Page 7 of Roaring Fork Wrangler

I pulled myphone out of my pocket. “I’m supposed to get in touch with someone named Hoss.”

The two made eye contact, but neither commented.

“Somethin’ you wanna tell me?” I asked.

Juniper shook her head. “We don’t really know him.”

But they knewofhim. It made sense they kept whatever they had to say to themselves since I’d be working for the guy. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter what they told me. I’d be here for a year, no matter how much of an asshole he was.

When Grayson walked through a swinging door with the dishes, I took the opportunity to study Juniper, who was staring at her glass of wine. The longer I looked, the prettier she got.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Colorado. What about you?”

“Here. I’ve never lived anywhere else except for at college. Even then, I didn’t leave New York State.”

“Where’d you go?” I doubted her answer would mean anything to me, but I wanted to hear her talk anyway. Her pronunciation of certain words gave awayan accent, albeit one very different from the one person I knew from New York City—Buck’s wife.

“Syracuse.”

I made a mental note to look it up later. “Major?”

“Dual enrollment. Business management and information studies.” She raised a brow, maybe challenging me to ask more questions.

“You’re on to me,” I said instead. “I basically have no idea where the town you named is or what information studies means.”

She laughed. “Computer programming and analytics.”

“You’re talking about college now?” asked Grayson, coming out of the kitchen and shaking his head.

I chuckled. They reminded me of how my brothers and I were with each other. We didn’t tease Flynn, our younger sister, as much as Grayson did Juniper, but that was because our father had been so cruel to her when she was a kid.

“Is everything okay?” Juniper asked.

I realized I probably had the same sneer on my face as I always did when I thought abouthow much of an asshole he was to all of us. Flynn, in particular. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Juni, are you ready to go?” Grayson asked.

“I’ll stay until Mom can leave,” she responded.

I got the impression her brother wasn’t crazy about her hanging out with me but kept his mouth shut, given it wouldn’t be a great idea to let a stranger—me—know their mom would be here on her own.

“I can stay,” he offered.

“You did last night.”

He nodded, then turned to me. “Nice to meet you, Cord. Enjoy your stay.”

I stood and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Grayson. Cool name, by the way.” I looked over my shoulder at his sister. “Yours too.”

“Thanks.”

When her cheeks turned pink and she lowered her gaze, my cock immediately hardened. Juniper was the perfect mix of self-assured and shy, and damn if I didn’t want to whisk her upstairs and get her naked in that big ol’ bed. Good thing her mama was here—a thought that halted any move I’d make on Juni.

“So. Juniper. Where’d your mother come up with the name?”

“It was actually my dad, and he can’t really take credit. It was his great-grandmother’s name. She was the twelfth child out of fifteen, so I suppose they ran out of ideas. My dad said they must’ve looked out a window and settled on Juniper instead of Tree.”

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