I smiled wide. “I sure do. He won’t eat me, will he?”

“No, he’s nice and he likes me a whole lot. I’m his favorite human, but he likes apples.”

I sliced up a couple of apples and took Hunter’s hand, ready to go sweet talk a pony into liking me. Some days this was the best job in the whole dang world.

Chapter6

Colton

“I’m knockin’ off for the day,” Wyatt informed me from the doorway of my office inside the big red barn. He leaned against the door, one foot crossed over the other, his thumbs hooked into his belt loops. “You plan to work all night?”

I looked up from the inventory spreadsheet and sighed. “Why are you suddenly so concerned with my working hours?”

His lips pulled into a teasing grin. “I think we both know why. You’re working more hours than usual, burning yourself at both ends.” It’s why I hired Wyatt: he didn’t let my bad attitude bother him in the least. “It’s not good for you or the business.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted because I was. I wasn’t uncomfortable around Molly as she’d said, and I wasn’t working more hours to avoid her, like Wyatt was insinuating. “Things have to get done around here, and it’s my name on the ranch.”

Wyatt’s gaze narrowed. “Everything is getting done, but you’re doing too much, and the hands are getting worried that either you think they’re not working hard enough, or the ranch is in trouble.”

Shit. I let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in my chair. “The business is fine, better than ever in fact.” Adding sheep’s milk and goat cheese really took our products into the gourmet market, and it’s been a resounding success according to the accountant.

“Then maybe you ought to act like it. I don’t need a bunch of overworked ranch hands trying to keep up with you because you refuse to face what’s right in front of you.”

“This again?”

Wyatt pushed off the door with a shrug. “It’s probably a good thing you’re as blind as you are.”

“Yeah, and why is that?”

“No reason,” he said in that way that told me there was a specific damn reason. “Just stay here for another hour or so before you head back to the big house. Nothing you need to see over there.” He flashed a challenging smile when I stood. “Peanut Butter and the other horses took to her like flies to honey. Billy did too.” And with those parting words, Wyatt whistled to himself as he left my

office.I knew he was screwing with me. Iknewit. Still, I made it all of five minutes before I left my office, turned out the lights, and walked faster than usual to get back to the main house, curious to see if Billy was hitting on my nanny.And if he was?

Instead of seeing my horseman flirting with my nanny, Hunter’s nanny, I saw something worse. Far worse. It was Molly, with her round ass high in the air and tight shorts that barely covered that beautiful backside, which left miles upon miles of creamy, honeyed skin on display. Hunter knelt beside her, elbow-deep in dirt. “Mud pies for dinner?”

Molly gasped and then peeked at me over her shoulder, which only gave me visions of her on all fours, staring at me just like that. She laughed, and her smile lingered. “Not unless you have a hankering for mud pies.”

I had a hankerin’ for something, and it wasn’t a mud pie. “Not particularly, no. What are you doing?”

She frowned. “Fixing up the garden.”

“I’m a gard’ner, Daddy!” Hunter held up his dirty hands and arms with a wide, happy smile on his face.

I looked at Molly again—or her ass because that’s what was facing me. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know. But I grew up on a small farm, and I can grow pretty much any flower, fruit, or vegetable around. But,” she sighed and swiped a forearm across her forehead, “if you don’t want me to, I won’t. This is your land, after all.”

Did I care if she tended the woefully neglected garden? Hell no. But I couldn’t handle her in those damn tiny shorts every single evening when I came home. “Do it if you want, but I don’t expect it.”

She lifted her chin defiantly, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “I will.” She turned back to the dirt, effectively dismissing me.

I watched her for a long moment, smiling as she whispered instructions to Hunter, who was happy to do whatever she asked. She hadn’t turned around even once or given any other indication that she was aware of my lingering presence. I smiled to myself, unsure how I felt about being dismissed on my own damn ranch. I wasn't sure if I was annoyed or just plain turned on. I made my way upstairs, happy that we’d managed to get everything done that needed to be done today, but that was the thing about life on a ranch; there was always more to do tomorrow.

But for tonight, I could relax. No, Iwouldrelax and have dinner with my son and his cheery nanny. I would do it without confirming her belief that I was uncomfortable around her. I was uncomfortable as hell, but she didn’t need to know that the discomfort came from the spot behind my zipper. That was my business and mine alone.

The best solution to my current problem came to me in the shower as a vision of Molly appeared in nothing but some strategically placed soap suds. I needed to rub one out before dinner so I would be the picture of relaxation at the table, and since one flash of Molly’s gorgeous tits had me hard as a rock, it took no time at all for me to grip my cock, picturing her on her knees, eyes smiling up at me as she took me in her mouth. Deeper and deeper she took me and moaned her own pleasure as if the taste of me was enough to make her wet. To get her off.

In mere minutes, I was exploding; streams slammed against the tile walls before sliding down and disappearing into the drain. “Oh, fuck!” My body jerked several times until the last of my orgasm escaped. Every muscle in my body relaxed, and a slow smile spread as I finished my shower.