Home > Hot For Love (The Bradens & Montgomerys : Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls #7)(6)

Hot For Love (The Bradens & Montgomerys : Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls #7)(6)
Author: Melissa Foster

“Are you serious, Nick?” Her mind spun with questions and ideas. She’d been putting off taking a leap into starting her business, and now she realized why she’d hesitated. It was because her brothers hadn’t taken her seriously, and for all her confidence, that had held her back.

“Absolutely.”

“Thank you!” Excitement bubbled up inside her, and she threw her arms around him. “I don’t know how to pay you back, but I’ll pay rent, I’ll cook, muck your stalls. I’ll do whatever you need!”

He laughed. “I don’t need anything, Trix. I just want to see you succeed.”

“Oh my gosh. I’m so excited I can barely think straight.”

“Yeah, you’re shaking.” He held her tighter. “When do you want to head up?”

“Um. When do you want me?” As the words left her lips, a little voice in her head said, He doesn’t…

Would that ever stop?

Would the ache it brought ever subside?

How was it possible to be elated and ache at the same time? She knew the answer. She’d had feelings for Nick for years. Putting them away for good was going to take some time.

“Tomorrow? Next weekend? Whenever you’d like. You don’t have to decide now. Text me and let me know. I’m heading home in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Let me get my ducks in a row. Holy cow, Nick! I’m really doing this! And you’re making it not only possible, but so much better!” She hugged him again, wiggling with excitement, holding him tighter than she ever had. “Thank you so much. I’m going to make you proud for believing in me.”

As she stepped back, Nick pulled her close again, gazing into her eyes with a tortured expression.

“What? Do you regret the offer already?” Her heart lodged in her throat. “Do you want to take it back? It’s okay if you do. I understand.”

“I don’t believe in regret.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?” She lowered her voice to tease him and said, “Is it because I got drunk in Colorado? You can hide the alcohol.”

He grinned, shaking his head. “You know it’s not that.”

“Then what’s got your britches in a knot? You’re making me nervous.”

His eyes flamed, stoking the embers that were impossible to extinguish around him, and said, “You looked in a mirror lately? We might be just friends, but I’m still a man.”

In her excitement, it took her a minute to understand what all her hugging and wiggling had done to him. But now she felt his enticing arousal. Confused by the new revelation, she could do little more than stare at the flexing muscles in his jaw as he put space between them. There were couples dancing all around them, but she’d been so lost in their conversation, and now this, she’d forgotten they were even on the dance floor.

Sometime later, two minutes or ten, she had no idea which, he tipped his hat, flashing a panty-melting smile, and said, “See you soon, darlin’.”

Too stunned to move, she watched him stride through the crowd toward the exit, Don’t overthink it running through her head like a mantra.

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

TRIXIE WAS RUNNING on pure adrenaline as she moved cattle from one pasture to the next and worked through the morning’s chores. She’d been up all night thinking about Nick’s offer and overthinking the effect she’d had on him. She was definitely taking him up on his offer and planned to talk with her family about it over lunch. It was the other part of the equation that she needed distracting from. Had his reaction been a fluke? Or had she simply never noticed the effect she’d had on him? She’d thought hard work would be the perfect distraction, but her thoughts kept cruising back to that moment, and his voice had been crawling through her mind all morning. Have you looked in a mirror lately? We might be just friends, but I’m still a man.

Futilely trying to push those thoughts away, she carried a saddle into the tack room and took a moment to look at the pictures on the walls of the ancestors who had worked the ranch before her. The Jericho ranch had been passed down through two generations and was known as Oak Falls’s premier cattle ranch. Trixie loved everything about working there, from the grueling chores and scents of livestock, hay, and leather, to working with Shane, Trace, and their father. They all handled chores and worked with the animals, but Trace and Shane also maintained the equipment and structures, oversaw the ranch hands, and handled staff schedules. Trixie was the point of contact for buying and selling livestock, and she handled other administrative duties such as inventory of supplies. Their father’s arthritis had gotten the best of him the last couple of years, and he no longer did physical labor. Now he maintained their books and went over them monthly with Trixie and her brothers. She had been raised to understand every aspect of the business, and her frugal parents had taught her well. She felt fully prepared to start her own business. But the thing she loved most about working on the ranch was being part of their family’s legacy.

The irony that now she needed something of her own wasn’t lost on her. But was it any wonder? Her brothers had earned a reputation as horse whisperers. They’d been training wild horses before the break of dawn for as long as she could remember. Even Jeb and JJ, who no longer worked on the ranch, still took part in their predawn rodeos, aka male-bonding sessions. Even though Trixie had been raised herding cattle, calving, and doing ranch chores before and after school practically since the time she’d learned to walk, her brothers were old-school. Just as they’d tried to talk her out of stunt riding, they’d never allowed her to get on the back of a wild horse. Not that she wanted to, but she didn’t like to be told she couldn’t.

She walked out of the barn, squinting against the harsh summer sun. Trace came around the side of the building. “Hey,” she said, falling into step beside him. “Are you heading up for lunch?” Another perk of working with her family was the great meals their mother made for them.

“Yeah. Shane’s already up there. It’s hotter than hell today, isn’t it?” He took off his hat and dragged his forearm across his forehead. He shared their mother’s cleft chin and bright outlook. He had always been the cockiest of her brothers, but ever since he and Brindle had welcomed their baby girl, Emily “Emma” Louise into the world, he’d had a certain peacefulness about him. “Brindle’s bringing Emma Lou over.”

Everyone else called his daughter Emma, but Trace insisted on calling her Emma Lou, which Brindle thought was too country. But like Trixie and their other siblings, Trace was proud of his country roots and would defend them until the end of days.

“Awesome. I can’t wait to see her.” Trixie adored her niece, and she’d miss her if she went along with her plan to stay at Nick’s for a few weeks while she got things under control for her business.

“Me too. She cried again when I left this morning. Man, I hate that. I went back in twice to try to calm her down before finally taking off.”

“I wondered why you were late this morning. I thought Brindle told you not to go back in when she cries. You should probably listen to your wife.”

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye as they climbed the hill to their parents’ house. “Could you leave with that little princess bawling her eyes out?”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)