Page 92 of Thaw My Heart

She glances around, unsure. “So, you want me to stay. Here… with you?” Her brown eyes fill with worry.

“Only if you want to.” Something in her relaxes at that. “I’m so sorry, I need to run.”

After throwing on a shirt, flannel, jeans, and a ballcap, I pull her in for a kiss, lingering on her mouth. She smiles and laughs as I run out the door, grabbing my coat.

The main barn is a clusterfuck. Workers run around four men who stand around arguing—Blake, Wes, Ryker, and young Tanner.

They straighten up as I approach them.

“Thank fuck,” Wes exhales, stepping back to make space for me.

“Catch me up,” I say to the group.

Ryker nods to me. I give him my best gruff nod, faking how I really feel inside. If he catches the smile that feels permanent on my face, nothing will stop him from opening his big mouth. He eyes me carefully, like he can see right through the bullshit. A small smile hides in the corner of his mouth.

“Fuel truck didn’t come,” Blake steps in, explaining the situation. “We’ve got seven trucks stuck in the fields. Stranded. I called the driver to apologize, but he’s pissed,” he smooths down his thick, dark beard. “Regardless of what the papers said, that prick has been delivering to us for years. He knows where to go.”

“How soon until he can reroute?” I ask.

“Maybe tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to talk to me.”

I guess the driver wasn’t a fan of kissing ass.

Tanner steps up next, hands tucked into his hoodie. He’s recently turned twenty-one, with blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail under his backwards ballcap. Tanner is the youngest man working on this ranch, but his mechanical skills are beyond compare. “Sorry to interrupt, Kit, but I ordered the parts for Sadie’s furnace. However, it’s a shit old system. It could end up breaking again. I don’t think it’ll last the winter.”

“What do you suggest?” I ask him.

He scratches his neck, thinking on it. “I could update it, but it would be costly and⁠—”

“Do that. I’ll cover it.”

“I’ll make a new order,” Tanner nods and runs off.

“Wes,” I turn to him. “Make a run into town. Fill up some of the empty gas cans from the barn, enough to make it through. Send me the receipts.”

“Got it,” Wes tips his cowboy hat and strides off.

“Blake, give me the driver’s number so I can smooth this over.” I pull out my phone, waiting for him to shout out the numbers, but he’s quiet. Too quiet.

My gaze snaps to his, and he grins. Did I miss something?

“What?”

“I’ll cover it,” Ryker croons, mocking me with a feminine lilt in his voice.

Blake puts a hand to his beard and laughs.

“Just give me the damn number, please,” I glare at them. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

Ryker smiles. “Places to be?” He steps closer, sniffing the air around me like a feral dog.

“What are you, an animal?” I shove him back.

“You smell like sex,” Ryker grins.

There wasn’t time to shower before I left, but there’s no way his sense of smell is that good. “Keep your voice down.” The last thing I need is for rumors on the ranch to harm this fragile thing between Sadie and me.

“He seems different, doesn’t he?” Ryker says to Blake.