Page 45 of All I Need

THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON went by in a blur. Since I accepted Walker’s job offer, Linda has been going over everything she does in a day starting with the phones and appointment process. The list of what she handles at the clinic isn’t short, by any means, but focusing on learning her job kept me busy and my mind off the fact that I probably just made the biggest mistake of my life.

Well, after accepting the ring from Gary.

And Michael.

Shit.

Maybe my decision-making abilities are worse than I thought.

Hopefully this is the first good decision I’ve made in my life.

Linda has just finished showing me her filing system when Walker walks around the corner into the back office. He leans a shoulder against the door and waits patiently as she shows me one more thing on the computer.

“You coming?”

I narrow my eyes as I try to piece together what he’s talking about. “Huh?”

“Pregnant cows. Sanders’s farm.”

“Oh.”

“So, you coming with me, or not?” It’s then I notice he’s no longer wearing a pair of scrubs but is now in jeans, dark brown work boots that look like he’s worn them for years, and a bright blue pocket t-shirt that hugs his biceps pretty damn gloriously.

My stomach clenches as I take in the sight before me.

Michael was a pretty boy. He was the epitome of what people assume a frat boy to look like. Perfectly styled hair, popped collar. And Gary, well, we’ve already established what he’s like. If someone asked him to wear a pair of work boots he’d probably curl up in the corner and cry.

I settled for the wrong kind of men.

My entire life I had no idea what I was looking for—aside from the opposite of what I knew of my father. Clearly, I was wrong. No two hometown, country, working boys are created equally and the one standing in front of me right now, heat in his gaze as he watches my chest rise and fall, is enough to make me squirm in my chair.

He raises his eyebrows as Linda nudges me with her elbow. “Hon, Walker asked you something.”

Right. He asked if I was coming. I suppose it’d be inappropriate for me to tell my new boss that he was about to make me come.

“Uh huh. I’d love to come with you,” I can’t stop myself from saying.

He grins and looks away quickly.

“I’ll follow you to Miss Polly’s, drop your car off so you can ride with me. Can’t wear that pretty dress out to the cows. You got any old clothes?”

“Old clothes as in…”

“Stuff you don’t mind getting covered in cow shit, darlin’.”

“Can’t say as though I do. Though, I’m sure it washes out, right?”

“It does. Got some of those black pants that women seem to love?”

“Yoga pants? Leggings? Sweats?”

“Any of those.”

“Of course.”

I basically live in them when I’m at home.

“Wear a pair of those and I’ll get you a shirt. I think Willow has a pair of Hunter boots here you can use that we’ll grab before you go home to change.”

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