Page 28 of Live, Ranch, Love

I go to retort, because I haven’t complained one bit, but another cramp spikes through me, shutting me up. Instead, I suck in a breath and slip my feet out of my shoes, hesitantly swinging them up into Wyatt’s lap. I’m just glad I painted my toenails, so they actually look relatively pretty. If feet can ever look pretty, that is.

The warmth of his big hands instantly eases a bit of my tension as he grabs my right foot, kneading his thumbs gently into its arch.

“Jesus, Aurora, your feet are freezing.”

“I have bad circulation, sorry,” I say as I close my eyes, already feeling the dull ache in my lower back starting to dissipate.

“Is that good?” he asks, and I can feel the heaviness of his dark eyes on me.

“Yeah,” I breathe out, because truthfully I want to groan, but I feel like that wouldn’t be appropriate. God, this man knows how to use his hands—every stroke of his thumb sends a rush of bliss up through my legs and into my body.

I don’t tell Wyatt that the pain has basically subsided when he switches to my other foot. Instead, I open my eyes and his flick down, like he doesn’t want to be caught watching me. The corners of his mouth are tipped up slightly though, as if he’s maybe enjoying this. Shocking as it is, he did say he used to do this for Cherry, and my heart warms just a little at the image of a younger Wyatt looking after his little sister. So maybe he does enjoy this—caring for people.

I just didn’t expect him to care about me.

When Wyatt presses his thumb in deeper, a moan accidentally slips from my lips that sounds far more sexual than I would’ve liked. Wyatt’s hands freeze and I have to smother the laugh that bubbles up with my fist. His eyes flash up at me, before he shoves my feet away from him.

“Well, you’ve made that weird now.”

Now my laugh fully escapes. “I’m so sorry.”

He shakes his head and shuffles a couple of inches away, displeasure suddenly written across his furrowed features. I guess that’s all the nice Wyatt I’m getting today then.

I sit back up properly, still biting my lip. “Thank you, though. It really did help. I owe you.”

“Yeah big time… especially if I’m gonna agree to this retreat.”

“Wait…” I widen my eyes at him, the buzzing spreading through my whole body violently. “You’ll do it?”

He shrugs. “I can’t really say no, can I?”

“Oh my God!” I fling my arms around him, squealing. I almost feel light-headed from the sudden burst of excitement.

Wyatt groans and tries to wiggle free. “Aurora, please get off me.”

“Sorry, sorry!” My cheeks are aching from how hard my grin is pushing them up. I clear my throat and try to compose myself, straightening up on the sofa before holding out my hand. “Business partners then?”

Wyatt rolls his eyes and reluctantly slaps his hand against mine, shaking it. “Business partners.”

As his midnight eyes lock onto mine, the fluttering picks up in my stomach again. Butterflies are my good omen, right?

twelve

Wyatt

“It’s just so big. I don’t know how I’m going to fit my legs around it,” Aurora whines.

“Heard that before,” I snort, waiting behind her as she sizes up Scout, the palomino American Quarter Horse.

Twisting round to shoot me a scowl, she pops a hip. “Hilarious.”

“Wasn’t joking.” I wink, then remove my hat to wipe my forehead, the sun beating down heavy on us today. “Now, are you gonna be a good girl and give it a ride, or what?”

Aurora’s eyes flash wide, pink cheeks appearing rosier by the second. Any attempt to keep down her giggle fails, and her quick laugh rings out like silver bells. “You did not just say that.”

“Yes I did.” I don my hat again and cross my arms, taking a step closer to Aurora, only a few inches away. Hints of coconut from whatever sunscreen she lathered over her freckly skin earlier fill my senses. It’s a pleasant difference to the mud, manure, and beer my life usually smells of. “I’ve shown you about a hundred times how to mount already. If you don’t get on that horse right now, I’m gonna pick you up and throw you onto it myself.”

Aurora learning to ride a horse was one of my conditions to agreeing to help her with the retreat. I’m still not one hundred percent confident in the idea—mostly because it’s very different to anything I’m used to, and it means having to spend a lot more time with a girl who doesn’t know how to keep the pitch and volume of her voice at a normal level. And I know a lot of ranches have been struggling economically over the last few years, but we’ve barely managed to afford all the vaccines and medicine needed for the calves this year, let alone prepare for unexpected costs.

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