Page 49 of White Collar Rancher

Had snow removal only made him more irritable? “I wanted to help, not sit around while you were doing all the work.”

He wiped snow crystals off his beard and let out a breath, his shoulders falling. “You made good progress. Let me know if you find a Leatherman. I lost one during our first snowfall. I keep reaching for it when I’m out here tinkering around, but I might have to wait for spring.”

She surveyed behind her. The clearing was barely two feet wide, but she’d made it down the stairs and another six feet. “I’ve been out here an hour. I don’t think my progress is that good.” But what little she’d done had pleased him. Much better than sitting on her ass, scrolling through channels.

“Be honest. Have you ever shoveled?”

“Um…” Her first inclination was to say no. But, dang it, she’d been born and raised in Minnesota, how could she not have shoveled before? So her dad cleared what he needed to before work and the snow removal person he hired had the job done before she and Devya left for school in the morning. “I’m sure Devya and I played in the snow. With a shovel?”

He laughed, the sound getting carried away on the wind. “Are you asking or telling?” He came closer, his overalls whistling together. “You didn’t have to come out here. I was joking.”

It hadn’t felt like it. She cooked and she cleaned, and while he didn’t take her for granted, the competitive part of her had to prove that she could do more. He didn’t think she could clear snow, so she cleared some damn snow. Not much, but she’d done it.

She evaluated the path she’d cut. “I’m actually taking a liking to it.”

His brows rose to the bottom of his hat. “Dr. Patel is going to take a side gig?”

“No. Maybe a hobby of moving my body.” She smiled, and it came out flirtier than she’d intended. Had to be from the endorphins of her recent physical activity. “This got me thinking.”

“Moving snow gives you plenty of time to do that.”

“I don’t have anything but work.” She didn’t say that she had him. Because she didn’t. And if she did, that wouldn’t be healthy. A family being the center of her world was one thing, but not just a guy.

If there was one thing being friends with Maisy had made clear, it was that she needed to broaden her circle of friends. Aside from Maisy’s darker personality traits, Maisy’s mess had been allowed to flourish because of a lack of social support. Priya had been glued to Maisy’s side out of fear of being rejected by others. Always teased for her intense study habits and her single-minded pursuit of her chosen career, she’d stayed friends with Maisy because it was safer. They had each complemented the others’ insecurities. She’d needed a friend who just let her be and didn’t push her outside of her comfort zone, and Maisy had needed to feel superior in some way. Socially awkward and meek Priya had done that for her.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“Maybe join a gym, go to some classes.”

“More school?” He wasn’t asking as a criticism. A small detail, but an important one to her.

“No, nothing with homework. I’m over those years.” And she was. She’d gone to college and submersed herself in studying, and she’d even found a like-minded group that she was still in contact with. But they’d all moved on. Emmett certainly had. It was time for her to do so, too.

“I know what you mean.”

Despite the warmth his support infused her with, she shivered. She’d worked up a sweat and had quit moving.

He ushered her through the door, leaving the shovel sticking up in the snowbank. “Tell me more about going out as we go in.”

Crowding into the house, the heat of the mudroom washed over her, but she was still chilly. She stepped out of her boots. Her frigid toes sank into the rug, bits of snow they’d tracked in melting into her socks. Another shiver racked her body. Yeah, she needed better boots.

“You need to get out of that wet stuff.” He unzipped her coat even though he had to be roasting in his heavy coveralls. The mix of fresh snowy air and exhaust from the tractor clung to him. It shouldn’t be appealing, but it was. It shouldn’t be fueling the bloom of heat kindling inside of her belly, but it was.

“Ugh, I’m all sweaty. You don’t have—”

“None of that bothers me, not after I watched a little snow bunny muscle her way through drifts half her height.” He plucked the monitor off her collar and set it on the bench that ran along the wall.

Her chill was retreating against the heated look in his eye. “This snow bunny isn’t sure what to do about a big mountain man looking like he wants to devour her.”

A blond brow lifted, and he ripped his hat off. Locks of his hair stuck out and the rest was plastered to his scalp. “Mountain man?” He shed his coveralls and boots. Static cling and his own perspiration molded his shirt to his body. That body. He was a wall of man in front of her. She was too busy ogling his muscles to react when he moved.

A shriek caught in her throat as he rubbed his whiskered chin along her neck. Only the thought of waking Isaiah stopped her from yelling, and not even her aversion to dirty, messy surroundings could stop the bonfire of desire Justin started just by…being him. She wiggled, but he banded his arms around her like a vise, not squeezing, but the bunny was trapped.

“I’m not shaving,” he growled into her neck as she writhed in his arms.

She wasn’t asking him to. “If you keep being naughty with that thing,” she gasped as he nuzzled her again, “I might shave it in your sleep.”

His strong arms gripped her under her ass and lifted. “Try it, and I’ll put dirty sheets on the bed before you come next time.”

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