Chapter Seven
Astrid didn’t come to the bar to meet people. She came to have fun. Everyone who wanted to go to the bar always looked happy. That was what she was searching for, because back at the ranch was nothing more than a terrible reminder of the mistake she made.
She kept looking for work elsewhere, but no one was hiring, or at least no one was hiring her. She didn’t know what to do.
The saddest thing was, she actually loved working at the ranch.
It was a dream job to her. She loved taking care of the ranch and being at the stove most of the day.
Cooking lots of food for people. Handling care packages.
The last few months had been the best of her life.
She thought working at the library would be the best part of her life, it wasn’t.
The only part that sucked right now was the man sitting beside her. She hated the taste of beer but picked up her bottle and took a swig. It tasted disgusting. There were a couple of guys who came to ask her to dance or hang out. She wasn’t interested.
She was so hurt because even though Lord saw her as a convenience and didn’t truly want her, it had been one of the greatest nights of her life. How desperate was she?
Now he’d followed her to the bar, and her humiliation was complete. He got to see her sitting all alone, not waiting for anyone. Just alone with her thoughts.
“Why don’t you just admit you hate it?” Lord asked.
She glared at him, shook her head, and got to her feet. The beer had already been paid for.
“What I hate is that you’re here. You never come here and I don’t know why you’re here now.”
She turned on her heel and walked out of the bar. Enzo and a couple of the guys from the ranch waved their hands toward her, and she gave them a wave back. She liked that Enzo hadn’t taken her rejection badly. They were still friends.
Leaving the bar, it seemed that everywhere she turned, every couple was in the throes of making out.
Was the world just mocking her, letting her see what she couldn’t have?
She didn’t for a second think that was possible, yet it felt exactly like that, and it sucked.
She didn’t know if the people were together, or just enjoying brief hookups.
Astrid was not pregnant. She didn’t know if she was happy about that or incredibly sad. It sucked. Big time sucked.
She took a deep breath as she passed Lord’s truck. She had walked to the bar, and she would walk right back to the ranch.
Her parents were still not home. After their cruise, they had decided to visit her two brothers. They would be back in a month, not that she was going to return home. If she went home, she would have failed, and she didn’t want that.
She was tempted to leave No Wolves Road for good. Even if she did, she knew she would not be allowed to speak of her life here. That was the deal.
Wrapping her jacket around her, she got to walking, but behind her she heard the sound of Lord’s truck.
She had listened to it so many times from the kitchen that she could hear the rumble of the engine, the odd squeak of the metal, because it was old and he refused to do anything to it.
Lord said it was a good, reliable truck, and to tinker would be to cause damage.
She couldn’t argue with him so she listened as it rumbled right beside her. He’d wound the window down.
“Get in the truck,” Lord said.
“No, I’m walking.”
“Damn it, Astrid, stop being so stubborn.”
“I’m not being stubborn. There is nothing in our business contract that states I have to listen to you!” She glared at him. “I went to the bar, and now I’m walking home, just like I have done before.”
The truck suddenly jerked forward and crossed her path, coming to a stop right in front of her. Within seconds, Lord was out of the car, and there was no escaping his wrath. He looked super pissed. She waited.
“Do you mean to tell me none of my men even offered you a lift?”
He sounded angry.
“They live their own lives, and I’m not their responsibility!
” She did not want any of them getting into trouble.
There was no way she was going to tell him they didn’t offer either.
She didn’t expect a lift. She was a grown woman, who could make her own choices, and if that meant walking to and from the bar, that was exactly what she would do.
“You need to back off!” She glared at him.
“No, I’m not backing off. You’re a fucking human, and it’s still dangerous out there.”
“We’re in No Wolves Road. The only damage that has been caused by anyone is ... by you!” She didn’t want to say that. “You’re not responsible for me, remember? I’m just an employee.” She started to walk around him.
The last thing she wanted to do was admit she had feelings for him. That he hurt her with his rejection. No woman wanted to be told they were only a convenience. If it wasn’t for the job, she would have left. She was not a sucker for punishment.
Astrid was about to go around the truck when all of a sudden, she was over his shoulder. She let out a squeal.
“What the hell are you doing!” She tried to thump at his ass and wriggle out of his hold.
Lord was a lot stronger than her. He dumped her in the truck and as she tried to open the door, he locked it. She went to his side of the truck, but Lord was fast. Those super wolf muscles came into effect as he climbed right in, and she had no choice but to move quickly back into her own seat.
She gritted her teeth and quickly folded her arms across her chest, trying to compose herself. This was not fair.
Rubbing at her temples, she tried to think of a logical solution to throw at him, but it didn’t matter.
He’d already climbed into the car, put the truck in gear, and heading back to the ranch.
The only thing she could do was sit as far away from him as possible, near the passenger door, and stare out into the cold night.
His truck was a lot warmer. She noted he’d put the heater on, even though he didn’t need it for himself. She had only ever seen Lord in a jacket, nothing thick to ward off the cold. Whereas she needed to wrap up from head to toe. She was able to warm up quickly in the truck, though. It felt nice.
She didn’t want it to matter that he wanted her to get home safely, but it did.
****
The following day, Astrid still wasn’t talking to him. This time, he wasn’t going to let her avoid him. After the ranchers heard how pissed he was, and that he was on a warpath, they spread out to do their job.
He was annoyed that they would leave Astrid to walk home alone.
This was her home. Not back at her parents’ house, even though he had spent a great deal of time in her childhood bedroom.
Unlike her brothers’ rooms, her parents had kept her room exactly how she left it.
He’d sat in it many times, inhaling her soft vanilla scent, imagining her there as a kid and then growing up into the beautiful woman she had become.
With all the ranchers finishing their breakfast, Blake had already left and made his way into the kitchen to find her.
He had started to realize the best times to catch her alone, when she didn’t run and hide. She was washing dishes, her arms elbow deep into the soapsuds as she scrubbed a pot clean.
She wore a pair of jeans today and an oversized sweater. He wondered if she was aware of the snowstorm that was coming. The same one the ranchers were preparing for. They were gathering the cattle, checking the fences, making sure they had enough feed to get them through. Lord was not worried.
“I didn’t get breakfast,” he said, making her startle, which wasn’t her intention.
She let out a gasp and quickly turned toward him. “You scared me.”
“Didn’t mean to.”
“Still did,” she said. She grabbed a towel, pushing some of her hair off her face. “There were no leftovers.”
He moved toward the counter and took one of the few seats he had installed.
When he designed the inside of the house, he’d included a dining room, but at the same time, he’d made sure the kitchen was where he could eat, as he’d not anticipated having many guests or much of a family. How wrong he’d been.
“I’m the boss, as you keep reminding me, and I’m hungry.”
He saw that pissed her off.
Astrid annoyed was so damn cute. There was a tension in her jaw, not from clenching her teeth but from controlling her temper, which was adorable. He wondered if she even realized how she looked.
“You’re hungry?” she asked.
“Starving, and don’t bother getting me that cereal I’ve seen you pick up. Not interested in any of that.”
Again, there was a flare to her nostrils. She was going to try and pacify him with stuff out of a cardboard box, and that was just unacceptable. He sat and waited.
She went to the fridge and he didn’t see what she pulled out, until she turned around. In her hands were eggs, bacon, cheese, and some white grains he assumed was rice.
The dishes were left on the counter, as she got to work making him breakfast.
“How did you sleep?” he asked. He had been talking with Blake, who advised that he pick up the habit of small talk. He had a lot to make up for, and this was all new territory to him.
Astrid glanced toward him. “We’re not doing this.”
“What?”
“Talking. We’re not doing the small talk. I’m going to make you breakfast because I have to. We’re not friends.”
“Do you want to be friends?” he asked.
“No, I don’t.”
She got the bacon on to fry, and she also put a little knob of butter into the pan, melting it down and heating through the rice. In another pan, she had multiple slices of bacon on the go, getting all lovely and crispy. He watched her, enthralled as she worked.
“I think you do want to be friends.”
“I don’t.”
“I think you and I would make real good friends.”
She paused and then turned to look at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
This made him smile.
“Do you remember when you were younger and I pulled you out of the way of a moving car?” he asked.
Astrid paused and that caught her attention. “Why?”
“Because, I think that should grant me a little leeway.”
“You’re going to bargain with the act of saving me?”
“You had your head in a book rather than looking straight in front of you. It was rather silly of you, don’t you think?” he asked.
“Are you calling me stupid?”
“Nope, I’m calling you not very observant. You’re not stupid at all,” he said. Blake had warned him about the insults he might imply.
Lord had never been good at small talk.
He looked at Astrid as she cooked his breakfast.
Mine. That one word never seemed to want to let up when it came to her.
“I am sorry,” he said. Apologizing was not in his DNA.
Astrid paused in her movements and glanced up.
“You’re not a convenience. Not at all.”
She took a deep breath and went back to assembling his food.
She’d grabbed the large tortillas, and he hadn’t even seen the jar of salsa she had picked up.
She opened it, spreading it along the bottom, and then the rice, with some scrambled egg, bacon and cheese, along with more salsa.
She built up the layers, until she was able to roll it into a nice large burrito, but she wasn’t done.
Around the outside, she added a little oil, and then it was back into the frying pan to get all nice and crispy.
“Astrid, I’m sorry.”
“And you think ‘I’m sorry’ is going to make it okay? I know what I heard, and it was your friend you were talking with. You hated that you picked me. I get it. You were worried that I might be pregnant, but I’m not. You’re free and clear to do whatever the hell you want.”
She put the burrito in a piece of aluminum foil, wrapped it up, and handed it to him.
“I don’t expect anything from you. Now, I need to get these dishes done. Enjoy your breakfast.”
Lord was stumped. Blake had advised that he apologize and with sincerity. He had done that, and it had fucking sucked. Astrid didn’t believe him.
Leaving the ranch, he didn’t go looking for a job, he went to Blake, who, of course, was fixing more fence. That was a never-ending job.
“How did it go?” Blake asked.
“It fucking sucked. Your advice didn’t work.”
“Did you even try and apologize?” Blake asked.
“I apologized, and don’t even start with me, I was real about it, and she didn’t give a shit,” he said.
The burrito smelled good, and he was not going to let it go cold. Pulling down the back of his truck, he climbed in and opened the aluminum foil to take a large bite. It was still hot on the inside, but that salsa was perfection.
“You’re just going to sit there?” Blake asked.
“I’m eating my breakfast.”
Blake rolled his eyes. “Clearly, you upset her more than you realized, and that means if it really matters to you, you’re going to have to keep making it up to her.”
“How do I do that?” Lord asked. “She won’t give me the time of day. She won’t give me a chance.”
“You got to talk to her today.”
“Because I missed out on breakfast. I made myself so hungry and missed it so I could catch her.”
“Then that is what you’re going to have to keep doing. Besides, if you’re right about this snowstorm, you two could be trapped here for a couple of days,” Blake said. “Neither of you will be able to leave.”
Lord was hoping for that. He was freaking praying for that.
“What do you do? With your wife, when you’ve said something stupid?”
Blake burst out laughing. “I don’t say stupid stuff to my wife. I’m not a fucking idiot. I love my wife and she knows it constantly and consistently. I don’t do stupid shit that will hurt her.”
He wanted to throw his burrito at him, but instead he took another large bite. There had to be a way to win Astrid over. He needed her, badly.
His stupid mouth. Back at the old pack, many of the elder wolves had said his mouth would get him in trouble, he just couldn’t believe it had happened.
What were the fucking odds, especially as it mattered more now?