Page 34 of My Cowboy Freedom
Chapter 9
Rock
“Sh,”I hissed. “It’s okay, girl. Hush.”
Maisy hated the ladders to the hunting blinds and I wasn’t supposed to be up there without her. That’s why she was barking, and that’s why I was trying to shut her up. Because sound carries and—
“Hey, George of the Jungle!” Elena’s shout came from a ways down the trail, but she’d be right beneath me soon enough.
Instead of getting mad at me for acting like a spoiled two-year-old, she made a joke.
I did not deserve her.
She was right next to me when she called, “Watch out for that tree.”
“Hey, Elena,” I muttered while Maisy lost her mind barking.
“You gonna come down here and talk to me?”
“Yeah. I’m coming.”
I swung a leg over the railing and let myself drop. It wasn’t even six feet, but my boots made a satisfyingthud. I leaned over to scratch Maisy’s chin. She closed her eyes in a state of doggy ecstasy.
“Sorry, girl. I wasn’t trying to trick you.”
Elena stared at me, waiting.
“I’m sorry, Nina. I shouldn’t have let things get to me like that.”
“You can’t control how you feel.” She hiked the small incline to the top of the trail and stayed there, waiting for me and Maisy to catch up. “But you can control how you act.”
“Yes ma’am.” I said, falling into step with her.
“You may not appreciate this, but the boss and I are trying to look out for you.”
“How? By telling me who I can and can’t talk to?” I asked. “I think Sky is gay.”
“Did he tell you?”
“You think a guy has to come right out and say it?”
She frowned. “Rocky.”
“Say what you really think: I’d be an easy fuck for any gay dude who’s been in prison for—”
“Rockne Montana McLean.”
Uh-oh.The full name dropped only when she was truly unhappy with me.
“What?” I deflated, horrified I’d let such a thing come out of my mouth. “Aw, goddamnit Elena, a man hides in a deer blind off-season for one reason and one reason only. I am not fit for mixed company right now.”
She stared at me for a full thirty seconds before she started giggling.
Thank God for Elena. She was so... bombproof.
“We never said you can’ttalkto the new hand. We asked you to let him settle in first. I know you wanted to go with them to Bitterroot. But there’ll be other trips into town.”
Elena didn’t get it.
