Page 15 of Knot Her Cowboys
“Hairnets?”
“Drawer on the right next to the sink.”
She plucked one out and whipped it over her hair, then washed her hands before doing a loop around the kitchen to familiarize herself with a space. “What still has to be done?”
“Everything.” I laughed.
“All righty, let’s get a move on, then. Is it just you and me?”
“We can pull in some others if we need to,” I offered.
“Nah, we can do it.” She dipped into the walk-in cooler, emerging with a couple of stacked flats of summer berries. “If you give those a wash, we can start slicing them up.” Riley stopped short. “Sorry, this isn’t my kitchen. Do you want to lead?”
“I’m happy to follow. Just tell me what you need me to do and let me know if you have any questions.”
“Roger that. Berry washing, please.” She gathered up a mixing bowl and measuring cup, disappearing into the pantry to acquire the rolled oats for oatmeal. It was interesting to watch, seeing her move with such surety and skill. The menu wasn’t complicated by any means, but it still had to be done quickly and safely. “I’ll make a little more than I think we might need and I can bake any leftovers into snack bars.”
“Sounds good to me.” I ran all the berries through a quick vinegar-and-water soak before rinsing thoroughly and making sure they were all dry.
Riley didn’t start cooking anything, just measuring and preparing, neatly lining everything up so as the time got closer it would take barely any time to complete.
“Do you all rotate kitchen duty?” she asked.
“For now. We’re looking to hire, but not everyone wants to live on-site or commute this far.”
“You guys work pretty long hours out here.”
“Technically, yes, but a lot of it doesn’t feel like work. We have our specific jobs and the actual evening programs aren’t mandatory by any means. Everyone only has to assist with one per week, but they all tend to come out anyway.”
“I would too if I worked here. Maybe the novelty would wear off eventually, but if you’re a seasonal worker the fun probably lasts a while.”
She zipped around the kitchen, the breeze of her movements rustling over me every so often. I kept expecting it to carry her scent, but I detected nothing beyond the general sweetness all omegas carried. I wasn’t entirely sure why I was disappointed by that. If she didn’t want to have her scent out while she worked, that was her business. Most people would call that common courtesy. A lot of us didn’t bother since we would sweat off most neutralizers after a bit of hard labor, though a few staff did take blockers. I never did, mostly so that the horses always knew when I was close by.
“Would you be interested in meeting some of the horses when we’re done?”
Riley looked up from where she was meticulously laying strips of bacon on a baking sheet. “Hell yeah. Do I get to pick my partner for the trail ride?”
“You can tell me who you’d like and I can tell you if they’re a good fit.”
“Fair enough. Do you have a favorite? Don’t lie and say you don’t.”
I laughed and set my knife down, abandoning my strawberry slicing for the moment. “The ones I do therapy with are my favorites, but there are definitely a few characters in the herd. We also have one about to foal. She’s why Levi was late to dinner. We bought her for therapy sessions and then she just kept getting bigger.”
Riley grinned. “She came with a little surprise.”
“Bigsurprise. We don’t raise from foal very often since it takes quite a while for the horses to get old enough to be ridden and to make sure they’re tourist friendly.”
“Cooper always used to call that idiot-proof.” Riley laughed. “Did all sorts of ridiculous stuff with those horses to make sure they were chill so they wouldn’t accidentally knock a little kid into next week.”
“He still calls it that.”
Riley’s eyes gleamed. “You know Cooper too? Cash is being annoyingly tight-lipped about him.”
Shit. I forgot we weren’t supposed to mention him. I knew all about their history; frankly it was impossible not to. Cooper had never given up on her, but I had agreed to honor Cash’s mandate.
“Hard not to know Cooper when you know Cash,” I said instead of being open with her.
My statement wasn’t a lie, but I couldn’t outright say that Cooper was part of my pack. If Cash was right and that spooked her, all of us would lose this time to get to know her. I was morbidly curious to see what sort of person Riley was after she’d managed to entrance my packmates for so long. Cooper made no secret of his ongoing obsession, but Cash thought he was moresubtle about it. Any fool could tell he’d harbored a crush on Riley from the reverent way he talked about her over the years.
