Page 169 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

That’s the thing about these places. Disaster rarely stops the chores.

The office door’s open when I get there.

Annie’s inside with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy knot that’s losing structural integrity by the second. She’s wearing one of her oversized cardigans over black jeans, eyes narrowed while she stares at her laptop.

Her camera sits beside her keyboard within easy reach.

That makes my chest twist in an ugly manner. Because I can’t look at the damn thing anymore without thinking about the photo left in her car. The note. The feeling of somebody getting too close to her life.

It makes my skin crawl.

I shove the feeling down before it settles on my face.

“Good morning, criminal,” I announce.

Annie startles, then looks up. “Is that for me?”

“No,” I say. “I just carry full breakfast plates around the ranch for enrichment.”

“Like a zoo animal?”

“Exactly.”

Her laugh loosens my ribs.

Good.

I set the plate down on her desk and lean down to kiss the top of her head before I can overthink it.

She goes still for half a second. Then relaxes into it enough that I almost forget every other problem in existence.

“You made bacon,” she says, sounding genuinely emotional about it.

“Honey, you looked one skipped meal away from trying to fistfight a spreadsheet.”

“That’s fair.”

I pull up the spare chair beside her desk and sit.

“You’re hovering,” she says around a bite of toast.

“I prefer protecting.”

“You’re sitting close enough to count my eyelashes.”

“Excellent. Then I’ll know immediately if you’re kidnapped.”

She snorts into her coffee. Mission accomplished.

But even while I joke, I can feel it underneath. The tension. The speed at which this whole thing is escalating.

I’m good at being the easy one. The brother who softens edges. The one who keeps everybody laughing long enough to breathe again.

But last night at the rodeo rattled me more than I let anybody see.

Because Annie saw him again. And because whoever this is didn’t stop after the notes or the missing SD card or the barn lock.

They came back. They keep coming back. That’s not random anymore.