Page 24 of Choosing the Montana Cowboy

Yes, she’d told Cyn about tripping and falling into him at the hearing. And running into him at the saloon. She’d also mentioned the physical attraction she felt every time he was nearby, which now she was second-guessing.

“Heck, yeah, I am,” Cyn countered. “The way you describe him, he sounds good enough to eat.”

Natalie’s thoughts shifted to Sam. He’d looked handsome as ever tonight. But, Lord, when that man smiled, it did things to her. Got her insides in a tangle and almost made her think she was ready to come off her self-imposed dating sabbatical. Too bad Terakion had a policy about not mixing business with pleasure.

Then again, it wasn’t like he was a developer or contractor. Sam was just a landowner, a resident of the town she was staying in.

“Helloooo, Earth to Natalie. I know exactly where your thoughts just went, and you know how I feel on the subject.” She lowered her voice and murmured, “What corporate doesn’t know can’t hurt them.”

Natalie laughed softly. Some days, she felt like Cyn knew her better than she knew herself. “We’ll see.”

“Pfft, which meansno. But if you have a chance to step outside your comfy little box and play on the wild side, I say go for it. Besides, when—not if—you get this promotion, you’re going to be back home with a schedule that will actually allow you to date again. Might as well get a little practice in, especially if Mr. Cowboy is game. They don’t make ’em like that out here, you know.”

Natalie laughed and wrapped up their conversation. Cyn needed to get to bed since she had to get up early for work in the morning, and Natalie needed some time alone with her thoughts about work. About ferrets. About Sam.

For a moment tonight, he’d almost looked like he was thinking about kissing her. But he hadn’t. Was it because she’d read him wrong or because he was waiting for her to make the first move? Goodness, did she even know how to make the first move anymore? It’d been a few years since she was in that position.

Position.

Now her thoughts were going down an entirely different path. A forbidden path.

A lost-cause path.

Daydreaming, she could do. But actually acting on it? Natalie wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, she had bigger fish to fry at the moment. Like why corporate had blown it not once but thrice now. It really was starting to feel like someone at Terakion didn’t want her to get this promotion.

But who?

She rolled up to a seated position and texted her boss.Call me when you’ve got a free minute. Stumbled across another possible complication.

It was only a matter of seconds before her cell phone began to ring. Fifteen minutes later, her boss was up to speed and in agreement with her—they needed to vet this claim about the land Terakion was about to purchase. If it was truly habitat to an endangered species, this project might need to be relocated. The good news was, that didn’t count as a failed project on the books for Natalie. The bad news, however, was that shifting the design to an alternate location could take several months. There was land to target and a community to reengage after all the other contenders had already been told they were runners-up to Marietta.

And time was something she just didn’t have when it came to this promotion.

“Keep working on the community’s key players,” Steven told her. “If the ferret habitat isn’t confirmed, we can hopefully still get a yes vote from the planning board. And I’m still working on acceptable alternatives for the farmland lease. Should know more early next week.”

“That’s great, because, right now, they’re the only landowners who seem strongly opposed to the project. A few other families spoke out, but no one relied on the property we’re looking to buy more than the Flying J Ranch next door.”

“Good to know, and more ammunition for me to push up the ladder. But now that we’ve got a potential endangered species to confirm, we’ll need to reach out to land acquisition and have them do some additional research on EPA guidelines. Also need to get a professional photographer out there to validate the claim. Preferably one with wildlife photography experience. I can have Joyce go back in the files and see who we used last time.”

That brought a smile to Natalie’s face. “No need, I know exactly who it was. Neil Frey. I worked with him on a few projects at my last job. He’s crazy talented and did an amazing job for us last time. I’ll reach out and see how soon he can be available.”

She left out the part about them being good friends outside of work and how she’d been in his wedding. Heck, Neil knew her nearly as well as Cyn did. Doing a project with him could definitely help stave her homesickness. So could exploring this attraction with Sam, though she didn’t plan to go down that road. Hanging out with Neil would be much safer.

“Perfect,” Steven said. “Continue working the angles out west, and keep your chin up. I’m sure your hard work won’t go unnoticed.”

She hoped like hell he was right.

*

Sam stayed uplater than he should have that night, researching the black-footed ferret and endangered species in general. By the time his eyelids refused to stay open, he’d found what he was looking for. The US Endangered Species Act. According to the summaries he found online, it looked like the EPA could delay or block development that could harm a protected species or its habitat. If that was the case, it was only a matter of time before Terakion packed its bags and said adios.

The only bummer was that meant Natalie would be gone, too. Maybe it was for the best, her leaving before anything could develop between them. After all, it wasn’t like she was moving to Marietta; her stay here was only temporary, and him pursuing her would be like turning down a dead-end street.

Didn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun to explore things with her while she was here.

He crawled into bed, trying to push that idea from his head. Tricky part was, Natalie was the first woman in ages he’d felt any inkling to pursue. It was almost cruel. The universe literally throwing temptation at him, all the while planning to yank it away before it could turn into anything meaningful.

Then again, maybe this was a peace offering. Something divine to help heal him and prepare him forthe oneMadison kept saying would one day appear. Maybe this was how he was supposed to scratch that itch.

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