Page 81 of Shared on the Ranch

“I don’t ever feel like this,” she managed through gritted teeth. “Not when I ride, or… ever. Just…” She gestured wordlessly, feeling helpless to explain.

“Of course not.” The blonde’s eyes twinkled at her knowingly. “You’re a thrill seeker. Youlikebeing in the limelight. But that’s a way to be seen withoutbeingseen.” Lora placed her hand over her heart. “Here. Where it counts.”

Chyanne did a double-take. “What did you say you do for a living again?”

Lora smiled. “I’m an actress, but Ididplay a therapist once.”

“Well, that explains it.” She giggled, and even Nate chuckled. Somehow, it made her chest feel lighter and the room in general just felt less tense.

“Do you really feel like you ruin everything?” Lora asked.

It didn’t feel quite as hard this time to nod. “I know I do.”

“Do you think maybe you self-sabotage? Just a little?”

“Why would I do that? Who does something like that? Ruins a good thing on purpose?”

“People who don’t think they deserve good things,” Lora answered without hesitation. “And from where I’m standing, I don’t know, it seems like you’ve kinda been trying to self-sabotage since you got here.”

“No,” Chyanne answered without hesitation. “I’ve been hiding.” Taking a deep breath, she moved her gaze to Nate. “I… I haven’t been entirely truthful with you, sir. With… any of you, actually.” She included Chandler and Aaron in the conversation by looking at each of them in turn.

Aaron recaptured her hand and Chandler put his arm around her shoulders.

“We’re here for you,” Chandler murmured. “No matter what.”

There was a time when she would have been tempted to discount his words. To toss them away as nothing more than useless syllables, like most people’s words were. But she knew him now—she knewthem. And she knew she could count on them.

That was the very thing she’d never had before, the thing that had been missing in her life up to this point. And the very reason she was able to go on.

“When I applied for this job, what I failed to tell you is that I was fired from my last job as a barrel racer.” She swallowed hard and winced. “The lastthree, actually. So… being hired here… it was my last hope to have a job as a rodeo rider. Our world is very small, and word gets around pretty quickly so when I read you were starting a program, well… it seemed like my chance to get in with someone who didn’t know about my past. Mylastchance.”

It was as honest as she’d ever been, and Chyanne felt as exposed as if she was standing in front of Nate naked. In fact, she would have been more comfortable if she had been—she’d always heard great things about her butt.

But she didn’t have her awesome ass or anything else to distract from the bomb she’d just dropped. To make matters worse, she couldn’t read Nate’s level gaze. His expression gave nothing away.

“You don’t think I knew that?” he asked at last.

“What?” She wasn’t sure she’d heard him right.

“You don’t think I do a background check on everyone I’m looking to hire?”

Her brow crinkled. “Well, I can pass one of those…”

“I asked around about you, Miss Saunders.”

As realization dawned, her jaw dropped. “You mean… you…”

“I know. I know everything.”

Her body was so confused by this pronouncement that she began to gasp and ended up coughing instead. “But… I don’t understand.”

“Hot temper. Argumentative. Doesn’t work well with others,” he ticked her infractions off on his fingers.

Chyanne swallowed hard, and forced her reluctant tongue to speak. “Then I g-guess you didn’t hear about…” She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to go any further. She couldn’t make herself say it.

Nate cleared his throat, but his voice was no less gentle when he said, “I heard about the unfortunate incident with the other riders.”

Her shock was so acute that her eyes snapped open. She shook her head, unable to form words that made any sense. Her brain was racing that quickly.It’s not possible. He can’t. He can’t know all of it, or he never would have hired me.

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