I can tell that I’ve surprised him too because he whips his head over and looks at me.
“Anyways…” I kick at the floorboards. “Are we almost to the ranch?”
“Just about.”
Jared puts on his signal, and I glance to the right.
Wild Ranchreads the silver sign hanging from an arched overhang. We drive up to the gate, and Jared puts down his window to punch some numbers into the box.
I glance down at my text from Mia. She’d provided the passcode, but Jared obviously knows it already.
We drive along the main paved road and I marvel at the large trees on either side. When we come out from the forested area, all I see for miles are fields. Fields of horses and cattle.
“This place is enormous,” I murmur. “You must love hanging out here.”
“I do. Going horseback riding and on hikes is refreshing.”
“Whatever happened to your coach wanting you to keep your feet on the ground when you’re not on the ice?” I tease him.
He smiles. “I got my agent to make an exception for riding.”
“Did you really?” Jared doesn’t do something like that unless it’s really important to him. He is a rebel for sure, but he loves his job too much to break too many rules.
“At first, I thought, ‘What he doesn’t know won’t hurt anyone.’ But then, I thought better of it, and I approached my agent with the idea. Coach said he gets that request more than he’d like being in Montana, and he always wants to say no. But he was okay to sign off on it.” He points at a ranch-style home off to the right. “That’s the main house where Luke, Chase, and Cooper live.”
Right, the three Wild brothers. I met them through Winter when we came to Montana last year. I remember they have a fourth brother too—Brayden—but he lives on his own ranch in a neighboring town. Their parents retired and left the family business to Luke and his two brothers to run.
“Where to?” Jared asks me. “There are cabins all over the property. Do you know where yours is?”
“Um…” I glance down at Mia’s text. “She says take a hard left at the fork.”
Jared glances down at his own phone and furrows his brow. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what it says.” I recheck the text.
He puts down his phone and turns the wheel sharply. We take almost a hundred-and-twenty-degree turn onto a dirt road.
We drive along for about a mile until the view of a log cabin on a crystal-clear blue lake opens before us. The lake is small, and the cabin is the only structure in sight.
“Wow.” I look over at Jared. “Do you think that’s my cabin?”
“It’s the only one on this road.”
I bounce up and down on my seat. This isamazing. I’m going to live on a real western ranch in a log cabin. And I can ride horses every day and actually get paid to take photos of them for social media. I can’t believe my luck.
“I’m never this lucky,” I say out loud as Jared parks the truck next to the cabin and we hop out.
But it looks like I am today.
Because the cabin is perfect. Private but safe. Far from people but close enough that I can call on the Wilds if I need anything. And I trust them because I trust Mia. And Jared loves them.
Jared grabs my suitcases and carries them to the front door of the cabin for me.
“Thank you,” I tell him sincerely. I reach into my purse. “I have the key in here somewhere…”
I’ve got my head down while I fish through my mess of a handbag. So when I hear a click, I don’t recognize the sound at first.
I pull out my key and look up to see the front door to the cabin is already swung wide open.
