Page 147 of Colt

No way in hell.

“I’m good enough to make a living doing this, Mom. I think I knew that before, but the whole private equity interview process made me second-guess myself in, well, practically every respect.” I let out a mirthless chuckle. “I don’t know. I think I need to give myself a chance to apply everything I learned in business school to my own damn business and see where it takes me.”

Who am I?

Since when do I take chances?

Since when do I put myself first?

“I…don’t know what to say,” Mom replies at last. “Where do you think you’d like to go?”

“I don’t know. Yet. I’ll figure it out. I just have to get through this presentation, and then…”

“That cowboy doesn’t have anything to do with this, does he?”

Rolling my eyes, I reach for my laptop. “Mom, I gotta go. Thanks for calling. I love you.”

“Lainey! Wait. I’m worried⁠—”

“I’m fine. Better than ever actually. Trust me, okay?”

I almost add I’ve never disappointed you before, and I’m not about to start now.

But it’s time for a reframe. I’m done disappointing myself. I’ve done so much of that in the past, and it stops now.

So I tell Mom goodbye and I hang up.

I drop my laptop in my tote bag, along with my notebook and the copies of the presentation I printed out at the ranch’s offices earlier this morning.

Taking a deep breath, I grab my keys and head out into the December sunshine.

CHAPTER 29

Branded

LAINEY

At first, I think he’s a mirage.

The cowboy waiting outside the office door is far too hot and broad and handsome to possibly exist.

He’s wearing dark blue jeans and a jacket in a lighter shade of denim. His belt buckle glints in the sun, and his hat casts a shadow across the chiseled slope of his jaw.

He’s leaning against the building. One boot is on the ground, and the other boot is pressed against the wall, his knee bent. His thumbs are hooked through his belt loops.

That door he’s standing beside—it’s the same one I walked through that first day I came to the ranch. The door that Colt walked out of after giving his dad hell for hiring me.

He looks up when he sees me approaching.

Yep, that cowboy is definitely real, and he’s definitely giving me a familiar squint that sends a shiver down my spine.

I park and turn off the ignition. Climbing out of my car, I hook my tote over my shoulder. “What are you doing out here?”

“Waitin’ on you.” He pushes off the wall and saunters over. Lifting my bag off my shoulder, he leans in to press a scruffy kiss to my cheek. “Hey, Fort Worth.”

My nipples are rock hard. They’d totally be headlights, poking through my shirt, if I weren’t wearing a padded bra. “Hey, Colt.”

“Glad we got that name thing ironed out.” He loops the bag over his shoulder. “Big day. You’re gonna do great.”