Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Sunny
I carry my morning coffee out to the deck of my parents’ house. I’ve been staying with them for two weeks, but I need that to change.
My real estate agent sent me two listings. One’s for an old house in downtown Huckleberry Springs. A small square house a block off Main Street. I peer at the screen and take a long drink of Chef’s special blend. He added a ton of milk and topped it with cold foam, remembering just how I like it.
“Might need some work,” I mutter as I read over the agent’s insight. The house was old when I was a kid. The inside is cute enough, but do I want to be fighting old plumbing, a worn foundation, and aged electrical wiring?
On to the next listing. More than an old box with peeling paint, the second house is a manufactured home on five acres. It costs three times the amount of the first place. A broad deck sprawls across the front, but it’s not enough to mask the blandness of the house.
No.
Ugh. I’d love to ask my parents’ opinion and if they know of people looking to sell. But I can’t. I contacted the agent two months ago, right before I graduated, and I swore her to secrecy.
Indignation warms my cheeks. I’m twenty-five.
I shouldn’t be scared of Daddy finding out I’m trying to buy a house.
I am, though. He’d either coerce me to stay with him and Mom because it’s financially reasonable, or he’d try to negotiate me into staying at the guest lodge.
I know because he’s already tried to bring up both.
What next? He finds me a suitable husband?
“Morning, peanut,” Daddy says as he wanders onto the deck.
“Morning.” I click out of the email and lay my phone on the table, screen down.
He takes a seat next to me and puts his old-fashioned Stanley thermos across from my phone. The thing is plumb full of coffee that he’ll have finished by noon. “How’s the job going?”
“It’s good.”
Two weeks of people giving me a wide berth and nervous smiles. I like it when I run into guests roaming the halls. They don’t know me, and therefore, they don’t avoid me. Instead, they smile and say things like, “Isn’t it gorgeous here?”
To them, I’m either a guest or staff, and they don’t care.
I’m staff, but word of how Daddy is when it comes to his girls has made its rounds. In case my little chat with Iverson didn’t make that clear.
“You were quiet after Hennessy’s visit,” Daddy says gruffly. “Did he give you attitude? Say anything inappropriate?”
If only Iverson was deliciously inappropriate. The way he looked at me, struggling to remain aloof, while terror simmered in his brown eyes.
Between the time he dropped me off at my car and the moment I saw him standing in the crowd of employees, I built up the fantasy. He’s a man who knows what he wants. He’s a good man who’ll take care of me and put me first, which means he’ll stand up to Daddy.
Funny how I expect that of a stranger when I can barely do it myself.
I run my fingers along the back of my phone. I can be the princess locked in the tower, or I can be a damn adult who can face her father. “I’m looking for a place to buy in town.”
Daddy’s white mustache turns down with his frown. “You don’t need to buy?—”
“I want to. I’d like my own place.” Where my parents stay out of my business. “I have an agent.”
“I’ve got a guy you can use.”
“I’m working with a woman.” When he gives me a sharp look, I return it with a sweet smile. “She’s good. I promise. I learned a few things from you.”
“Hmph.” His frown deepens. “Your mom and I like having you around.”
“And I like being around you too.” I really do love my family, but I need to set limits and maintain boundaries, or I’ll always be the twenty-one-year-old college student who gets cut off, but not really.
A facade of freedom. I want more. “I also like having my own life, and I can’t do that under my parents’ roof.
” He opens his mouth. “Or in the lodge.”
He taps his fingers over his thermos. “This agent…is she finding you some good places?”
Surprised at his easy acquiescence, I nod. “As good as can be found in Huckleberry Springs.”
His chuckle is dry. “You might be better off building.”
Agreed. “I need to work a little longer before I can get the loan.”
“There’s ten acres close to town on the edge of our property you can build on. I can talk to the bank?—”
“Daddy.”
“—and you won’t even need a loan. Your mother and I reserved some funds for you and your sisters for future homes?—”
“Daddy. No.” I push my coffee aside and lean across the table. “I’m going to figure it out myself.” And I won’t be building on family land. If Daddy’s dirt is holding up my foundation, then he won’t see a boundary. He’ll think he has a say.
“Why reinvent the wheel? We weren’t going to tell you until you were home for a while.”
“It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s boundaries. This is my life.”
“You’re my kid, and I provide for my family.”
“You do,” I say softly. “I’ve reaped the rewards, but I really do want to find my own home—whether I buy it or build it.”
His mustache twitches, and he looks away. I can’t tell if he is listening to me or biding his time.
I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I take another sip of my coffee. “What’s Hennessy’s story?”
A crease forms between his brows. “Why?”
Because he can fuck all night and make me feel like the most precious treasure.
Because there’s something about him that draws me like a moth to a flame, and I don’t care if my wings get singed.
Because I’ve wanted to know everything about the man since I first laid eyes on him.
“I figure since I’m working with him more than the others, I should have a good sense of him. ”
Daddy’s hazel eyes glint. The perpetual protective dad. “His story isn’t mine to tell. He’s a good guy, but he’s like any other hired man who’s worked out here. A little wild. Doesn’t let the weeds grow under his boots.”
Really? It seemed like he let the roots anchor him to the ranch. “His brothers work here too? They’re the three brothers you’ve talked about?”
“Haven and Durban. All good guys. Good workers and excellent cowboys. But guys all the same,” he says with a warning tone.
I’m not going to get more out of Daddy, but I respect his stance to protect his employees. He might keep me and my sisters on a pedestal, but he does want to do right by the people who depend on him.
I grab my almost-empty coffee cup. “I’d better get to work.”
“Have a good day, kiddo. I’ll swing by for lunch.”
Chef provides all the meals for guests and staff. One of the perks of working at Hawthorne Ranch, and it’s a good one.
I’m grateful I have a day full of books to balance. It’ll help me keep my mind off a certain Hennessy brother I have no business obsessing over.
Iverson
I’m in the tack room in the back of the barn with my brothers.
We just returned from replacing a few hundred yards of fence around the winter pastures, and we’re putting our gear away.
Just like the barn that’s almost nice enough for guests when the lodge is full, the tack room is fancier than any home I’ve lived in.
Wooden saddle racks line one wall in two rows. Hooks filled with lead ropes, headstalls, halters, and bits decorate the adjacent wall, and custom cabinetry runs along the top. Opposite the saddles is a bench with supplies for the vet when she comes. It’s like a small clinic away from town.
“Did ya hear?” Haven asks, leaning against the bench. “Chef’s making his honey-glazed pork chops with peach salsa tonight.” He grabs his gut and moans. “Fuck me. I can’t wait for dinner.”
Haven has a bottomless pit for a stomach. “If the girls in town learn that they can get to you with food, you’ll be buying a ring in no time.”
“No girls in town are going to put up with our hours,” Haven grumbles, then grins. “But they can feel free to win me over with a few meals.”
Durban chuckles. “It’ll be raining casseroles around here.”
Haven moans again. “Don’t mention food. Nothing makes me hungrier than fencing on a hot day.”
My appetite has been gone for three weeks. Since I found out the woman I can’t forget is the most untouchable person on the planet.
To add to my shitty mood, yesterday, Myles Foster sent me another text with a higher amount for the old mine.
As if his other offer wasn’t generous, this one’s high enough to make a guy pause.
Am I doing the right thing holding on to that land?
Would my dad come back from the other side and smack me for being an idiot? Foster’s offer is life-changing money.
But how would our lives change? I need those answers before I make a decision.
My brothers aren’t aimless, but our options have been limited our entire lives.
That land grounds us, while a windfall of cash would only attract the wrong attention.
My brothers and I would be getting lured with a lot more than food if people found out.
Besides, none of us have Sunny’s education. She can probably take that amount and grow it, while all I can do is monitor it as it decreases.
I haven’t told Haven and Durban about the new offer yet. I will. Eventually.
“Think your girlfriend’s still out riding?” Durban asks.
Awareness prickles over my skin. The last thing I needed to see today was her swaying gently on the back of one of the working ranch horses.
She picked Mildred, a red mare with a sweet disposition and a love for pleasure rides.
Try to get Mildred to work cattle, and she was as dense as a box of marbles.
As a result, she was probably the best choice in the pasture when Sunny wanted to go for a ride.
The memory of seeing Sunny and Mildred on the far side of the pasture sticks with me. Her long hair must’ve been gathered under her straw cowboy hat, but she wore jeans. I’m practically salivating seeing her heart-shaped ass in jeans.
“Maybe,” is all I say. “Time for chow.”
Sunny breezes through the entrance of the tack room. “I hear it’s going to be Chef’s pork chops.” She hefts her borrowed saddle onto an empty rack. She secures the straps and cinches properly, something I’ve had to get after some guys for.
“Yes, ma’am,” Haven says, tipping his cowboy hat. “It’s a big day when Chef makes his pork chops.”
She smiles and puts the currycomb in a drawer. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had them. I can’t wait.”
Haven and Durban flash me wide grins behind her back. I scowl at them, but my attention redirects right back to her.
She makes sure her saddle is balanced and nothing’s crimped.
That ass is better in jeans than I could’ve imagined.
Round and tight. The topaz woven belt at her hips gives her an hourglass figure, and I remember every shadowed inch.
Worse, I clearly recall how soft she is.
She’s got a T-shirt on that clings to her and amplifies the dip of her waist as well as her jeans.
Fuck me, she’s a sexy woman.
When she turns, her gaze scans the room. “Where’d your brothers go?”
With a start, I glance around. Sunny and I are alone. Those fuckers. “They’re hungry.”
She tips her head. “And what about you?”
Fucking starving, but not for pork chops. My mouth waters like I’m ready to chomp into her. “I’m heading there.” I don’t move.
“Mm.” She folds her arms, and the damn shirt pulls tight around her tits. “Me too.”
I flick my gaze down her body and back up. She’s watching me, but I can only be so strong. “Iverson.”
I jolt. “Hennessy. Everyone here calls me Hennessy.”
“There’re three of you.”
“They call me Ivy if there’s more than one of us.”
Her lush lips tip up. “That makes more sense.”
What would it be like to have her under me with the sunlight on her? I would be able to see everything. Instead of dark shades, I’d get the prettiest pink of her pussy. The creaminess of her thighs. Does she have tan lines that I didn’t notice that night?
Pressure builds behind my zipper. If I keep on this path, I won’t dare go to dinner. I dart out of the door. “I’ve gotta meet the guys for dinner.”
“Iverson.”
I stop, tilting my head far enough to look over my shoulder. If I face her fully, my mind will dive right back into the gutter. “Yeah?”
“You really don’t want to try, do you?” Disappointment fills her voice.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. I respect your dad and my job.” There’s something that’s bothered me since our last interaction. “About what I said in the office. I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m trying to create distance between us.” I need to.
Appreciation lights her eyes. “I know. Can’t we at least be friends? We work together.”
She’s lying to herself if she thinks we’re coworkers. She’s part of my management team, whether she wants to admit it or not. “I can’t be friends with you. Not when I know how fucking tight you grip me when you come.”
Her lips part, and if I stay longer, I’ll push her up against the bench my brother was just leaning on and peel those jeans off of her. And I think she’ll let me. I walk out.
“Come to my office tomorrow,” she calls behind me. “It’s the end of the month, and I need to go over the next quarter with you.”
“Can’t.” I keep walking. The open barn door looms in front of me. My escape from a woman who ties me in knots and makes me want to flip the table of my life. “Got fence to fix. You can ask Cal.”
“Friday, then.”
I continue right out the door without answering her. I’ll be in her office because it’s my job. And I’ll look forward to it every day until then.