Chapter Twelve
N atalie spent the afternoon trying to be brave, really she did.
Somehow Sam coaxed her into feeding sugar cubes to both the horses—creepy, even with their velvety muzzles—and managed to get her onto Marshmallow.
Terrifying. She even managed to stay on Marshmallow when they took a slow ride around the horse stables and cattle feed lots.
But when Sam suggested they trade in the horses for a good old-fashioned truck ride to tour the farther reaches of the ranch, she nearly jumped for joy.
She probably would have if she hadn’t been five feet off the ground. On a horse. Half scared to death.
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Sam asked after the horses were safely back on the other side of a fence from them, and he had one hand on the wheel and the other elbow resting on the center console of his oversized truck.
She shrugged. “I mean, I didn’t die, so…”
“No, you didn’t. Which, for the record, I told you you wouldn’t. But really, you did great for your first time in the saddle. You’ll be a pro in no time.”
He flashed her an encouraging smile, and Nat felt a little flutter in her belly. “If you say so.”
Until last night, she hadn’t been privy to the relaxed version of that handsome smile.
Add in the sexy, confident cowboy persona, and he was even more appealing.
But what made her feel all sorts of weak in the knees today—besides the whole scary horseback riding ordeal—was the kindness he was displaying toward her.
Prior to last night, most of their interactions had involved head butting and subtle posturing—mentally stimulating, and maybe even a little flirty at times, but there’d been no substance behind them.
Today, he was being far more casual around her. Encouraging. Reassuring.
“Tell me again about this dog that lived behind your childhood home.”
When was the last time she had spent any significant time with a guy who was interested in more than dinner and what came after? Add that to all his other new behaviors, and Natalie was enjoying this change of pace.
“His name was Bruno. I have no idea what breed he was. I just remember him being big and fluffy and white with this huge, deep bark. Every time my sister and I would be in the backyard playing and his owners let him out of the house, he would charge the fence, barking his head off. I was convinced that one day he’d jump the fence and chew us to bits, but he never did. ”
“And your sister? Was she scared of him, too?”
“If she was, she didn’t show it. Julianna doesn’t like to look… well, anything other than perfect and in control.”
Sam pulled the truck to a stop along a fence row that separated the land from a wide stream. “Are you two very close?”
She wanted to say yes. Had wanted that for as long as she could remember. Instead, she told the truth. “Not really. I think she always viewed me more as a tagalong than an equal.”
“Maybe she’ll grow out of it someday.”
Natalie smirked. “I’m not holding my breath. When I asked her to put a good word in at Terakion, you would have thought I’d asked her for a kidney. And when I called to thank her after I got the job offer, all she said was, ‘Don’t ruin this for me.’”
“She sounds lovely.” He winked. “But then, it must have been hard for her, growing up with someone as naturally charming as you.”
Had he just paid her a sincere compliment? Who was this guy?
Sam killed the engine and opened his door. “You mentioned last night that dolphins and goldfish weren’t too scary. Does the same apply for rainbow trout?”
“We’re going fishing?” She threw her door open and jumped to the ground, scanning the water ahead.
“Sure are. If you’re up for it, of course.”
“Heck, yeah! My grandpa used to take me fishing every weekend as a kid. He told my parents it was the only time he got me to stop talking for more than five minutes.”
Sam laughed. “Impressive. And relatable.”
She gave his shoulder a swat. “Be nice.”
“I am being nice. I got you off that horse, didn’t I?” At her grin, he winked. “Exactly. Now, help me grab our gear before the day gets away from us.”
That, Natalie didn’t want to happen. She followed after her handsome tour guide, surprised to find he had an inflatable boat in the truck bed, along with a portable air compressor. In no time, they had the boat inflated and fishing gear loaded inside.
“So, what creek is this?” she asked as he launched the boat.
“Actually, it’s a branch of the Marietta River. Feeds into the Yellowstone River farther downstream.”
Natalie took in the wide, shallow body of water. “This is a river? We have streams bigger than this back home.”
“Trust me, it doesn’t always look like this.
The Marietta runs shallow when it’s not storming or the mountain snow’s not melting.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a current today, so we’ll just drift and fish.
When we’re done, we’ll just pull the boat onto shore and walk back for the truck. Sound good to you?”
“Sure. I can’t imagine we’ll move very far. Whoa—did you see that fish? It was huge . Ope , there’s another!”
Grinning, Sam handed her a paddle. “They grow ’em bigger in Montana. My hope is that we’ll catch enough to fry up for dinner.”
“You aren’t going to make me clean the ones we catch, are you?” She grimaced at the memory of watching her grandfather try to teach her. “I never could stomach that side of things.”
He laughed. The warm and inviting sound echoed across the water. “No, I think I’ve traumatized you enough for one day.”
Once Sam found a spot on the water to his liking, they baited their lures and cast out. But for as many fish as she’d seen along the way, suddenly there were none to be found. And with no fish around, staying quiet was a moot point.
“Can I ask you something?”
He nodded, gaze remaining on his lure.
“Did you always want to be a rancher?”
A grin tugged at his lips. “Actually, I wanted to be an astronaut.”
“What?” Her outburst echoed across the water, which earned her an arched brow. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Sorry. Why an astronaut?”
“Growing up out here, away from town, we don’t have urban light pollution. On a clear night, the sky is full of stars. I used to lay in my parents’ old hammock and imagine what it was like up there. Wanted to see it for myself someday.”
Natalie tried picturing a young Sam, impressionable and full of wonder. She’d bet he was adorable, even back then. “What made you change your mind?”
“School.” He smirked. “I hated it. When I looked up the requirements to get into NASA, well, that was that for my astronaut aspiration.” He drew back his line and cast again.
“By the end of high school, I’d gotten pretty good at roping.
Thought that seemed like a better option.
Plus, there weren’t buckle bunnies up in space. ”
“Buckle bunnies?”
Sam threw her a cocky smile. “Girls who chase the rodeo stars.”
“Ohhh. Did a bunny catch your eye, Sam Miles?” she teased.
“Maybe. Luckily, she had her sights set on a champ with much deeper pockets. That broken heart helped me get my head on straight, made me see I had everything I needed right here. Plus, Gramps was needing to retire and Dad needed help running the ranch.”
Natalie studied his profile. “Do you ever regret it?”
“Nah. The Flying J is where I was born, and the five generations of Miles men before me. My plan is to die here, too.” He caught her staring and winked. “Hopefully, not for a long time yet.”
Natalie reeled in her line, checked her lure, and cast out again.
Five generations raised on the same piece of land?
Six if you included Sam and his brother?
It was hard to imagine, coming from the Midwest suburbs.
Heck, her parents had moved three times while she was growing up.
But then, her family’s careers weren’t tied to their land like Sam’s was.
And here was her company, about to drop a swanky resort on his doorstep and disrupt all that history.
It was no wonder she’d caused him so much frustration at the start.
She silently questioned how he could stand to sit here, knowing that if they couldn’t find these ferrets, there was a good chance Terakion would succeed with their development request.
“What about you?”
Natalie bobbled her fishing pole. “Sorry?”
“Did you always want to be a, uh, company spokesperson?”
It was Natalie’s turn to laugh, though this time she tried to keep it at a reasonable decibel. “No. I wanted to be a cartoonist.”
“Wha— really ?”
She nodded, her cheeks warming the way they always did when admitting to her childhood dream. “Yep, I was going to be the next Jim Davis. Or Charles Shultz. Only, it turns out, you need to be good at both coming up with funny content and drawing. The content I could do. The drawing? Not so much.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t be that bad.”
“I didn’t think so either. But I tried pitching some ideas after high school, and all I got were polite rejection letters.
So I pivoted. Changed majors my sophomore year of college and started studying marketing and advertising, where I could put my ideas to good use and let someone else do the design work. Ope , I had a nibble.”
At least, she thought she had. Natalie reeled in her line one click. Two clicks…
The line went taut.
“Got one,” she whispered.
“Good job. Reel him in nice and slow, now. Nice and—huh, looks like I’ve got one, too.”
Just like that, they went from no fish to fish practically jumping in the boat.
Not the tiny ones she was used to, either.
These trout were gorgeous, some nearly as long as her arm.
And since trout didn’t seem nearly as gun-shy as the fish back east, the laughter spilling from the boat didn’t scare them away any.
“How many are we up to?” Sam asked when their fish basket was starting to look crowded.
“I think that makes a dozen. Enough for dinner?”