Page 75 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

Our all-out battles we’d waged against each other in person had moved into texts. I asked him to move pipe to the dry section of the cornfield. He told me he’d get around to it in two millennia when he finished hoeing the beets.

Fun times like that.

“You’ve been talking about Remi a lot lately. And I’ve never seen you look happier than you have this past week.” Lili leaned back in her chair.

Even relegated to only using Oscar, Remi had taken over a lot of the responsibilities at the farm. Which meant he must be sneaking into the other tractors without me knowing, but I didn’t care as much as I once would have.

This round of hay harvest had been the easiest in history. More than half the field had been baled by the time I’d napped and gone out to the tractor. I couldn’t figure out how Remi managed to do it all. It was like he was three people. One step ahead of me and done with my check lists before I could make them.

Lili tapped her thumbs rapidly over my screen.

“Wait. What are you texting him?” I moved to take my phone, but Gabby held me back. I looked to Ryan for assistance, but his eyes simply crinkled at the corners as he smiled and went back to typing his notes. “You two are going to get us in trouble with Janice. She doesn’t like cell phones out on shift.”

“You and I both know Janice never checks in on the night shift.” Gabby allowed me to sidestep her.

Lili tossed me my phone. “He’s outside. He brought you food.”

My stomach gurgled loudly as if sensing its torture was nearing a close. “What? Me? Food?” I gestured dumbly to my chest. I couldn’t form sentences.

“I told him to meet you at the main entrance.” Lili shifted to the front of her chair. “I’ll come with you.”

Of course, she would come.

“I might as well leave now too. My shift ended over an hour ago. And I need to feed my fish.” Gabby stood and walked into the breakroom.

Ryan froze, and his eyes laser-locked on the door Gabby had gone through. Not one minute later, she marched out to Ryan and threw a handful of leftover hole punch confetti at his scrub top.

“You filled my purse. It’ll take me forever to get these out.” She hit him on his shoulder with her bag, and little, round, white pieces of paper fluttered to the floor.

Being an immovable wall of muscle, Ryan didn’t budge with the impact. “Payback for the chickens,” he said.

I laughed and helped Lili stand as we followed in Gabby’s furious footsteps. She paused at the door to the washroom and flipped her middle finger at Ryan as she pushed through.

With a laugh, Ryan looked at me. “Take as long as you want. I’ll cover for you.”

I held the door open for Lili. “You know her revenge isn’t going to be pretty.”

The crinkles around his eyes grew. “I’m planning on it.”

Chapter 29

Remi

“Berightback.”Iclosed the door to Myles’ compact car.

“Sure.” He shook his head at me like I was a lost cause.

With the stress of his job, I’d forced Myles to take a Friday night off. On our way into town, we’d stopped for burgers, and without thinking, I’d also placed an order for Angie. She’d become a part of my daily routine and had me trained like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

No, I wasn’t trained. I just couldn’t let her go hungry.

Pine needles littered the sidewalk, and the scent of evergreen permeated the dry air. Harsh evening light warmed my back as I faced the main entrance to the hospital. If the sun could get this hot in the first couple of days of July, then working in the fields would be brutal come August.

Weather this far north wasn’t supposed to compete with the Texan summer. Of course, I spent most of my days in an air-conditioned office or a cool pool house.

The sliding doors opened, and I stopped pacing by the banner that readHeroes Work Here, nearly dropping the bag I held. Angie walked out in her scrubs and slipped the mask first off one ear and then another. Her blonde hair flowed in soft curls around her navy-scrub-clad shoulders, and I couldn’t stop staring.

The pull I felt for her magnified tenfold. She saved lives for a living, tiny baby lives … what could be more attractive than that?

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