Page 15 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

She gestured for me to proceed forward. I straightened my shoulders and walked toward the smallest group of them, locking eyes with the one I’d selected to pet. Its breath puffed into the air as it snorted and tossed its head. I almost backed away but held strong, placing my hand right between her eyes.

I looked back at Angie. Lifting my chest as I took a deep breath, I challenged her with a raised eyebrow. I could do this.

Another cow chose that moment to kick its leg back and hit my crotch. Breath whooshed out of me, replaced by agonizing pain pulsing from my balls into my stomach. I dropped to my knees and dry heaved. I leaned back onto the ground and stared at the brightening blue sky.

What am I doing here?My brother and father wouldn’t have expected this of me. Why was I torturing myself?

Angie’s laughter grew louder, and she leaned over me. “Never approach a cow from behind. Especially not a mama cow.” She continued to chuckle. “Wanna give up yet?”

At the sparkling hope in her eyes, I knew I couldn’t let her win. I wasn’t about to extinguish the fire and call in the dogs on the first day. The cows, who’d at first dashed away at my knees hitting the ground, now dipped their noses close to me.

Strands of hay hung out of their mouths. I couldn’t read their expressions, but I knew what they were thinking.Classic. Stupid humans …andThis hay has the right amount of weed in it.I imagined cows thought of little else beyond food going into their stomachs.

Finally, I wordlessly shook my head at Angie.

“Took you a hot second to decide.” She stuck her hand out to me. “I’ll drive you to the house so you can get an ice pack.”

The sun rose behind her, shining through the blonde strands of her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. She wore no makeup, and her natural beauty was irresistible. Damn, she was gorgeous—and in one day, I’d learned to proceed with caution around her. I took her hand and stood, walking bow-legged.

“I’m fine.”

“Suit yourself,” she said, throwing me a knife. “Cut and gather the twine from the bales. I’ll wait for you on the canal road.”

She walked back to the truck, swung into the driver’s seat, and drove off.

The quiet morning closed in on me. Shuffling and mooing cows became background music. Carefully avoiding their backsides, I cut the orange strands, pulling them free from the bales. In between each bale, I took in the scenery surrounding me.

The rolling green pasture edged by the Snake River Canyon with its snow-capped mountain peaks behind gave this place an almost fairytale feel—like I lived in a landscape painted by Monet. I’d seen hisHaystacksat d’Orsay the first time I’d visited Paris.

The pain, still throbbing to the tips of my toes, disrupted the picturesque setting. This was a hard land, and only the people strong enough to tame it could live on it.

I smiled even as anxiety clamped down on my throat. How long would I have to do this job to close the deal? A week? A month? Assuming I could survive that long.

Angie looked at me like a porcupine in a nudist colony, lying in wait to find new creative ways to inflict pain. I tempered my scowl as I approached the truck and tossed the bundle of twine in its bed.

Through the open driver side door, she leaned against the truck’s bench seat. Her phone pinged, and her eyes briefly met mine. She tucked her lip under her teeth and slid off her glove to check her notifications. I leaned over to peek at her phone. The little parachute notification from the ExtremeSingles app popped up along the top, but then she turned her shoulder and held her screen close to her chest.

Hold on one hotfallutin’ minute. Angie? Online dating? On the extreme sports site? “ExtremeSingles.” I didn’t bother pretending I didn’t see her notification. “What happened to ‘I’d never do something as stupid as jumping off a bridge?’”

“I still won’t.”

“Then what are you doing on this particular dating app?”

She looked me up and down, then said, “You won’t understand.”

Pretending to be scandalized, I pressed my wide, splayed fingers against my chest and gasped. “Bless my soul, Miss Angie, are you …” I lowered my voice. “Catfishing?”

“No,” she answered too quick. “Maybe. Only halfway.”

I chuckled at her obvious terror at being even slightly dishonest. How cute.

She narrowed her eyes at me and returned her attention to her phone. “I’m just trying something new.”

Based on the look on her face, she really liked the person who’d messaged her. How could she be more attracted to a man she met online than me, a nicely formed, flesh-and-blood specimen standing right next to her?

“So, do you like him?”

“How do you know it’s a him?” She glanced over her shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow.

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