Chapter 1
reed
present day
She was lying. It had taken years for me to figure it out, but now I could spot it instantly. Her eyes jumped back and forth between mine, the green nearly hidden by her heavy lids and dilated pupils.
“He better not be fucking in there, Lis.” I towered over Elise Ownstead.
She still refused to change her last name because she claimed she wanted to have the same last name as our daughter, despite the fact she was engaged to the man she’d had an affair with.
She hovered at the door of the little, blue house on the outskirts of Willows, refusing to open it all the way.
“I don’t want him anywhere near our daughter. ”
Elise stuck out her chin in defiance, her eyes even heavier as she stared me down. “I’m her mother, so I’ll determine who she can and cannot be around.”
“Jesus Christ! I don’t think you’re in any position to make sound judgments right now.
” I splayed my hand on the door, willing her to let me in.
The last time I forced myself in, it turned into a yelling match, scaring Penelope.
If I could shield her from our poor attempt to co-parent, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
The least I could do now was protect her from seeing her mother this way.
Elise and I had barely been in recovery for a year when Penelope was born.
We both wanted kids, but after a traumatic birth led to an emergency surgery and postpartum depression, it didn’t take long for her to relapse on painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.
I tried everything in my power to help her, to love her, to be there for her, to take on the load of parenting duties, but it wasn’t enough.
Instead, I failed her, and in turn, I failed our daughter.
“Penn’s coming with me,” I growled, leaning my weight against the door.
She scoffed. “Like the bunkhouse is any place for a child.”
“I’m working on that,” I snapped.
Now that Jude and Romy had just moved into the house they’d built on the ranch, the double-wide was now available.
My employer, Chuck Larsen, offered to let me move in there, but I didn’t think it was fair to take it since I wasn’t family.
I assumed his daughter Lina would want it. But now I was seriously considering it.
“I don’t want her around that Larsen slut, either.”
At her insult, my hand reflexively balled into a fist and smacked the door hard, causing Elise to jump. But now she seemed more alert. Thank God.
“Don’t fucking talk about her.”
Elise quickly regained her composure, her lips curving into a knowing smirk. Damn her! I was really trying to stay levelheaded, but she always found a way to snake those emotions out of me.
“Looks like she’s more than just some ass, isn’t she?” She clicked her tongue at that.
“I said, don’t fucking talk about her.” The words came out a whisper in my attempt to keep my anger in check, knowing Penelope could come around the corner at any moment. But there was venom laced with every syllable, and I hoped she heard it as the warning that it was.
“Fine.” Elise threw up her hands in acquiescence. “You’re a testy asshole this morning.”
“Just tell Penn I’m ready to go.”
She unfolded her arms, holding out her palm, and let out a deep sigh. As if she was the one who was on the verge of losing her temper.
I rolled my eyes, stuffing my hand in my pocket to pull out the folded check to give to her. “This is for her new boots and school lunches. Nothing else.” The fact that I even had to say that was frustrating as hell.
She swiped the check from my hand and shoved it into her back pocket without a reply. “Penn!” she called over her shoulder. “Your dad’s here.”
“Daddy!” I heard her sweet voice cry from down the hall. The sound of her pudgy little feet pattering across the carpet tightened my chest.
Elise finally widened the door, letting me have a clear view of five-year-old Penelope running toward me.
Her dark-blonde pigtails bounced as she ran, her toothy grin brightening her round face.
I crouched down, spreading my arms to catch her.
I was barely a foot off the ground when she launched herself into my embrace, nearly knocking me over as I scooped her up into my arms. My heart immediately felt calm and centered, the anger and frustration with Elise melting away after just a moment with my daughter in my arms.
“Do we get to see the horsies today?” she asked, pushing off my shoulders to peer into my face. Her brow pinched in a quizzical look, but her hazel eyes shimmered with hope.
“That’s the plan, princess. You could help me dish out the flakes, too.” She was my best little helper, mucking stalls and doling out their feed.
“Mushu’s my favorite.”
I grimaced hearing the name of Lina’s barrel racing stallion.
“He’s not there today, princess, but there are plenty of others that need your snuggles.
” Lina was back out on the circuit, but ever since last August, she’d made a concerted effort to avoid me at all costs.
Even when she was home, she was out dating every Tom, Dick, and Harry or hanging out at her cousin Jude’s place.
“Have her back by dinnertime. It’s a school night.”
I side-eyed Elise. She looked like she was two steps away from falling over asleep. “I’ll feed her and make sure she’s back for bedtime.”
Elise sighed and shrugged, obviously exasperated with me but too strung out to care. “Fine. Just call me when you’re on your way.” Her words came out slurred.
I looked past her down the hall, expecting to see her fiancé walk by, but it was nothing but a dark family room.
I hated the thought of my daughter being around him.
Being alone with them. He better fucking hide because if I ever caught him around Penn or anyone I cared about again, he was going to be a dead man.
I gave one last glance at Elise before grabbing my daughter’s hand and adjusting her little cowgirl hat so it sat just right atop her head.
“You ready, princess?” She giggled and clapped her hands together while doing a cute little dance at my side. I guess I had my answer.
With Lina going back and forth while on the local rodeo circuit, I half expected to see her truck and trailer blocking my parking spot beside the stable when I pulled in.
When she wasn’t avoiding me these days, she was blocking my truck.
I’d gotten used to parking in a ditch on the dirt road and walking to the bunkhouse because of her.
She’d been a pain in my ass since Day One when I arrived and pulled into Thornbrush Ranch for my new job.
Another truck and trailer pulled in as soon as I stood waiting to meet my new employer, Chuck Larsen. Leaning against my door, I could see there was a woman with a long, brown braid behind the wheel. She looked awfully familiar.
She tapped the horn before rolling down the window, giving me a clear view of who was in the driver’s seat. Oh, shit! Larsen from Willows … I should have known.
“Hey! You’re going to need to move—” Her eyes went wide with recognition at the same time my heart started to pound. “You!” Her gaze narrowed on me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She enunciated every word as if each word were a dagger.
I crossed my arms over my chest. It had barely been two days since she’d slapped me across the face, and I could still feel the sting of her palm.
I savored that burn as long as it lasted, wishing I could have that last hit again if it meant having her hands on me.
Making me feel something. Anything. My pulse quickened.
Truthfully, I was surprised she hadn’t kneed me in the balls. I certainly deserved it for how I treated her.
Maybe it was fate that I ended up here, looking for work. It felt like a chance for redemption—to prove that I wasn’t such a fucking terrible human.
“I work here,” I called over the rumble of the engine.
“The fuck you do! I’m going to have my dad un-hire you.”
I shifted on my feet as my pants tightened.
My lips tipped in amusement. Lina Larsen had a fucking mouth on her.
I was reminded how she just came up to me at the bar in Joseph and told me to give her a tattoo.
She was so alluring, undeniably confident.
She was bold, beautiful, and determined. Everything I wanted.
From the moment I watched her ride—the way her horse inhaled those barrels—I was mesmerized.
There was something about her that made my breath catch.
My stomach twisted in a knot when she lost against Paige Gibson.
I tried to convince myself the hookup meant nothing other than my own selfish need for revenge against Elise, but I immediately regretted it all.
The primal need that zipped through my veins when I pressed my mouth to her skin was like taking a hit—an addiction I’d never experienced until now.
It was a gut punch to see her face fall when she exited the gate.
She knew she’d lost before she even looked at her time, and I was the asshole who did it to her.
“Now move!” she yelled, leaning farther out the window.
“I’m not going anywhere, Lina.” Not now.
I needed this job. I needed it to be able to provide for Penn so I could get her out of her mother’s house.
I needed to be able to be close to her. And now, knowing that Lina was here, I could feel myself slowly coming alive again, like my whole body was thawing after a long, brutal winter.
I was tired of just aimlessly wandering through life and making it by.
I wanted to feel something. Lina was the first one to make me feel more than I had in years.
I was determined to have Lina’s strong, tight legs wrapped around me again.
I’d lost enough. I wasn’t losing anymore. Not this job. Not this girl.
“That’s my fucking spot! It has been for years.”
I put the truck into park as Chuck came out of the stables to greet me, just like he'd done that first day.
“I want to see the horsies!” Penn hollered from her booster seat behind me.
“Hold on, princess.”
I hopped out of the truck, slamming the door.
“How’s our littlest cowgirl today?” Chuck asked, heading toward me.
I pressed my lips together and sucked in a breath through my nose.
“That bad, huh?” Chuck’s warm eyes held mine.
He knew about everything—maybe not to a certain extent, but he knew what I was dealing with and just how bad things were with Penn’s mom.
He wasn’t thrilled about the fiancé, either.
“It’s not getting any better.” I clenched my jaw.
Chuck grasped my shoulder, giving it a good, sympathetic squeeze. “I’ll talk with Jude about getting you and Penn set up in the double-wide.”
“I appreciate that.”
He gave me a final pat on the back before opening the back door. “Is there a cowgirl back here?” he asked in a sing-songy tone.
Penelope’s eyes immediately brightened at seeing Chuck. “Is Mushu here?” she asked hopefully, as if she didn’t believe her ol’ man was telling her the truth.
“No, darlin’, not right now. But there are plenty of other horses waiting for you.” He scooped her up out of her car seat and turned to me. “We’ll figure it out, Reed.”
I nodded. I’d do anything for my daughter, and Thornbrush Ranch was right where we needed to be.