“I said I was buying,” I protest.
“And I said I was paying.”
He slides cash into the folder. Too much, I notice. Averygenerous tip.
As we walk back to my Jeep, I poke his firm bicep. The cotton t-shirt stretches around his muscles.
“You have way too much brainpower to be knocking skulls together at a dive bar,” I say. “Couldn’t you have gotten a paid internship somewhere?”
“Can’t set your own hours at a paid internship.”
“You’re already spending a lot of hours at Mad Dog’s. And now you’re working overtime, fixing up the place too? I hope Dad’s giving you double-time for that, at least.”
“I don’t need to get paid to do a simple favor.”
I goggle at him. “You’re not even getting paid for today?”
He shrugs.
“Oh my god, Luke. Maybe you really did fall off the back of a turnip truck. Everything you do at Mad Dog’s is work. You need the money. It’s only right to get paid for what you do.”
His eyes glint as he looks at me. “It’s a passion project.”
This backwards-baseball-cap, jacked, gorgeous, sneakily-charming motherfucker.
I like himwaytoo much.
But all I say is, “I take back everything I said about you having too much brainpower to be a bouncer.”
He just grins that gorgeous grin at me.
Yeah, I’m cooked.
CHAPTER 6
Cowgirl
Though Luke and I have fallen into the habit of taking our breaks together outside, today it’s ten degrees below zero, so cold it hurts to breathe.
I have only one word for that kind of weather:no.
Sometimes, two words.
Fuck. No.
But I want to hang out with Luke, so I stand outside and suffer. Our breath turns into frosty clouds in the cold winter air. Tonight, he’s got shadows under his eyes that weren’t there the day before.
“You look exhausted,” I say. “Is corralling the drunk locals wearing on you that much?”
He stifles a yawn. “One of our mares had her colt at about five o’clock this morning.”
“How did it go?”
“Went okay in the end. It was a breech birth, so the little guy was trying to come out hooves-first. It was touch and go for few hours.”
I clap a hand to my mouth. “Is she okay? Is the baby okay?”
“They’re fine now,” he says, but the corners of his turquoise eyes still look strained.
