Page 18 of Keep You Safe
“None taken.” Adler’s good mood persisted, and I half expected him to whip out his phone to take notes. “We’re talking about other options like getting some tiny house cabins or converting one of the other buildings for guests.”
“A bunch of bored tourists wandering around are bound to be trouble,” Motley warned.
“So we keep them from being bored.” Adler’s earnest smile was damn hard to deny. He almost had me convinced this wasn’t a terrible idea. Almost.
“How are we supposed to keep ’em from being bored?” Reindeer asked.
“Chores. Activities. Outings.” Adler ticked items off an imaginary list.
Chips made a rude noise. “Sounds like summer camp.”
“Sounds like more work for us.” Motley rolled his eyes.
“That’s why I’m here for the next few months.” Adler could sell umbrellas in a dry desert and leave the buyer feeling great about the purchase. “I want to figure out ways to have the guests help without being a burden on all of you.”
“Thank you.” Casey smiled back at Adler. “Appreciate that.”
“How can I help clean up?” Adler went for extra brownie points as folks started leaving the table. “Is there a dishwasher?”
“Yep.” Casey was quick with the answer. “I’ll show you.”
“At least he’s helpful,” Kat said to me in a low voice as we did our part of the cleanup and packed up the leftovers while Casey and Adler tackled the dishwasher. Others did the counters and washed the pots.
“Yeah.” I kept my voice down as well. “He did decent with Cinder today. Don’t tell him I said that though. Don’t need him gettin’ all cocky around the horses.”
“Of course.” Kat gave a soft, knowing laugh as we moved on to gathering up the trash to take to the bear-proof cans outside. “Can’t have him thinking he’s doing a good job.”
“You saying I’m being too hard on him?” I dumped the trash bags into the larger outdoor can with more force than was needed.
“He seems under your skin.” Kat leaned against a post for the overhang that shielded the trash cans. She didn’t have a jacket on, but she also didn’t seem inclined to head back in. “Most people don’t faze you. But something about Adler has you pricklier than a cactus.”
“Don’t care for city folk. That’s all.” I wasn’t about to agree with her, let alone unpack all my conflicting thoughts. I continued to have no clue why my body—and brain—reacted to Adler like tinder to a spark. All I knew was that I had no business acting on that attraction again.
“That’s not true.” Kat was always one to keep me honest. “You get along fine with Maverick.”
“He’s not city.” Maverick might have spent two decades in LA, but I didn’t see him as urban in the same way that I saw Adler. And my mother—another thought I didn’t want to have right then and sure as shit wasn’t sharing. “Maverick is ranch born and raised.”
“There are newcomers who end up sticking around.”
“Don’t trust ’em.” A chilly wind whipped through the lean-to structure, but I suppressed the urge to shiver and stamped my feet instead. “Most end up part-timers. Gonna turn the area into another Jackson Hole. Playground for the rich.”
“And that’s why we need to save this ranch from developers.” Kat rubbed her bare hands together. “Much as I don’t like the idea, some income from guests isn’t a terrible idea.”
I made a frustrated noise. “You’re the one who said I could turn down having Adler as a hand.”
“Maybe he’s growing on me.”
She was far from the only one, which only made me that much more resolved to show Adler the realities of ranch life and keep my distance.
Chapter Ten
Adler
The bunkhouse wokeup at o’dark thirty. Not even a hint of sunrise peeked in the windows, and I almost fell out of my top bunk as various folks’ alarms went off. The bunk room Grayson had assigned me to was mainly used for seasonal and newer hands. This time of year, there were actually plenty of open bunks in the room, which irked me further that Grayson had given me a top bunk. Older hands, like Casey and Motley, had their own room in the rear of the bunkhouse while Kat and Grayson occupied trailers located behind it.
Not that I would have been so blatant as to try anything around the other hands, but a peek at Grayson in a towel or whatever he slept in might have been nice. I’d showered before bed, which was a good thing as I was way too sleepy to manage one now. I carefully lowered myself out of the top bunk, stumbled to my dresser, pulled on the first items I found, and joined the other bleary-eyed hands in the kitchen.
“Morning.” Casey handed me a cup of coffee from a large pot on the counter. The coffee was decidedly mediocre. Maverick’s taste for good coffee had spoiled me, so I resolved to gift the bunkhouse with some decent beans.
