Chapter 20
INDYA
Age Twenty-One
West and I lay on a plaid wool blanket in the middle of a mountain meadow. There was an empty bowl between us stained with the strawberries he’d picked me from his grandmother’s garden. Above us, clouds drifted through the blue sky.
He’d brought me to this meadow before, two years ago. This was where we’d come on the final day of that family vacation.
Today was another last day.
There was a rock digging into my spine. The blanket was scratchy beneath the bare skin of my arms and legs. But I refused to move. Not until the very last second.
When my parents and I had arrived in Montana earlier this week, West hadn’t been here. A friend of his had gotten married in Hawaii, and as a groomsman, he’d left for the celebration.
He’d returned to the ranch just last night.
I was leaving tomorrow at dawn.
So while Mom and Dad had taken a day trip into Big Timber for the Sweet Grass Fest parade and street fair, I’d stayed at the resort for this.
For one day with West.
He was supposed to go to the rodeo tonight. Could I convince him to stay with me instead?
Sex on this blanket hadn’t exactly been comfortable. Not that I was complaining. West had given me two orgasms already, one with his
tongue and another with his cock.
I wanted more. I wanted him in my bed.
West checked the time on his phone.
I wasn’t going to get what I wanted, was I?
“Where were you last summer?” He almost sounded mad.
I liked that he was mad. I’d been mad too.
“I had an internship with an advertising company. They only hire two interns each year from the entire country, and they don’t give vacation time. So Mom and Dad came up here without me.”
“I remember. Your dad beat me at a game of horseshoes.”
Dad had beat West? Doubtful. Dad played horseshoes exactly once a year. In Montana. West probably played constantly with guests. “Did
you let him win?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, tearing my eyes from the sky to face him.
West’s hazel eyes were waiting. “It’s good to see you, Indy.”
“It’s good to see you too.”
After we’d had sex, both of us had redressed. My dress was rumpled from being balled up on the grass.
He was wearing a pair of faded Wranglers and the CMC belt buckle I remembered from two years ago. His navy T-shirt strained at his biceps.
West had always been muscular and fit, but his body had changed from two years ago. He was broader. Stronger.
Gone was the boy who’d introduced me to his horse. He was twenty-three now. And in my whole life, not once had I laid eyes on a man more handsome than West Haven.
Even though he’d changed some, added more stubble to that chiseled jaw, it still felt like just yesterday we’d been together in his old truck. Time was always strange when it came to West and me.
It existed. And it didn’t.
He’d gotten a new truck at some point. His sleek gray Chevy Silverado was parked beside us, the paint gleaming in the afternoon sun.
Not a patch of rust in sight.
I missed his old, dusty green pickup.
“How’s work going?” I asked.
It was a question I’d ask on a date. This wasn’t a date. This was a hookup. My brain knew the distinction. My heart was struggling with the difference.
This wasn’t a date.
But I wanted it to be a date.
He looked to the sky again. “Work is okay.”
“Just okay?”
“Just okay.”
I twisted onto my side, propping up on an elbow. “If you could do anything in the world, what would you do?”
“This.”
“Have sex with me on a scratchy wool blanket?”
He laughed, and it transformed his face. West, the broody, serious cowboy, was gorgeous. But this West, carefree and smiling, was breathtaking.
I traced a finger down the line of his nose, then dropped to his mouth, memorizing that smile with my touch.
He grabbed my wrist in a flash, trapping my hand to his lips. Then he nipped at the pad of my finger before letting me go. “Yes, I’d have sex with you on this scratchy wool blanket every day if I could. But otherwise, I want to work on this ranch. It’s what I know. It’s where I
want to be.”
“Even though it’s just okay?”
“Yeah. It’s not the ranching that’s tough. It’s Dad. He’s not the easiest man to work for. He’s got his ideas, and I’ve got mine. If they aren’t in line, we butt heads. It’s been like that my whole life. Mom says
it’s because we’re both stubborn.”
“Sorry.”
“Meh. Don’t be. He’s my dad. I love him. And we get along most of the time. You’re catching me at a bad time. We got into it before I left for
Hawaii.”
“About?”
“Junk. He’s got a pile of it growing in a corner of the ranch. Old, broken-down equipment that’s nothing more than scrap metal. I told him we should get rid of it. Clean it up. He acted like I was asking him to cut
off an arm.”
I giggled.
The corners of West’s mouth turned up. “If he wants to keep that shit, fine. It’s not worth fighting over. Someday, he’ll take a step back
and retire. If I have to wait until then to make some changes, then so be
it.”
“Besides the junk pile, what changes?”
“I don’t know.” He shifted, mirroring my position to face me. “We could run more cattle. I’d like to focus my time more on the ranch and less on the resort.”
“You don’t like the resort?” My eyebrows furrowed.
West pressed a finger to the crease, rubbing it away. “I like the resort. But you asked if I could do anything in the world. That would be running this ranch. I’d hire someone else to handle the resort.”
“You want more cows and less hassles with guests. Got it. What else?”
“Maybe more land too. I might rename the place someday.”
“Really? What would you call it?”
“Haven Ranch. Haven River. I don’t know. Something along those lines.”
Something with his family’s name. That fit. Crazy Mountain Cattle Resort was fine, but this place should be named after the Havens. “I like it.”
“Dad would throw a fucking fit.” West rolled his eyes. “So I doubt it would ever happen. But . . . if we’re talking dreams.”
I liked talking about West’s dreams.
“What about you?” He ran his thumb across my chin. “You’ve got one more year of college. What’s next?”
“Work.” I sighed. “The advertising company offered me a job after graduation, but I think I might go to work for Dad’s company instead.”
“Real estate, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you like real estate?”
“It’s okay.”
“Just okay?”
I nodded. “Just okay.”
Dad loved it. And he loved the idea of me coming to work as his protégé. For now, that was enough for me. We’d likely get into disagreements, too, but mostly, I was excited to work with him every day.
He’d been pushing too hard. He was tired more often than not.
When I’d call to check in between classes, there was a strain in his voice that made my insides twist. The liveliest I’d seen him had been this week. He’d told me this morning he’d felt rejuvenated by the Montana air.
But our lives weren’t in Montana. So tomorrow, we’d return to Texas. I’d finish college, then go to work for Keller Enterprises. Maybe I could ease Dad’s burdens until he was ready to retire.
West’s phone rang on the blanket between us. He picked it up, silencing it before I could see the name on the screen. Then he tossed it behind him before he rolled me onto my back. “Wish we had more time.”
“Me too.” I pushed a lock of dark hair off his forehead. “How important is this rodeo?”
He leaned in, brushing his lips across mine as his hand snaked beneath the skirt of my dress. “Not that important.”
