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“Thank you,” I replied as something light bumped against my toes.
“Breakfast is just getting cooked up, so when you’re dressed, come eat.” I heard the tent rustle again.
“Cassidy?” I quickly called out.
“What’s up, Goldie?” he answered.
I ignored his quip. “I’m sorry if I made things even more of a mess.”
“With what? Keaton barging in?”
Pulling my brows together, I remained facing the tent wall and nodded.
“Eh, it’s really no big deal. Besides, I sent him off with his brother to check the cattle, so he’ll have forgotten about it by the time you’re dressed.”
“Well, either way, I’m just sorry about everything in general.”
“Alright, well, I’ll leave ya to get dressed. Forewarning, your clothes felt a bit stiff.” And just like that he was gone. Leaving me to my thoughts once more.
Once I emerged, dressed and ready for the day, the sun was bright overhead, and most of the cowboys were already saddling up, ready to head back down to the main area of the ranch. Two hands were staying behind for the week to watch the cattle and would eventually be traded out by two new hands—a rotation schedule that I wondered if I could manage to get on.
It sounded fun—the idea of staying with the herd, away from any civilization and sleeping under the stars for a week straight. Though, I doubted I’d be allowed to join. Cassidy probably didn’t trust me enough after last night. There was also the fact that there weren’t any other women part of this outfit that I’d seen. I took a mental note to get after him for that briefly before squaring away my empty breakfast plate.
By this point, the only ones of us left at the temporary campsite were Cash, his two sons, those two hands, and Cassidy. I lifted my eyes across the horizon, the sun already beating down on the fresh world that no longer smelled heavy with rain. The mud was already drying out, and the creek by the grove of trees where the cattle had been hunkered down by last night, gently bubbled across the field. The only evidence that there’d been any sort of fight last night was the out of place branches that would eventually decay into nutrients for the soil.
I loved my home with Dad, but this place was something else. I’d run cattle into mountains before, I’d experienced rides of a lifetime, but this simple, casual cattle drive that these boys must make every year was something of its own class.
“Oh, come on!” a young voice whined, and I glanced to my left. Cash was dragging his son over to the now empty tent that Cassidy and I had once occupied. “Can’t she take it down?”
“Yes, she probably could. But you’re gonna take care of it. Now, go on,” Cash replied and pushed his son forward.
Keaton rolled his eyes but casually walked over to the tent and pulled out the blankets, beginning to pack things up. Cash turned around, catching my eyes briefly. He raised a brow as if he knew something.
“Nothing happened,” I called out, standing from the rock I’d been seated on.
He chuckled, brushing at non-existent dirt on his arm. “Not what Keaton says.”
“Nothing will ever happen.”
“Uh-huh,” he answered and stopped at the edge of the canvas tent.
“He’s not my type. Especially seeing as he’s a stuck-up playboy who gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.” The conviction that should’ve been in my voice was mostly absent.
“Yeah, I know you don’t believe that,” Cash replied. “Sure, once upon a lifetime ago, that boy acted like a teenager who thought below the belt, but that’s not been Cassidy in a long time. Besides, you’re completely his type.”
My mouth fell open. There was no stopping it. “Me?”
“Yes, you. Tall blonde that knows her way around a ranch? Around cattle and horses?” Cash chuckled and shook his head as a shadow danced over his shoulder. My eyes lifted from his face to land on the very man that strutted our way. He had that usual cocky smile plastered on his lips, his eyes simply drifting across the beauty that surrounded us.
Then they locked onto mine. Cassidy’s brows twitched, his gaze narrowing, and he tipped his head. Beneath his hat, darkness coated his eyes, and there was no possibility of tearing my own stare from his. My stomach churned, each breath pulled into my lungs shallowed at the sight of him dressed back in his chaps.
I might be his type? A girl who was never any guy’s type because I normally towered over them—or came close to their height—was this man’s type? A man as incredibly good looking as he was?
“Uh-huh, nothing happened,” Cash quickly shot my way before Cassidy ducked under the tent. I snapped my gaze away from Cassidy and glared at Cash.
“What’s that look for?” Cassidy asked, stopping beside his saddle still drying beneath the protective canvas. I slid my narrowed gaze toward him but said nothing as Cash chuckled.
Cassidy lifted the saddle with ease, and my brows raised involuntarily. He made that look easy, I mean, it wasn’t something that I found too difficult, but still, leather saddles were heavy, and yet he made that look like he’d picked up a feather. My body swirled warm on the inside, matching the blistering heat on my skin despite being shaded from the sun.
