“I’ll be fucking damned,” Chase lifts his hat and wipes at the sweat on his brow as he comes to a stop beside me, the keys to the ATV in his hand.
“Tell me about it.” She unlocks the gate and guides Apollo through, Judge sitting down to wait for her. When she’s on the other side, he allows her to unhook the rope and after lingering for a moment, he turns and casually walks toward where Honey is grazing on the brow of a small hill.
“She may just save his life if that continues,” Chase comments, still watching her as she lets herself out the pasture and then turns back to watch the Blue Roan, her hand idly scratching between Judge’s ears when he shoves his head beneath her fingers.
“Yeah,” I agree.May just save mine too.
The thought takes me by surprise, and it has unease working through me. I lift a hand to rub at the back of my neck just as Ralph lets out a long bellow, drawing Elena’s attention back in this direction.
Her eyes catch mine before flicking to where my arm is raised, the muscles stretching the cuffs of my white tee that’s no longer white thanks to the grime coated on it from working the ranch all day.
Chase whistles and chuckles, “Tellin’ you now boss, if she looked at me like that…”
He leaves the rest of the sentence hanging, but I get his drift and immediately slap him upside the head, knocking the hat off.
He just laughs and bends to pick it up, his chuckle shaking his shoulders still when he gets into the ATV to do his rounds.
I return my attention back to Elena, watching her walk toward me. She’s in a pair of tight jeans today, a blue pin-striped shirt tucked into her pants and sneakers, and the jeans do nothing to help my restraint. They mold to the shape of her hips and thighs, her long black hair braided down her back with wispy strands that frame her face. No hat today, and her cheeks are a little pink because of it, the sun having kissed her there.
My blood heats at the way her hips sway, the way her hair moves with the light summer breeze and her tongue darts out to wet her plump bottom lip.
“Careful, cowboy.” She drops her tone as she walks by me, skirting her fingers along my chest as she goes, “Keep looking at me like that and I’ll start to think you do like me after all.”
CHAPTER 17
“Why you gotta get me in the feels, hm?” I say to the horse as I bring him in for the night. He comes willingly, letting me settle him into his stall so I can remove his halter and rope.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out one of the snacks I grabbed from the mess hall earlier after dinner. The cookie is a little broken thanks to it being shoved into my back pocket, but Apollo doesn’t seem to mind as he takes it from my palm. I run my hand down his muzzle before I exit the stall and lock him in. He immediately shoves his head over the top, nudging me with the end of his nose.
“Yeah,” I give him another scratch, “I kinda like you too.”
Knox got Honey in earlier, and she’s happy eating her feed in the stall next door, paying no attention to me. We ate with everyone earlier, all the hands Knox has here—which isn’t many—Chase and Knox. It was loud and chaotic; there was more food on the table than on the plates, but they treated me like I was one of them. It wasnice.
Which of course meant I got the fuck out of there as soon as I had eaten my plate and went and kept Ralph company instead. Knox had left me to it, seeming to give up on keeping me away from the bull. He’d gotten Honey and told me to get Apollo when I was ready to come in for the night.
But the evening air was warm, and the stars were out in full force, so I stayed out later than I’m sure he intended for me to.
But then a yawn had stretched my jaw wide, and my muscles reminded me I did in fact need to rest, so I fetched Apollo from the pasture and walked him back to the stables.
I let my hand drop away from the horse and step back so he can’t demand more. He looks at me with these big eyes that catch me right in the chest, but I’m fucking exhausted.
“Night, Apollo,” I tell him and begin to make my way to the exit. The ranch is quiet around me, the hands off somewhere doing their rounds. Even Ralph seems quiet tonight. The dogs are patrolling while Judge is inside the house with Knox.
It’s peaceful.
I move across the gravel and turn to make my way to the house when a scuffing sound freezes me to the spot. It’s so dark out I can’t see much, and the light above the stable barely illuminates the space around me.
A low growl pierces the air followed by a second and then a third before it becomes a hum that has the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
I swing my eyes around, searching for the source, but I see nothing but several sets of glowing eyes.
My heart drops into my stomach.
Somewhere on the ranch, the two Heelers Knox has to protect his livestock start to bark.
Oh fuck.
My feet scuff in the gravel.
