Page 17 of Mateo & Nicole

He flashed Daniel a smile. “I wanted to eat breakfast with you—touch base on how your side of things is going. Seeing as you usually eat dinner with Aria and breakfast with your family…” Mateo wasn’t going to admit he’d overheard Daniel telling some of the guys that he’d be here before breakfast ended so they could get an early start on herding some of their sheep to one of the Callahan pastures. They were also doing a trade. Mateo needed a good, strong bull for his cows, and Zeke was interested in adding to his livestock.

Daniel appeared confused for all of a second before his eyes darted to the swinging doors that led to the kitchen. Then a smile stretched across his face. “I have a feeling that this has more to do with you seeing a certain someone.”

Mateo rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to see acertain someone, I would just pull her aside and talk to her.”

“So why aren’t you doing that?”

Because if he pulled her aside to talk to her in anofficialcapacity, he didn’t think it would be appropriate to tell her that the men in her life were jerks and she was better off without them. But if she managed to walk past him and he could strike up a conversation, then that would be a different matter altogether.

Daniel didn’t need to know any of that.

Mateo ran a hand down his face. “What’s the plan with the sheep? I know you wanted to transport them in trailers, but since we couldn’t acquire them, the job is going to be more difficult.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Daniel said, moving farther into the room toward the table where most of the food had already been set out. Good. He could tell when his choice in conversation was being forcibly changed.

There were a lot of things Mateo liked about Daniel, but his ability to move on to something else was one of the best.

They dished up some breakfast, and Mateo chose a table closest to the kitchen in case Nikki made an appearance. He needed to talk to her.

That’s not true, and you know it, that little voice chided.Besides,Nikki doesn’t want to speak to you. If she did, she’d be easier to nail down.

Mateo’s focus drifted from the kitchen doors to the man seated across from him. He found Daniel smirking like he knew a secret and was about to crow it to the whole world. “You like her.”

“What?” Mateo scoffed.

“How long?”

“What do you mean, how long?”

Daniel leaned forward, and his voice lowered. “Come on, man. You can’t tell me that you don’t. You literally moved her into your home.”

“She has her own space. It’s upstairs, and my room is downstairs. It’s hardly inappropriate,” Mateo insisted a littletoodefensively.

“It’s okay that you do. Even Sophia thinks so. But you have to tell me how long it’s been going on.”

Mateo didn’t think it was possible, but Daniel looked even more like he was conspiring with someone. It was near impossible to hear his next words over the hum of voices in the cafeteria.

“Were you two already talking before she came here? I won’t breathe a word to anyone.”

Scowling, Mateo leaned forward so his face was far too close to his friend’s. “I don’t know what Sophia has told you, but you’ve got it all wrong. I assure you. Nothing is going on with me and her. And I don’t have feelings for her, alright?”

“Who says you have feelings? I want to know about your crush.”

Mateo raised his hands into the air with exasperation. “I don’t have a crush on her,” he said a little too loudly—okay, far too loudly.

The quiet hum of voices abruptly died down. Mateo glanced around to find most of the men in the room looking their way. Worse than that, the object of his interest stood on just this side of the swinging kitchen doors with a platter in hand and her focus locked on him. The expression she wore was completely unreadable.

Did she know that he was talking about her? He sure hoped not. That wouldn’t go over well at all.

Whirling back to Daniel, Mateo wasn’t surprised to find that his friend was laughing quietly under his breath. Mateo pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You and your fiancée and my sister need to stop gossiping about stuff you know nothing about.” He pushed away from the table and shot to his feet.

Without really knowing what he planned on doing, he headed for the kitchen.

Nikki had disappeared behind those doors. And while he knew it was unwise to go seeking her out after his little outburst, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He pushed through the swinging doors and plastered the smile he was so used to wearing onto his face. “Hello, Nikki,” he drawled.

She looked up from where she stood at the sink, rinsing bowls from what had likely held pancake batter. “Is there something you need, Mr. Palmer?”

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