17. Josh
SEVENTEEN
JOSH
“ H ow many different options did you come up with?” I asked Eli as we headed into the barn.
After our casual meeting at the Squeaky Wheel, I had no doubt that Eli was the right man for the job of leading the trail riding program, but I couldn’t resist giving him a pop quiz on his first official day at work.
Eli chuckled and adjusted his old tan cowboy hat.
“Too many. You’ll need to rein me in.” He held up his callused hand and started ticking off his suggestions.
“You’ve got your standard one-hour basic ride, a two-hour beginner and a two-hour advanced, a kiddie pony ride, the Bayberry Creek ride where we have to cross water a few times, the full-day beginner or advanced ride, the sunset ride, and I was thinking we could even add an overnight camping ride if there’s enough interest. Could market it as one of those corporate teambuilder-type activities. ”
I nodded approvingly. “Okay, I like how you’re thinking. You came up with ones I hadn’t even considered.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Eli said, reaching out to stroke a tan gelding’s velvety nose .
I felt even more confident about bringing Eli on now that he was actually on the premises.
In addition to having plenty of experience and a terrific professional reputation, he had a natural way with the horses, and he seemed to immediately click with the other hands and my foreman.
Shannon had mentioned that our sister, Fiona, had an issue with Eli back when they were in school but from what I’d heard, it was more of a rivalry than anything else.
Certainly not anything to indicate that there was a real problem there or a reason not to trust Eli.
On the contrary, everyone in town thought well of the single dad.
He’d definitely won the divorce with his ex—though that wasn’t hard to do given that his wife had been caught cheating.
If Fiona wanted to come home and give me a reason to change my mind about hiring Eli, she was welcome to try.
But that would require her to actually come home, something she’d done as little as possible in the past few years.
So everything seemed on track with the new head of the trail riding program.
I almost couldn’t believe that it was real, the way the new plan was coming together.
It all had to do with that little word that was the difference between waking up with a throbbing headache, and getting out of bed feeling like I could take on the world the second my feet touched the ground: hope.
It finally seemed like Lost Valley could rebound from the dark days, and the constant stress that I had come to associate with running the ranch would be just a memory.
I had to be honest with myself. Everything I was feeling tracked back to a bright spot named Zoe Wilson.
The revived trail program had been her idea, as were the changes to our website that would streamline the booking process.
But it wasn’t just what she was doing for Lost Valley that had me flying high.
The night before. Every time I remembered it, I felt a smile creep onto my face.
Sure, the sex had been mind-blowing, even better than I remembered, but it felt like something deeper had passed between us than physical pleasure as we rested in each other’s arms. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, though.
Maybe it was a feeling of homecoming. The sensation that we were both where we belonged.
I shook my head. No, the reality was that one night of great sex didn’t translate to anything permanent.
After all, Zoe wasn’t planning on putting down roots here again.
She’d never hidden the fact that her trip home was just a stopover before she was on to bigger and better things.
And the ranch kept me so busy that I could barely take a breath, let alone get invested in trying to keep someone else happy—particularly in a long-distance relationship.
But in this moment, I was happy, and I wasn’t going to deny it.
And while I wasn’t sure how we would work things out, I also hadn’t known how I would save the ranch a few weeks ago.
Maybe Zoe and I would find a way, too. But we needed to have the conversation before any rumors started.
While I could ignore the town gossips, I didn’t want any speculation to start circulating that could hurt Zoe.
I vowed to keep everything quiet until I knew what was going on.
Zoe and I needed to figure out exactly where we stood and what we were doing before we let in the rest of the world.
“Why are you smiling like a dork?” Shannon’s voice rang out from across the barn.
I pulled a face at my sister as she walked toward me, leading a gorgeous black stallion toward her wing of the barn.
“What, can’t a guy be happy about his new hire?” I pointed at Eli, who waved at her.
“That’s all it is?” Shannon gave me a dubious look.
“I’m excited about our new trail program,” I answered with a grin. “Eli’s got a ton of great ideas. ”
We both turned to Eli.
“Wow, you look so much like your sister,” he said. “I never noticed it before.”
Shannon gave him a split-second squint, then flapped her hand at him dismissively. “Hardly. She’s Miss Corporate America who never gets her hands dirty. Me? I’m out here sweating with the guys all day.”
“Speaking of,” I jumped in, “would you be willing to test out a few rides with us? Eli wants to offer some advanced stuff to our guests.”
She shrugged. “Sure. You know I’ll be honest, too.”
I pretended to wince. “Ain’t that the truth.”
I watched my sister lead the horse away and hoped that she had no idea what had gone down with Zoe the night before, because if she did, I was never going to hear the end of it.
I knew better than to skip lunch.
It didn’t matter how busy I was, I knew that missing lunch made for a surly afternoon.
I headed up to the house to grab a sandwich, mainly because I was starving, but also hoping that Zoe would be working at her usual spot at the table.
My heart sped up at the thought of seeing her, even if she was set up and zoned out, staring at the screen.
I looked down at my muddy boots and kicked them off at the door. Shannon had been on me for ages to stop traipsing dirt through the house, so I figured no better time than the present to start listening.
I headed down the hallway, past my office that was piled high with paperwork, and stopped when I heard Shannon and Zoe talking. I paused just outside the door. I wasn’t above collecting intel on the sly .
“It was weird; he was all smiley and happy down at the barn this morning,” Shannon said.
Something clanged in the sink.
“You think so?” Zoe’s voice sounded surprised.
“Definitely. He said it was because of the new trail riding program, but he just seemed…I don’t know, different . Not that I’m complaining. I like this side of him. He’s been in a funk for way too long.”
“Really?” Zoe asked.
“Uh-huh,” Shannon said, her voice muffled by whatever she was eating.
“Ever since the plane crash. Obviously, losing both our parents at the same time leveled all of us, but it hit Josh in a different way. I guess he decided that he had to step up and be the man of the family. It’s like something broke in him when we lost them, and my smiling-and-sometimes-serious big brother became serious all the time. ”
My shoulders slumped as I leaned against the wall outside the kitchen. Broken ? Is that the way she saw me? And did Zoe agree? I’d done everything I could to be a rock for my sisters since the plane crash. The idea that Shannon thought I was failing at it was an arrow to my heart.
“Josh is Lost Valley,” Shannon continued.
“Since he started running everything, it’s like nothing else matters to him but this damn ranch.
” She paused. “Well, and us—me and Fi. He’s a great big brother, even if he goes a little overboard sometimes.
But that’s it. The guy doesn’t have a social life to speak of.
He doesn’t date. I know he’s had a few one-night stands over the years, but the truth is, I don’t think he has it in him to be in a real relationship. ”
The room went quiet except for the sounds of food prep.
“Oh, wow,” Zoe said so softly that I had to strain to hear her. “I didn’t know any of that. ”
My hackles went up. Zoe sounded defeated.
There was no way I could let her believe that was the truth about me.
Shannon was right about some of what she’d said, but I wasn’t a broken man and I wasn’t afraid of being in a relationship.
There simply hadn’t been anyone in town worth being in a relationship with, until now.
The way I saw it, I had two choices on how I could handle what was unfolding in the kitchen.
One, I could pretend I hadn’t heard everything, or two, I could do something dramatic to show that I was as whole as ever.
I’d always been a man of action, so I took a deep breath and barged into the kitchen.
“Hey there,” I said, breezing past Shannon and locked on to Zoe. Her eyes went wide as I got closer, like she could tell what was about to go down between us and didn’t know if it was a good idea or not.
There was no way in hell I was going to keep whatever was happening with Zoe quiet after what I’d just heard. I got closer to her. She took a half-step backward, but she was trapped against the counter. I didn’t even pause as I circled my arm around her waist and pulled her up into a deep kiss.
Sweet relief pulsed through me as she responded to it like she was as thirsty for me as I was for her, or as if it had been years since our last kiss not just hours.
We kissed like we forgot that we were standing in the kitchen with Shannon watching from a few feet away.
Zoe’s arms circled around my shoulders, and I tipped her backward for dramatic effect.
Broken? Ha!
When I finally pulled away, Zoe stared up at me with flushed cheeks and flashing eyes, her mouth open in shock at the intensity of the kiss.
I’d awakened something in her, I could tell by the look.
I grinned at her and continued over to the refrigerator.
No one moved and the room was silent as I grabbed a leftover piece of grilled chicken and a carrot.
“Ladies,” I said with a nod, then bit off the end of the carrot as I walked out of the room.
I was only a few steps out of the room when I heard Shannon explode.
“What the hell was that ?” she demanded of Zoe, who burst into laughter.
I chuckled to myself and headed back to the barn.