Page 2 of Tempted By the Broken Cowboy
With drooping shoulders, I exit his office, the fire I barged in with extinguished.
The Atwoods have been running Wrangler Creek for generations, and it’s always been men with all the power. This never sat right with me, so I took it upon myself to make sure I had a seat at that table. I studied hard—I have three bachelor’s degrees to show for it, a master’s, and I’m working toward my PhD at only twenty-six.
When I earned my political science and public administration degree, my father offered me a position on the city council, and I was thrilled. I thought I was finally going to achieve all my dreams of building Wrangler Creek to its full potential. Then he approved my first project, the free school lunchprogram, and I was over the moon. I decided to think bigger and draft a proposal for a mega project cutting across all boards: agriculture, education, manufacturing and construction, finance, healthcare, and tourism.
He laughed it off at first. Wrangler Creek has never had such a huge development plan before, until he realized I was serious. He agreed to finance it as long as I came up with half the money. No problem—I could do that, and I had the perfect investors in mind: the Morgans, the richest family in Wrangler Creek. One problem, though: the Morgans like to keep their business private, are averse to outsiders, and have been blocking all my attempts at a meeting. And now I’m running out of time because if I don’t get this project approved in time for the next fiscal year at the budgeting meeting in ten weeks, I will have to wait another year before I can bring it up again.
While sulking and feeling sorry for myself, wondering how I’m going to land that meeting with the Morgans, I bump into Landon, our family’s second-born, on the stairs.
“Yeah, dude, I’m so excited. I’ll see you later.” He concludes the call he’s on with a big smile on his face.
“What’s got you so excited?” I inquire when he lifts his hand to give me a high-five.
He picks me up, making me shriek as he twirls me around. “I’m going to Vegas,” he announces, bursting with excitement.
“Put me down, Landon. And what are you going to Vegas for? Do you have a competition?”
Landon is a professional bareback rider, so he’s always away from home for competitions. He sets me down and shakes his head. “It’s for leisure this time. Zane’s bachelor party.”
My eyes widen in curiosity. “Zane Morgan?”
Zane Morgan is the eldest of the Morgan siblings, who’s engaged to Ava Noa, a world-famous pop artist. Their love story has attracted national and global attention since Ava is beloved all over the world, but they have managed to keep it all very secret due to how private the Morgans are.
“The very one,” Landon affirms.
“Isn’t the wedding in a month? Why are they having the bachelor party so early, or is that a norm nowadays?” I prod further.
“It is, but the bride, Ava, has a performance in Vegas, so they decided to combine the bachelor and bachelorette parties,” he explains.
“That’s a neat idea.”
“It is.”
“Have fun.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
He tugs at my hair as he walks past me, headed to his room—such typical big brother behavior. Just as I am about to headback down myself, an idea pops into my mind, and I find myself chasing after him.
“Landon, wait,” I call out and manage to catch him just before he gets into his room. “Who else will be there?”
“Everyone except their old man,” he answers, looking confused, probably wondering why I’m this curious about his trip.
“Jace Morgan?” I ask hopefully.
Jace is the second-born of the Morgan siblings and the CEO of Morgan Enterprises. His father is the owner and chairman, but the man I need is Jace, as he runs everything.
Landon flicks my forehead, making me scowl. “Everyone means everyone, Quinn.”
Yes! Perfect.
“I need a favor,” I request, unleashing my puppy dog eyes on him.
“No,” he replies without even hearing me out.
“But you didn’t even hear what it is yet.”
“I don’t need to. Whatever it is, keep me out of it.” He replies, opening his bedroom door and walking in, but I follow him inside.
