Chapter 11
eleven
Killian
“Absolutely not,” I huff. It’s just past lunch and Tessa and I are in the middle of a heated debate on how to save the farm.
Tessa rubs her temples with her two fingers. “You need this.”
“Not that much. I’d rather eat nails.”
She glares at me. “That’s going to be all you can afford if you don’t do something to start bringing income in. I have four options. Pick one.”
I’m not doing children’s horse-riding parties. Absolutely not. We’re a freaking award-winning horse breeding operation. We don’t do parties.
The second option is out of the question. “A rodeo?”
“You have a huge arena, it wouldn’t be that hard to add some bleachers,” Tessa says with a grin.
I’m glad someone is enjoying this conversation because it sure as fuck isn’t me. “No.”
“Killian, that’s probably the most lucrative of the options. We can charge for admission, the participants can pay a fee, all you have to do is provide some food, which I bet we could talk to the bar and grill to see if they’d donate, and it would help the town by bringing people in.”
I clench my jaw. None of this would even be a conversation if it weren’t for Travis. Which, reminds me.
“We’ll come back to this list in a second,” I say lifting it. “Where were you this morning?”
She bristles. “Working on that list and acquainting myself with the town. I went to the coffee shop, checked out a few other little stores which is why I think the rodeo is the absolute best option.”
“I didn’t realize you weren’t going to be here when I got back from checking on the horses.”
Tessa lets out a long sigh. “I didn’t know I needed to tell you when I was going to be out?”
“You don’t.” I pull back my feelings about it. I don’t know why I’m fighting her on it. She doesn’t have to inform me, but for a minute, I was worried and I’ve started looking forward to seeing her in my kitchen.
Which is really stupid.
“Okay.”
I need to shift gears away from this list for a minute. I can’t even wrap my mind around doing any of this. “I spoke with a company in Virginia Beach today about looking into Travis’s whereabouts.”
Her eyes widen. “You did? I hired someone as well.”
“Yes, I know you said your friend couldn’t find anything so far, but the company that I was put in contact with is known for this. It’s going to cost me a bit, but we’re on a time crunch and bleeding money. Time is of the essence.”
“I agree. I pushed my friend again, but he said he can’t find anything after the day we last had him here. So, either he was planning whatever the hell this is or he’s missing and needs help.”
Both explanations suck. All I can hope is that he has a damn good reason for screwing me if it’s the first and we find him quickly if it’s the second. Well, honestly both require me to find him.
At this point, I’m pissed and don’t understand how he could do this to me. I trusted him, gave him the reins to do as he thought and he fucked me. Took off with a vague note and a mountain of problems.
Now I need Cole Security to do their magic that Miles assured me they can, since it’s going to cost me a small fortune.
That’s with a friends and family discount.
“Hopefully this yields some results.”
“Okay, so back to what we can do at this point, look at the list,” Tessa urges.
I exhale and go back again.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I ask as I look at the third option.
“It’ll be fun! Bachelorette parties, girl’s nights, women love a cowboy, and I’m sorry but you’ve got Stetsons and boots running rampant on this ranch. Think of all the money you could make while we work on the bigger picture.”
“No.”
I’m not hosting these parties.
“I heard while I was in town that there are at least two women getting married—just think about that. You can charge one big fee, and we could set up a program that requires little financial up-front cost.”
I know she’s trying, and all of these ideas are exactly the point of her being here. To help unfuck the issue and also create a way to bring some income to the ranch. But I meant selling horses.
I didn’t mean this way.
“Tessa, I know that this is your job, but I don’t want to be a sideshow.
I want to sell these horses. I want to make large amounts of money.
We have the auction Sunday. I’ll have six horses that I’m going to put up.
Three of them are my top dollar options and the other three are mid.
My hope is that I can get a really good influx of money quickly. ”
“And if that doesn’t happen?”
Then I’m fucked. “I’ll figure it out.”
She stands from the chair and walks to me. “That is why I’m here. I’m trying to figure it out for you, Killian, but you’re fighting me on everything. Is there not one thing on that list you’ll put as our backup?”
“The rodeo, I guess.”
Tessa’s lips lift into a soft smile. “Okay, we’ll see how the auction goes and then we can go from there, does that work?”
No, but…I’m going to come off like a prick, so. “Sure.”
“Okay.” She glances down at her watch. “I actually have to be somewhere in about twenty minutes. Do you mind if we get back to this tomorrow?”
“No, I actually have plans tonight as well.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket—probably yet another response to the damn text thread that I have been ignoring all day.
“Perfect. Also, I’ll be gone all day Saturday, but on Monday we can go through more of the paperwork.”
“No problem.”
She smiles. “Perfect.”
Tessa starts to gather her things, and I grab my phone, ready to walk out and read some of the texts.
Miles
You’re coming tonight, Killian.
Everett
I know I am.
Miles
Me too.
Lachlan
I did twice already today.
Everett
Yes, I’m sure you rubbed one out during lunch because from what I hear, Ainsley is pissed at you.
Lachlan
She’s not pissed at all. I made it up to her.
Miles
What did he do this time?
Everett
He told Caspian that he could come stay with them for a few weeks, without talking to her.
Lachlan
That’s a secret, by the way. That Caspian will be in Ember Falls.
Miles
Yeah, this town is going to be really great about keeping the location of one of the newest music stars quiet. Maybe you should’ve told him to hide out somewhere his sister and best friend aren’t living.
Everett
That would’ve made too much sense. We know Lachlan is a little low on that.
Miles
True. Speaking of low on smarts, where’s Killian? He’s not replying.
Everett
He’s probably with Tessa.
Great. Fuck my life.
Lachlan
Who is Tessa?
Everett
I’ll let him tell us. I met her today, and since I’m a genius and can put two and two together, it’s clear why he went home with her after not even knowing her last name.
Miles
I’m sure Violet will love hearing that you checked her out.
Everett
Violet knows there’s no other woman in the world who could tempt me from her. However, I have eyes.
Lachlan
Killian? Where are you, lover boy?
Miles
Maybe he’s coming too.
As I start to reply, I bump into Tessa, the two of us almost wedging into the door frame.
“Shit!” she says as she drops the papers.
“I’m sorry.”
I immediately lean down to help her pick them up and she does the same, causing her to bump into me and start to lose her balance, I grab for her quickly, pulling her against my chest and I break her fall, slamming my back on the ground.
But she’s in my arms.
Her warmth, the scent of her perfume fills my senses, causing everything inside of me to awaken.
God, I want her so bad.
She squeaks and tries to roll to the side, pushing her hair out of her face. “Sorry! Damn it. I…” Tessa lifts her hand, wincing just a little.
“It was my fault. I wasn’t watching.” I let her go fully, the loss of her is a physical ache, but she’s still close. I lift my fingers, brushing an errant strand off her back.
She sucks in a breath, and I can see the war raging inside of her beautiful blue eyes. “No, it was me. Shit, my hand hurts. I got it caught when I fell and tweaked it a little.”
Her lashes flutter, and I move my hand down her delicate neckline, over her smooth shoulder, down to her wrist and lift her hand. “Right here?” I ask as I rub the area softly.
Tessa nods.
“Does this feel better?”
“A little,” her voice cracks at the end.
“What about now?” I move my hand up to her palm, massaging it gently.
“Yes.”
I lean in, inspecting her soft, delicate skin.
There’s no marks, no swelling yet, and while I may not be a doctor or know shit about this, I was an athlete.
I had my fair share of sprains and tears.
Nothing feels out of the ordinary, other than this tightening in my own body.
Slowly, I lift her arm up and press my lips to her skin.
Tessa gasps softly, and I look into her blue eyes that are filled with desire.
I could kiss her.
She’d let me.
But she’d regret it.
So, I release her arm. “I think it’ll be fine.”
She nods. “Okay.”
I get to my feet and extend my arm. “Here, let me help you up.”
With her other arm, she grips my wrist and I get her to her feet. She doesn’t release me immediately. “Thank-you.”
I nod and then she lets go. “I’ll see you later.”
“Later.”
“Tournament is coming up in two weeks. We have the first seed,” Miles says as he’s looking at the website.
“Well, we’re undefeated so I would hope we’d be at the top,” Everett notes as he tosses his bag on the grass.
We’ve had a great run this season. Our first year in this league was absolutely terrible. I honestly didn’t have a lot of hope, but we turned it around. Going from a larger team to a smaller one was an adjustment after we were kicked out of the college league thanks to an anonymous complaint.
Next year we’re considering bringing someone else onto the team and playing in a new league.
“Does it show the other teams registered?” I ask.
“Nope, just where we’re seeded.”
That’s dumb.
Miles puts his phone down. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll practice and be ready for whoever it is.”
Everett snorts as finally Lachlan gets here. “Oh, look who’s late this time!”
“I know, I know.” He has his hands raised.
Before we can say anything else another group walks over. Great. The girls are here.
I chuckle because they always make these practices more fun. I don’t have to bust anyone’s balls because they handle that for me.
Since I don’t have anyone to impress, I don’t have to worry about how I play, but these idiots go full-cocked and someone always ends up on their ass.
Miles groans and drops his head back.
“Yeah, that’s why I was late,” Lachlan says, turning to look at his wife. “Ainsley informed me she and the girls were coming and apparently, it’s someone’s fault.”
I look over at Everett since he’s the most likely culprit.
“Look, I went to see Hazel because she roped me into helping with her house renovation, and then she started saying the girls were coming, but I didn’t encourage this. God knows I prefer them not to see us,” he says and then waves.
I glance back and Violet lifts her hand.
Then…
Wait.
I count. Ainsley, one. Penelope, two. Violet, three. Hazel, four.
Fuck. There’s a fifth.
Tessa.
Lachlan bumps my shoulder as I stare at her, coming toward us. “I’m going to guess based on the look on your face that Tessa is the girl you banged from the bar.”
“Yup.”
“The same one who is a publicist here to help save your company?”
“Yup.”
He chuckles. “Oh, dude.”
I turn to look at him. “Don’t make me look bad.”
Lachlan grins. “Fat chance, old man.”
I should’ve stayed home.