Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
“Good for you.”
“Thanks. So remember—my place next.”
I’ve half a mind to throw her in the back seat of my truck and have her finish what she started. But my brother is still in the house, and I really need to get to work.
So I lean in and give her a quick kiss on the mouth. “Long as I get to eat you again for breakfast, I’m game.”
CHAPTER 18
Sawyer
SILVER LINING
“You should ask her out.”
Dropping my saddle onto its rack, I lift my arm to push back the hat on my head. Then I wipe my forehead on my sleeve, soaking the fabric with sweat.
I’m drenched partly from work. Partly from the raging case of blue balls I’ve had all day.
I glare at Duke. “I think you should mind your own goddamn business.”
“Just sayin’.” He hoists his saddle onto the rack beside mine. “She digs you, dude. You dig her. Go pick her up and show her a good time.”
“Ava Bartlett?” Wyatt strides into the tack room and meets my eyes. “Yeah, you should definitely ask her out. Sally is obsessed with her.”
“So is our boy here.” Duke smiles as he pulls off his gloves and tucks them into his back pocket. “I definitely interrupted something fun this morning.”
“Shut up.” I pull my hat all the way off my head and use my arm to wipe my forehead again. Despite the chilly winter temps, I’m still sweating like a pig. “Seriously, y’all need to learn how to knock.”
“She was smiling ear to ear.” Duke gives Wyatt a meaningful glance. “Apparently, they were hugging it out.”
“Aw, yeah!” Ryder strolls into the room, the ridiculous fringe on his leather chaps making a slapping noise I can hear from several feet away. “I heard you got laid this morning, man. Good for you.”
I stare at Duke. “What the fuck did you tell them?”
“Nothin’.” The bastard shrugs. “I told you everyone thought you’d died. When they asked where you were, I just said that you were alive and very well.”
I might have started work later than usual, but it was still a long-ass day on the ranch. Because I was late, I ended up mucking stalls in the barn alongside Duke, and then Mollie and I helped Sally administer vaccines all through lunch. We only met up with the herd a few hours ago, where Cash, Wyatt, and Ryder were working cattle.
I hired Mrs. Sherman’s teaching assistant, Miss Caroline, to watch Ella during the week when she’s not in school. Since Caroline only teaches in the mornings (school runs from nine a.m. until twelve thirty), she’ll take Ella home and stay at my house until four o’clock. Which, judging by the angle of the sun, is fast approaching.
My arms are sore. My back is killing me. I’ve been fighting these blue balls all day. I have a long evening ahead. When I get home, I need to make dinner, do bath time, read thirty-eight books, and then hopefully put Ella to bed. Then I’ll clean up from dinner, pick up the playroom, change the laundry …
Never mind the fact that Ella is either cranky or wound up or both this time of day. Hell, I’m usually cranky too.
But today—I don’t know, I keep fighting the urge to smile, even as my balls ache and my brothers rib me.
Only four and a half hours until I can take care of this horrid half chub.
“I was fine.” I pretend to busy myself with some nearby riding tack. “For the record, I did ask her out.”
“She’s too good for you,” Cash grunts as he walks into the room.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Thanks, dick.”
“You have to know that’s a joke. How many times we gotta tell you that you’re too good for, well, everyone?” He drops his saddle onto its rack and wipes his hands. “So, whatcha thinking? You gonna take her to The Rattler?”
The Rattler is Hartsville’s one and only dive bar. There’s a very good chance that Mollie and Cash had sex in the bathroom there. Wyatt and Sally made eyes at each other across the bar for years before finally getting together on the dance floor.
In short, the Rivers family has a lot of history at that place. While I love and respect The Rattler as the timeless institution it is, the bar doesn’t seem right for my first real date with Ava.
I shake my head. “Met her at a honky-tonk, so we’ve done that scene. I wanna do something different. Something … special.”
“Happy for you, brother. I know this is a big deal for you—being into someone enough to want to pull out the stops. Just gotta make sure you play your cards right.” Wyatt crosses his arms and leans his shoulder against the wall. “And you know you need to let one of us babysit Ella at night—maybe all night—if you want to make that happen, right?”