A warm hand on my back has me spinning around and backing up at the same time. I trip over my feet and Brett catches me before I fall. He has concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
I nod, frozen.
He notices the way my body tenses, and he pulls me up and lets go of me.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
I shake my head side to side. “I shouldn’t have come to your ranch.”
He’s gruff and probably offended as he tells me in a thick voice, “It didn’t look like you had a lot of options.”
I get mad because he’s right. I hate not having options. It’s like I’ve never had them my whole life and now look at me – I still don’t. I’m away from my father and still can’t make my own choices.
I wait for Brett to get in his truck and drive away. I can’t blame him if he does. This is definitely more than what he thought he’d be dealing with tonight. But he surprises me by standing right next to me. No pressure, just letting me breathe.
“Why do you not want to go to my ranch?”
I mean, hello. Isn’t it obvious? “Because I thought there would be people there. I didn’t know I’d be there with you and just you,” I ramble.
He shakes his head and laughs. “Is that all you’re worried about? Look, Heather, you seem nice enough, but really I just need someone to clean my house and cook something edible. You don’t have to worry about me coming on to you or anything like that. You can even lock your door at night.”
I still don’t know what to think. He’s right. I don’t have a lot of options, but that doesn’t mean I want to take the wrong one.
He holds his hands out to me, palms up. “Look, I’ll be honest with you. I used to be in the rodeo. I broke a few bones, doctor told me I shouldn’t compete anymore, so I took the money I won from all the competitions and bought the ranch. I was engaged to be married and she left me at the altar. I wasn’t good enough for her, she wanted out. So see, I have no interest in getting with another woman. Plus, you’re not really my type.”
He’s saying exactly what I need to hear, so I don’t know why his words hurt me, but they do.
“I didn’t think I was. I’m sorry. About your fiancée and well, for causing problems. I’ll work hard, and I know how to cook and clean.”
He shakes his head. “You’re already hired, Heather.”
“Right. Gosh, I’m sorry. You must think I’m a lunatic.”
He walks over to the truck and opens my door. “So what do you say – you coming? I can’t just leave you here. You can go to the ranch or I’ll take you back to town – it’s your choice.”
And it’s like he said the magic word. Choice. It’s my choice. Town or ranch. I haven’t had a choice in a long, long time.
I don’t know if he realizes how much his words affect me, but just the fact that he’s giving me a choice is a big deal to me.
“Ranch... if that’s okay.”
Chapter4
Brett
“Sounds good,” I tell her.
She gets into the truck, and even though I want to reach for her and help her in – I don’t. She’s small and has to pull herself up, but I just wait until she does and then I shut the door.
I jog around to the driver’s side and get in. “You good?” I ask her because I don’t want a repeat of her trying to get out of a moving vehicle.
She nods, and I put it into drive and take off. It’s in my nature to mind my own business, but today I want to know it all. There’s obviously something or someone that she’s running from. But I can’t ask her about it. I have a feeling that she’s on edge right now, and what if she doesn’t wait until I stop the next time she decides she wants out of my truck?
Neither one of us speaks.
I feel a little guilty. I lied to her. I am attracted to her, but there’s no way I’ll ever do anything about it. I’ve learned my lesson on that front.
We get to the ranch, and when we pull in, she sits up in her seat, peering out the window. It’s dark except for the floodlight that comes on, lighting up the small house and barn.