Page 2 of The Cowboy Complication

With a sigh, she turned her attention from the loss to the tasks at hand. The whole house got vacuumed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so that was where she started, sucking up the debris that collected on the carpets and hardwood over the weekend. It wasn’t a small task considering the size of the home, but—like everything else in her life—she had a system, so the whole process took less than an hour. She finished just as Hudson was ready for his nap.

Evelyn passed through while she was clipping out the long hairs caught on the vacuum’s roller before putting it away. Gently bouncing her sleeping baby she softly said, “You better get out there. I just saw Cooper pull in, so they’ll be having at your babies soon.”

Isla’s insides twisted. They weren’t the babies she’d expected to be having, but those furry little things were all that kept her from crying in her Cheerios some days. And Grady and his friend were about to chop off their feet.

As Evelyn and Hudson went to take their pre-lunch nap, Isla pulled on her thick NYC hoodie and shoved both feet into the work boots she kept at the house for her trips out to the barn. After lacing them up, she ducked out the back door, stomach in knots over what she was about to witness.

She’d grown up in a nice house in the New Jersey suburbs with sidewalks and lawn services. The closest she got to livestock was the horses pulling carriages and the mounted police in the city. Back then, her plan for the future involved a family dog. Maybe a hamster or two. Never once did she expect to be the girl carrying around Pygmy goats and naming barn cats.

But she was.

Some days she felt like a failure because of it. Others like she’d dodged a bullet. And then there were a few when she even felt like giving up.

Occasionally, all three gang-banged her at the same time, leaving her a grateful wreck with no idea how to move forward but happy as hell she couldn’t go back.

It would be interesting to see which one today would be.

Crossing the backyard, she headed for the area of the barn where they kept the goats, warily eyeing the unfamiliar pickup parked outside. She crossed paths with a number of cowboys and ranch hands around town when she ventured from her apartment over The Wooden Spoon, and so far it hadn’t been great for her already bruised ego. She might as well have been freaking invisible, barely gaining a passing glance from any of them no matter how sweetly she smiled. No doubt she was in for another blow to her deflated self-image.

Gang-bang day it was.

The little monsters she adored were notorious escape artists, so she was careful to open the heavy door leading to their section of the barn just enough that she could squeeze through. Keeping all her focus on making sure no one slithered between her legs to freedom, she hurried inside. Spinning quickly, she hefted the door back into place, letting out a little sigh of relief when not a single goat ran loose.

Then she felt bad for not letting them all out so Grady couldn’t snip off their appendages or stab them with needles.

“You poor babies.” Isla scooped up the closest of the goats, hugging it tight. “I didn’t know they were going to have to amputate part of you every two months.”

The goats arrived at Evelyn and Grady’s about the same time she did, so it sort of felt like they were all in this together. Like she wasn’t the only one starting a whole new life out here in the middle of nowhere, Montana. And it was supposed to be the beginning of something great for all of them.

The goats had a fantastic barn with two giant dogs dedicated to keeping them safe, and they got to climb around on visitors three times a week. She got to work a pretty easy job for a decent income while coming up with a new plan for her future. She could play with goats and kittens while figuring out where she wanted to go now since the previous route sent her nosediving off a cliff.

So far, all she’d done was make a vacuuming schedule and befriend a herd of goats. Goats who were about to be poked, prodded, and clipped.

“Maybe we can all run away together.” Isla crouched down and the animals crowded around her. “Go somewhere no one cuts your toes off and the men aren’t complete assholes.”

One of the bigger—and spunkier—goats got a little excited by her plan and came right at her, probably ready to get the fuck out of there. The unexpected impact sent her tipping back, falling toward the straw-covered floor.

Sensing their opportunity, the rest of the herd pounced, proving they knew exactly what to do with a prone form by climbing onto her the same way they did during the yoga classes.

Only during the classes, there were plenty of victims to scale. Now, there was just her.

“Oof.” She grunted as a set of hooves dug into her stomach. “Get off.” Isla tried to roll to the side, hoping to knock a couple off, but they had her blocked in. Sturdy little bodies were at all sides, making it impossible to move. “I was feeling bad for you guys.” She shoved at a pointed face as one of them tried to lick inside her mouth. “See if I pity you again.”

“What in the hell?” Grady’s surprised voice didn’t even faze the goats. They weren’t big fans of his—or men in general, part of why she liked them so much—so they normally acted like he didn’t exist.

“Get off her, you assholes.” He grabbed two of the goats with one arm and knocked a couple more out of the way with the other. Once he could see her, his eyes swept over her unmoving form. “You okay?”

That was a really good freaking question. Probably not, but it had little to do with the pile of goats.

A couple more of the goats were lifted off, clearing more of her field of vision. And that’s when her day went from bad to worse.

“Holy shit.” The words whispered through her lips as her eyes locked on the other man standing over her.

Thiswas Grady’s friend? Why in the hell had no one prepared her? Shouldn’t someone have said, ‘By the way, don’t make an ass of yourself by rolling around on the barn floor in goat shit because Grady’s friend is the hottest man in the known universe.’

Yeah. Someone should have definitely said that.

The guy was freaking gorgeous. Tall. Dark hair. A strong jaw. Broad shoulders and thick thighs.

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