, ads, and dealt with our version of paparazzi—also known as the idiots who had too much time on their hands and followed us around looking for a story. I wasn’t an idiot. Five minutes on the internet and they’d dig up shit on West that would cause the kind of issue that’d have Amy banging down my door.

“Should I bring a fucking pizza next time?” West teased as he let himself into my room. “Pretend I’m the goddamn delivery boy.”

“I think me hooking up with the delivery boy would piss Amy off,” I commented.I’d gotten caught doing that shit when I was nineteen.I stillhad yet to live down the pizza boy fiasco. Hell, half the time I ordered pizza and sent her a picture when I was mad just to fuck with her.

I took his face in my hands and kissed him, overwhelmingly grateful that he was there. West moaned as my tongue swept through his mouth. He inched closer, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Hey, cowboy,” he whispered, his forehead tipping against mine.

“Hey, baby.”Fuck, I couldn’t believe he was here.“I’m glad you showed up.”

He just nodded, eyes still shut. I hugged him tight and felt the exhaustion as he leaned into me. This was more than just not having slept. West didn’t like dealing with the occasional random person—I knew it made him anxious, even if he never told me out loud. Dealing with the chaos of the animal sales area had probably been too much for him.

“All right,” I pulled away, “to bed with you.”

I took him by the shoulders and steered him to the bed. He didn’t sit. No, he straight up just dropped back on the bed. There was no effort to get comfortable as he let out a heavy sigh and just lay there.

Clearly, I had to intervene.Crouching, I untied his boots and slipped them off. I expected him to move, but he didn’t.

“You know you can use the whole bed,” I said. When he didn’t move, I went around the side and stared down at him. Bracing on the mattress, I brushed his hair away from his forehead.

“If I kiss you, are you going to wake up?” I wondered aloud.

“I’m not a fucking Disney princess,” he mumbled.

“Your way with animals is pretty fucking magical,” I hummed.

“Fuck off.” That sleepy, lopsided smile he gave me didn’t back up the threat.

“Get your sexy ass on that pillow, baby,” I ordered and gave his shoulder a nudge. “You need to sleep.”

“I need a power nap.” He groaned as he rolled, just barely making it to the pillow. I smiled, watching the way he dragged the pillow and blanket to his chest. The action had become something of a comfort behavior for him.I adored it.

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