EIGHT.
Ever
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Macho handsome men.
It’s hot—way too hot for ten in the morning—but here I am, rocking gently in the rickety porch chair with my laptop balanced on my thighs.
I spent the entire weekend buried in budgeting spreadsheets, pulling numbers from the past few years, trying to make sense of inflation, feed costs, vet bills, and the stubborn way the ranch’s income refuses to climb higher than its expenses.
I stared at this screen all Saturday, most of Sunday evening too, but now my focus keeps slipping.
Every few minutes my eyes drift down the driveway to where Tobias’ friend Ruben is working on my truck with Tobias oversee the whole thing. So now Gladys has not one, but two ridiculously handsome, capable men elbow-deep in her engine. She has no idea how lucky she is.
Ruben is Tobias’s polar opposite in almost every way. Where Tobias is quiet intensity and sharp edges, Ruben radiates big, warm energy the moment you meet him—wide smile, easy laugh, the kind of charm that makes you feel like you’ve known him forever.
He’s wearing an oil-stained white T-shirt that’s already clinging to his chest and back with sweat, revealing the tattoos underneath covering his body..
Every now and then they argue back and forth about what’s wrong with the truck.
Ruben suggests one thing, Tobias counters with another, and they go back and forth like it’s a debate they’ve had a hundred times.
I’ve decided they must be childhood friends, because every ten minutes or so one of them swats the other with a hat or a playful shove when the bickering gets too heated.
It’s strange to see this side of Tobias.
This version of him is lighter, looser, and I catch myself staring longer than I should.
“Hey, Ever,” Ruben calls, pulling me out of my thoughts. I glance up from the screen. “How long have you had this truck?”
“Twelve years,” I say easily.
His body freezes, then he pulls his head out and turns to look at me, eyebrows raised. “Seriously?” I nod slowly. “You’ve taken good care of it, for what it’s worth.”
“You’re saying that while you’re halfway inside the engine because it won’t turn over?” He chuckles under his breath and slides out completely, straightening up.
“There are some wires fraying—not much you can do about that unless you want to stick your head down there and see for yourself. But everything else looks great.”
“Oh really?” I close the laptop halfway so I can see him better.
“Yeah. I know a few shops in town that might have the parts, but it’s an older model. If they don’t, I’ll have to order them. Shouldn’t take long, though.”
“What, um…” I start, but Tobias’ gaze distract me.
Despite our constant back-and-forth banter, his gaze hasn’t wavered once—steady, unblinking, pulling at me in a way that makes my thoughts scatter. I mentally shake myself and tear my gaze away.
“Will you need to take Gladys in? Or will you come back with the parts?”
“Gladys?” Ruben repeats, a sly grin spreading across his face.
“Oh, yeah,” I say, suddenly self-conscious. I shift in the chair. “That’s my truck’s name.”
“Gladys?” he says again, this time more teasing.
“She’s an old girl,” I defend, teasing despite the flush creeping up my neck. “I thought it fit.”
He shakes his head in mock disappointment, but the smile stays. “Do I wanna know what you named your aunt’s car?”
“Mandy.”
“Of course,” he says, chuckling as he glances at Tobias—who, unsurprisingly, still hasn’t cracked a smile. “At least they can be friends with those names.”
“See, that’s what I was thinking.”
Ruben leans back against Gladys’s fender and crosses his arms casually. His eyes roam over me slowly, taking his time. He doesn’t even try to hide it.
“You’re gonna have to stop looking at me like that, Ruben,” I say.
His eyes snap up to mine, but instead of looking chastised, he flashes a playful smirk. “And why’s that?”
“I feel like you’re about to start trouble,” I reply, knowing full well he understands exactly what I mean. Even without looking I can feel the heat of Tobias’ glare boring into him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot,” Ruben says without a second’s hesitation.
I close my laptop all the way and rock back in the chair, letting it creak under me. “Tobias said you owed him a favor.”
Ruben glances sideways at Tobias, who is now subtly shaking his head like he’s already regretting this conversation. “Is that right?”
“Yeah,” I continue, keeping my tone deliberately formal and even. “And since I’ve found myself in the interesting predicament of being his boss—and he’s been so outlandishly rude to me from the moment I got here—I’ve made it my personal mission to annoy him as much as humanly possible.”
Ruben throws his head back and laughs, loud and bright, the sound rolling across the driveway. “I fully support that cause. What’s your question?”
“Well,” I say, “after watching the two of you together for the last hour or so, I feel like hearing why you owe him a favor is going to be a good story.”
Ruben laughs again, softer this time, and shoots Tobias another quick look. “It is a good story, actually,” Ruben says. “Though not a very long one.”
“I’ll take anything you’ve got,” I tell him. He shifts his stance, crossing one boot over the other.
“A few months back we went out to a bar in Nashville for a buddy’s bachelor party.
We were all drunk—well, most of us were—and unsurprisingly, Tobias was the only one getting all the attention.
I mean, look at him.” He throws an arm out and smacks Tobias’s bicep.
He doesn’t even flinch. “After two days of women gravitating to him, he finally found a girl he was actually talking to seriously. But I wasn’t having it.
I put all my charm to the test. When she realized I was much more fun to be around—and just as handsome—I swept her away. ”
“You did not,” I say, mouth dropping open slightly as I lean forward in the chair. “That’s so mean.”
“Yeah, well,” Ruben says, glancing at Tobias with only a hint of hesitation. “He had it coming. You should see the way women look at him when he walks into a room. It’s not fair.”
“I think you’re fully aware you’re right up there with him on the looks scale,” I say.
His eyes light up, confidence blooming across his face like he genuinely had no idea. “You think so?”
“Oh yeah,” I assure him.
He meets my gaze again, his voice dropping low and warm. “Well…I’m definitely not as good looking as you.”
“Oh…” Heat creeps up my neck and floods my cheeks. “That’s probably not true.”
“This favor has been a blessing in disguise. Just being able to meet you and get to know you has been more than enough payment for my shoddy work.”
I chew the inside of my lip, trying to keep my smile from spreading too wide. “You really are a charmer, aren’t you?”
He holds his arms out to the sides like he’s presenting himself for inspection. “What you see is what you get.”
I laugh. It’s not a bad thing, all things considered. He’s the perfect mix of strikingly good looks and bright, warm personality—easy to be around, easy to like.
I point my thumb toward Tobias. “Is he always a grump? Is there any hope he’ll ease up on me someday?”
“I’m standing right here,” Tobias grumbles.
I turn to him, challenge sparking in my eyes as I meet his stare. “Do you care to answer the question then?”
He doesn’t. He just holds my gaze for a long, steady beat, unreadable as ever. When he stays silent, I turn back to Ruben, who shrugs and presses his palms back against Gladys’s grill.
“He’s always been serious about things,” he says, glancing toward Tobias, “but it’s just because he cares too much. If he’s hard on you, it just means he likes you.”
I turn my eyes to Tobias. He’s looking down now, arms crossed so tight, the veins stand out along his forearms.
Ruben looks between the two of us carefully, like he’s trying to read the air itself for clues about what’s really happening here.
“Well,” he continues, shifting his weight, “since you’ll be around now, I was thinking—if you ever want to go out sometime—I can show you the town. Or if you want something fancier, we could head over to Knoxville. Catch a game, see a show, whatever you’re in the mood for.”
His offer is so easy, so warm, that I can’t help grinning.
Ruben is kind and funny, but he’s Tobias’s friend.
They have history—girls, bachelor parties, the kind of shared past that can turn complicated fast when someone new steps into the middle of it.
I’m not sure I want to risk that kind of tension in my personal or professional life, not when I’m already trying to keep everything else from falling apart.
“I want to say yes,” I tell him honestly. “But there’s so much going on right now, and so much I still have to learn here at the ranch. I’m not really sure dating is something I’m looking to do.”
“I understand,” he says easily, like he was already prepared for the answer. He turns back to the engine. “Well, regardless, I’ll get these parts for you. As soon as I have them, I’ll be back to fix Gladys. She’ll be up and running before you know it.”
“I really appreciate that,” I say, relief softening my shoulders. “I’ve been stressed trying to figure out what to do about her. Everyone in town seems to want to take me for a ride.”
“Whenever you need something done on her, just give me a call,” he says with a wink. “I’ll give you the Ruben special.”
I laugh softly, charmed despite myself.
Ruben glances to Tobias when he jerks his head in the direction of the barn and walks off. He skips after him and gives him a playful shove—bantering, laughing, trying to crack through whatever wall Tobias has up. But he barely budges.
I really shouldn’t care what my actions make Tobias feel.
He’s been nothing but rude and snarky since I arrived—snapping at me, calling me Princess, making it clear I’m an outsider who doesn’t belong.
Yet I do care. It’s that flicker of something gentler beneath the gruff exterior that keeps me from being too hard on him.
Definitely not because of his rugged good looks.
Absolutely not.