Cowhand Crush (Ash Ridge: Colorado Cowboys #4)

1. Bowen

Chapter 1

Bowen

I knew this day would come eventually. I thought I was strong enough to handle it—temptation flirting with me around every corner and my self-control put to the test. God knows at my age that I should have more common sense than to pine after the boss’s daughter.

It didn’t start out like this. I’ve known Avery McCall since she was a little spitfire of six years old, marching around the ranch in boots two sizes too big for her. As a little girl, she shadowed her father everywhere, fearless, proud, and eager to get her hands dirty. When Grady wasn’t around, he assigned me to the task of making sure his beloved daughter didn’t get into trouble.

It was hard to believe the girl with perpetually scraped knees and a missing front tooth could turn into the beauty she was today. Avery’s dark curls were pinned up, exposing the slope of her neck. The snug fit of her jeans and tank top provided ample proof that she’d grown into a woman’s figure—slim and athletic, with a hint of lace bra at her cleavage when she bent over.

Not that I was looking. I shook my head and turned away, retreating into the barn.

High Plains Ranch was decked out for Avery’s welcome home party. Strands of fairy lights graced the porch. A buffet table stretched the length of the kitchen, bursting with food and plenty of booze to go around. Dozens of bouquets brimming with sweetly-scented apple blossoms and daisies lined the dining room, provided by Avery’s stepmother—Birdie, the local florist.

Even though all members of staff were invited, I decided not to go. I could blame it on the fact that I was just a cowboy—foreman of the ranch, a bachelor who didn’t have a knack for the small talk required at a party like that. Grady McCall was a wealthy man, thanks to his ranch, and his lifestyle showed that. I’d been in his house a handful of times to discuss business, and I always felt out of place as soon as my dusty boots crossed his threshold.

Deep down though, I knew the real reason I made myself scarce was Avery.

I saw the way she looked at me. She wore her crush on her sleeve, raw, sweet, innocent. When she was younger, it was easy to brush off. Now that she was in her mid-twenties, there was a responding tug of desire in my gut that scared the shit out of me.

I could not afford to fall in love with her. It would only end in disaster for both of us. And I wouldn’t do that to Avery.

Smoothing my hand over the mare’s flank, I lifted her leg and set to trimming her hoof.

“I had a feeling I’d find you out here.”

Avery came striding through the barn door, carrying a bottle of beer, and a paper plate with a large slice of cake.

“Your guests will be looking for you,” I replied, easing the mare’s hoof to the ground. I winced as I straightened my aching back.

Avery cast a sympathetic glance in my direction.

“You’re supposed to leave the trimming and shoeing to the younger ranch hands. Here, I brought you some cake and a beer.”

I grunted a thank you, and popped the top off the beer, savoring the chilled liquid as it slid down my throat. Even though it was only the first week of June, the summer heat was beginning to crank up.

“Can’t let the boys see me slowing down,” I countered. “Besides, we’re short on manpower this week. Beau is at home with his brand new baby.”

Avery brightened as she hoisted herself up to perch on a stack of straw bales.

“I heard about that! It feels like I have so much catching up to do now that I’ve graduated.”

Tugging off my gloves, I leaned back against the wall, and dug into the cake with the plastic fork Avery had provided.

“Give yourself some time to get settled in first. You’re going to be running this place before you know it.”

She snorted.

“Not if my father has anything to say about it.”

“Trouble in paradise already? You’ve only been home for a few days.”

Avery shook her head.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. You know how pig-headed Dad can be. I’m going to inherit High Plains, but he doesn’t want me lifting a finger to manage it as long as he’s alive and kicking.”

I nodded.

“Understandable. He built it. Won’t be easy to let it go.”

“I’m not asking him to let it go, Bowen. I’m asking him to let me carry my fair share of the load. I’m turning twenty-six in August.”

“And you will always be his little girl. He’s protective of you for a reason.”

Avery gave a heavy sigh. My gaze swept over her figure. For twenty years, I watched her grow up. Butting heads with her father, over and over. Dating scrawny teenage boys who broke her heart, and left her sobbing in the privacy of the hayloft.

Grady had always been crystal clear when he doled out warnings to his ranch hands.

If you even look at my daughter the wrong way, it will be the last thing you ever do.

I swallowed down a bite of cake and dropped my gaze to the dusty barn floor. If Grady knew what kind of thoughts I harbored toward his daughter—sixteen years younger than me—he would strangle me with his bare hands. And I wouldn’t blame him for it. He trusted me—with his ranch, his cattle, his livelihood. That included his daughter’s safety and well-being.

In return, I lived and breathed this place. I didn’t have a family of my own, didn’t have a wife or kids. At one time, fresh out of high school, I almost got married. Until her folks found out and stopped her from marrying a dirt-poor cowhand. I tried to drown myself in the bottom of a liquor bottle after that, until Grady found me and put me to work.

Avery flicked her gaze in my direction, watching me through her lashes.

My stomach somersaulted. Goddamn it. I wasn’t supposed to have fucking feelings for this woman who was completely off limits. As her father’s foreman, I had nothing to offer Avery. It was best that I stayed out of her way and focused on the job I was paid to do. She would take over the multi-million-dollar business one day, while I was going nowhere.

That didn’t stop her from getting a crush on me the size of Texas. Even though I was simply a hired hand for hard labor, I liked to think I had developed some observational skills over the years. And I’d noticed the way Avery looked at me with lingering glances, finding every excuse to hang around me like a fly drawn to honey.

When she was fourteen or fifteen years old, I chalked it up to infatuation. But I couldn’t write her off as a boy crazy teenager anymore. A dangerous attraction simmered between us, and I needed to do everything in my power to tamp down that heat before it became a wildfire.

“Honestly,” Avery said. “I think Dad is relieved I didn’t bring a husband back from California with me.”

I breathed a faint laugh as I finished off the cake and set it aside.

“We’re all a little surprised about that.”

She shrugged, plucking bits of straw off her jeans.

“College boys didn’t interest me. I dated around, sure, but nothing serious. I prefer my men to be more…rugged. Masculine.”

A heavy pause lingered in the air as Avery’s gaze met mine. Looking into those soft, dark brown eyes with a ring of golden honey around the iris…put my mettle to the test every time. I crossed my arms, biting my tongue in the hopes that the pinch of pain would quell the burn in my blood for this woman.

It wasn’t working.

“If I recall correctly,” I said. “Your daddy hasn’t approved of any men you’ve brought home yet.”

Avery made a noise of frustration.

“Yeah, well, that has to change eventually. I want to get married and have kids one day. He can’t be overprotective forever.”

My heart squeezed at that thought. I swallowed around the lump in my throat and picked up my tools to continue working.

“Don’t underestimate Grady McCall’s stubbornness. You should know that by now.”

Avery hopped off the straw bales and dusted her hands on her jeans.

“It’s a good thing I’m just as hard-headed as he is then.”

“No offense, but my money is on your father winning this battle,” I replied.

She slotted her hands in her back pockets.

“Of course you’d say that. You work for him. But mark my words, I’ll get the man I want someday. And there won’t be a damn thing my father can do about it.”

I glanced up. Avery grinned, backing away toward the barn door. The afternoon light cast a golden halo around her head, silhouetting her figure in gold.

Heaven help the man who managed to marry her. He would have his hands full, but he would be one hell of a lucky bastard.