Adam was backed into a corner. He’d always been a terrible liar, no matter how hard he tried. Regardless, he was too tired to keep it up. “Fine. The position has not been filled. But I highly doubt you’re any more qualified than the last person I interviewed, and I don’t want to waste my time or yours.”
He started to walk away from her, but she followed and continued to talk. “Oh, you wouldn’t be wasting my time. I have all the time in the world. In fact, this is the only thing I planned to do today. So, you know, at the very least, I can help you out. And if by the end of today you still think I’m a bad worker, you can send me home. It’s as simple as that. Anyway, what needs to be done? I have two good hands, and you only appear to have one. I’m guessing that’s why you need to hire help so quickly. Go ahead and use me until you find someone better. I promise I’m not completely useless.”
Her voice was bright, her smile full of sunshine. And Adam hated it. She had no right to be in such a good mood after he had dismissed her so rudely.
“By the way,” she said, still following behind him, “my name’s Kyra. What’s yours?”
Adam grumbled, “You don’t need to know my name since you won’t be working here.”
“I think we should take a wait-and-see approach on that for now. Don’t you agree?” She was infuriatingly optimistic, and her attitude was starting to drive Adam up the wall already.
It was true that most people disliked a negative attitude, but Adam had always associated negativity with pragmatism and intelligence. It was relentless optimism that riled his temper, although he didn’t really know why. Maybe if he ignored her, this relentlessly optimistic woman would go away. So, Adam began feeding his horses as though Kyra wasn’t even there. But even that small task was tricky to do with one arm. He had to place the feeder, lift the bags, and pour the feed without the use of his other hand.
At one point, a bag slipped from his arm and fell onto the floor, spilling feed all over the place. Adam cursed, but before he could get on his knees to clean up the mess, Kyra was already there. She salvaged what feed she could, scooping it up with her bare hands and putting it into the feeder. Then, she poured the rest from the bag, saying, “This is how it’s done, right? This isn’t so hard. I could do this. So what’s next?”
Adam narrowed his eyes at her, determined to drive her away. Assuming she was a little princess, he said, “Muck out the stables of the three horses who aren’t inside. It’s been two days since they were last cleaned. Do you think you can handle it?”
“Of course I can handle it,” she said with a ridiculously bright smile. “Just give me a few pointers, and I’ll get right on that, boss.” There was a twinkle in her eye when she said the word boss, and Adam was forced to glare at her to balance things out.
“Grab the wheelbarrow and the shavings fork, and I’ll teach you,” he said. Then he grinned like a villain. “And bring some gloves. You’ll have to pick up the smaller pieces by hand.”
Surely, that would scare a princess like her off if nothing else did. But apparently not. “OK, boss,” was all she said.
Adam grumbled instructions at her, and she followed his orders to a T. She even got down on her hands and knees to grab the smaller pieces of manure by hand. By the time she was finished with the first stable, it looked even cleaner than it did when Adam mucked it out himself. He glowered at her to fight the smile creeping onto his face. “Now, do the other two just like that while I get some hay.”
Getting away from the woman was the right decision, and Adam knew it. What was her name again? Kylie? Mira? Something like that. The problem Adam was running into was that the longer he watched her muck out the stables, the more he realized she was unbelievably attractive. She was both slim and perfectly curvy with long, dark hair peeking out in strands from under that ridiculous cowboy hat she’d brought. He took his time stuffing hay into the nets, fighting the image of her on her hands and knees that seemed to be burned into his mind now.
By the time he finally got back to the stables, she had completely cleaned them out. “What’s next, boss?” she said with a grin.
“Swap horses and do the other three stalls,” he said. “I’ve fallen behind the last couple days.”
“Understandable.” She nodded to his injured arm. “Well, whether you hire me or not, at least I can help you get caught up. No pay required. It’s on the house.” For someone acting this desperate for a job, she was overly happy. It almost seemed like she didn’t need the job at all. She was just… having fun. How weird.
“Answer one question for me, will you?” he asked her.
“Sure, boss. What do you want to know?”
An unpleasant instinct had tugged at him for some reason. It was the instinct to take her down a notch. Her mood was too good. It was making him want to break into a smile, and that was plain unacceptable. “Are you cosplaying as a ranch hand or something?”
She blushed and looked down at her own attire. Then she removed her hat. He thought he’d finally gotten to her. But when her dark hair fell from the hat and cascaded around her shoulders, he realized that it was her who had gotten to him. Again. She smiled an overly charming smile and said, “Oh, you know. They say you should dress for the job you want. Did I go a bit overboard?” She laughed.
Oh, great. On top of everything, she was one of those people who didn’t take themselves too seriously. Adam was getting more and more lightheaded, but not in the way that makes you want to pass out. No, he was getting lightheaded in the way that makes you feel like your feet have left the ground somehow.
He decided the best move was to talk less and work her more. He had her do several more jobs around the ranch, each time hoping it would be the last straw for her. But it never was. She remained cheery and hardworking. She listened, didn’t argue, didn’t act like she already knew everything.
As the day wore on, Adam even started to think he really would be a fool not to hire her. They worked together so well, in fact, that he completely failed to notice the position of the sun in the sky until it was already dusk. He gazed up, scowling at the sun as though he could somehow intimidate it out of setting so soon.
“You won’t get back before dark,” he said to his new helper. “And the road is not well-maintained.”
“Well, do you need any help tomorrow morning?” she said with a grin. “I happen to be free, and I brought a bag just in case.”
“Just in case?” He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow at her.
“Just in case I got the job, silly.” She laughed again, like she wasn’t the one acting abnormally. “Your job posting did say room and board were included, didn’t it? So, I packed for it. Anyway, you can still kick me out in the morning if you like. But if you keep me any longer than that, I’m going to have to insist on getting officially hired, at least temporarily.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Temporarily?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “Until you find someone better.”
