Page 18 of Taming the Billionaire Cowboy
“I’m not neglecting them,” I remind her. “Everyone is fed and happy. And I’m serious. I need someone who knows what they’re doing. Someone like you.” I hate the desperation that’s creeping into my voice. I don’t want to show her that I’m anxious about this, but I suppose it’s too late for that.
“Like me?” She’s still teasing, still testing, but her tone is softer. “And what’s in it for me, Oliver?”
Everything. I’ll give her everything if she’ll say yes and come back. But I’m not going to say that out loud. Not yet.
“I’ll pay you what Mack did, plus fifty percent more.”
I don’t miss the way her eyes widen, but she quickly collects herself and puts the indifferent facade back on.
“Fine,” she says, like she’s still the one doing me a favor.
Maybe she is.
Relief rushes over me, almost knocking me off balance. “Really? You’ll help?”
“Really,” she says, looking smug. She knows exactly how much power she has over me right now.
I should feel grateful, and I am, but the thought of working with her is its own kind of challenge. We couldn’t even get through a night without fighting. Now she’ll be back, and it’s only a matter of time before we butt heads again.
I’ve weighed the risks, considered the cost of swallowing my pride versus the cost of collapsing from exhaustion. Maybe we can make it work. Maybe we’ll kill each other trying. But if there’s even a small chance she’ll come through for me, it’s worth it.
“Thank you,” I say, the words awkward and a little too sincere for my own comfort.
She shrugs, a noncommittal gesture that says more than her words ever will. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
It’s my turn to be smug. “See you then. Don’t be late.”
She snorts. “City boy, I’ll be pouring out feed before you’re even up.”
I don’t doubt it. Once again, she has me beat.
It stings, but I also kind of like it. I’m not used to people verbally sparring with me. Back in Houston, most people are ingratiating, always coming to me hoping to get something out of the exchange, but Carly sees me as an equal.
No - as beneath her.
And I want to prove her wrong. I want to show her that, city boy that I am, I can still learn the ropes in her country.
I turn to leave, feeling the tension in my shoulders ease up for the first time today. I’m still not sure how this will all play out, but at least I have a shot now. At least I’m not going back to the ranch completely alone.
“See you bright and early,” she calls, and it sounds more like a warning than a promise.
I step out of the dark bar, the sudden rush of early-evening sunlight almost blinding me. The joke might still be on me, but I’m starting to see how this might work out after all.
CHAPTER 9
CARLY
Bradley skips along the walkway to my mom’s house, his hair catching the sunlight. He clutches a drawing of a horse that he made last night, all waxy crayon and wild scribbles, and talks without taking a breath, words colliding in his excitement.
“Can I see the horses?” he asks as I follow him up the path, pausing when he gets to the door.
“Um, at some point,” I tell him.
“I bet they missed you, huh?” he asks, turning those big brown eyes up at me as I kneel in front of him.
“I wasn’t even really gone. I wasn’t there for a whole day, but that’s normal for them.”
“And what about Oliver?” he asks, and my eyebrows go up.
