Page 11 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“They didn’tsendme,” I made it clear. “I volunteered to come.”
“For what purpose?”
Because you might listen to me.
Because if you’re coming back to the Gulch, you’re going to need someone at your back, and I want that someone to be me.
Because I wanted to see you.
“The Swinging D is in trouble,” I said bluntly, sticking with the truth I was allowed to share. The truth that made sense.
“No,” she shook her head, her delicate features moving from stunned to confused and back again. “That’s not possible. Harmony married a McGraw and together they saved the Feud Day Festival, which saved the ranch, which saved the town. Right? Everybody is saved.”
I shook my head and picked up one of the two forks laid out as a place setting. Who needed two forks to eat a steak?
“That was the first part of Old Man McGraw’s will. He believed if we were going to save the Gulch, the McGraws and the Calloways had to bury the hatchet once and for all.”
“Question,” she lifted one manicured fingernail. “Because it’s been some time since I’ve been back to Wyoming, do the years go by there like they do in other places, or is it stuck in some sort of time warp? I mean, are you even in the same century as New York?”
“Last Hope Gulch is like any other town in America, baby girl.” Her eyes flared at that nickname. “Leroy McGraw was the antique holding us all back. And now that your sister is practically running things, the town is changing.”
Sunshine scoffed, and sat back for a waiter to place a martini she must have already ordered at the bar, in front of her. There was an elegant lemon twist sitting on the edge of the frosted glass. I wasn’t a martini guy, but watching her take a sip from it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
I ordered a beer. The waiter started to list them, and was on number ten, when I stopped him and just asked him to pick his favorite.
“You know, they’re happy,” I said, when we were alone again. “Ethan and Harmony. Really happy. Can’t keep their hands off each other happy.”
“So she’s said.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t quite hear the words over the disdain dripping from your voice.”
Her eyes flashed at me. Like firecrackers in July.
That’s right, Sunshine. I don’t care how smart you are, I’m always going to call you on your shit.
“Fine. They’re happy,” she admitted. “I can hear it in Harmony’s voice every time we talk. Love. Ugh.”
“Not a fan?”
She sighed. “From everything I’ve seen, it comes with a lot of headaches.”
“Comes with a lot of orgasms, too.”
It was like I detonated a bomb under her chair. She gaped at me, pink on her cheeks. As if the word itself was scandalous. It made me wonder about her. What her love life had been like since leaving the Gulch.
If the word made her blush…
Getting under her skin was proving to be fun.
My beer arrived, tall and frosty. I took a sip and fought the urge to sigh with delight. Their cold glass game was on point.
“Tell me about the Swinging D trouble,” she said.
“I don’t have all the information.”
“Tell me what you do know,” she said. The candlelight turned her eyes from merely brown to the color of bourbon. Warm and toasty. “Tag?”
I cleared my throat and got a grip. “Old Man McGraw overextended the operation by buying up more land. Combine that with a few bad winters, a changing beef market, some questionable decisions…”
