Page 11 of Winter Wrangler

“Oh right, you and Booker do cattle together, right?” She pops her gum and looks both of us up and down.

“Yeah.” Devin could not sound less interested.

“You two a thing or something?” Becca smacks her question, and I want to die.

“I work for him,” I say as shyness overwhelms me.

“Or something,” Devin responds at the same time I do, and I turn my head to look at him.

What does he mean by or something?

“That so?” Becca laughs. “Cause Mr. Bright is my boss, and you’d never catch me out in town holding his hand.”

“Yeah, because his wife Merry would murder you.”

“You know what I mean.” Becca waves me off and blows another bubble.

“How about you mind your business?" I toss back at her, shaking my head.

I’ve never been on this side of gossip before. When you come from a small town and everyone knows each other, it makes the dating pool real shallow. I never dated because I didn’t want to be with a man every other girl in town has gone out with. I was never the center of gossip like Becca has been, on more than one occasion.

“How about I settle it for everyone?” Devin interrupts. “Joy is mine and lives with me.”

“Whoa!” Becca’s eyes widen, and then she’s grinning like she’s just got the hottest cup of gossip tea.

“Devin!” I hiss at him, but all he does is give me a lazy shrug of his shoulder.

The way he’s looking at me right now tells me he’ll do whatever he wants and doesn’t give a shit what anyone else has to say about it.

It’s stupidly hot.

How am I supposed to resist this man?

Chapter Eight

DEVIN

I didn’t think it was possible, but we’ve managed to fill my truck to the brim with holiday decorations. There are things I bought that I’ve never heard of before. Something called ting-ting which Joy explained goes on a Christmas tree. To me they were a bunch of swirly sticks sprayed in glitter, but they seemed to make her happy. That’s why I bought all of them.

“Okay, maybe we went a little overboard.” Joy bites her bottom lip as she watches me stuff the last bag in the backseat.

“We?” I tease as I close the door and tip my Stetson up. “I believe this is all your fault.”

“What?” She guffaws in shock as she pokes my chest. “You’re the one that kept buying literally anything I would touch.”

“Hmm.” I pretend to think it over. “You know what, you’re right. I guess you should have been more careful about what you touched. Because now all those things belong to you.” I rub the spot on my chest she just poked. “Well, what do you know? Guess it means I’m yours now too.”

“You’re a pain in my butt.” She rolls her eyes, but I see the grin she’s trying to hide.

“Nah, I’ll go nice and slow when I get in there.”

“Devin!” Joy’s squeals ring out as I pull her to me and tickle her sides. “Stop it, you're going to make me pee on myself.”

“I’m not sure if you peeing on me is a kink or not, but I’m willing to explore it if it’s that important to you.” We’re bent over laughing as I pull her to me and keep tickling her.

“You’re the worst,” she manages to get out between giggles.

The sound of her happiness is consuming, and I never want it to end. All day we’ve been in and out of stores, and every time I introduce myself, I make sure they know Joy belongs to me. After the first couple of huffs of protests, the tension in her eased, and she would laugh. The more I did it, the more she relaxed.

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