Page 94 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“That’s okay. I’m sure it was special.”
“It was healthy,” Mac said. “And that’s all we care about.”
“Are the wolves going to get any of those calves?” I asked them, as my eyes trailed over the newborns who were finding their feet and latching on to their mothers’ teats.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Tag said, mounting a large, brown horse, where a rifle holster was secured to the saddle.
It wasn’t my first time seeing a gun, justlike it wasn’t my first time seeing a herd, but the connection was there again. Tag would do whatever it took to save the calves, not because he was fond of them, but because they were valued for what they would become. Which was a product on the market. A very highly valued product because of how they were raised.
This is what Ethan brought me out here to see. Not the calves being born so much as the full breadth and scope of the operation. Under a big, open sky, and inside a wide, open valley, it was really quite something to see.
“Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” Ethan said, as he circled around me on his horse to come up between me and Tag.
I nodded. It was all so beautiful.
“It was like this for me, too, when I came home. Had to remember it all over again. How much bigger it is than us.”
A big, brown cow with a white nose wandered over to us, her calf, newly born, was already up and following her momma around.
I shifted a bit on Shirley, uncertain what the cow wanted, but she just lifted her nose up and mooed.
“I think she’s showing off her baby,” Ethan told me.
I leaned over Shirley a little awkwardly to pet the cow on her nose. “You did a good job, momma. Your baby is beautiful.”
The cow mooed again, clearly thanking me for my compliment.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tag barked at me. Lord, that man was testy without his night’s sleep. “Sit up in that saddle. You’re going to spook Shirley.”
“Shirley and I have already bonded. She promised she won’t gallop or toss me,” I told him. “Right now, I’m congratulating the new momma. Look, she made a baby cow!”
“That is the whole point of his,” Tag said, making a circle with his finger in the air.
“Yeah, I know. But I forgot how cool it all is,” I admitted.
Like the other day when I’d ridden to the creek. Maybe Ethan was right. Maybe this had always been in my blood.
“Take her home, Ethan. Before she starts soul bonding with the cows.”
Tag mounted his horse and rode toward the trees that hugged the perimeter of the valley. “And watch for wolves on the way back,” he shouted, over his shoulder. “It’s not safe for a city girl out here.”
“Again, the cowboy doth protest too much,” Ethan said, even as he retook the saddle.
“The fuck does that mean?” Carter asked Ethan, who was close enough to hear him.
“I think Tag’s got a thing for our half-sister.”
“That’s not possible,” Carter said. “Because then, I would have to kill him.”
“Why?” I asked, taken aback by Carter’s immediate rejection of the idea of Tag having athingfor me.
Not that he did. We were just messing around.
Carter shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s like the brotherly teasing. It’s instinctive. We have to give you shit. No one we know is allowed to date you. And you have to tell us when we’re wearing the wrong color tie.”
“You don’t wear ties,” I pointed out to Carter.
“What about younger brothers?” Mac asked, coming to stand next to Carter. “What the hell am I supposed to do with an older sister?”
