Page 8 of Freeing the Wild
“Yes, they are,” Ivy agrees.We lock eyes and grin at each other.I know she misses me just as much as I miss her.I turn back to watch the rest of my uncut video.After I fall, Haden slides into the dirt beside me before lifting me up in his strong arms.This part won’t make it onto my social media but I’m certainly not deleting the way his powerful arms scooped me up, or the concern that crossed his rugged features as he looked down at me.
“Pissed off or not”—I look back at Wade and Ivy—“some pretty hot cowboys you’ve got around here.”
“Jesus,” Wade mutters before turning to Billi.“You don’t need to hear this do you, Bean?”
He plucks his daughter from Ivy’s arms.“I’ll change Billi’s diaper and spare her the details about how hot her auntie finds my top hand.”
Wade isn’t even out of earshot before Ivy turns to me with the mama look on her face again.“At some point you’re gonna need to learn that you aren’t invincible.And that your actions impact others.”
“Yes, Mom.”I salute her.“I’m done manipulating cowboys.I’ve learned my lesson.I just had to get this video.I thought I could handle it.I was wrong.”
“Don’t you have a show this weekend?”Ivy changes the topic as she folds up a baby blanket and sets it on the edge of the sofa.“You can’t very well play guitar with broken arms.”
“I know,” I offer a little too sharply.I don’t need to be scolded by her and Haden in the same day.
Ivy sighs.“Try to at least stay out of trouble for the rest of the day, Cass.Dinner is at six.Wade’s grillin’ and Mama is coming.Oh, and Cole and Ginger.”
“Cole’s the brother, right?Does he look anything like Wade?”I ask with a wiggle of my eyebrows.
“He’sbeyondtaken.Stay out of trouble.”She points a finger at me.
“Staying out of trouble is my middle name,” I offer innocently as I wrap my arm around Ivy’s shoulders.“I’m planning on heading back to Mama’s and getting all this dirt off of me before spending the whole afternoon with you, Mama, and my new angel niece before I have to leave tomorrow.”
A thought crosses my mind as Wade re-enters the room with Billi.Posting some photos with my sweet new niece might be a good idea if Ivy is alright with it.Anything on my social media that makes me look relatable thrills my manager.
“I’ll be back in a half-hour, lovebirds,” I singsong.“Oh, and I have to meet my bassist for Lexington at some pub called the Horse and Barrel tonight.Is that place any good?”
Ivy laughs as she takes Billi from Wade.I move closer to take a deep breath of her delicious newborn scent as I bend down and kiss the top of her head in Ivy’s arms.She’s so tiny, and it still blows my mind how much I can love a person I just met.
“It’s plenty good.The manager, Nash, is like family,” Ivy says as I stroke Billie’s fuzzy head with the back of my finger.
“You’re going to the Horse and Barrel alone?That a good idea?”Wade asks.Bless him.He’s already such a dad.
“I’ll be fine.I won’t be long with my meeting and, after that, we’ll see where the night takes me.I can’t pick up a local cowboy when I’m with a crowd, duh.Unless this Nash is there and he’s any—”
Ivy snorts.“Also off-limits.And since when were cowboys your type?”
“Ranchers,” Wade bites out.Ivy already told me they aren’t cowboys.Cowboys need cows.
I make my way back to the front door to pull my boots on and head to Mama’s for a shower.
“Cowboys were never really my thing, but you know when you see someone licking an ice cream cone and that makes you wish you could lick your own ice cream cone?”
“Christ.Did she learn her lack of boundaries from you?”Wade asks Ivy, shaking his head.
I shrug.“We’re family now, Wade, and I don’t believe in sugar-coating.Especially when it comes to ice cream cones.”
“You don’t say?”he says, his voice lined with sarcasm, before he adds, “Try to at least make it back to your cabin without accosting any more of my ranch hands.”
“I make no promises.See y’all soon,” I joke, heading out onto the porch.I look around and take a deep breath as I start the short walk to Spirit, where my mama lives.I’m longing for a hot shower to wash both the dust from me and the scent of that cowboy that still lingers in my hair.Haden.
He caught me off guard with his deep stare and caring ways earlier, which is a first.Usually, I tend to leave the impression, not the other way around.
I chalk it up to the country charm of Silver Pines and Laurel Creek.There’s a certain romance that just settles around you with the breeze.I’m starting to see why Ivy likes it here so much.You can’t go wrong with rolling hills, fresh air and hot cowboys.
CHAPTER FIVE
Haden
