Cash closed his eyes, pointed his face heavenward, and let his thoughts do whatever they wanted. Of course, they conjured up an image of Lark in that swimming suit, and he grinned into the night sky.
“Where’d you get that swimming suit?” he asked.
“Took you long enough to ask,” Lark said, clearly teasing. “I expected a lot more comments about it much sooner.”
“Hey, I can be a gentleman,” he said. “Maybe that could be my nickname.Gentleman.”
Lark giggled, and he opened his eyes to find her shaking her head. “I kind of like Cashew. What don’t you like about it?”
“A nut? Really?”
“It’s cute,” she said.
“That’s what I am?” He raised his eyebrows, disbelief tearing through him. “Cute? I’m acutecowboy? My publicist would be horrified.”
That caused Lark to burst out laughing, and Cash marveled and reveled in it at the same time.
“Well, I had a few others on my list,” she said. “But I didn’t thinkCha-ChingandCold Hard Cashwere very cute. AndBanksandBucksandGolden Boyall felt kind of lame.”
“My cousin has a horse named Golden Boy, so that’s not going to work,” he said. “Maybe not everyone can come up with the perfect nickname for someone.”
“You think Songbird is perfect?”
He gazed at her, his smile seemingly stuck in place. “Have you heard your laugh?”
Lark’s face turned perfectly blank, and it could have been the lights as they changed to red, but Cash was pretty sure her cheeks pinked up as she ducked her head in that adorable, flirty move she did. He wondered if she even realized what she was doing—and what it did to him.
He cleared his throat, trying to tame his thoughts and his emotions at the same time. “It’s a pretty laugh,” he said, trying to shrug it off. “That’s all I’m saying.”
Lark looked at him again, something sparking and electric between them, growing larger and larger the longer their eyes stayed locked.
“Have you always wanted to be a vet?” Cash asked.
“No, actually,” Lark said. “But my brothers have that farm down in Texas, and I thought I could work with them if I becamea vet. And even if I didn’t, farms and ranches always need people with animal science expertise.”
“Do they?” Cash asked, as his research hadn’t netted him much information.
“Sure,” Lark said. “Cattle ranchers employ feed specialists to formulate specific diets that help their cattle grow the biggest. You know they sell their cattle based on weight, right?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Cash said.
“Well, they do,” Lark said. “I can work in the veterinary industry without being a vet by working in pharmacies for veterinary medical companies. I can work in food safety and quality control at meat processing plants. There’s a whole branch of animal science that focuses on training too, like K-9 dogs or racehorses or marine mammals.”
“There’s a K-9 dog training facility right here in Coral Canyon,” Cash said. “My daddy is friends with Ames Hammond, who owns it.”
“Yeah,” Lark said. “I know about it. He came to our elementary school a couple times when I was growing up.”
Cash nodded, trying to find a way to phrase his question without being too obvious. “Do you think I need someone with animal science knowledge at my cutting horse operation?”
Lark’s gaze flew to his, and Cash wondered if he’d just revealed far too much.Of course you have, he chastised himself.
“I mean, you could,” she finally said. “If they’ve done the training, they could help you train the horses, but they could definitely help you with the day-to-day operations. Because we take business classes as much as animal knowledge courses as well. There’s a track that works with the reproduction of animals, or they could function, like I said, as a feed specialist, and have contacts with your vets for the right types of immunizations and medications.”
Cash found her so sexy when she talked so intelligently, and he let the jet pulsing against his right foot push his leg up, and he moved it over until his toes grazed the top of her foot.
She pulled in an audible breath, even above the jets, and Cash grinned at her. “Maybe I’ll have to find me an animal science graduate,” he said, immediately hating his version of flirting. He pulled his foot back into place as the wind blew across his face, reminding him that he was outside in the winter in Wyoming, and he needed to have his wits about him.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Lark said. Either she didn’t recognize his flirting, or she didn’t think it was too lame. He leaned his head back again and gazed into the night sky he loved.
