Instead, I rushed around to help my siblings. Knox needed a hand at the restaurant for the lunch rush, so I stopped at The Eloise to haul in supplies. There’d been a ninety-minute wait for a table—which hadn’t seemed to turn many people away.
I left Knox hustling around his kitchen, in his element and exactly where he wanted to be, then headed to the coffee shop because Lyla had been slammed too. Some asshole had clogged one of the toilets, so I plunged it, then cleared the overflowing garbage cans.
It was all hands on deck for the Eden family. Dad was the gopher, running around town to the hardware store or the grocery store for whatever anyone needed. Mom and Talia were helping Lyla behind the counter making coffee. Mateo was at the hotel, working with Eloise to make sure guests were taken care of for the sold-out weekend.
As the community migrated off Main and to the fairgrounds, my family managed to get together. We gathered in our family’s regular seats for the rodeo. The coffee shop was closed. So was Knox’s restaurant. Eloise’s staff at the hotel was on duty, so we could come together for a few beers and hot dogs.
The Quincy rodeo was a standing tradition, much like Christmas or Thanksgiving. It was one of the few events we always made sure to attend together, even if that meant closing shop. Except that evening, surrounded by my family, a piece was missing.
I hadn’t realized until late in the evening, when I’d glanced across the arena and found Winn at the fence, that the missing piece was her.
Another shift.
She belonged by my side, not standing alone.
Especially not yesterday.
I wished I had known about her parents. She’d probably worked all day yesterday as a distraction. Today, if all I could do was keep the distractions coming, then I’d bust my ass to make it happen.
“Your hair dryer is nicer than mine. I might have to steal it,” she said, coming down the hallway from the master bedroom.
After we’d come inside from the rocking chair, I’d taken her to the bedroom for a couple of orgasms before hopping into the shower. While I’d dressed and come to the kitchen to brew coffee, she’d gotten ready too.
Normally she went home to shower. Not today. Today, she wasn’t leaving my sight.
“The hair dryer is Talia’s doing.” I chuckled and handed her a steaming mug. “Sometimes my sisters will crash here if we have a family function at the ranch. Saves them from driving into town if they’ve gotten into my parents’ liquor cabinet. Talia decided that since they’re the only people who use the guest bedrooms, they might as well have stuff here to get ready the next morning.”
Winn sipped her coffee. “That’s sweet that you let them stay.”
I shrugged. “I’m a lot like my dad when it comes to my sisters. Twisted around their little fingers.”
“Also sweet.”
“How about eggs for breakfast?” I walked to the fridge. “Bacon or sausage?”
“Either. Can I help?”
I shook my head and took out the sausage. “Have a seat.”
She slid into a stool at the island, watching while I made a quick scramble. With it plated, I sat beside her, the two of us eating quietly. I wasn’t one to talk much when there was food in front of me. I liked that she didn’t either.
Wait. Was this the first meal we’d shared? I stopped chewing and glanced at her profile.
“What?” she asked, grabbing a napkin to wipe her lips.
“We haven’t eaten together before.”
“There was lunch my first day at work.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“Then, no, I guess we haven’t. We usually skip the dinner dates and go straight for the bed.”
Sex had always come first. But it felt like we should have been sharing meals for weeks. That I should have taken her out on a proper date, like dinner at Knox’s restaurant or my favorite steakhouse outside of town. “Maybe we should toss in a dinner date.”
She held my gaze for a minute, like she was trying to decide if I was teasing.
“I’m serious.”
Her eyes softened. “Okay.”
“How about we do some exploring today?” I asked after we’d both finished eating.
“Sure.” She nodded, motioning to her clothes. They were the jeans she’d had on last night and one of my black T-shirts, which dwarfed her, so she’d tied it into a knot at her hip. “Do I need to run home and change?”
“You’ll be fine. Have you ever ridden a horse?”
“No.”
“Want to learn?”
“Not especially.” She smiled as I laughed. “Maybe one day.”
If and when that one day came, I’d teach her. “We’ll do another kind of ride.”
So after our breakfast dishes were in the washer, we set out for the barn.
“How about a four-wheeler? Ever driven one of those?”
“Another no.”
“Want to ride with me? Or drive your own?”
She eyed the machine as I filled the gas tank. “Ride with you.”
“Good answer.” I straddled the seat, patting the back for her to climb on behind me. Then I started the engine and set out on the road.
We rode for an hour, following old trails around the ranch. Winn’s arms stayed tight around my waist, her head resting against my shoulder at times, as the sun warmed our skin and the wind blew her hair off her pretty face until I came to a stop along a fence.
“This is the far end of the ranch,” I told her.
“This is all yours? From here to your house?” She pointed toward the direction that we’d just come from.
“And a bit beyond.” I pointed left, then right. “This is the center point. How long we just rode? It goes twice as far in both directions.” The Eden ranch was essentially a rectangle that stretched along the base of the mountains in some of the best country under God’s blue sky.
“Are all ranches this big?”
“Very few.” I stood from the seat, climbing off the machine to walk to the fence where a small cluster of wildflowers was tangled with the stalks of grass. I plucked a white one and a yellow one, bringing them to her. “We’ve expanded over the years. Bought new property.”
“Like the one next to Indigo Ridge.”
“Exactly. After a few generations of buying when land comes available, now we’ve got one of the largest ranches in this part of the state.”
“It’s beautiful.” She pressed the flowers to her nose. “Thanks for taking me out today.”
“Welcome.” I propped a hip on the edge of the four-wheeler, looking out over the pasture. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Just driven around. No task in mind.”
“It’s been a long time since I didn’t fill a day with work of some kind.”
“What about in Bozeman? What did you do there to relax?”
“Hung out with friends. Did some hiking around the area. I had a vegetable garden one summer. Skyler ruined that one for me though.”
“How did he ruin it?”
“He complained that it was too time consuming. That instead of having our evenings free to meet up with friends or go to a movie or whatever else he wanted to do, I liked to stay home and work in the garden. Maybe I’ll put one in at my house here. Not that I have a lot of free time.”