Page 45 of Stockman's Showdown

‘Deal.’ Ryder said that way too fast, when he usually preferred to answer questions with a question, to avoid spilling the details.

‘Do you want a cupcake, cupcake?’ Never had she been more satisfied with hisdo not test me glare.

‘Do you have the email address for Elsie Creek Station?’

‘I do.’ She pinched a piece of paper and a pen off the boardroom table and scribbled down the details. ‘This is the sign-in, and the password. I used to monitor it for Darcie and Charlie to manage the station’s correspondence and bills, and I’ve been babysitting it at the request of the trust lawyer.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us sooner?’

‘You never asked. And I kept forgetting.’ She took another bite of her delicious cupcake. It was a rich and moist carrot cake, made with almond flour and coconut oil that was such a delicious combination, she’d eat a dozen if she wasn’t careful. ‘My turn. Was Monet here earlier? I saw her plane flying over.’

‘She was here.’ Ryder’s scowl was ferocious, with Dex’s just as bad.

Bree used the napkin to brush away the crumbs. ‘What’s going on, Dex?’

‘Leo shot at Monet’s plane, clipped her wing. I had to repair it before she could fly home.’

‘Is Monet okay?’ She leaned forward, full of concern. Not only was Monet their favourite bush pilot, but Monet was also a friend of the family who loved her cocktails and music as much as Bree did. Liquid lunches with Monet had been known to roll into days.

‘Monet’s fine,’ replied Dex. ‘She went home.’

‘Good.’ Bree calmed her fears, licking the icing from her fingers, well aware that the following words were going to push their buttons. ‘I heard those gunshots.’

Eighteen

The woman was pure evil, sitting on the other side of their boardroom table, teasing Ryder with her freaking cupcakes.

Cup. Cakes.

Tiny little cakes with creamy icing, made from sweet and floury ingredients to create cupcakes.

But the way Bree was eating them was pure torture. She gave a small sexy moan, with her eyes rolling every time she took a bite of the cupcake. The sound had him shifting in his seat.

But when she started licking the cream from her fingers, his stomach and brain dropped to his groin. He couldn’t think of anything else.

But it got worse.

Much. Worse.

That tiny tip of her pink tongue flicked along her luscious lips. It forced him to gulp down his searing hot coffee to try and control a once very calm, controlled, and emotionless person. But not with Bree. He always struggled when it came to Bree. It was like she was defrosting his defences that had once been filled with ice, was now flushed with the heated desire to pick that redhead up by her hips, while swiping the junk from the table, to lay her down and have his wicked way with her.

If Dex wasn’t in the room Ryder might have lost control over his emotions—which never happened. But when it came to Bree…

Until she dropped the bomb. Like she always did. ‘I heard those gunshots.’

‘Where the hell were you?’ Ryder leaned over the table, his hands in fists, his heart hammering in fear for the redhead calmly eating a freaking cupcake on the other side of the table.

‘Out riding.’

‘Give me details, Bree.’ He ground his teeth, noting the irony at how some days it was like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of her.

‘I was riding along the east side checking for any damage from the landslide.’

‘You were at Starvation Dam.’

‘Correct.’ For once, it was a straight answer. Even if she used her fingertip to scoop some cupcake cream that she then popped into her mouth and sucked.Slooowly.

Ryder roughly rubbed a hand over his face to concentrate. ‘And?’

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