Page 67 of The Runaway and the Rugged
“No one’s callin’ you fragile, Outlaw. Certainly not me. I respect you. I respect that you can hold your own, but Beau and Griff? They’ve been in this world, doin’ this type of work, a lot longer than you think, and I treat them accordingly.”
“You think that I hold my own?” she questioned, her starry gaze heavy on my profile.
“Knew it from the second I met you.”
A soft, dazed laugh broke from her lips.
“I think you have more faith in me than I do myself,” she admitted, the words coming from a place rooted deep inside her vulnerable center. I wished I had it in me to tell her she had the potential to do anything she wanted. Whether it was here or somewhere else, but the selfish part of me remained reluctant to say anything.
I wanted her to stay.
Even if just for a little while. Even if it meant nothin’ for me, I longed to have some of her sunshine on this ranch, her lightness, her clumsiness, her strength. And just when I was about to speak, the sound of two voices cut through the stable, Beau laughin’ loud like he always was, and behind him Griffin.
Fuck.
It only took them seconds to find both Emelia and me on the floor sittin’ a little too close beside each other. Beau reacted almost immediately, beaming from ear to ear at the woman beside me.
“So the rumor is true!” Beau’s curious eyes bounced between the two of us, a knowing smirk hanging dangerously onto his face as he shot me a subtle nod. Instead of acknowledging whatever was unfolding between Emelia and me, he shifted his attention to somethin’ else. “We got ourselves a new cowgirl on Hideaway Haven.”
I rolled my eyes, finding Griff watching Emelia before swiveling his eyes back to me. His eyebrows dipped in question, probably wondering why the hell I was sittin’ on the ground when I normally hated even bein’ near it.
“Definitely not a cowgirl.” Emelia chuckled, smiling at Beau like he was an old friend.
“Looks to me like you are now.” He nodded toward the full wheelbarrow. “If I would have known you were out here, I’d have come on over and shown you a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“Tricks,” Griff scoffed, uncrossing his arms, revealing all the tattoos that our mother nearly disowned him for. “The only tricks you got are the ones you pull out of your damn ass when you’re desperate.”
“Desperate?” Beau chuckled, a wide, mischievous grin aimed at Griff. “I’d rather be called pathetic. Seems like women these days are into that anyway.”
Both Griff and I grimaced.
What the fuck?
“I’m right, aren’t I, sunshine?” He directed his question to Emelia and my immediate reaction was to disown the nickname he had for her, but when she responded with a shrug, I all but forgot about that and locked eyes on her profile.
“Well, I mean, I’m sure some women like that.”
Red in the face, she glanced over at me, clearly unaware that I was boiling with anger at the thought of Beau havin’ a thing for her. It didn’t sit well with me, but I did my best to suppress my feelings without exposing myself.
“And are you some women?” Beau winked, his gaze shooting to mine briefly as if trying to test me on the spot.
Motherfucker.
Pushing myself onto my feet, I disrupted wherever the conversation was headed and glared at the two of them. I wasn’t sure why they were in here anyway. To spy? To be fuckin’ nosy? Whatever the reason, I was tempted to kick them out.
“Here, let me help you up.” Beau held his hand out for Emelia, but with a harsh yet gentle push, I nudged him aside and offered mine instead.
“That was rude of you.” Emelia laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement when all I could muster was a grunt.
“Don’t worry, sunshine. All the Calhoun siblings love me, they just got a funny way of showin’ it. Ain’t that right, big guy?”Beau looked at Griff and seconds later was shoved again, this time falling into the side of the stall.
“Uh, ow,” Beau groaned, but kept that pretty boy smile high on his face.
I suddenly realized Griff and Emelia had yet to be introduced, and he wasn’t exactly leavin’ the best first impression either. But that was Griff. A man of few words who’d rather spend time with the horses than he would actual people.
“Griff, this is Emelia.” I had forgone any extra details, not wanting to embarrass her. Besides, we got him caught up on what happened and that she was going to be staying, not that he cared anyway, he kept to himself most of the time. “Emelia, this is my brother Griffin.”
Her hesitant eyes went to him. He was a big bastard. Tall, tatted, quiet, but nothin’ to be fearful of.
