Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“I’d prefer you not call me names,” she clips, crossing her arms.
Didn’t think it was possible, but she’s wearing an even more ridiculous outfit than the one she wore to Goody’s office last week. Today, it’s a very short, very tight dress, huge earrings, and a pair of tall purple boots.
I still can’t believe that this is the owner of Lucky Ranch. Hundreds of thousands of acres, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Her.
Mollie’s outfit shows too much leg and not nearly enough judgment. Way too much leg.
Or maybe not enough.
Ignoring that thought, I hand Ella back to Sawyer. “I’d prefer you get back in your big, fancy car and go back to your big, fancy city.”
“Cash.” Patsy gives me a warning glare. “You best mind your manners, cowboy, or you won’t be welcome in my kitchen.”
It’s actually Mollie’s kitchen now. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Because now that she’s here to stake her claim, she’s one step closer to selling the place. Which means I’m likely one step closer to being out on my ass, along with my brothers.
Who knows if Lucky Ranch’s new owners will want to keep the cattle operation? In all likelihood, they’ll split the ranch into parcels, selling them off piece by piece until there’s nothing left but the house and the pool.
What will we do then? Far as I know, no one in the area is hiring—at least not five cowboys at once. I refuse to break up our family. But cowboying is all we know. If we can’t do that and we can’t pay the bills at Rivers Ranch…
We’ll have to sell that too.
Despite the panic swirling in my gut, I manage to grunt, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Mollie, I apologize,” Patsy continues. “Cash sometimes takes a minute to warm up to strangers. These are his brothers. Cash is the oldest, and that there is Wyatt—he’s next in the birth order. And then there’s Sawyer, who you’ve already met. Then Ryder and Duke, the twins.”
Mollie blinks. I imagine she’s doing the math, figuring out exactly how horny my parents were back in the day. “Five of y’all? No girls ever came along?”
“We felt sorry for our mama too.” Ryder shakes his head. “But if anyone could handle us, it was her.”
“Your mom, she—”
“Passed.” Wyatt runs a hand over his face. “Twelve years ago this October. She and our dad died in a car accident.”
Mollie blinks again. She looks up, her eyes catching on mine for a beat before she looks away. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Y’all must’ve been really young.”
“Ryder and I were fourteen, yeah,” Duke says. “Didn’t seem young at the time, but looking back…”
“I can’t imagine how awful that must’ve been,” Mollie says. “I don’t know what to say.”
My heart twists. I don’t know why—I hate this woman and her fake sympathy, I hate how the grief is still there, I hate that I don’t know what to do next and how that scares the shit out of me—so I ignore it and glare at Mollie while I think of another rude thing to say to her.
When she glares back, I swear she looks just like she did in one of Garrett’s pictures. In the photo, she’s giving the camera a look that could kill while Garrett squats in the dust beside her, a huge smile on his face in a clear attempt to cheer her up.
Goody glances at me, then at Mollie. “Why don’t we have some lunch? I think y’all must be…hungry. Then the three of us can sit down and talk about the transition.”
“Is there anyone else I can talk to?” Mollie doesn’t break eye contact with me. Girl ain’t afraid—I’ll give her that. “I get the feeling Cash won’t be exactly helpful in showing me the ropes.”
I feel my brothers watching us. Duke even has the balls to smile.
Ignoring them, I say, “The help you need ain’t the kind of help I can provide, Mollie.”
“You can call me Miss Luck, Cash. And that’s too bad, isn’t it, considering I’m your boss now?”
Wyatt rubs his hands together. “I like where this is going.”
“Shut up.” I turn back to Mollie. “Miss Luck, with all due respect—”
“Lord save us, here it comes,” John B mutters.
“I really do think it’s best you go back to Dallas. You clearly don’t belong here—”
“Enough.” Patsy’s voice cuts through the tension in the room like a warm knife through butter. “Goody is right; let’s eat. Maybe with a full belly, Cash will recognize that his mama—God rest her soul—raised him better than this. If he doesn’t, well…” She thwacks her wooden spoon against her palm.
“Not the spoon,” Ryder whispers.
Wyatt arches a brow and looks at me. “Dude, don’t tempt her. I’ve felt the business end of that thing, and lemme tell you, it ain’t an experience you wanna have.”