Page 46 of Taming the Billionaire Cowboy
“Yes, I remember,” I say softly.
“Well… maybe he won’t.” He shrugs again and looks back up at me, his eyes full of trust and hope. “And if he does, we’ll still be okay, right?”
His words, so mature for his age, hit me like a punch to the gut.
“You’re absolutely right, Bradley. We’ll be okay no matter what.”
CHAPTER 20
OLIVER
Whistling, I locate another chicken egg that’s been deposited in the grass. “You can hatch some of these,” I tell the red hen I suspect is responsible. “But let’s get it somewhere safe.”
She cocks her head and makes an irritated noise before running off. I chuckle and head back to the house. Carly should be here any minute, and my heart is already singing at her approach.
I’m in the kitchen when I hear the car pull up, and by the time she walks through the front door, I’m already waiting with a glass of iced coffee.
“Hey,” I call out, my voice joyful.
“Hi.” She slides her boots off by the door and then zeroes in on me, her eyes squinting in scrutiny. “What are you so happy about?”
“You’re here,” I say straightforwardly. “Isn’t that reason enough?”
She chuckles as she takes the coffee from my hand. “Thanks. It’s so hot out.”
“Summer in Texas.” I wink at her.
She nods but doesn’t drink the coffee or respond. Instead, she puts the glass on the table and rubs her palms against her pants.
“Hey. Everything okay?” I touch her shoulders, my breath hitching in my chest.
It’s there in her eyes. It’s in the way she moves, slower than yesterday and the day before. It’s in the uncertainty, in the stillness and the dust she’s kicking up in my chest. It feels familiar. It feels like me, weeks ago, running to this ranch to escape.
“We need to talk, Oliver,” she says. “Can we… go sit down? On the porch?”
“Of course. Is Bradley okay?”
“He’s fine. It’s okay. Um, I just…” She walks out to the porch, where she takes a seat on the swinging bench.
I sit next to her, my heart slamming against my chest. “What’s up?” I ask, afraid to hear the answer.
“We have to talk about us,” she says, crossing her arms like she’s the only thing she can hold onto.
The ranch swirls around us, horses in the field, animals needing to be fed, my heart working like mad. But I don’t care if the world stops turning right now, not if I’m losing her.
“Is it the animals?” I ask, even though I know it’s more. “If you’re worried about things not getting done?—”
“I’m not worried about that,” she stops me. “It’s you, Oliver.”
The words make me blink. “Me?”
“Yeah,” she says. Her voice is low, as if she doesn’t want to wake me. Or herself. “Everything is good with work, but this thing that’s evolved between us… it’s moving so fast.”
I thought fast was what she needed, what we both needed, but now I wonder if I was wrong. I’m not usually wrong, and maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’m too sure of myself. Of us. Maybe I pushed her, made her say yes when she should have said no.
“I’m your employee,” she says. “You’re my boss.” She lets it hang there like a brick, like a wall I can’t get through.
“Right,” I say on an exhale. “If you’re worried about our personal relationship impacting work?—”
