Page 9 of Knot Her Cowboys
“Goddamn, woman. When did you become such a tease?” I said with a laugh.
“Always have been, always will be.” She grinned up at me. “I have to cut the hug short so I can pour the batter into the pans.”
I pasted my most dramatic pout onto my face, getting another giggle out of her.
Riley scraped down the sides of the mixing bowl on our industrial stand mixer and I hoisted it onto the counter to pour it into the two pans she had already greased.
“What’s this turning into?”
“Bastardized black forest cake. I saw you guys had a bunch of sour cherry preserves so I’ll do a layer of that in the middle and top everything with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.”
“That’s it. You’re never allowed to leave. All our guests are going to starve without you.”
God, I fuckinglovedher laugh. Coaxing it out of her when we were teens had been one of my favorite activities, and I was thankful I hadn’t lapsed in my skills. “One gourmet weekend is all I can spare.”
“Fair enough. Do you think I could steal you away from your fiancés tomorrow night?”
“They probably wouldn’t like it, but what for?”
“There’s a bar in town that does line dancing. Do you still like that?”
“Oh my god. Absolutely the fuck yes. I’m probably rusty as all get out, but sign me up.”
I sent up a quiet thanks to the universe. I didn’t have plans to steal Riley away from her relationship, but her fiancés were going to get her every damn day, so I was going to claw up any time I could get.
I kept her chatting, letting her tell me all the things she loved about the East Coast. I’d lived there as a kid before my parents had taken their millions and bought up a ranch in rural Montana, trying their hands at being cowboys. They werenotgood at it, but they had the money to hire people who were, so things didn’t completely fall apart. I learned a lot from the staff, enough that when Cooper had suggested we go in together and start our own business out here, I felt like I was useful beyond providing the financial backing. I didn’t know as much as Cooper, who had grown up on a working ranch, but I wasn’t anywhere near as bad as my parents were when they came out here.
“You’ve lived in New York for this long and you’ve never seen a show on Broadway? Riley, that’s criminal.”
“I know, I know. Bruce and Bryan don’t like live theater.”
“So? You don’t need them to go with you.”
“I know that too. I did a lot of other New York staples; I just never made it to that one. All the people I hung out with were locals, so the tourist stuff never appealed to them.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re at least forcing the tourist stuff on those uncultured city slickers.”
“Oh god. Cash, they’re gonna ride horses in suits. What was I thinking, bringing them out here?”
“I think all of us deserve the opportunity to see them looking like hoity-toity buttmunches on horseback.”
Riley cackled. “They’re going to hate it so much. I feel bad.”
“Don’t. They’re grown men. They could’ve packed appropriately.”
“I did everything short of packing their suitcases myself.”
“Gross.” I said it and I meant it. “Please don’t tell me you do that for other stuff. You’re their omega, not a parent.”
Her shoulders hunched a little as she poured whipping cream into the freshly washed mixing bowl. “They’re both used to having an executive assistant handle most things.”
“Riley, you’re not their assistant. You’re their partner.”
“Iknowthat.” She huffed, shoving the bowl into the locking mechanism a little harder than necessary. “It’s just easier not to cause a fight.”
I stared at her long and hard. “Okay, I am painfully aware it’s not my place to say anything, but I heard that phrase a lot from you in high school when you didn’t want to get into it with your family.”
Riley bristled. “You’re right, Cash. It’snotyour place to say anything. Fuck you for trying to compare my fiancés to my family.”
