Page 64 of The Wrong Ride Home

Fiona stood up, cocked her hip, and put a hand on it. “Did little Miss Cowgirl come complaining to you?”

“No, Hunt did.”

“Well, you can tell Hunt to mind his own business,” she shot.

“We talked about how you were going to make it work with the?—”

“Help?” She arched an eyebrow. “You want me to make it work with people who shovel shit for a living? Are you out of your mind, Duke? I know you’re grieving your father, and I’m giving you a lot of leeway because of that. But?—”

“Did you or did you not insult Elena?” I rested a hip against the desk, my eyes on Fiona.

“Duke—"

Her phone rang, and she picked it up. Her tone went from bitch to business in seconds. “Fiona Turner here.” She paused. “Kaz, thank you so much for calling….” Pause. “Well, we can….” Pause. “Okay, but maybe you and I can….” Pause. She held the phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.”

Her demeanor told me that Kaz hadn’t wanted to talk to Fiona. She was managing to piss off even the people who she usually managed to make nice with—the wealthy and powerful.

I walked around the desk and sat on my father’s chair.

“Speaker,” Fiona mouthed.

I sighed. She still worked for me, so it made sense that she wanted to know what was happening with Piper Novak. “Kaz, how are you?”

“Get me off speaker,” was his response.

“I’ll ring you back,” I told him and ended the call.

I handed Fiona’s phone to her. “You heard him.” I pulled out my earbuds and instructed Siri to call Kaz. After the first ring, he answered.

“I don’t want to talk to your girlfriend.”

“My lawyer,” I corrected him.

“Behaves like your girlfriend. She and Piper can make it work, but if she tries to shove her tits in my face one more time, I’m going to tell her that the boob job isn’t working on me.”

I made a hand motion, asking Fiona to leave the office. She huffed, picked up her laptop, and walked out. What worked in the world outside of Wildflower Canyon wasn’t working here for her or me. It was time to cut her loose, both professionally and personally.

“She been shoving her tits at you?” I asked.

“Don’t pretend you don’t see it. She flirts. It’s her MO,” Kaz retorted.

I’d seen it, and it never bothered me.

But you see Hunt even talk to Elena, and you’re ready to bust his face. Duke, man, you need to think about what the fuck you’re doin’ with your life.

The tits areau naturel, I wanted to tell him, but thatwould make me an even worse jerk, so I simply asked, “What’s this call about?”

“I hear legally, the ranch is yours now.”

“Gossip travels fast in these parts.”

“No shit,” Kaz chuckled.

“I read Piper’s email,” I informed him.

“The one where she told you the airport is gonna be a game changer?”

“Yeah.”

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