Page 5 of The First Day of Breeding Season
Which leaves her alone with me, and my own lusty gaze.
The breeze picks up, blowing dust between us and plastering a few strands of hair against her dewy cheek.
I step forward as she brushes them away.
I was going to do that.
I drop my arm. Hadn’t even realized I’d already lifted it.
Clenching my fingers in a fist, I shove them against my hip. “What can I do for you, miss? I’m afraid we ain’t hiring right now.”
Confusion flickers across her pretty face. “Oh. Um. No, that is, I mean?—”
“Pretty girl like you ought to have no problem finding something. I could help make some calls for you.” Even though I hate the idea of her turning on her heel and heading elsewhere, having her on the ranch would be a disaster. I’d be fighting my own ranch hands by the end of the week, and since I’m heading into the hills with the summer student, I won’t even be here to make sure they behave.
And most importantly, keep their grubby mitts off Daddy’s sweet girl.
Mine.
On my hip, my radio squawks. Another ranch hand, Benji, is trying to get my attention.“Boss, you there? Check your text messages.”
We use cell phones and radios in equal measure on the ranch. Most days, people have to use one to remind me to check the other.
Case in fucking point.
“Excuse me, sweetheart,” I mutter as I step back.
Pulling out my phone also means I have to stop looking at her, which is hard, but also for the best. I need to send her away, after all, and I won’t get to look at her at all after that.
“Um…” She shifts closer, trying to get my attention as I try to work my phone. “I’m not here for a job. Not exactly, I mean.”
I don’t have any reception in this exact spot.
“Hang on, I need to…” I hold my phone up and start heading up the gravel driveway toward the main ranch house, where I live with one of my brothers, Zane, and his wife Daisy. My otherbrothers, Noah and Trick, have their own homes, with their own wives, deeper into the ranch.
Sometimes I think they had a family meeting without me and decided Zane and his wife Daisy might live in the main house until they have a brood of kids that outgrows the bedrooms.
They don’t want to leave me alone.
I’m the last single Lowry brother standing. I’ll probably die a bachelor, which is just fine by me.
For all I care, they can all get out.
I don’t want them gofar, of course. But right now, Zane and Daisy are away, Zane traveling on the rodeo circuit, and he never wants to let his hellion bride out of his sight, so…she’s with him at every stop.
It’s kind of nice how quiet the place is.
Or was, before Little Miss Sunshine showed up and made me think about wanting things I can’t have. About how good laughter sounds, and how my brothers have all found their mates and I won’t get to have that kind of joy in my life.
Although the way she’s chasing me, trying to get in front of me and keep talking, I wouldn’t exactly describe our interaction as joyous. Persistent, though, she sure is that.
In the near distance, I hear a side-by-side approaching. Benji, probably, resorting to the third way of relaying messages to me—in person in a farm utility vehicle.
“Hey, Drew.” She’s literally running now. “We’ve exchanged emails? I’m the student doing the research project for the summer. I’m notmissorsweetheart.I’m Brynn Hughes.”
That pulls me up sharp.
Did she sayBrynn?
