Page 6 of Ember Meadow
“–But Walt isn’t exactly in working condition at the moment so I’ve taken over ranch duties for him. None of that matters, though, because you can’t be here. There’s no reason you need to know about anything that goes on here. So pack up your tiny car and get back to Idaho,” he says matter-of-fact. As if he can just tell me to leave and I’ll go. Not likely.
“Yeah, not going to happen, Autry. My company bought this property fair and square. I’ve signed the paperwork. In fact, I have it with me. I’m not leaving. If you would be so kind as to let Walter know I’ve arrived out of courtesy, that would be wonderful,” I plaster another smile onto my face, shooting darts Miles’s way with my eyes. “In the meantime, I’m going to continue my walk-through of the cabin then head to my hotel for the night. It’s been a long day of traveling and the last thing I need is to continue this asinine argument with you. Cowboys aren’t my type, anyway. Too dusty.” I wave him off with a hand.
The more I smile, the redder Miles’s face turns. I can almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. Very different from the last time our paths crossed. That was, what, four years ago now? He had seemed so calm, cool and collected. It was one of the reasons I let him buy me a drink that night in the first place.
He was quiet, yet commanding. In charge, yet careful.
He smiled from ear to ear all night long. I think he may have even had dimples when his smile got big enough. Today, I haven’t so much as seen the corners of his mouth twitch in any direction other than down.
His eyes have hardened since that night, and his demeanor is colder. If I saw him at a bar today, I’d probably avoid him and wonder what he was even doing in a fun place like a bar anyway.
Didn’t he have that one friend with him all those years ago? The well-dressed one? I wonder if he works here too. Maybe he’d be more understanding.
I’ll call Walter as soon as I get back to my hotel. If one of his employees is going to treat my guests like this once we get the rental up and running, it could ruin my business. Where does Miles Autry get off thinking he’s in charge of me? He’s not even in charge of the ranch. He just works there.
What an ass.
“Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole,” he says.Apparently he’s a mind reader too.“I just haven’t heard anything about this and usually everything that happens at Lone Pine goes through me. Last time we had an uninvited trespasser, we had two acres on fire and I lost two head of cattle. I’ll check with Walt and see what’s up,” he pulls out his phone and dials.
Fire? That’s intense. Even so, he shouldn’t assume everyone that steps foot on Lone Pine Ranch property is a pyromaniac.
“Okay great,” I reply with a smile. His face remains stoic.
“Walt? Yeah this is Miles,” a pause while he studies the sagebrush near his feet, “Yeah, sure is. Look, I’m out at the big cabin and there’s a woman here. Says she talked to you about being here?” He seems to get cut off by the man on the other end of the call. His face goes from neutral and professional to angry again. Great, the fire eyes are back. “What do you mean?” he says through gritted teeth.
Uh-oh,I think to myself,someone didn’t communicate with their ranch hand.
Miles runs a hand over his short charcoal beard. I catch a glimpse of a playing card tattooed onto his forearm. It’s a cowgirl queen of hearts, big wispy curls with a cowgirl hat on and a wink in her eyes. The top corner of the card is on fire, black flames licking his skin. His veins push up against it, ink darkening his tan skin even further.
Even though his other arm is covered in a sleeve of tattoos, this one catches my eye.
Suddenly, the urge to reach out and touch him overwhelms me. I have to physically stop my arm from reaching out to him. Like a moth to a flame again. I clasp my hands behind my back so tight I can feel my knuckles turning white.
“You can’t be serious. We talked about this, there has to be another way–” he turns around, pacing. Not sure what to do with myself as awkwardness washes over the scene, I rock back and forth on my heels. This is just my luck.
Not only do I run into an old one night stand (top five at least if I’m being honest), he also happens to work at a ranch we just bought property from. There has to be a way to spin this situation into a positive one. I weigh out options in my head, but can’t seem to land on a good solution.
“Okay, Walt, I’m coming up there to discuss this with you in person. Yeah, see you soon.” Miles hangs up and turns back around to me. At first, I think he’s going to yell at me again, but he doesn’t. His jaw ticks once and he takes a deep breath.
“It’s good to see you again, Mac,” he says, still without a smile. My stomach does a weird flip thing at the nickname. That’s twice he’s called me Mac and zero times he’s called me Katie. I don’t like how much I like it.
“Yeah you too,” I say, shaking the unwanted leftover feelings off.
“I’m going to go see what all this with Walt is about. Just don’t start anything until I straighten this all out, okay?” He seems sincere. I really don’t want to ruffle any feathers right off the bat.
“Sure,” I agree with a polite nod. “But I’ve got a crew coming soon for renovations,” I say, hoping he’ll catch my hint. I’m doing this with or without his approval. There’s no legal reason I can’t.
He nods again, turning back to his horse. Okay, maybe the unwanted feelings don’t go away immediately. There’s just something about a big cowboy mounting a horse and riding away. And Miles is definitely a big guy. He has to be at least eight inches taller than me, and I’m a somewhat tall girl at five foot seven.
He’s not super jacked like a man that goes to the gym every day, rather he’s built more practically. Like he spends his days working outside on a ranch. I imagine him hauling a barrel of hay across an open field at sunset, horses in the background, sweat dripping down his face.
Stop it, I whisper to myself the second the butterflies are back in my stomach.
I cannot be lusting over a one night stand right now. I have important things to do. Even if he looks like a walking wet dream.
I stand up from the dusty porch bench, brushing off my shorts. I look around at the cabin one more time and clap my hands together. Time to get to work. I haven’t been this excited about a new project in a while. Everything with the ranch cabin seemed to line up so perfectly. Now that I’m here, I love it even more.
After checking a few more things off of my list at the cabin, I lock the lockbox up again and pull out my phone calendar. All that’s left to do tonight is check in once more with my vendors on the packages I had sent to the cabin, and check into my hotel in town I’ll be staying at during the renovation.
