Chapter 8
Jessie
Itext Kacey a picture of my naked kitchen floor.
Kacey
Cool. I hated that tile.
Jessie
Not the point. I came home to a floorless kitchen... a naked kitchen floor if you will. Your and Knox’s child is unmanageable.
Kacey
Don’t look at me, I didn’t raise him. Come to the ranch today. I’ll send Knox in to help him.
Jessie
Good idea. If I stay in this house we’ll have a body to hide.
The steel Diamond Hart Ranch brand swings in the wind atop the massive ranch gate as I drive under it.
I spent a lot of my childhood at this ranch, and I still do.
Weekends, long summer days, and holidays are all spent here with the patchwork family the Harts have built.
I’ve always had a twinge of jealousy that Kacey gets to call a place like this home.
It wasn’t just Kacey who befriended me in first grade.
Her dad, Cody Hart, treats me like his own daughter.
Flowers on my birthday, attending my college graduation, and now making sure to have family dinners together when I’m not working.
He’s loved me the way a father should—the way mine never did.
Then there is Carson, the ranch hand—who’s more like a brother—who also took me in.
I’m not sure it was willingly at first, but he came around.
After all, nine-year-old Jessie was relentless, and since he’s ten years older than Kacey and me, that made him Cody’s built-in babysitter after Kacey’s mom passed.
We followed him everywhere. He taught me how to ride a horse, drive a stick shift, and was even a shoulder to cry on the first time my heart got broken.
We bicker a lot, and most people think he’s grumpy, but he and Kacey are the siblings I dreamed of on those lonely nights sleeping in the garage.
There is nothing I wouldn’t do for them.
I’ve been here a million times, but this ranch still takes my breath away every time I drive onto it.
They call it the richest ranch in Colorado, but to me, it’s just home.
This 45,000-acre ranch became my sanctuary.
This is one place my father would never dare set foot on.
I think that’s why Gran let me spend so much time here as a child. It was safe.
Gran doesn’t come out here much anymore, but she loves it here, too. With the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop to the stone ranch houses and matching brown and white barns, it’s something you would see in a magazine. In fact, it has been featured in multiple.
Several white ranch trucks with the brown DHR brand on the door are parked outside the horse barn. I know I’ll find Kacey there—she manages all the horses on the ranch—but it’s Carson I see first. He’s standing in the round pen while a saddled horse lopes circles around him.
I park and make my way to the fence.
When he spots me, he stops the horse. “Jessie.”
Man of few words, this one.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I prop one foot on the bottom rail of the fence.
“Be better when this year’s colts are broke to ride,” he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket, pausing the nineties country playing on a nearby speaker.
“Hm. I bet, but you love it.” My focus drifts back to my kitchen. And baby blue eyes.
He walks over to the fence and loops the lead rope around the post before focusing on me. His broad shoulders and six-foot-plus frame tower over me. “You okay?” Carson might be quiet, but he’s perceptive. I’ve never met anyone as attuned to others as he is.
“Yeah, I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Working through some life changes, ya know?”
“Not really. My life hasn’t changed in almost twenty years.” He’s dead serious, and it makes me laugh. One corner of his lips lifts. “Speaking of life changes, how’s living with the new roommate? Heard you’re lacking a kitchen floor.”
I groan. “Kacey told you about my naked kitchen floor? Trey’s fixing it as we speak. I think Knox went to help.”
He makes a choking sound. “Naked what?”
I ignore him. “He’s just so nice. He’s been helping Gran, fixing things at her house and mine.
He built her new window boxes. It’s weird, Carson.
Who does that? Now Gran’s in love with him, and he’s putting new tile in the kitchen that I didn’t ask for.
And—get this—when I told him I couldn’t afford it, he said he would cover it. ”
Carson lets me word vomit, scratching his short beard.
“Now my kitchen is naked because the nicest pain in my ass ‘doesn’t sit still well.’ Honestly, he needs ADHD meds, a hobby, and a financial advisor because he clearly has too much time and money on his hands.
He’s paying me a ridiculous amount in rent and look at the truck he drives.
It has every bell and whistle, with every off-road part you can think of.
That thing had to cost a fortune. Meanwhile, my car broke down, and he let me borrow his truck while he fixed my car. ” I suck in a breath of air.
I need a drink. Or ten.
I rest my head on the top rail of the fence.
This is why I love Carson. I can let everything out, make no sense, and he just listens.
He lets me work through my thoughts aloud without interrupting or judgment.
I might mess with him—bordering on torment—but when push comes to shove, we’d bury a body for each other.
I lift my head slightly, peeking up at him.
He stares down at me, his shaggy dirty blond hair falling into his eyes. He takes off his black cowboy hat and pushes the unruly locks out of his face. “Trey does that.”
“Huh?” I raise my head.
“You asked who does that. Trey does that. When he lived here at the ranch, he was basically free labor. Chet and I started to feel bad he wasn’t getting paid. He was always fixing something, building something, or helping us on the ranch.”
“Oh.” I blink. Carson’s serious. I knew Trey and Chet had become friends, but I just assumed it was because of living in the bunkhouse together. Chet is a total workaholic, but I didn’t realize Trey worked with him on the ranch.
“Do you want me to talk to him? Tell him to back off a bit? I could give him something to do out here.” He would, too. He’d drive to town right now if I asked him. Carson is protective and wouldn’t hesitate to tell Trey to back off, even though he seems to like him.
“No, it’s okay. I can handle it. But thank you.”
“Anytime.” He turns and unties the horse, ready to return to work. But then he quips, “I agree about the ADHD meds.”
I burst out laughing so loud it startles the horse.
Stepping into the barn, I yell, “You told Carson about my naked floor?”
I see a blonde ponytail tucked into a Pendleton Round-Up ball cap bob out of a stall, followed by Kacey’s sorrel horse, Hooch, poking his head around the corner behind her.
Cody walks out of the tack room, shaking his head. “I don’t even want to know.”
I smile up at him. He’s a mountain of a man, mountain man beard included. “My house has been violated, and you don’t care?”
He’s used to my dramatics and scoffs.
“Oh, relax,” Kacey says. “They’re fixing it. And it will be way better than the nasty green tile.” She makes a gagging sound.
“Oh, good, you’re talking about an actual floor.” Cody sighs as he extends an arm to give me a side hug. “Good to see you, girl. Besides your—how did you put it? Naked floor?—how are you?”
“Having a roommate has been more difficult than I originally thought. But I guess I can’t complain; I am getting a new floor for free.”
“Well, if you get sick of him, send him back. He fixed so much shit around here. It was nice.” Cody chuckles as he heads for the door. “Kacey, I’m going to check in at the feedyard. Call if you need me.”
“Okay, now that he’s gone . . .” Kacey starts after a moment. She shuts the stall door and scurries over, looking far too cheery. “Tell me all the details. You haven’t killed each other, so I’m assuming you’ve ripped each other’s clothes off.”
I gasp. “There has been no removal of clothes, thank you very much. Nor will there be. We’re not even friends. We are roommates and nothing more. We even have rules,” I say firmly.
Her brows pull together. “Damn it. I owe Knox twenty bucks. Wait—rules?”
“You bet on us having sex?” I shriek so loud Carson can probably hear from outside.
“No, we bet on how long before you two snapped living in that house together. The sexual tension between you is off the charts.”
I throw my head back. “Not this again.” She has been on one about Trey and me since we met.
And sure, I’m attracted to him, and he’s like the nicest guy on the planet, but he and I will never happen.
He can build window boxes and tile floors all day long, but he’s still a player.
“We’ve gone over this. He’s a bull rider and a fuckboy.
I don’t need to complicate my life even more by getting mixed up with a self-proclaimed ladies’ man.
And everyone in town will think I’m with him for his money. I can almost hear the rumors now.”
“Okay, okay.” She raises her hands, relenting.
“But hear me out: Fuck the town. Who cares what they think? I’m sure my ex had half the town talking about me.
It doesn’t matter if you’re on top of the world or hitting rock bottom; people are always going to talk.
I’m not telling you to sleep with Trey or date him, but you are roommates and can be friends. He’s a good person, Jessie.”
I move to a flipped-over feed tub and sit down on top of it. Feeling drained. “I know he is. He’s shown me that. It’s been strange, having a man around the house who cares.”
Kacey drags another empty tub over. When she sits, her dog Rein comes up to her for pets. “I didn’t think about that. You’ve never lived with . . . I just didn’t think. I’m sorry. Do you want me to look for a rental for him?”
“No, no, he can stay. It’s just an adjustment. And he’s . . . a lot.” I huff a single laugh. “He’s fixing things, helping Gran, and he cooks me breakfast when I get home from night shifts. I’m used to taking care of people, not being taken care of. Especially by a man.”
“I understand that. But other than the adjustment and kitchen floor”—she winces—“things haven’t been bad? He’s behaved?”
“Yes, Mother. He’s kept his hands to himself.” I side-eye her as I stand, heading for a saddle in the tack room. “Except for that one time he touched my underwear. But we have a rule for that now.”
“He touched your underwear? Were they on you?” She squeals.
I laugh maniacally, but I don’t answer.