Page 14 of Colt

“All right, all right, you two.” Dad holds out his hands. “Lemme introduce Lainey and Colt before y’all scare her off. Lainey, this is my son Colt. He’s our foreman.”

“Director of operations, basically,” Billie explains.

“And, Colt, this is Lainey Brown.” Dad gestures to the woman I can’t stop glowering at. “Our new branding and marketing expert.”

What the actual fuck?

Is this really happening right now? Did Dad blindside me by bringing in a marketing expert to shake things up without saying a damn word about it to me? An “expert” who knows nothing about ranches?

Why didn’t he say anything to me? Makes me think he doesn’t trust me.

That hurts. A lot. Everyone in my family knows how important loyalty is to me.

A brick settles in my stomach. Stability is good. Change is bad. We’ve had a record year on the ranch by every metric: revenues, profits, employee retention. You don’t fix what’s not broken.

The only kind of expertise we need around here is the kind that keeps the ranch’s operations up and running. A.k.a. my kind.

The. Fucking. End.

The girl turns to face me and holds out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Colt.” Her words drip with a Texas accent that’s worlds more refined than ours.

I glance up from her hand and find myself saying, “Colton.”

“Pardon?”

Taking her hand, I ignore the hot awareness gathering inside my skin at the feel of her small, soft palm pressed against mine and say, “Name’s Colton.”

“Who the hell has ever called you that?” Billie asks with a laugh.

I ignore her too and drop Lainey’s hand. “Lainey, awful kind of you to come all this way⁠—”

“It’s just a three-hour drive. I’m from Fort Worth.”

“And I’m sure they’ll love having you back there. I’ll walk you to your car.”

Those green eyes narrow, flashing with something hot and real that’s gone so quickly I almost think I imagined it.

Until I see her nostrils flare.

Just once. Just for a split second.

Anger.

I’d know, because I feel it too. All the time. Every damn day.

She smiles, a small, vicious thing that lets me know she’s just as pissed as I am.

“You are the tough one.”

Her voice. My God. It’s all wrong. Throaty and velvety and damn it, why is my dick perking up?

She’s full of shit. Has to be. Only the fire in her eyes feels very, very real.

“As nails,” I manage.

Her smile broadens, showing me a flash of white, even teeth. “Just so happens I’m good with a hammer.”

Billie bursts out laughing. Dad just smiles and shakes his head.