Chapter 1
Chapter One
Brynn
My phone rings, and I look down to see my ex-boyfriend Clay’s number flash across the screen.
“Son of a bitch,” I hiss before I hit the answer button. “Hey, Clay.”
“Hey, gorgeous. I’m not going to be able to make it this weekend to see Olivia. I got a chance to ride, and I’m going to take it.”
I sigh inwardly and roll my eyes, counting to ten before I reply.
I grab the floral arrangement out of my truck and start toward City Hall.
It’s Friday and my last delivery of the day.
I’ve got everything put together at the shop so that I can take the entire weekend off.
Mostly because I assumed Clay would bail on our daughter, and I knew she’d need me.
Again.
“Of course. Do what you have to do.”
“Don’t be filling her head full of lies about why I can’t be there, either,” he growls out of nowhere.
“I never do, Clay,” I mumble.
“Bullshit. You’re always making up lies about me. You probably push her off on your dad so that you can—”
“We’re done here, Clay.” I calmly hang up the phone.
Inside, I want to scream and throw my damn phone.
I used to think that Clay’s possessiveness was cute, but it turned out to be psychotic.
He was incredibly abusive and controlling when we were together.
Luckily, he left to join the rodeo circuit, and I don’t have to deal with him much when it comes to co-parenting.
He loves to pretend he’s a great dad when he probably hasn’t seen Olivia for more than ten minutes in the last four years.
Irritation rips through me, as well as anger.
How dare he accuse me of anything?
I immediately dial my best friend Rachel’s number. I need to vent about this idiot of a man, and she’s one of the few people who understands what a jerk he is. I start up the steps.
“I owe you twenty bucks,” I tell Rachel before she even says hello. “You knew he wouldn’t show again, and he just called to say that he isn’t.”
“Color me shocked,” she giggles.
I put my hand on the door of City Hall as it flies open, and a tall, brick wall of a man barrels into me, knocking my phone and the vase of flowers out of my hand.
“Watch where you’re going, sweetheart,” a deep, gravelly voice growls as I fly backward.
Sweetheart? Is he serious right now?
I look down at the shattered vase and the destroyed floral arrangement that I worked so hard to make for the mayor. Anger races through me as I look up at the man towering over me.
He is tall with a muscular body, rugged features, and sun-kissed skin framed by a scruffy beard. He exudes a dangerous energy, like a wild stallion that can’t be tamed. He’s looking down at the mess on the sidewalk, not making eye contact with me, but I’m so furious that I’m doing the same.
And he’s an asshole.
“Watch where I’m going?” I hiss as I try to stand up.
I can feel the pain in the palms of my hands from scraping against the concrete. There’s a sharp twinge in my hips as I stand and take a step toward him.
“I am not your sweetheart,” I growl. “You just ran me over like a freight train, destroyed my floral arrangement, and you tell me to watch where I’m going?”
He glances at me, a dismissive smirk on his face. He looks me up and down with his deep brown eyes before he saunters off as if I’m still not standing there.
I know him, but how do I know him?
My chest tightens, and I suck in a breath. He saunters away as if I don’t exist.
His eyes are amazing.
Shit, get it together, Brynn.
All of that is replaced with fury quickly.
What an asshole! How dare he knock me over and act like it’s my fault!
“Typical cowboy, always thinking he owns the place,” I retort with fire in my eyes.
I glance down at the ground and try to clean up the mess on the sidewalk. I can hear Rachel yelling on the phone. I lean down and pick it up.
Thank goodness it wasn’t damaged.
“Some asshole just knocked me over and blamed me,” I grumble into the phone.
“I heard,” Rachel replies with a giggle.
“Damn it, I worked so hard on this arrangement for Gavin and Lena’s anniversary. He told me she would be here today helping the new mayor get his footing.”
“Is it destroyed?”
“Yeah, the vase shattered, and some of the stems are broken. Fucking asshole.”
I blow out an exasperated sigh as I pick up the glass and throw it in the trash. I grab the flowers off the pavement and carry them back to my truck.
First Clay, now this guy. I need to go home and go to bed.
“It’s okay. I’m sure you have a backup. You always do.”
Good thing I made a second arrangement for myself. I’ll just grab it and run it back to City Hall.
“Of course I do. It’s the principle, though.”
“You can’t control other people. Don’t let him or Clay ruin your day. I already hear the wheels in your head turning.”
I sigh loudly. “Have I ever mentioned that I hate cowboys?”
“And every head in Hicks Creek turned,” she says with mock gasp. “Careful now, that’s eighty percent of our population.”
“I’m well aware. It’s why I haven’t dated since I got home.” I let out a frustrated groan. “I just called to vent about Clay. He had the audacity to tell me not to make up lies to Olivia.”
“He’s so dumb. His actions are why she doesn’t want anything to do with him.”
“I know. His getting on the rodeo circuit is the best thing that could have happened for us, though. Now, I barely have to see him.”
“Hey, I got to go. Tilly seems to be having issues with a customer.”
“It’s probably the same jerk who just barreled through me. Seems entitled,” I say jokingly before we hang up the phone.
Twenty minutes later, my assistant is delivering the flowers to Lena Marshall, our town mayor, and I’m locking the door to my shop, Bloom Joanne is on the porch when I pull into the driveway.
“Hey, girl,” Joanne greets me excitedly.
“Hey, Jo, thanks so much for grabbing Liv today.”
“She’s welcome here anytime, you know that.”
“Dad said your brother showed up early, so I’m going out to introduce myself and get him set up.”
“He’s not early,” she says with a furrowed brow. “I’m pretty certain today was the day your dad told him to start.”
I blow out a breath. “Miscommunication with me and Dad, I guess.”
He’s been forgetting a lot lately.
“You’re going to love Jack,” she gushes. “He’s so intelligent. The kids adore him. He’s a good man, and he’s going to take a lot off your plate with the ranch. It’ll be good, I promise. I know I’m biased, but you’re just going to love him.”
She keeps saying you’re just going to love him as if she has an ulterior motive, and knowing Joanne, she does.
“Hey, Mom!” Olivia says as she hurries to climb into the passenger seat. “Thanks for having me, Mrs. Jennings.”
“Of course, sweet girl! We’ll see you guys around!” Joanne calls out.
JoAnne, her son Bret, and her daughter Ava stand at the edge of the driveway, waving goodbye to us.
“Grandpa needs us,” I tell her. “The new ranch manager that he hired showed up today.”
“Ava’s uncle? I met him earlier. He seems really cool.”
“Good to know.”
As I pull onto the dirt road leading home, I replay my run-in with the cowboy. I grip the steering wheel, still feeling the frustration from how rude he’d been to me.
You know how they are, Brynn. You’ve grown up around cowboys your entire life, and they’re all the same: rude, emotionally unavailable assholes.
It’s really hard to date in a small ranching town when you’ve sworn off cowboys.
I shake the thought away as I pull into the ranch’s long gravel driveway.
My childhood home, the house my father still resides in, looms ahead of us.
Off to the right and next to one of the barns is the bunkhouse where the single ranch hands stay.
It reminds me of an old log cabin with dark wood and a covered front porch.
It’s big enough to fit ten employees, so they have plenty of room to move around.
It’s dark, and none of the lights are on, so I can only assume they’re all out in the pasture with my dad.
My house is off to the side of my father’s home.
“I’m going to go check on the new foal,” Olivia says as she hurries out of the truck.
“Make sure Barney has food and water,” I tell her, referring to her Australian Shepherd.
She runs off, her dog right on her heels. I look around and notice the shiny new Ford truck sitting next to my dad’s rusted-out truck.
That must belong to the new guy.
He’s nowhere to be seen, and when I dial my dad, he doesn’t answer. I make my way to the bunkhouse, knocking before I enter.
“Hello? Mr. Renfrew?”
There isn’t an answer. I make my way back to my house to look for the man’s phone number so I can call and find out where he is.
A few years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Olivia and I came home to help out and be with her.
When she passed away, I made the decision to stay and help my dad with the ranch.
At the time, our ranch manager lived off the property with his family, so we converted that extra bunkhouse into a small house for Olivia and me.
I walk into the house, determined to drink a small glass of wine and set my things down before I look for this man’s number. I hear the shower going.
“Olivia!” I call out, knowing she didn’t have time to feed the dog if she’s already in the shower.
I go directly into the shower.
“Liv, you didn’t have time to feed Barney. Why on earth are you already in the shower? You haven’t even had dinner. Did you fall in the mud? Are you okay?”
The curtain moves, and the man who’d plowed me down at City Hall pokes his head out. Those whiskey-colored eyes pierce through me.
“I’m sorry, darlin’, but I’m not Olivia.”
I gasp and grab onto the sink to keep from falling over as everything from the past comes flooding into my brain. Recognition hits me hard.
No, this isn’t possible. Now I remember. My dad could not have hired the horse whisperer who took off in the middle of the night ten years ago. He would never take that risk again.
“What? Who? Why?” I stammer as panic grips my chest. “Why are you in my shower?”
“Your shower?” he drawls with a low chuckle. “John said this was the manager’s place. He told me to make myself at home.”
“No. No, it’s not. I mean, it was, but it’s not anymore. This is my home with my daughter.”
“Are you sure about that? John brought me right in here himself.”
I shake my head. “Of course, I’m sure about it! It’s my home that I share with my daughter. You can look around at the pictures on my wall. What kind of question is that?”
First, my dad was confused about his arrival date, and now, he has brought him into my house. This isn’t good.
Not only that, but this…this man, this asshole, is the new ranch manager?
“You’re Jack Renfrew, the new manager?”
“Yes, ma’am, at your service. Well, I will be once I’m done with my shower unless you’d like to join me.”
He opens the curtain a little further, and I get the full view of his rock-hard aaaaaaaaabbsss.
Shit! Don’t look down. Eyes up!
I gasp and scurry out of the bathroom.
This is not going to work. This has to be a mistake.