Page 79 of Burned & Bound

The truth was that I didn’t know what I was doing where West was concerned.And that scared me.I’d let down a few too many walls all too easily with him. The potential to get hurt grew with every day.

But he was worth it—more than he’d ever understand.

“All right, you goddamn morons!” I yelled, turning fast on my heel. “I want those boundaries back in place asap! And I want my fucking cows to stop hanging out with my goddamn horses. Got it?”

A murmur of agreement rolled through them. They didn’t need more direction than that as they dispersed. Only Mickey remained, watching me closely as he fussed with the brim of his hat.

“Mick, a word?” I jerked my head slightly, gesturing for the old man to follow me. Even though West had been clear about not being mad at Mickey, I still hadn’t worked through my shit. I needed to though. If West wasn’t mad at him, I wasn’t sure I had a right to be either. I wanted to believe there was more that they could’ve done to protect West, but everyone kept telling me it wasn’t as simple as that.

“What can I do for you, boss?” he asked when we were a good distance away from everyone else.

“Your knee okay?” I replied, glancing down at the knee brace he wore. Mickey rarely wore them out in the field.

“Just old.” He chuckled.

“Okay,” I said. “I need to go into town for the day. Why don’t you take Tess and pop her in a UTV with you for the day? I need my cows back where they belong as soon as possible. We’ve been doing damn good with them but until the vet comes and clears every single one of them, I can’t have the whole goddamn herd together. I can’t afford for shit to happen. The ranch won’t survive it.”

“You got it, boss.”

“Jackson,” I corrected.

“Is it now?” He cocked a brow, and I sighed.Of course, he wasn’t going to make this easy on me.

“Look,” I crossed my arms, “I ain’t going to pretend that I think anything y’all did was right. I think you should’ve done more for West while he was here. I think Harrison should’ve had an accident early on that no one would’ve fucking questioned out in one of our fields. I have a lot of fucking thoughts on what should’ve happened to Harrison. But West ain’t mad. He’s fucking grateful for what the lot of you did for him. And if he ain’t mad, then I need to learn to let it go.”

Mickey made a small sound, a slow smile spreading across his face as he nodded.

“Spit it out, Mick. Whatever the fuck you’re going to say, just say it.”

“Do we need to revisit the HR rules?” he teased.

“Get the fuck out of here, old man,” I snapped but grinned nonetheless. As he began to limp away, I called after him, “And, Mick?”

“Yeah, boss?”

“Find out who the fuck screwed up my boundaries. Someone’s getting fired over this shit,” I told him. His mouth pressed into a tight line, but he said nothing. Mickey liked all the guys that worked for me—hell, I did too. But I couldn’t let this pass without repercussions. Not something this big.

“You got it, Jackson,” he said.

“Take it easy, Mickey. Make my girl do all the hard work.” I wandered back to where West stood waiting for me as I watched everyone head out.

“You’re a mean boss,” West commented when I reclined back against the fence next to him.

“I’m a damn good boss,” I retorted.

“Just another grumpy fucking cowboy giving people shit,” he continued.

“Fuck off.”

“Nah, I don’t feel like it.”Good.“Besides, it’s fun watching you squirm in front of them.”

When we were completely alone, I turned to face him. Before I could say a damn word, he leaned over the fence and kissed me, taking me by surprise. The kiss was brief but fuck me, it sent my pulse through the roof.

“You still look stupid in that fucking hat,” he murmured against my lips. I frowned and pulled back.

“What the hell do you have against my hat?” I demanded but that smirk on his face said it all. “You fucker.”

I kissed him again, letting it linger briefly.

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