He nodded, looking past me at the barn and around the part of the ranch visible from where we were standing. There was a barn and horse stables about thirty feet apart. The stables housed my horses Good Girl and Bad Boy along with some of my equipment and the other one was used for storage by the hay farmers. Aside from that, there wasn’t much else nearby besides a paddock for my babies. The house was half a mile away.
“You want to get started?” It was so cold that even our breaths clouded up. I focused on that so I wouldn’t just stare at the man. His jaw was set and there was a crease between his brows. When I didn’t respond right away, his eyes narrowed more and danced over my face. “Or should I leave?”
I frowned dramatically and lifted my chin. His height and the rim of my hat blocked a direct view of his face.
“Well, I mean… you’re the one here for the job. That’s pretty much your call.”
His head tilted a bit and I was blessed with my first smile and oh fuck.
“Is it really a job? She said you weren’t paying?”
I straightened my spine and my expression dropped. “You plan on working for free?”
His smile expanded and became even more arrogant and beautiful. I wasn’t sure if a man’s smile should be considered beautiful but his certainly was. “To my understanding, we’re supposed to negotiate. At the very least, you would be willing to offer a place for me to stay and home cooked meals while I help out with repairs around here.”
“I don’t cook.”
He shrugged. “She said you did.”
“She thinks it will get me a husband, no matter how many times I tell her one won’t just fall out the sky,” I mumbled out loud, regretting it when he spoke.
“Considering I have no interest in a wife, you’re safe. Now, we fixing the barn door or not? I’d like to shower and relax when we’re done. I had a thirteen-hour drive to get here and my back isn’t happy about it.”
I arched my brow. “Slacking on your first day.”
“In order for this to be my first day, you’d have to agree to letting me stay. Are we done negotiating?”
Oh, you can definitely stay, with your sexy ass…
“Did we negotiate?” I countered.
“Room and board and all the free labor you can handle. That’s all I need and what I’m willing to offer in exchange.”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re getting much out of this.”
“You could put the food back on the table…”
I smiled and rolled my eyes. “We’ll see. Would you like to check out where you’ll be staying before you decide?”
Originally I planned on allowing him access to the ranch hand lodging ,which was further from the house near the pastures, but my mind shamelessly changed the minute I laid eyes on him. Melvina had been right about having something nice to look at. He surely qualified which was what had me willing to offer the foreman’s quarters right beside my house.
“I trust you.” He glanced at the barn, assessing the work that needed to be done. “Let me get my gloves.”
I watched as he headed back to his truck, opening the compartment near the windows on the bed. He removed a pair of thick canvas and leather gloves similar to mine and worked his massive hands into them. He made his way back to where I stood as I shamelessly watched him like I had the right to invade his personal space. I didn’t pull myself together until I found some sense and walked away. He fell in step with me as I started toward the barn.
He lingered at my side until we reached the barn then somehow found himself incredibly close when I paused to point out that the hinges which held the door on track had rusted and snapped. His body ended up behind mine and my brain blanked while he lifted an arm over my head and pointed to something.
“The track is rusted too. Needs to be cleaned at the least but the best decision would be to replace the entire kit.”
I moved away and turned to face him. “I don’t think we can get that done today. We’ll have to head into town to get what we need. What about a temporary fix to get the door up for now and we can head into town tomorrow. Temperature’s supposed to drop to the teens tonight.”
“Let me see what you have to work with and I’ll try to rig something to anchor it until I can replace the hardware.”
I nodded and motioned toward the small shed at the back of the stables. My father kept a slew of things that didn’t make sense or have a rhyme or reason to why he stockpiled them. But I’d learned over the years that there was always something in there that found itself useful. As much as I wanted to protect my babies from the icy temperatures, I also had buckles to finish. So a temporary fix was going to have to work. Jubilee was two weeks away and I was already behind.
Without waiting for me to lead the way, he allowed his eyes to linger on me a little too long then started toward the shed. Ro had me feeling edgy and restless which wasn’t a good thing. If he was going to live and work here, even temporarily, I didn’t need to feel anything at all. This anxious energy that somehow found its way under my skin was a clear sign that Ro being at my ranch was a terrible idea.
But I was going to let it happen, regrets be damned, and oh would there be regrets.
