Chapter 7 Katie
KATIE
“Wayne.” Listening to my own voice saying his name, I hope it’s clear that my greeting is unenthusiastic — at best. “Where’s your dad?”
He props himself on the doorframe, one arm slung high over his head to stretch the lines of his muscles in a way that shouldn’t be as enticing as it is. I really don’t need to be ogling this guy right now.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, not answering my question.
I tear my eyes away from the tempting vee of his hips, ignoring the pleased grin on his lips and the inviting glimmer in his dark eyes.
So what if he’s attractive? There’s plenty of eye candy around if all I want is a charming smile and sculpted muscles.
It’s a shame that a nicer guy like Tony doesn’t make my stomach tighten from desire in the same way Wayne does.
“I’m here for work,” I say, dry and unimpressed. “Everett and I need to discuss specifics for the next birthing season.”
“Right, you’re a vet now. Love a girl with brains.” Wayne grins, not cowed by my lack of interest. If anyone else was this pushy, it would be an immediate turn-off, but he’s just so baldly confident that I can’t help but find it charming. “You didn’t tell me that when we caught up at the bar.”
I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, working to get a tighter hold on my frustration before I snap at him.
I don’t want to think about the night at the bar right now, or about Wayne at all.
I want to do my job and ignore any leftover attraction I have for my boss’s son.
I just want my life to go back to normal.
Why can’t Wayne just go back to wherever it is he actually lives, already?
“Where’s your dad, Wayne?” I ask with a sigh. “As you’ve so cleverly pointed out, I’m a vet. I have, y’know, vet things to do. Everett should be expecting me.”
His grin doesn’t falter for a second and I hate that I find it attractive.
“He’s not home,” he says, leaning down into my face. “One of the neighbors had something pop up, he said he’d be back in an hour.”
Frustration flares bright in my chest. I clench my fists at my sides, trying to contain the irritation that Waynes’ causing. Of fucking course, he’s gone.
My annoyance isn’t directed at Everett. Things like this pop up all the time, and I’ve got plenty to keep me busy until he gets back.
If anything, I’m glad he’s getting off the ranch and actually engaging with the community again.
He’s been a hermit for far too long. But this is going to make it a lot harder to get Wayne off my back.
“Alright… well, I’ll be in the barn,” I bite out with a heavy breath. “Send him my way when he gets home.”
I turn on my heel and head down the porch steps, biting back a groan when Wayne follows me. Is he seriously not even going to put a shirt on?
“How about I help you out in the barn? You could probably use another pair of hands.”
I snort at the idea of Wayne doing any actual work around the ranch — he’s a pencil-pusher, and I doubt he’s done anything to help on the ranch since he was a kid.
He probably doesn’t even know how to muck a stall.
I pick up my pace, wanting to get into the barn and away from him and just let myself fall into work.
“No thanks,” I say tersely. “Go do… whatever.”
“Worried I’ll distract you?” he asks, a teasing grin on his face. “Promise I’ll behave.”
He’s been doing this since he came back to the ranch, alternating between hounding me and flat-out flirting.
It’s annoying, and I hate how attractive I still find him.
I also don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he can get under my skin so easily.
I definitely don’t want to have some kind of weird pseudo-friendship with him, I don’t want to sleep with him again.
I sure as shit don’t want Everett to find out that I hooked up with his son.
Sure, the memories of that night still get me hot under the collar, but that’s just because he was good in bed. It would be the same with anyone else.
Still, he speeds up to keep pace with me, no matter how quickly I try to shake him.
“I have work to do.” I shoot him a disapproving frown as we cross the dirt path separating the house from the barn, wishing he’d just fuck off and find someone else to sniff after. “If I needed help, I’d have one of my technicians with me.”
They’re trained for this, and they would be helpful rather than just getting in my way and making shitty attempts to hit on me. He chuckles like I said something funny, knocking our shoulders together, and my temper snaps.
“Dude,” I spit, stopping in my tracks just in front of the barn and taking several steps back from him.
“Seriously, enough. I’ve heard all about your sexcapades with Vicky and God knows who else since you got back.
We fucked once, and I don’t plan to do it again.
It wasn’t a big deal. So, why don’t you find someone else to bother? ”
He blinks at me in shock, before an astonished laugh falls from his lips.
“Vicky?” he asks, tilting his head in confusion.
Jesus Christ, is that all he paid attention to? How stereotypical of him.
“Vicky. Your ex. She’s been talking about how you two are hooking up, which isn’t a surprise,” I say scathingly. “I wouldn’t be shocked if you’d slept with half the girls we went to school with by this point.”
He shakes his head as amused understanding flits across his features. A laugh rumbles up from his chest, and he tosses his head back, clutching his stomach in mirth.
“God, I haven’t even seen Vicky since I got back.
We haven’t talked in years.” I roll my eyes at the obvious lie.
Wayne isn’t the type to pass up a quick fuck, and even Vicky isn’t pathetic enough to make up stories like that at our age.
“I mean, I get it. She’s always wanted to get back together with me.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she was lying for attention. She’s always been good at that.”
I may not like Vicky, but I’m not going to let a man talk about a woman like that. Not even if she deserves it.
“Jesus, Wayne, can you not even pretend to respect her?”
“She’s a shitty person,” he says with a careless shrug. “We fucked around in high school, it’s not like either of us liked each other as people. If she wants to keep up her bullshit, she can deal with the consequences, and besides—”
I hold my hand up to stop his tirade. I’m already overwhelmed with frustration, and if I hear any more, I think my entire brain will shut off.
I have work to do, and this conversation is utterly stupid.
I don’t care about Wayne or Vicky, or what they get up to together.
I don’t care how he treats her, or how she treats him.
Honestly, they’re probably made for each other.
If they want to be immature idiots about each other, it’s no skin off my back.
Continuing this dumb and useless conversation is just taking time out of my day.
“Uh, what?” he asks, eyeing my hand, clearly taken off-guard by the way I’m interacting with him.
“Actually, just stop there. I really, really don’t care,” I say, not bothering to hide the exhaustion in my voice. “I don’t have time to talk about stupid shit like this. I have work to get done, so just send your dad over when he gets back, yeah?”
I pivot and head toward the side of the barn, hoping that’ll be the end of it. I can do my weekly checks on the new calves early and forget about all of this.
I immediately groan again when I hear Wayne’s footsteps follow me into the barn.
“If you don’t care,” he teases, “why even bring it up?”
Shit. I don’t care. I don’t.
“Come on Katie, I just want to talk to you.” Annoyance is clear in his voice, and he falls into step beside me, not looking anywhere but my face. I hope he can see how little I care about this conversation. “Why are you acting like you can’t stand me?”
I don’t even look at him. Did I really sleep with someone this stupid just because he was pretty? So what if he has chiseled abs and thighs to die for? God, I need to work on my standards.
I continue to ignore him as he babbles more inane questions.
He’s following me everywhere I walk to, like an absolute idiot, not watching where he’s going at all.
I consider saying something when I see Tony leading a heifer out of one of the side pens, but maybe if they bump into each other, it’ll be enough of a distraction that I can shake Wayne off and go about my day.
What surprises me, though, is just how oblivious Wayne is. He knocks right into Tony’s back, full-force, and is flung straight to the ground ass-first …straight into a pile of cow shit. It makes an awful squelching sound as he lands in it, and he looks up at me in absolute horror.
Bright peals of laughter burst out of me as I watch Wayne’s face go fire-truck red in embarrassment.
Oh, how the mighty fall.
“You okay, man?” Tony asks, stopping the heifer and holding a hand out to Wayne to help him up. “Sorry, I didn’t check behind me.”
“I’m fucking fine,” Wayne spits, ignoring Tony’s hand as he rights himself.
He gets up slowly as I struggle to get my laughter under control, clutching my stomach in mirth. His pants are streaked all the way down to the ankle with dung, and I won’t be surprised if there’s a swath of it over the bare skin of his back, too.
“Maybe instead of worrying about me and every other girl in town, you should find something useful to do with your time,” I say with a wide, shameless grin on my face.
“You could definitely find something better to do around the farm than falling into piles of shit. Might be a good idea to start with watching where you’re going, though. ”
I shake my head in amusement, still snickering under my breath as I step around Wayne and finally leave him behind. Seems like being in the city for so long has made him forget how life around the ranch goes, and I can’t deny that it’s hilarious to watch.
“Tony, let Everett know I’m in with the calves when he gets back, would you?”
I pet over the shoulder of the heifer as I pass between the two men.
“Yeah,” Tony says. “Sure thing, Doc.”
I keep walking toward the calf pens, my mood much better than it was two minutes ago. Who knew seeing Wayne Riggs eat shit would make my day this much better?