Page 13 of Toxic

“They’re chickens. All it takes is spreading some feed, checking waters, and gathering eggs,” he pointed out with a smile. He wasn’t wrong.

“At least let me show you where the feed is,” I told him.

“I found it yesterday, Billie.” His voice was deep and soothing.

Feeling like an idiot, I remembered he’d fed everyone last night. “Oh… I’m-”

“It’s okay,” he replied, stepping close and nudging me a little toward the house.

He smelled of leather and sin. And I probably stunk like the pig pen. My cheeks heated and I nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

I was still in yesterday’s clothes, my hair was greasy and he looked good enough to eat. Escaping into the house, I stripped as soon as I got into my room. I groaned as I stepped into the blistering hot shower. I’d only taken enough time to slap together a sandwich to eat on the drive back to the hospital last night, nothing else.

It had killed me to leave Gramps there alone, even though he had wonderful nurses looking after him, but when you had living beings depending on you for their meals, there was no choice. Toxic showing up really was a Godsend.

I wasn’t trying to be snippy with him, but he was so…delicious. And he was being so kind. And I was completely out of sorts. Though, to be fair, I tended to be a no nonsense kind of person anyway. Or at least that was what my crew used to tease me about. There was work to do, so I jumped in and expected everyone to just do it. I always helped. Never went to bed until the chores were finished.

Shutting off the water, I sighed, wishing I could stand there for a few more minutes, but there was too much to do. And I wanted to get back to Grandpa’s side before he woke up this morning. I dressed quickly in a pair of jeans, my usual cowboy boots, and a long sleeved checkered shirt.

I was halfway down the hallway before I remembered I hadn’t brushed my hair, or my teeth. It didn’t matter. There were animals to feed. My steps stuttered to a stop as I saw Toxic and Butcher in the house. Butcher was already tucking into a plate of pancakes. There were plates all over the small dining room table. Eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and Toxic was at the stove, shoving sausage links around in the frying pan.

He must have heard me approach because he looked over his shoulder, his eyes scanning me. “You look like you feel better.”

“You-” My eyes moved from him to the huge breakfast. The scent of coffee was strong in the air and I was embarrassed that my stomach rumbled loudly.

Both men stared at me with matching grins.

“Sit down,” Toxic said. “Get some food before this asshole eats it all.”

“Fucking good. Who knew you could cook, Bro?” Butcher mumbled around a forkful of food.

“You didn’t have to do this,” I said, voice weak as I sank into a chair. I was flabbergasted when he set a mug of black coffee in front of me and a clean plate and silverware.

“We need to eat, too,” he said, voice cheerful as he went back to the stove.

Jeans, boots, vest…and bacon. My God I could just melt into this man.

Based off Butcher’s statement about him cooking, I doubted that was the reason he’d made this breakfast. I didn’t know how to express my gratitude, so instead I dished up my plate. “It’s really good. Thank you.”

He smiled over at me, dumping the links onto a plate and joining us at the table. “Good. Something tells me you didn’t get much to eat last night.”

I ducked my head and filled my mouth with eggs so I wouldn’t have to reply. I wasn’t used to anyone other than my grandpa taking care of me. My dad had died when I was still in high school, so it had just been the two of us for so long. I didn’t know where my mom was. She’d taken off when I was a baby. Hadn’t wanted to be a ranch wife, so she’d bailed.

“Chickens, llamas, sheep, and all of the birds are fed,” Toxic said as he filled his own plate. “I’ll feed the pigs and horses after breakfast. What do you need me to do with the cows or around the place today?”

“The cattle are good until Saturday. That’s the day we’ll need to dump a new bale of hay in their pasture. We have cattle tanks out there in the fields for water. Really, all I need is for the other animals to be fed until then. Thank you for taking care of Hank for me last night, by the way.”

“No problem. Seems like you left out of here in a hurry. I already fed the dog,” he said, pointing over toward Eris. “She’s just acting like she’s starving in hopes of getting two meals.”

I laughed at that and snuck her a piece of bacon under the table. “That’s her goal in life, to have multiple meals.” I looked up at Toxic and found him staring at me, looking a little bewildered. I wasn’t sure why, but I liked the way he was watching me. Too much.

Focusing back on my food, I forced myself to eat. It was hard to keep my mind straight right now. Most of my attention was on Gramps. The other half was on the ranch animals, and this man. Butcher was here too, but he was staying quiet and shoveling food in his mouth so fast it was almost alarming. He wasn’t having any kind of effect on me at all. But Toxic? I couldn’t seem to get him out of my mind.

Which was stupid. Because a man like him wasn’t the kind a woman should be thinking about. He was more than just gorgeous. He had that confident air that men who were at ease with women always had. I’d learned what that meant far too late. Will had taught me all about the ways of womanizing men. And I got the same feeling about Toxic.

Not that he was even doing or saying anything inappropriate. In fact, it was completely opposite. He was being so incredibly kind and thoughtful. Making sure I got a shower, and food, as well as taking care of my responsibilities. Maybe I was wrong about him. Not that it mattered either way. Neither of us were here to flirt. “I don’t know how to thank you for this,” I finally said, breaking the quiet.

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