Page 9 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

Well, this wasn’t how he imagined this conversation going. “I get it,” he said, “but that doesn’t give her the right to take over everything.”

Nick nodded. “That’s what Nancy does,” he said. “She’s been like that since she was elected class president in the fifth grade, remember?”

He did. Nancy with her too big eyes and crazy hair, standing in front of Ms. Roland’s classroom, making a promise for an extended afternoon recess. She was always just a little too much. Colin sighed and shook his head. “I’ve got to go pick up some lumber for the barn reno.” He had a lot of thinking to do, and he couldn’t think of a better time than while loading a few hundred pounds of lumber into his truck bed.

* * *

When he got home, Nancy was seated at his dining room table, blue binder open in front of him. She jumped up from the table, wearing a guilty look like he’d caught her out. “Colin, I—”

He held up his hands. “Just show me what you’re working on,” he said. Nancy held the binder toward him and walked him through her layout for the barn and all of the potential event spaces available on the property, and as much as he hated to admit it, she made a lot of good points. Not all of her plans were practical, especially for the first few years, but she had some strong ideas.

“I looked through the rest of this,” she said, gesturing to the rest of the binder, which contained his plans for the ranch as a whole, including the services he planned to offer to guests, “and I have some thoughts, if you want to hear them.”

Colin sighed; he knew this was coming. “Hit me with it.”

“It’s about the ‘working ranch experience’ you want to go with,” she said. “I mean, do you think city folks are going to come all the way out here to muck horse stalls?”

“Yes,” he said, plainly. “I’ve done my research, and the highest rated dude ranches are the most authentic. The Lucky Star’sbestattraction is their annual cattle drive. It’s historically accurate, and people eat it up.”

Nancy scoffed. “There’s historically accurate and then there’s just gross. No self-respecting Instagram influencer is coming to the middle of Colorado on their vacation because they want to do heavy, smelly labor. They want a cushy fantasy about being a cowboy, not the grimy reality.”

Colin smirked. This was the Nancy that he remembered from high school. Sweet and sarcastic and stubborn all at once. “You think you know so much,” he told her. Nancy shrugged, preening a little, and Colin smothered a snort. He probably should be annoyed that she was dumping on his ideas again. But after his talk with Nick, and the time he’d spent thinking about it all since then, he’d gained a little perspective. Yeah, it irked him a little to be criticized, treated like he didn’t know what he was doing. Irked him all the more because hedidn’tknow what he was doing—this venture was entirely new to him. And so as a result, he got worried and defensive and maybe a little stubborn, insisting on having full control and doing things his way.

But that was no excuse for not taking friendly advice. Nancy wasn’t a threat—she was a friend. She was giving him suggestions because she wanted to help him succeed. He just needed to throttle back his ego and hear her out. Or in this case, when he knew he had the upper hand, maybe have a little fun with the situation.

“Out of the two of us,” he pointed out, “I think I’m the better judge of what’s expected on a ranch.”

“On a real ranch, sure,” she conceded, “but dude ranches are all about the experience, and I think I’m a better judge of what people want from that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “On what grounds?”

“Event planners have to know people,” she insisted and crossed her arms, “and most people want to relax in the lap of luxury on their vacation, not do the chores that the ranch hands don’t want to do. I’ll bet you anything that if we pulled up Yelp right now there wouldn’t be one review complaining about not enough manure.”

Colin smiled, sly. “Oh, really? You’ll bet anything?”

Nancy’s brow furrowed. “Sure,” she said, though she sounded a little less confident now. Colin chuckled to himself and pulled out his phone. He had the Yelp app on his phone; he wasn’t lying when he said he’d done his research. He pointed to several reviews praising highly authentic ranch experiences. Nancy looked at them and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure there are just as many people looking for the complete opposite,” she said, pointing.

He had to concede, a little, here. “You’re right,” he said. “There aresomepeople looking for the fantasy experience, but I’m not offering that here.” He nudged her gently. “It also wasn’t our bet.” He pointed out a particular one-star review of a nearby cowboy-themed resort that was “so clean and sanitary that its stables smelled like a Bath and Body Works.” It wasn’t quite a complaint about a lack of manure, but he saw the moment she knew she was defeated. “So you were saying—?”

Nancy sighed and nodded. “What do you want?” Her tone was defeated, but her eyes sparkled. Colin stared at her for a moment, and then he stepped closer, leaning in like he was going for a kiss. He expected her to move, to say something; instead, her already dark eyes became even darker and flicked down to look at his lips.She wants me. The realization bloomed in his belly, and he leaned in until he could feel the heat of her body. “Colin—” Her eyes slipped shut.

Colin leaned back, grinning. “On second thought, I think I’ll hold onto this until there’s something I really need.”

Nancy frowned. “Pretty cocky, aren’t you?” she accused, though her voice was shaky.

His eyes dove into hers. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess I am.” This time, when he leaned in, he kissed her. The moment their lips touched, Colin knew that he’d made a mistake. Not because it was bad, but because it wassogood.

SIX

The morning temperatures soared into the upper eighties before seven AM. Nancy woke up with sheets sticking to her skin, so she decided on a cool shower to start the day. The torrent of cool water felt good against her skin which was almost feverishly hot—andnotjust from the weather. Her fingers came up and ghosted over her lips for probably the tenth time since she opened her eyes.I kissed Colin McCabe, she thought.

Once out of the shower, she took extra care with her morning routine: brushed her teeth for far longer than she normally would (I kissed Colin McCabe), moisturized with her “special occasions” lotion that had a perfectly subtle vanilla scent (I kissed Colin McCabe),styled her hair with an actual curling iron (I kissed Colin McCabe). She realized she was stalling to avoid going up to the main house to grab breakfast. What was wrong with her?

She pulled out a soft blue shirt with a scoop neck; it was flattering, and she wondered if Colin would like it. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Nancy threw the shirt back onto her bed. Those kinds of thoughts could stop right now, thanks. She didn’t need to be mooning over Colin. If she went there, what could possibly happen? Colin had Bex and the ranch; she had her job in Boulder. There wasn’t a lot of wiggle room there. She yanked on a pink tee shirt and her simplest pair of jeans and waited until she heard the Colin’s truck go by, taking Bex to school before she left the guest house.

She opened the side door into the kitchen and stopped short when she saw Colin filling up a thermos with coffee. He looked up when he heard the door and smiled. “Morning.”

“I thought you left with Bex.”

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