Chapter Nine Gideon #2
“Why?”
“Because hugs feel good.”
“Not that. Why haven’t you been hugged?”
She starts to pull away, but I hold on firmly, keeping her hand in mine.
“My parents aren’t warm and fuzzy. Chelsea definitely isn’t a toucher.” She shrugs those shoulders again. She’s back in my hoodie, and I was right. She looks fucking adorable in it. “It’s okay.”
It’s not fucking okay.
But instead of saying that, I grab the keys to the side-by-side that’s sitting by the four-wheeler and lead her outside.
“You have all kinds of fun toys,” she says as she gets in the passenger seat.
“We’re on a ranch. We either get around on one of these, or on a horse.”
“You have horses?”
She doesn’t know anything about this place.
“Yeah, about a dozen of them. Ryker and Willow have a bunch of chickens. We have cattle that we sell for the beef.”
“Did we eat one of your cows this morning?”
“Of course.” I wink at her as I pull away from the house. “The eggs are from here too. Those are the Bitterroot Mountains.”
“They already have snow,” she says, admiring them. “When will it snow down here?”
“Could be anytime, but it won’t stick until December. Then, we won’t see grass again until April at the earliest.”
“I love snow,” she says with a happy sigh. “I like being cold. I hate summer.”
“You hate summer?”
“Okay, that’s a strong word, but I’m not one of those girls who loves to lay out and get skin cancer and get hot or stung by bees. I don’t like to sweat.”
“You jog every day.”
“That’s different. When I jog, I’m sweating because I was productive. In the summer, it’s just sweat. I don’t like it.”
“You always used to go to Mexico with Chelsea in the summer,” I remind her. “We went at least three times.”
“Chelsea likes hot weather. Not me.”
“Then why did you go?”
When she doesn’t answer for a minute, I glance in her direction. “Because I never tell her no.”
“Never?”
“Even when I definitely should. Anyway, I prefer the cold, because then you can get cozy inside. Are you still able to train people in the winter?”
“I train people all year round,” I confirm. “Whether it’s forty below or a hundred and ten, we’re training.”
“Put me down for a balmy seventy degrees. Otherwise, I’ll tap out.”
I smirk, enjoying the fuck out of her. I had no idea she was this funny.
“What’s that old wall over there?” she asks, pointing off to the right.
“Ruins. We don’t know for sure what it used to be. Ryker, Willow, and I used to play around there all the time when we were kids.”
“I’ll come check it out sometime.”
“We can go look now.”
I turn the wheel and steer us over to the old rock building that crumbled a long, long time ago.
Lena hops out and walks over, runs her hand over the wall.
“It makes me wonder who built this. Was it a home for a family? Was it a storage place for food? An outhouse?”
“Little big for an outhouse,” I reply.
“It’s pretty cool.” Shoving her hair off her face, Lena turns back to look at the mountains again.
She’s enamored with them.
“I want to draw them from here. Maybe from everywhere.”
“You can do that.”
We get back in the little vehicle, and I set off for the barn. Aiden’s walking out of it as we approach and waves when he sees us get closer.
“Hey,” he says with a smile. “I saw the pile of loot in there. I didn’t know you liked to shop so much, Gid.”
“It’s cathartic,” I reply and then grin when Aiden laughs. “It’s all for Lena. Where is everyone?”
“Most everyone’s inside,” he says. “Storm’s coming later, so we’re getting ready for it.”
I nod and see Ryker step out to join us.
“Do you need my help?” I ask him.
“Nah, we have it covered.” He turns to Lena and offers her a smile. “I’m Ryker. We didn’t get to meet yesterday.”
“Lena.” She holds her hand out to shake, but I see the way she tenses, as if she’s waiting for Ryker to go on the offensive the way Willow did. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Same,” Ry says.
“Ignore Aunt Wills,” Aiden adds. “She’s just in mama-bear mode, and that can be intense.”
“Oh, it’s fine—” Lena begins, but Ryker shakes his head.
“Welcome to the Triple Creek,” he says, and I can’t help but smile.
This is exactly how she should have been welcomed yesterday.
“All the horses are put away,” Malachi, one of our young ranch hands, says as he comes outside, but when he spots Lena, he blinks, and a slow smile spreads over his handsome face as his eyes travel up and down her body, pausing at the sight of her tight jeans. “Well, hi there.”
“Hello,” Lena says. “I’m—”
“My dream come true,” Malachi says, and before he can reach out and touch her, I step in front of her and pin the man in a hard stare. “Um. Sorry. Didn’t realize—”
“Don’t you have something to do?”
“Sure.” He looks around me and waves at Lena. “Nice to meetcha. Have a good day.”
He walks back inside, and Ryker and Aiden are both laughing. Lena’s hiding a smile behind her hand.
“What?”
“You could have just peed on her,” Aiden says, making me growl. Lena lets her laugh loose, and it sends electricity through me, and all I want in the world is to be alone with her right now.
Forty-eight hours and this woman is under my skin.
I’m fucked.
“Funny. Where are the packages?”
“Inside,” Aiden says, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. “Big pile of them, but they should fit in the back of your rig.”
“I want to see the horses,” Lena says with a sweet grin. And then she ruins it with her next comment. “Maybe Malachi will give me a tour of the barn.”
I narrow my eyes at her, then step closer and lower my lips beside her ear. “Keep it up, Rebel.”
“And what?”
“You’ll find out.”
“Well then, come on. Show me the horses, big guy.”
She’s sweet with them. Her voice is soft and soothing, and my horse, Rascal, nuzzles her neck.
Yeah, I get it, buddy. She’s fucking magical.
“Doesn’t anyone have a dog on this ranch?” Lena asks.
“We have a golden retriever,” Ryker says. “He’s only two, and a pain in the ass. He’s also attached to Willow, so he doesn’t come out to the barn much.”
“What about barn cats?” she counters.
“I didn’t know you liked animals.”
She shrugs. “They’re usually better than people.”
“You’re not wrong,” Aiden agrees. “There’s a few mousers around.”
Lena’s eyes find mine. “You need a couple of cats. Inside ones, so predators can’t get to them.”
Why am I suddenly considering adopting pets just for her?
Shaking my head, I lift some of the boxes. “I’m out training too much to have animals. Aiden, help me load these up.”
It only takes Aiden and me a few minutes to get all Lena’s things loaded into the back of the side-by-side, and then Lena and I are headed out so I can show her the rest of the ranch on the way back to my house.
“Are those your cows?” she asks, gesturing to the Black Angus cattle in the pasture.
“About half of them,” I confirm and turn to the left to loop back around.
There’s a fenced area nearby with a locking gate to keep animals out. Two headstones sit in the middle of it, and there’s plenty of room around them for the rest of us, when our times come.
“Your mom and dad?” Lena asks with a soft voice.
My gaze whips over to her, and she shrugs.
“Willow told me.”
“She told you too much.”
“She was just trying to make me understand, Gideon. I’m sorry that you lost them. And I’m sorry that I made that time more difficult for you.”
I brake next to the cemetery and turn to face Lena.
“You have to stop apologizing. You have to, Lena. None of it was your fault. My parents dying wasn’t on you. The shooting wasn’t your fault. None of it. I told Willow that she needs to let it go earlier, but you do too. You don’t need to carry around any guilt. Not for me.”
She nibbles that bitable lip and then offers me a smile. “Okay. I won’t apologize anymore. It’s annoying. This is a great place for a cemetery.”
“We thought so too.”
Putting the side-by-side back in gear, I point us toward the house.
“Let’s go look at your loot.”