Page 22 of Stables Spurs Suits
“We shouldn’t,” I say without turning around. Not because I don’t want to see him, but because I’m afraid that if I do look into his glistening hazel eyes again, I’ll jump right back into the water with him and never let him go. “The horses will be here in the morning. I’ll meet you at the stables at seven.”
“Okay,” he replies, and even though it pains me to hear the defeat in his tone, I know I’m making the right decision. He isn’t here for the ranch, for the life I live for. He’s here because he’s been told to be here by the Richmont Group. And the second they tell him to go somewhere else, that’s what he’ll do too. So no matter how amazing it felt to finally be close with someone without feeling like I wanted to claw my skin off, I can’t let myself have it, because when he does leave, and it’s a one-hundred percent possibility that he will, it’ll burn me as deeply as those flames did all those years ago.
Chapter ten
MATTHEW
NOT QUITE THE HERO
I wanted to vomit when I saw him at the bottom of the pool. I didn’t think, I just ran and dove into the water. I never expected to find he was actually happy to be there. Then he kissed me and any embarrassment disappeared—well, at least until the humiliation of one kiss sending Atlas running for the hills sank in. Then I wanted to disappear all over again, or for the bottom of the pool to open and swallow me whole.
I wade toward the edge, and I’m about to push up when my toe skims something on the bottom. I can’t see what it is under the low light of the moon and the small lights scattered through the trees surrounding the pool, but it’s smooth and round and sort of scrapes along the bottom as I slide it with my toe, so I dive down blind, palms skimming the surface for what feels like forever until my fingertips catch the edge of the coin. Pushing up, I burst through the surface and hold it up to the light. Another penny to add to my collection.
“Well, I guess jumping in wasn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had,” I chuckle and wade to the edge, where the water becomes so shallow you can easily step out. My clothes cling to my skin in all the wrong ways, and my shoes make squelching noises as I make my way to the car.
“Should I ask?” Connor calls from the doorway of the main house.
I hold up an arm and wave.
“Probably not. See you in the morning.”
***
I get to the ranch early, but it appears I’m the last one up and moving. Connor is talking with his partner Hayden by the milking barn doors, and Dean is already waving goodbye to Preston and Poppy, who drive past me in the vet’s van on my way down the drive. Skye is easy to spot with his freshly dyed bright blue hair. It throws a sort of purple hue when the light hits it from the pink that’s faded beneath. Skye’s hair is naturally white blonde, which makes coloring it pretty easy, but it also means the color fades quickly. He spent about a year refreshing the pink as it dulled, then suddenly, a few weeks back, he decided blue was more his color. I can’t say it doesn’t suit him, because it really does.
“Isn’t it exciting?” he asks as I step out of the car and join him in front of the house.
“Soon there’ll be more horses than cows,” I reply, and Dean laughs.
“That’s what I said. I don’t know how they keep talking me into these things.”
“Now, if we can just figure out how to get you to agree to a nudist weekend, we’ll all be happy,” Atlas says, coming around the side of the main house.
“Not happening,” Dean replies with a playful roll of his eyes. I’m not sure I completely believe him myself.
“You know you could charge double,” Atlas replies, walking my way carrying a dozen lead ropes in a rainbow of colors over one arm. I smile, and my hand pops up in a small wave before I clutch it with my other hand and force it down. What the fuck am I doing? My backup phone rings, and I check the caller ID before answering. It’s the COO of the Richmont Group, Miles Stevens. This is exactly why I even have a backup phone. I’m expected to be contactable at all times. I’ve got the other one back at my place drying out in a tub of rice, but I don’t like my chances it will survive the dip.
“Mr. Stevens, sir. What can I do for you?” I ask as soon as I answer the call, and I catch a side-eye from Atlas on his way past me.
“You can put me on with our reclusive owner is what you can do.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but he’s unavailable right now.” It’s the standard line Connor has asked me to deliver whenever anyone wants to speak with him directly. He prefers them to email me any requests, for me to brief him on during our check-ins.
“Then make him available. There’s a massive wildfire bearing down on Diamond Ranch. I don’t have time to call a board meeting.”
“Yes, sir. One moment, sir,” I say before muting the call and running to the milking barn. “Connor, Mr. Stevens needs to speak to you about a fire near one of the ranches,” I say, and his wide smile immediately falls as I unmute and pass over the phone.
“Miles, what do you need?” Connor asks. Hayden is standing close, his arm around Connor’s waist, as he watches with his lips pursed in worry.
Connor nods. “You have my approval; the emergency funds are there for exactly this reason.”
The emergency fund is one of Connor’s private accounts, accessible only when absolutely necessary. This fire must really be huge if the company’s standard resources won’t suffice.
“Deploy everything, get the workers out of there, then save what cattle and land you can,” he says, and my stomach sinks at the thought of the number of people who could lose their lives on a ranch. The Richmont Group owns so many properties, even more since Connor started saving ranches and farmlands at risk of being developed into gated communities and shopping malls. The biggest ranch is Diamond Ranch in Texas. It’s six hundred thousand acres with about fourteen thousand mother cows breeding premium Hereford, and one hundred and twenty workers there on any given day, not to mention the families that often live with them at the different camps across the land.
“Keep me informed… Yes. I’ll get on that. Thank you.” Connor ends the call and hands back the phone.
Hayden presses his hand against Connor’s chest as if he can somehow calm his heart that has to be racing as fast as mine right now.
