Page 29 of My Cowboy Trouble
"That's not?—"
"Isn't it?" He's closer now, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off him. "Tell me you're not already planning what you'll do with the money when you sell this place."
I want to deny it, but we both know I've thought about it. "That's none of your business."
"This ranch is my business. It's been my business since I was eighteen and my father—" He cuts himself off again, jaw working.
"Your father what?"
"Forget it."
"No. You keep starting sentences about him and not finishing them. What happened?"
"What happened is none of your business." He throws my words back at me. "Just like this ranch won't be your business after twenty-six more days."
"Twenty-five," I correct. "But who's counting?"
"I am." He takes another step closer, and now I'm backed against the feed room wall. "Every damn day you're here, playing cowgirl, disrupting everything, making the men lose focus?—"
"Making the men lose focus?" I laugh. "Are you serious?"
"Billy walked into a fence post yesterday watching you."
"That's not my fault!"
"Gavin spent two hours this morning talking about your legs instead of working."
"Again, not my fault!"
"And Asher..." He pauses, something flickering in his eyes. "Asher's acting like a lovesick teenager."
"And what about you?" The words are out before I can stop them. "Am I making you lose focus too?"
He goes very still. We're close enough that I can see his pupils dilate, see the muscle in his jaw twitch.
"I don't lose focus," he says quietly.
"No? Then why are you here, cornering me in a feed room, instead of doing your precious ranch work?"
"I'm not cornering you."
"You're literally blocking the only exit."
He looks at the door, then back at me, but doesn't move. "You can leave anytime you want."
"Can I?"
The air between us is thick, charged with something that has nothing to do with anger and everything to do with the way his eyes keep dropping to my mouth.
"This is a bad idea," he says, but he's leaning closer.
"The worst," I agree, not moving away.
"You're leaving in twenty-five days."
"Twenty-five and a half, technically."
"Kenzie."
