Page 2 of Duke
“Big fan. Just waitin’ for y’all to start making men’s boots.”
“So you can model them?”
Duke’s smile touches his eyes, making them glimmer. “I’ve been told I’m very photogenic. Just keep me in mind, yeah? I’m cheap—”
“And easy,” one of the other brothers says with a smirk. It has to be Ryder, Duke’s twin. They look almost exactly alike, save for Duke’s slightly shorter hair and the barely visible scar on Ryder’s bottom lip.
“My fee is just a pair of your beautiful boots,” Duke says.
I realize we’re still shaking hands. The warmth of his, the viselike sensation of his grip, has me feeling giddy. “I’ll have my people reach out to your people.”
“Ma’am, when I have ‘people,’ you and I are gonna finish this conversation on a yacht somewhere in the Caribbean.”
Ryder groans. “Keep dreaming.”
Another brother, this one with shaggy, dark blond hair, rolls his eyes.
But me? I grin. What a freaking delight, meeting a cowboy who thinks outside the box. Ranch. Whatever.
“I like to travel. Visiting new places is one of the biggest perks of owning a business.” Dropping his hand, I fold my arms over my chest. “Let’s save the date.”
“I like to travel too. Hope to do more of it.” His eyes, so blue they seem to glow in the soft light of the kitchen, bore into mine. “And yes, it’s a date.”
It’s hard to look away. But then a ponytailed woman bearing two bottles of wine approaches, introducing herself as Patsy, Lucky Ranch’s chef.
Cash and his four brothers, along with Mollie, Patsy, her husband, John B, and their daughter, Sally, all crowd around the farm table. Mollie’s attorney, Goody Gershwin, and her wife, Tallulah, also join us. We tuck into a homemade meal that’s absolutely delicious: pork tenderloin roasted with apples, along with mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed greens.
I can’t remember the last time I sat down to supper. Growing up, my family ate together almost every night until my brothers and I got so busy with school and activities that the ritual happened less and less. My parents abandoned it altogether when theyreallystarted to not get along around the time I was entering high school.
I miss those suppers.
Really, I miss the time when our family was (relatively) happy. Because we were at one point. Dad wasn’t quite so angry. Mom wasn’t depressed. Preston wasn’t a jerk. Then slowly, bit by bit, everything—everyone—changed.
My stomach flips for an entirely different reason when Mollie pulls out her laptop after we’re done eating. She and I have been working on a big proposal for days now. I’m excited for her.
I’m also a little wistful. A few times, I found myself wishing that someone could love me the way Cash loves Mollie. The two of them have chemistry out the wazoo, sure, but they’re also friends. He’s got her back, and he cares about how she feels. What she needs. Wants. Thinks.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
As usual, Mollie slays the delivery of her proposal. Cash and his brothers were raised on their family’s neighboring property, Rivers Ranch. They’ve struggled with its upkeep since their parents’ passing in a car accident twelve years ago. Mollie told me Cash has always dreamed of saving his pennies and restoring his family’s land.
Mollie gives him the plans to do exactly that. She proposes combining Rivers Ranch with Lucky Ranch, creating Lucky River Ranch. Mollie and the Rivers brothers would split revenue equally. She and I even designed a logo for the new property, a turquoise horseshoe flanked by stars and the ranch’s name.
Cash cries.
Mollie cries.
We all cry. And then we all burst into a fresh round of tears when Cash proposes, and Mollie accepts with ahell yes.
We pop champagne and toast to the newly engaged couple.
One of the cowboys—the one with the shaggy hair who Ithinkis named Wyatt—slams down his drink and says, “Let’s celebrate! To the Rattler!”
I glance at Duke to find him looking at me. My stomach dips for the hundredth time.
“Best dive bar on the planet,” he explains. “You in?”
I shrug. “It’s not a yacht in the Caribbean.”
