Page 33 of Dirty Cowboys
“She won’t like a lot of things if she keeps pushing herself like this.” I hop down from the pen, already planning how to distract her.
Duke heads toward his truck, calling out to Walker and Indie as he goes. “I’ll be back. Try not to let Nash get into too much trouble while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Walker calls back.
I wander over to where they’re working, admiring the view of Indie’s ass in those tight jeans as she bends over to pick up another section of wire. “How’s it going over here?” I ask, settling against a nearby fence post.
“Almost done,” Indie says, wiping sweat from her forehead. “This is actually kind of relaxing once you get the hang of it.”
Walker snorts. “That’s because you haven’t been doing it for eight hours straight in the middle of summer yet.”
“Is that a challenge?” she fires back, grinningat him.
“No,” Walker and I say at the same time, and she laughs.
“You two are no fun. I’m perfectly capable of?—”
“Of working yourself to death,” I say with a raised brow.
She straightens up with her hands on her hips, shooting me a stubborn look that makes me want to kiss her and shake her at the same time. “I’m earning my keep, just like Walker said.”
“You don’t need to earn anything; I was just in a shitty mood. We’ll never expect you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I know that, but I want to be useful. I want to feel like I actually belong here.”
“And you do belong here, Indie. You don’t have to prove it by working yourself to the bone,” Walker replies.
She’s quiet for a moment and then nods. “Okay. Point taken.” She looks around at the nearly finished fence repair. “What should I do instead?”
I don’t want to be sexist and tell her she can’t do the things we are doing, as we know women are just as capable and there are plenty who work out here on the ranch with us. But she has only just been cleared by the doctor, and on top of that, she isn’t skilled in the things we need done. Without being watched, shecould get injured again, and I am not willing to risk that happening.
“Actually,” Walker says slowly, “there is something that needs doing. You could take pictures of everything that’s damaged—we need a record of it. So far we’ve been taking pictures as we fix things, but that would speed up the process.”
Her face lights up. “I can take pictures.”
I watch her go and then turn to Walker. “Think that’ll keep her busy?”
“For a couple of hours, maybe.” He rolls up the leftover wire. “Long enough for you to figure out what you’re going to do about this thing you’ve got with her.”
Walker walks off, and I follow behind. He can’t start a conversation like that and then just leave.
“What thing?” I ask as he abruptly stops to face me.
“The thing where you act like everything’s fine when it’s clearly not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Walker drops the tools in frustration. “When you fucked her that first day she was here alone, without talking to us first?—”
“Walker.” I stop him, and stare into his stormy gray eyes. I have never seen him so jealous before. I know I fucked up by not talking to him first, but normally if it was just a random woman passing throughtown, he wouldn’t have had an issue. But he isn’t blind and can see how much I like Indie. Actually, if I’m being honest, I have missed a woman’s touch.
“I wanted to kill you,” he says quietly. “I was fucking jealous. And I’ve never been jealous before, Nash.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. Walker doesn’t do emotion; he doesn’t talk about feelings. I never expected him to say the words out loud. Normally if we have an issue, we fuck it out instead of talking.
“Shit, I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“Of course you didn’t know, because I didn’t fucking tell you.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I have been trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. Why watching you with her makes me want to tear you apart.”
