Page 4 of Shadow

“Still the quietest place on the ranch,” I let out a sigh.

Lindsey

Watching the man in front of me, I do my best not to drool on myself. Time has certainly been good to the cowboy.

“I guess not much has changed,” I say to Garrett with a gentle smile when he finally looks me in the eyes. “You always did hide out back here whenever you needed to get away.”

“And you always managed to follow me, too.” He gives me a playful wink and I hope that means we’re making some progress from the cold nod he welcomed me home with.

Taking a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs surrounding the newly built fire pit with two beers in my hand, I wait for Garrett as he continues to pace along creek bank. “Yeah, well. It’s the only place where I felt like we didn’t have to worry about everyone else’s prying eyes.”

“Wasn’t really much to hide,” he shrugs and that familiar sting of rejection reminds me of why I left in the first place.

Sure, Garrett Everleigh may have a good five years on me but a part of me has always been in love with the dark hair, dark-eyed cowboy, even the eleven-year-old little girl with stars in her eyes couldn’t help but drool over the sixteen-year-old kid who came to work on my family’s ranch as part of a work-study program. Or the eighteen-year-old man who moved into the bunkhouse a few years later.

He never treated me like a kid, even back then. Probably because deep down he was still a kid himself.

I looked forward to every single summer he spent on the ranch and may have even found myself watching out my bedroom window for his uncle to drop him off every weekend when we needed extra hands. When he finally moved in, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I no longer had to wait days at a time to see him. Garett was always around.

He is loyal. Trustworthy. Hardworking. Smart. And sexy as sin.

A deadly combination in cowboy boots and faded Levi’s.

Did I mention he also happened to be my brother’s best friend? Maybe that’s what always made me feel safe around Garrett - and made him the ever-alluring forbidden fruit.

Memories of my 18th birthday party come rushing back. The sweet pony necklace he’d given me as a gift. The steamy kiss right against the trees out here. And how he hid from me nearly every day after that, until I left for college.

I had big dreams out in California. And for a long time, I wanted to get as far away from Addington Ranch as I could. In part because of a broken heart. The other part, because I thought I couldn’t make my dreams happen here.

Gramps said I could always come back home but now I’m not so sure that was a good idea. I came home because I really had nowhere else to go. With the world shutting down around us and all the shows, and the Olympics, canceled - I had no choice but to load up Shadow and head back to the ranch that built me.

I thought the time at home would give me a chance to reflect. Maybe even start over and figure out where Lindsey Addington and her dreams fit in.

When Garrett finally gives in and takes a seat across from me, I hand him the cold beer and crack the top on mine.

“Tell me what’s new with you,” I say after a sip of liquid courage. The last thing I want to do right now is talk about myself. I’m sure there will be plenty of time for that later.

“Not much to tell, Linds. Same shit different day. Up when the sun rises, in bed not long after it falls,” he grunts and leans back in the chair with the cold beer in his hand.

“Oh come on now, I’m sure there’s still plenty to talk about,” I shoot him a playful glare. “Maybe a special lady friend in your life?”

He snorts and shakes his head. “Your little fishing expedition isn’t going to get you very far, Lindsey. No special ladies in my life, princess.”

“Ew. You’re really going to call me princess?”

“That’s what you are. The Addington Princess.”

“No,” I flick my beer bottle cap at him. “I’m not that little girl anymore. I haven’t been for a long time, Garrett.”

“I know, Linds.”

“Yeah well, maybe you can stop treating me like one.” Maybe coming out here tonight wasn’t a good idea. I’m too caught up in all the emotions. I can’t do this with him. “I don’t want things to be like this between us, Garrett.”

ChapterTwo

Garrett

“Garrett, this is Mason Taggert.” Kevin introduces me to Lindsey’s plus one the next morning before I’ve even had my first sip of coffee.

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