Page 4 of His Wilde Little
“They accept cowboys?”
“Even cowboys.” His face turned a deep shade of pink. I think he had a little crush on him, and while he might not have been my go-to brand of guy to date, I also wasn’t going to make my new job messy by starting something with the owner’s son. That had been a certified disaster in the past.
He nodded. “Although, you kinda look a little too clean to be a cowboy.”
“Ouch,” I laughed. “I wanted to make a good impression; these are my cleanest clothes. I’m sure you’ll see me get them dirtied up soon.” And there I went, blowing my rule, and flirting.
“If you do some hard work, sure,” he said. “But I’ll have to see it to believe it. And your boots barely have a mark on them.”He nodded to my Lucchese boots. And now, I was absolutely sure we were flirting.
“Those are a new pair, don’t worry thought, they’ll be broken in soon enough,” I told him. “And if you’re lucky, I might let you watch when I tame that stallion your dad has coming in. It’s a skill you might want to get behind.”
Running his tongue across his teeth, there was something spicy in this Vermont boy. I wanted to know more, but I had to take into consideration that rule about not flirting with the ranch family. “If I wanted to climb on top of something muscular and bucking, I’d head to a local bar,” he said, and with that, I was well and truly stunned. He left with a little twirl and walked away with a swerve to the way his hips moved and motioned like he knew I was watching.
Closing the door with the tray in hand, I discovered cold bullets of sweat run down my back. I didn’t know if he’d been flirting or not, maybe he was just teasing, but that was flirting in my eyes. I sucked back a breath and walked the tray to the kitchenette where I peeled back the foil and immediately grabbed one of the cookies. It was so sweet, I could’ve dived headfirst right into a bowl of cookie dough.
When I agreed to come up here for the job, I was told all about the family and how everyone helped out. I wasn’t made aware that Jace was a brat, full of sass and a stare down that I wanted to be undressed by. I needed a cold shower ASAP or I’d end up doing something stupid.
One thing that was for certain, I would have to avoid Jace at all costs.
Adjusting to life on a new ranch was something I’d become good at, usually it was easier when I was sharing a space with a bunch of other cowboys, and we could play cards or talk shit with each other. Adjusting here was hard. I had too much of my own space now.
The first day evening was spent unpacking, having an evening meal with the family, and then Jace being forced into showing me the town tomorrow. He was in his twenties, according to his dad, at least, but I didn’t know if it was just around me when he turned into a sassy tween, the sort of behavior I’d expect from his younger brother, the one who ate supper at the table with his handheld computer.
And I barely slept at all that night. I was so used to the white noise of others around. Even when I had my own small room, the occasional distant sleep talking and snoring was surprisingly missed.
I finally got up at four, showered, toasted some of the bread Jace had brought over as a welcome gift, and got dressed to meet whoever was up for the morning. I made sure I wasn’t dressed so clean today, I didn’t need some kid telling me I didn’t look like I had years of experience because I’d managed to wear some starched clothes.
Walking over to the main house, I soaked in the cool morning breeze as I blew around me. I was so taken in by the surroundings that I nearly missed the scowling eye rolls from Jace on the porch with the dog at his side.
“You weren’t kidding about waking up early,” he said, pulling earbuds from his ears.
“No, there’s one thing about me, Jace, I don’t lie,” I told him. “But if you’d prefer to work alone this morning, I will not take any offence. I know you’re adjusting to all of this.”
As he stepped off the porch, the dog stayed put, laying its head back down, even after being called to from Jace. “You can help,” he said. “You’re here. We might as well use you.”
I laughed. “Not so much use me, but yeah, the sentiment is right.” I sighed and tilted my head, knowing we’d have to address whatever it was going on. “You don’t want me here. I can tell. But I’m a talker. It’s uncommon in a lot of folks like us, stoicguys, the type that utter few words. Well, not me, I like to get to a route of the problem. And—”
“I thought you were going to be some bigot,” he announced. “And after realizing you weren’t, I’m just kinda pissed that you’re this entirely different person. Like, you’re not who I expected you to be at all.”
“Well, there we go, you’re being open,” I said, planting a hand on his shoulder. “You see how that feels. I bet it’s good. Right. Huh?”
“It’s also that my dad decided to bring you in and a new horse, we’d already decided that once Betsy was gone, we’d get rid of the stables and expand with more alpacas. It’s like, he doesn’t even care what we all have to say anymore.”
I nodded to his words. “I’ve worked on plenty of ranches that have done stuff I wouldn’t have done, it’s difficult sometimes, but you’ve just got to keep thinking that things can change. Nothing is ever set in stone, and nobody is ever who they appear to be.” The last part, about me, because we’d only just met. He hadn’t even scratched the surface of who I was.
“Maybe you talk too much,” he said.
I laughed louder which in turn had the rooster crow.
“And while we’re on the topic, the guest house was supposed to be mine, or Olivia’s, but between us, I think she’s looking to move into town anyway.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.”
He shrugged. “It’s fine, it’s just a space and I had hoped it would be mine. We never got too many overnight visitors so a guesthouse didn’t seem like it would always stay a guesthouse.”
I wasn’t going to offer it to him, as much as I enjoyed having people around, I definitely didn’t have designs on living with the family in their home. It wasn’t right. I’d sooner pitch a tent and get warm by a fire where I’d boil water and beans right out of the can.
“So, where do you headfirst?” I asked him.
