Crossing her arms over her chest, she heaved a sigh. “Que loco, hombre.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Yes, ma’am. I should’ve known better.”
Amusement flashed in her eyes and she pressed her lips together as if trying not to smile.
“To be fair, I’ve never kissed you. Or hugged you. We haven’t even danced together.”
“We line danced together.”
“Doesn’t count. I’ve never touched your body with my body.”
“Well, you have now.” The slight tremble of her mouth and a quiver in her speech confirmed it. She was ready to bust out laughing. “What do you think?”
“It was fudging awesome.”
She grinned, her brown eyes sparkling. “Yeah.”
“I want to do it again.”
“I’d like that.”
“But before we do, I need to find out how you see things.”
Her gaze swept to his crotch again, which was still making a statement. “I see things as very promising.”
His pride and joy gave her a noticeable response. Of course. She had power over that part of his anatomy now. Likely more than he did.
She looked up and smiled. “Sorry. I got distracted. What did you want to talk about?”
“Our situation. I’m the hired hand and you’re the boss’s daughter. We’re not on equal footing.”
Her blink of confusion was followed by a quick frown. “Yes, we are.”
“No, we’re not. I’m here because your mother hired me. You’re here because you belong in this family and always will.” Stating that truth cooled his jets. “If you get mad at me, or for that matter if anybody here gets upset with my behavior, I could be fired. Sent away.”
Her eyes widened and her body tensed. “Did someone tell you that? Because I can’t imagine?—”
“No one told me. It’s just the way it is.”
“Ah.” Her expression relaxed. “You had me going for a minute. I couldn’t believe any of us would have said such a thing.” Her warm gaze settled on him. “That might be the way it is in other places, but here? No.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re way more than the hired hand as you put it. For one thing, you’re my sister-in-law’s brother.”
“True, but that doesn’t make me?—”
“Actually it does. When Jordan married Luis, you became part of the Bridger Bunch whether you like it or not.”
The possibility stunned him.
“You didn’t figure that out?”
“No.” He dragged in a breath, his chest tight with emotion. “No, I didn’t.”
“I guess we all thought it was obvious so nobody said it out loud. The focus was on those two, and… I’m sorry, Cole. Somebody should have made a point of it. For sure my dad would’ve.”
He still couldn’t get his head around it. “Then you’re saying….”
