Page 3 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“Oh,” he said, ducking his head. “Sorry. I thought you were complaining.”

“I’m complaining about not having anything to do,” I said. “Seriously, guys. I’ll get that cabin fever thing, like the guy in The Shining.”

“We can’t have that,” Sawyer said seriously, but I could see the laughter glinting in his eyes as he stood and moved on to the next section of fence.

“I know, right?” I said, tagging along. “I mean, I don’t even know what a boiler is, but if you have one, I’ll definitely blow it up.”

“Good thing Waylon’s not out here,” Sawyer said. “He’d hate to hear you threatening our ranch that way.”

“Okay, I admit, Waylon has seen me make a few small missteps,” I said. “But no one was hurt. And if you give me a job, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like I’m going to run around murdering all the cows, and that’s how you make your living, right? And there’s barely a tree on the ranch, so it’s not like I can burn it down.”

“Grass fires are a very dangerous thing,” Holden said, frowning at me.

“Okay, I promise not to light any fires,” I said, throwing up my hands. “And I’m not a cow-napper, so you don’t need to worry about that. I just need something to do so I’m not sitting around thinking about my ex-boyfriend.”

“What about the horses?” Sawyer asked Holden. “Grimes is getting on in years, and he’s got a lot of other things to take care of.”

“Sounds good,” Holden said. “How are you with horses, Amber?”

I rolled my eyes and hid a grin. I should have started with the boyfriend thing. That got them looking for ways to distract me in a hurry. It was true, though. I hated thinking about Charlie, but when I had nothing else to do, sometimes I’d start sinking into despair at how many years I’d wasted on the bastard. But the distance had already given me perspective, and most of the time, I didn’t even wish he’d fall onto the subway tracks and be crushed to death.

Mostly I just hoped he’d get a venereal disease and his dick would slowly, painfully rot away to nothing.

But the real danger wasn’t that I’d get depressed about why he hadn’t loved me enough to sleep with me, though he’d been happy to stick it to a couple random chicks at the same time. The real danger was that sometimes, in my darkest moments, I wondered if he was thinking about me. Because as sick as it made me to admit, I’d honestly loved him. Or at least I’d loved the boy I knew.

But that boy wasn’t Charlie. That boy was a pretty lie. Nothing we’d had was real, and if I took him back, I’d never be able to trust him again. And worse, I’d never be able to trust myself again. I’d fully bought into his whole act, which just proved I had zero lie-detecting skills and was a complete sucker.

“Amber?” Holden asked. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”

“Sorry,” I said quickly. “See, thinking about my ex right now. You’ve got to help me.”

“That asshole doesn’t deserve a second of your thoughts,” Sawyer said with a scowl.

“And to answer your question, I took riding lessons for a while. So yes, I know how to ride.”

“Great,” Sawyer said. “That’s something you can do.”

I could think of two things I’d like to do. They were standing right in front of me. But it didn’t seem wise to say that out loud. I’d already freaked them out once. From now on, I was going to keep my head down, work on the ranch, and stay away from drama, the same way my stepbrothers did all day.

And maybe order a vibrator online to get me through the nights.

3

Holden

I was kind of nervous to teach Amber how to ride, but since I was the calmest, my brothers thought I would be the best choice. I wouldn’t start yelling and spook the horses—not that Van Gogh would spook. I’d named all the horses after artists, back when I’d had the stable job. We’d passed it on to Grimes, but he was getting along in years and would probably like a decrease in responsibilities.

I showed Amber where the feed was, and how much to give them, and where to put it. “You’ll want to feed and water them twice a day,” I told her. “Here pretty soon, the water will freeze at night so you’ll need to check and make sure the heating element is doing its job. If there’s water, not ice, then they’ll be fine. We’ll bring them hay, so you just got to get them some feed. And then let them out so they can run and graze, when there’s not too much snow on the ground.” I showed her the door to let them out, and the field where they exercised, as well as the corral.

“What if they don’t come back at night?”

“They will,” I assured her. “If you’re not sure about anything, you can always shout for one of us. And Grimes is usually nearby, so he can check in on you and make sure everything’s going okay. He’ll take care of the larger maintenance, like getting the farrier in to trim their hooves and check their shoes, and getting their medications. He can also keep up with mucking the stalls, unless you’re just dying to throw horse shit.”

Amber wrinkled her cute little nose. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, squeezing her shoulder. She felt so slight under my big paws that I felt like an oaf touching her, like I was mauling her. “It’s really pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. And you can throw some fresh bedding in after Grimes cleans the stalls, or let him do it. Now, you ready to meet them?”

“Definitely,” Amber said, looking over at the stalls. Van Gogh had her head out and was watching us. The rest were still eating from their feeders.