Page 14 of The Science of Attraction

Jules indicated to the right. “The ones in the far pen. And don’t forget that ewe out back needs an ultrasound. Where’s Brent?”

“Here.” Brent’s head popped around the corner of the end shearing stand.

“Can you make sure those ewes we talked about yesterday are ready for Spencer to take a look at tomorrow? And for Chrissakes, will you clean the crap out of your damn ute today? Half our machinery shed is on the back seat, along with enough fast-food wrappers to give Greenpeace a panic attack.”

I had to laugh and even Paddy snorted in amusement. Brent was the dark horse of the team, watchful and introverted. Older than Stuart at around thirty, he had dark wavy hair and quiet blue eyes. But I’d picked him early on as the animal whisperer of the lot. The stock seemed to accept him as one of their own and I was betting he could walk through a mob and name every single one. But tidiness clearly wasn’t one of his strengths.

As Brent gave Jules a thumbs-up and headed for the back of the shed, I took a minute to appreciate this new-to-me bossy side of Paddy’s eldest son. It made perfect sense, of course. The station was under Jules’ control and the buck stopped with him, but since I’d only ever engaged with the quieter side of the man, I hadn’t ever pictured him dishing out orders. Not that the experience wasn’t without its hotness merit, but it also wakened me to the realisation that running an operation this size was a huge and complex responsibility, and with Jules’ father watching his every move, and his brother no longer at his side, it had to be a lonely fucking job.

Jules raised his brows at his father’s quad cane. “Man, you could knock a few heads together with that thing.”

Paddy actually chuckled and the sound of it brought a smile to my face. And as he and Jules chatted about the goings on in a somewhat stilted fashion due to Paddy’s careful verbalisations, I used the opportunity to perve on Julian under cover of polite interest.

There was no denying the guy was easy on the eye. Six-foot-something of lean country muscle, a quietly handsome face with stylishly cut dark hair albeit a bit of a mess at that moment, flint-grey eyes a little lighter than his dad’s that seemed to pierce straight through my bullshit, and a dark scruff that I wanted to feel in places I had no right even thinking about.

Julian Lane unsettled me in a way not many men did, and it was troubling, to say the least. I’d had a couple of long-term relationships in my life, but I’d never lived with anyone or wanted more. Being a fairly self-contained person, I liked my own company. I spent most days working intimately with people’s complex needs. It was intense, challenging work, and at the end of the day or the finish of a contract, my home was my sanctuary, and I guarded it with my life.

The idea of amancluttering up that space with their things, inconvenient demands, or just the mere fact of their presence sent horrifying chills racing down my spine. I rarely got flustered by a guy, and certainly not in the way Julian managed to unnerve me with his capable air, glittering grey eyes, and that profound sense of knowing his place in the world.

Julian had the air of a man who knew who he was and where he belonged. You wouldn’t need to jolly a man like Jules along to make him feel wanted, soothe an ego bent out of shape, or play down your success so as not to threaten his by comparison. Men like that were rare and held an intoxicating allure for someone like me.

But Jules was also my client’s son, and that alone should’ve made him forbidden fruit even for a bit of harmless crushing.Should’ve.But there’d been something about his smile that first day. Something about the way I’d caught him looking at me when he didn’t think I was watching. And maybe the wayIfelt when he looked at me, as well.

The whole thing was fucking with my head.

But straight or not, common sense demanded I steer well clear of Jules. His dad was a prize homophobe, and I needed that bag of snakes like a hole in the head.

Didn’t stop a boy from wondering though.

It was about then that I cottoned on to the sudden silence between Paddy and Jules and realised Jules was frowning at my nose. His questioning gaze flicked up to meet mine but there was no way I was getting into any of that right then.

“Is there a chair somewhere for your dad to rest?” I changed tack and caught the relief in Paddy’s eyes.

Jules blinked, then his cheeks reddened. “Shit, of course. I should’ve thought about that.” He raced off to find a chair and I directed him to park it next to the classing table while I guided Paddy over.

Then I suggested Paddy might like to take a look at some of the fleeces from that morning and gave the classer a quiet nod of encouragement. “Come on, I know you’re dying to get your hands dirty,” I told Paddy.

“Here you go.” The classer threw a fleece Paddy’s way. “Take a look and tell me what you think. I reckon they’re better than last year.” And when Paddy immediately began fingering the wool, using his weaker hand as an anchor to hold the fleece in place, she caught my eye and winked.

I left them—talking about microns and density and stock objectives—and wandered over to Jules, who was chatting with Ten.

The stock manager nodded appreciatively at the tribal ink wrapped around my forearm. “Nice tattoo you’ve got there. Got any more?”

For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing at Jules. “A few, here and there.”

Tennyson chuckled. “Keep your secrets then. You’ve got more than one of them, by the look of it.” He pointed to my nose. “But I’m thinking I don’t want to know about that one. Anyway, I better go see what the boss thinks of this season’s shear. It’s been one of our best years, not thathe’llagree.”

As Tennyson wandered over to Paddy, Jules lowered his voice. “You did well to get Dad here. He refused allmyoffers even though shearing season is one of his favourite activities on the station.”

“I figured he could do with the motivation,” I explained, following his gaze. “I also didn’t exactly give him a choice.” My admission came with a ridiculous smile in the face of those beautiful grey eyes watching me. See the aforementioned note on flustering.

Jules huffed out a laugh. “That’s an impressive bossy streak you have going if it can get my father to toe the line.”

He had no fucking idea.

“Did, um, did Dad have anything to do with that?” Jules indicated my nose and I sighed.

“Yes, although to be fair, he didn’t mean it. My face was going down while his elbow was coming up. The rest is history.”

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