Page 6 of M!lking Mina

Moving to a different small town… well, what was the point of that? Especially since her family was here.

So she’d stayed.

Plus, the cost of living elsewhere compared to her income was crazy. She maxed out her 401k and IRA every year, shehad an emergency fund that she’d never touched just racking up interest in a high-yield savings account, and she’d started investing on her own as well for fun. She was on track to retire in her early thirties if she wanted to.

There was no good reason for her to move, so why would she uproot herself?

But Esther had always wanted to move to something bigger and better, so Mina wasn’t sure her sister would understand any of that and she didn’t want to break this odd sisterly moment by trying to explain. Plus, if Esther had gotten fired, Mina wasn’t sure what her sister’s finances looked like at the moment, and Mina didn’t want to seem like she was bragging.

Esther had moved to a city for her job, and Mina knew it had to have been expensive to live there. Especially since Esther liked clothes, socializing, and going out with friends.

“I have to move back here. I’m moving back in with mom,” Esther said glumly. “I’m a failure.”

“You are not! You’re just… having a setback,” Mina said firmly, nodding her head.

Esther looked at her. Mina looked back. And then Esther snorted and started laughing. She did let go of Mina’s hand then, because Esther was reaching up to cover her face, but Mina didn’t mind. She’d made her sister laugh. And she couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

“Just a setback,” Esther said, laughing hard enough that she had to wipe some tears away from her eyes. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“Any time.”

“I think I’m just freaking out because I’m thirty and I haven’t done any of the things I thought I would do by now. Have a successful job. Get married. Have a kid. Buy a house.” Esther sighed regretfully.

“If it helps, real estate isn’t the investment it used to be,” Mina said. “And men kind of suck. You did have the successful job, and I fully believe you’ll get another one. Probably a better one.”

“Here’s hoping.” Esther turned her head, smiling at her. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” She sighed. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom, I swear I’m not just running away.”

Mina laughed. “Go, I don’t want you to pee yourself on top of everything else.”

She’d made her sister laugh again. It was a good day.

It got even better a few minutes later when her notifications dinged with the email she’d been waiting for. Her heart jumped in her chest as she opened it and read it faster than she’d ever read anything in her life – and that was saying something.

Rawhide Ranch, here I come.

CHAPTER 3

Mina

Rawhide Ranch was real, and it was even more impressive than she’d realized, even after poring over all the information she’d been given access to once her application had been accepted. She’d been a good girl and hadn’t tried to go beyond that access, even though she was pretty sure she could hack through if she really wanted to. But it seemed rude. Especially after Vicky had vouched for them, plus Amanda and Layne would have spoken up if they’d heard anything bad, so she couldn’t even claim safety concerns.

“Wow,” she muttered under her breath as the taxi drove up the drive. The gate and guardhouse she’d had to pass to get to this part had given her reassurance that she was safe here. That or it was a way to keep people in.

On the plane, she’d been practically bouncing in her seat in excitement the entire flight. Now that the moment was here, she was feeling a little more trepidation.

What if this was all a big joke?

What if she walked in and they thoughtshe’dbeen joking?

What if everything was real but the Dom they’d chosen for her was a dickhead?

Though, as far as she could tell, it was all real.

People came to Rawhide to get what they needed. Period. And she’d been sent the name of the Dom she was going to be paired with after the initial pre-auction scene. Patrick Ranallo. She’d looked him up, of course. He trimmed cow hooves, which had sent her down another rabbit hole of research because she hadn’t known that was a thing. She watched the many videos he had uploaded online about the subject and she’d learned more about cows and their hooves in the past week than she had in her entire life.

From his videos she knew that his voice was deep, soothing, and kind of sexy, but she didn’t have a clue what he looked like. Even on his social media pages, pictures of him were just of the back of his shoulders and head, which were covered with a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat. The most she got to see was his hands in the videos as he was doing knifework to deal with some of the more delicate procedures that the cow hooves needed. Sometimes he took the gloves off.

And then she lusted over his hands like he was some kind of Victorian lord in a historical romance novel where he got to unbutton a lady’s glove (yeah, that was her second favorite scene inLord of Scoundrels, so what?).

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