Page 80 of Dusty Spur Ranch Cowboys

“I prefer entertaining.” I stand, grab my truck keys from the counter and twirl them around one finger. “I’m going to invite Arizona.”

Red glances over his shoulder while drying his hands. “You’ve already decided she’s coming?”

“I’ve decided she’s getting asked.”

He rolls his eyes, but I catch the corner of his mouth twitching before I head outside.

The ranch has felt different lately. Every conversation circles back to broken equipment, suspicious accidents or whoever’s walking the property after dark, and nobody seems able to relax for more than a couple of minutes before their eyes drift toward another window.

Arizona changes the mood without trying. She laughs, everybody else laughs, and the whole place remembers what it felt like before people started expecting trouble around every corner.

I pull into the boarding house lot and find her sitting on the front steps with her guitar across her lap, filling another page of her notebook.

She keeps writing until my truck door shuts, then looks up with an easy smile. “Hey, cowboy.”

“I’ve come to steal you.”

She closes the notebook. “I feel like there are laws against that.”

“I’ll risk it.”

“What if I refuse?”

“I’ll embarrass myself by begging.”

She laughs and slides the notebook into her guitar case. “Bold plan.”

“It’s gotten me this far.”

She props her elbows on her knees. “What am I saying yes to?”

“A bonfire.”

She studies me with a grin tugging at one corner of her mouth. “That sounds wonderfully random.”

“It isn’t. Everybody at the ranch needs a good night.”

“Tough week?”

I roll my eyes. “You’ve noticed Red.”

“I’ve noticed Red.”

“Now imagine him after three conversations about fence repairs and two arguments over missing equipment.”

She laughs again. “So this is basically an intervention.”

I smirk. “For my own sanity.”

“I thought you enjoyed living dangerously.”

“I do. Ranch meetings are where I draw the line.”

She snaps the guitar case shut. “Who’s coming?”

“Me, Red, Emmett, and Sadie if she sweet talks her dad into stretching bedtime.”

Her smile softens straight away. “I was hoping you’d say Sadie.”