Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
On Monday morning, Cal stood in Whitney Windsor-March’s office with Whitney, Las, and a scientist from the United States Nature Conservancy. Leta Wichner was one of the liaisons appointed by the USNC—the other being Las’s thesis advisor—to work with Las on his cell grazing project. Somewhere in her thirties, she was tall and blond and wore sturdy boots, jeans, and a USNC T-shirt. She and Las bandied about terms like residual biomass and standing biomass , and Cal felt decidedly out of his depth.
Too bad the Norwegian aliens couldn’t give him some tips—surely, they were smarter than him.
He’d researched and read journal articles, of course, but knowledge and experience weren’t the same thing. He was in the same room as two people who understood applied science better than he ever would, and honestly... why was he even here? Las didn’t need him. He knew as much about the ranch as Cal did. It was his legacy, after all.
But as foreman, it was Cal’s job to ensure that the farm infrastructure was in place and that he had skilled ranchers on hand to produce healthy cattle and ensure a steady income.
Whitney’s eyes glazed as Las and Leta started talking about s-curves, and since his boss wasn’t paying any attention either, Cal moved to the window and let his mind drift.
Austin had stayed the night on Friday, and it had been... fun. They’d eaten crackers and peanut butter and talked about nothing until Cal had reached the point of fatigue where he’d had to force himself to keep his eyes open. Then they’d slept next to each other in Cal’s bed, legs tangled, until Austin’s phone alarm had awoken them at an ungodly hour so Austin could get set up at the Saturday market. Cal had helped but hadn’t been able to stick around long past opening—he usually had weekends off, but Gwen had to take her cat to the emergency vet, so Cal had filled in for her at the ranch.
A scowling Austin had returned that night, Sully the puppy in tow, and had proceeded to pee on Cal’s front carpet. Sully, that was, not Austin, though watching Austin get frustrated over a four-legged fur ball that barely reached his knees had perhaps been the highlight of Cal’s entire life. Austin’s neighbor had picked Sully up well past midnight, when Cal had been half asleep, so he’d only peripherally been aware of Austin coming to bed, but waking up to him for a second morning in a row had been nothing short of amazing.
Of course, Barbara had summoned that morning, meaning Cal had missed brunch with the MacIsaacs again. And since Austin had had a night shoot scheduled in Custer Gallatin National Forest, he’d opted to stay in one of the nearby towns in Montana rather than drive home in the middle of the night. Safer that way, especially on these roads.
Cal’s stomach fluttered as he recalled the way Austin had led him to bed that first night. They’d been covered in cracker crumbs and their breath had smelled like peanut butter, but Cal hadn’t had the energy for more than a quick pee and mouthwash before he’d fallen into bed. Austin had curled up next to him, bringing the sheets up to their shoulders. The last thing Cal remembered was Austin turning out the light and muttering a quiet “Go to sleep, baby.”
Baby.
Just the memory of Austin’s sleep-sexy voice murmuring the endearment in his ear had Cal’s face warming and his heart thumping. Even though all they’d had a chance to do was pant through that one hand job and a series of kisses, Cal could imagine what Austin’s lips would feel like on the rest of him.
He had to admit, though—he kind of liked that they hadn’t rushed into sex. Sex for Cal had always been about more than hormones and lust. It was about connection, about trust, about emotion. The last person he’d dated had been a guy who’d broken up with him when Cal had found one excuse after another not to have sex with him. The person he’d dated before that had been a woman, and the person before that had been Miranda in high school.
So yeah. Cal was a little nervous about sex with Austin.
Friday night’s hand job had been nothing. Well, not nothing . But easy. Cal had a dick. He knew how to masturbate. Ergo, he knew what to do with Austin’s dick.
But when it came down to the more... intense... stuff? Cal had no idea what the fuck he was doing.
“Cal can help with that. Right, Cal?”
Jolted out of his thoughts, he turned from the window to find Las, Leta, and Whitney blinking expectantly at him. Christ. He’d zoned out in front of his boss.
“Sorry, my mind wandered,” he admitted. He tried a sheepish smile, which seemed to work because Las and Leta laughed. Whitney eyed him, though. Cal couldn’t blame her. The times his mind had wandered while on the job were precisely nil.
“Sorry,” Leta said. “I can get bogged down in the science when I start a new project. It’s usually pretty boring to people who aren’t biologists.”
“I wouldn’t say it was boring.” Whitney rose and tucked her cell phone in her pocket. “But it was certainly... thorough. The two of you seem to have this handled, and I know Cal will have valuable insight into which pastures to convert to cell grazing first, so I’ll leave you to it.” She looked at Cal. “I’ve got a meeting in town, but give me a call if you need anything.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Cal said. “There’s something I want to run by you.” To Las and Leta, he said, “Meet you in the barn in five minutes?”
Outside, under the heat of the sun, Whitney paused by her truck, keys in hand. “What’s going on?”
“I have a bit of a wacky idea I want to run by you.” He rubbed a palm over his jaw, wondering if his idea was too wacky, but he’d never know if he didn’t ask. “If Las’s project works like he hopes, we should eventually see a reduction in costs.”
In theory, on the new cell grazing system, nutrients in the soil would increase, reducing the need for fertilizer and weed control. And with an increase in pasture quality, Cal suspected that the need for additional feeding would decrease, saving them costs on food.
“That would be an ideal situation,” Whitney remarked.
“Right. So what if, with those cost savings, we purchased more cows and expanded our operations?” He held up a hand when Whitney opened her mouth to speak. “Before you say it, I know we don’t have the space for them. But there’s tons of space on the lands east of the east pastures. Forty-four thousand acres, in fact.”
“We don’t own those. That’s private land.”
“But what if we did?” At Whitney’s raised eyebrows, he continued. “There are plenty of ranchers in the area who would love to run extra cattle. What if we could convince them to pool our resources and enter into a co-op agreement on that land? We’d need the backing of the government and the bank, probably, as well as the town council. And if we can convince the USNC to support us, they might be able to get us a foot in the door with the government.”
“Hm.” Whitney opened the driver’s side door of her truck and tossed her wallet onto the dash. “You’re thinking something similar to what they did in Alberta, on the Waldron.”
“Exactly. If the USNC places an easement on the land, it’ll remain intact and conserved, ensuring those hectares remain development- and cultivation-free forever.”
“That will certainly make Las happy,” Whitney remarked. She pulled her sunglasses from the collar of her shirt and held them in a loose grip. “I don’t hate the idea. Put a proposal together for me. I want to know why we’re doing this, what we expect to get out of it, who else could potentially be involved, and better yet...” She tapped her sunglasses against his chest. “The numbers.”
Cal bit back a grin. “Will do.”
He’d never been one to show outward displays of excitement, but he was tempted to skip his way to the horse barn to meet Las and Leta. The idea had occurred to him at a recent Teton County Rancher’s Association meeting, where one of his fellow foremen had been complaining about the need to expand, but not having the space. Her ranch butted up against mountain slopes; there was no way for her to go but up.
There had to be other ranchers who wanted to diversify their operations but didn’t want to expand on their own lands—or couldn’t.
He was making a to-do list in his head when he reached the barn, where Las and Leta were already seated atop their horses. Dash was saddled nearby, waiting for him, and Cal gave Las a nod of thanks for the assist.
“So,” he said. “Which pastures did you have your eye on for your cell grazing project?”
They spent three hours in the fields on horseback, debating the merits of turning the north, south, or east pastures into cell grazing.
“I think your best bets are the east pastures,” Cal said as he walked Dash into a paddock. He was sweaty and hungry and very much looking forward to lunch—both Cal and the horse. “It has more nutritional plant species. Those same species are found in the north and south pastures too, but not in the same quantity.”
“I agree.” Las got off his horse and gave her a pat on the neck as Leta dismounted from her own horse. “But they’re the farthest pastures. Dragging all the equipment out there to build the cells is going to be a pain in the ass.”
“True,” Cal conceded. “But if you’re going to do this, you might as well do it right and give the cattle what they need.”
“We. If we are going to do this,” Las corrected. “We’re in this together.”
“It’s your project.”
“But I couldn’t do it without you. You know more about this ranch than I do. I wouldn’t have known that the vegetation in the east pastures was better.”
A hot nugget of pride worked its way through Cal’s veins. He didn’t have Las’s education, but he could still teach him a thing or two.
“How did you know that?” Las asked.
Cal dismounted. “I googled it. Them. The plants and grasses, I mean.”
“Smart,” Leta said. She stood next to her horse, scribbling in a notebook.
“It’s my job to know everything about this ranch.”
Las leaned against his horse. “My mom doesn’t even know all of the plants on this ranch.”
“I’m sure she does,” Cal said, catching sight of a tall golden-skinned photographer with aquamarine eyes and an off-white cowboy hat lingering by the barn.
His stomach flip-flopped.
“Nope.” Las chuckled. “When I was pitching her this project last summer, I told her about some of the rare plants found here, and she had no idea.”
“Speaking of those rare plants,” Leta said as Austin smiled at Cal and tipped his head to the side, toward the entrance to the barn, and disappeared inside. “We’ll want to make sure they’re protected from grazing.”
“I have to, uh, do a thing.” Cal let himself out of the paddock and waved over his shoulder.
“I thought we were going to lunch,” Las called after him.
“I’ll catch up with you. Untack Dash for me, will you, Las?”
Cal’s fast walk turned into a jog as he neared the barn. Inside, it was quiet on account of everyone having gone to lunch—aside from the nicker of horses and shuffling of hooves, that was.
Anticipation zinged through him when he found Austin exactly where he expected—in Dash’s stall. He barely got out a “Hey” before Austin yanked him inside and attacked his mouth.
Cal groaned into him, his body catching fire as it collided with Austin’s. Austin’s hands were everywhere at once—on his ass, digging his shirt out of his jeans to splay against the skin of his back, on his shoulders. Their hats tumbled to the ground and Austin’s hands went to his hair next.
“Jesus.” Chuckling softly, Cal leaned back against the side of the stall, drawing Austin into him. “Hello to you too. Welcome back.”
“Last night,” Austin murmured, his teeth scraping Cal’s neck, “I stayed in a cabin on one of Custer Gallatin’s campgrounds.”
Cal let out a hoarse sound of acknowledgment, his head falling back. “The cute one we stayed at last time I went with you?”
“Uh-huh. The one with the epic lookout. Should’ve been awesome. But the entire time I was there, I wished I was in bed with you.”
Letting out a rough noise, Cal dug his fingers into Austin’s hair and dragged his mouth back to his. Three days they’d been doing this... whatever they were doing... and already Cal couldn’t get enough of him. Wanted to fuse them together until they were sharing the same body, the same heartbeat. The same soul.
Cal wasn’t sure he believed in the concept of soulmates. The One. There were people you clicked with and people you didn’t, and some you clicked with more than most.
He and Austin clicked. Had ever since they’d shared Twizzlers in kindergarten.
Something else clicked too—an actual click followed by a series of thuds that echoed dully over the sound of his and Austin’s labored breaths. But it wasn’t until someone cleared their throat nearby that Cal figured out what the sound was.
The side door of the barn snicking closed, then boot heels thudding against the barn floor.
He drew away from Austin with a sloppy kiss, difficult to do with Austin clinging to him like a monkey. The throat clearing came again, which seemed to jar Austin out of his lust, because he swore under his breath and whirled around.
Standing outside Dash’s stall was Whitney Windsor-March.
Fuck.
Austin gave a two-fingered wave. “Hey, Whitney.”
“Austin,” Whitney said, and it was so long-suffering that Cal almost laughed.
Austin stepped in front of Cal, as though he could... protect him?
It was insanely cute.
And useless. Cal was bigger than him.
Whitney leaned sideways and peered around Austin. “Cal.”
Cal cleared his throat and stepped up next to Austin. “Hey, boss.”
She straightened and narrowed her gaze on Austin. “Why do I always find you in the middle of trouble on my ranch?”
“Me?” Austin pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m an angel.”
“Who was it I found tipping my cows?”
“That was Las’s idea.”
Whitney raised an eyebrow. “He was four at the time.”
“Always been a troublemaker, that kid.”
Cal rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide his smile and tried not to laugh.
“And who decided to hide the fireworks two days before the Fourth of July?”
“Also Las.”
“Uh-huh. And who snuck out with one of my horses on graduation day?”
“That was Las too. Or maybe Ben. Probably both,” Austin said, throwing his wayward brother under the bus along with Las. He pasted on a smile that was charming as hell.
Or would’ve been, if Whitney didn’t already have his number.
“You know how they were when they were teenagers,” Austin said with a casual you know how it is shrug. “Attached at the hip and always getting into trouble.”
“Mm-hmm. Except I don’t remember ever catching them canoodling in the barn.”
Austin nodded sagely. “I think maybe you didn’t look hard enough.”
That... was actually true. Because Cal had found them canoodling in the barn, more than once, back when they’d been an item. And just last summer, he and Austin had witnessed Las and Marco walk the walk of shame after an overnight in the barn.
Popular place, the barn.
Whitney sighed, but her lips quirked. “Austin?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Get out of here and let my foreman do his job.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He turned a bright smile on Cal, gave him a peck on the cheek, grabbed his hat from the ground, and backed out of the stall. “See you later.”
And he was gone, leaving Cal to face the music.
Face flaming, he tried not to fidget under Whitney’s gaze. “Sorry. Won’t happen again.”
She snorted a laugh. “Somehow I doubt that. I’m glad the two of you have finally gotten your heads out of your asses, but maybe save the hijinks for home?”
He winced. “Yup. Will do.”
She shook her head. “Go get lunch, Cal.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
And he fled.