Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh, so you’re a small ranch but you work together with other small ranches.”
“I wouldn’t say small.” He moved the SUV down the long road that led to what he liked to call the commune. His parents might have started out either poor or solidly middle class, but they’d made up for lost time. He and Olivia hadn’t known a home that didn’t have a host of beautifully done buildings to service the vast amounts of land making up the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch. “My dads bought this land a long time ago. They were smart enough to keep their mineral rights.”
“Mineral rights?”
In the distance he could see the main house. It was a sprawling two-story home. “Yes, they bought the land with pretty much everything they had. From what I understand, they had just enough cash to buy some cattle to start. They grew from there.”
“That’s nice. I bet it was hard work.”
“It was and is, but I think my parents would safely say it got easier when they found millions’ worth of natural gas reserves.”
She sat up in her seat, her eyes taking in the compound ahead of her. There was the main house with its elegant circular drive and four-car garage. Off to the side was the pretty guest house he and Grim had taken over when they’d first returned from college. The barn was barely visible, and she wouldn’t be able to see the dorms because they were hidden by the house. “You’re rich.”
“My parents are rich,” he corrected, though all of this would be his someday. His and Olivia’s. His half sister, Lexi, had laughed when they’d tried to give her a third. She’d said the ranch her husband owned was more than she could handle and to leave it to her siblings.
Grim didn’t know he and Olivia already planned to cut him in.
But that was a long, long way away. His parents were super healthy and would hopefully live to see a hundred and likely be the orneriest old folks ever.
“Hopefully Grim is done, though he’ll likely have to check in on his patients, but otherwise, we’d like to spend the afternoon with you,” he said, rounding the big house and moving to his.
“That would be nice.” She said the right words, but something was going through that girl’s head, and he wasn’t sure he would like it.
He parked beside Grim’s truck and turned her way. “Is everything okay?”
Something was different. Her breezy bratiness was gone, and there was wariness back in her eyes again.
Still, she smiled and reached to unbuckle her seatbelt. “No. I’m fine. I wasn’t expecting all of this.”
Then Grim was coming out of the house, opening her door and helping her out of the car.
She was lying. It was about more than expectations. His family wealth bothered her, and he wanted to know why.
Josh got out, his mind working the problem.
* * * *
Nicole let Grim practically drag her out of the cab.
“Hey, I missed you.” He wrapped his big arms around her, lifting her off her feet.
He smelled like soap and shampoo. He’d obviously recently come out of a shower since his hair was slightly wet.
She breathed him in, loving how he wrapped himself around her. How safe he made her feel. It was way too fast, but she’d missed him, too. She’d played down the hurt she’d felt, but there had been such relief when Josh had driven up and explained what had happened.
Was it all an illusion? Like the idea these were hard-working, hard-scrabble guys looking for a good time.
What had changed? She was still only here for a week or so. She still had gotten more pleasure from these men than she could have imagined. It didn’t make a difference if they were rich.
Except she knew how rich people were when they didn’t get what they wanted.
She was giving them what they wanted. Sex.
So nothing had changed. They had zero reason to look into her or ask a bunch of questions because she was doing exactly what they wanted. What she wanted. She was enjoying them for the time they had. So it was fine. She could be here and not worry about the fact their living situation was different than she’d thought. Honestly, if she walked away from them before she could get out of town, there would be way more questions, so she should stay.
How freaking fast her pussy could rationalize something that should send her screaming the other way.
“She thought we left her,” Josh said. “She was heading out to breakfast all on her own because she is an independent woman. Also, we should watch out. She believes in tattoos as a form of proving ownership.”
Grim set her down, his dark eyes looking over at Josh. “What?”
Josh had a way with words. And she couldn’t forget how talented his tongue was. “I got into a verbal altercation with one of Josh’s former girlfriends, who took exception to me spending the night with her intended.”