Burned: A Single Dad Romance (Rescue Ranch Book 1), page 2
I can’t help but slam the door as I stomp on my way out like a petulant child. He hates everything about what I’m doing to the family ranch. He hates that we take in rescues, rehabilitating them or giving them a good place to roam and sleep until they pass. Hell, it’s not my idea of fun. I didn’t do it because I think it’s a blast.
I did it for Addie.
I love Pops, and he loves me. We get along most days. He might not agree with everything I’m doing, but he does agree that it’s mine. The rescue is just a touchy subject — for all of us. When something is so strongly connected to someone you loved, it tends to leak into everything around it.
Shoving my hat back on as I step out into the rising sun, I breathe in the fresh air. Nothing like the smell of cow shit in the morning to wake you up. The view from this house is nothing but valley until it hits the mountains at the edge of our property. We have over one hundred thousand acres, with all of our houses spread out on the ranch but still within walking distance.
This one is the hub of activity just because it sits closest to the main barns — and has Momma’s cooking. Once my kids get up, she’ll bring them over and start working on breakfast for everyone. But I’ll be a couple of hours into work by then, sweating my ass off, I’m sure.
It’s supposed to be scorching today, even with the cool mountain wind whipping through the valley. As I walk off to the first job of the day, I can’t help but dread meeting the girl from California. I already have an idea of what she’s gonna be like, and I don’t like it.
City girls think it’s all hot cowboys and cute animals, but this shit is hard work. And the men are pigs. I groan. I’m gonna have to tell these men she’s off-limits. No fucking around between the staff. But with her being the only girl on the ranch, it’s gonna be like throwing her to the damn wolves.
“I’m already tired.” I groan and stalk off to find my brothers.
Saying goodbye to those kids was far harder than I thought it was going to be. They’re young, so they don’t fully comprehend what’s happening, but they know enough to feel how sad I was when I pulled them in for hugs. My throat constricted painfully as I tried to hold back the tears when their little hands gripped onto my shirt.
“You’ll visit,” Jessie said matter-of-factly, like she had already made the decision and she wasn’t going to let me get away with never seeing them again.
“Of course I will.” I glanced up at their parents, looking for confirmation that yes, I would be allowed to come back and see them.
“Anytime, Poppy. Seriously. Our home is always open to you.” Amber smiled down at me.
I finally managed to wrangle my way out the front door. But when I was halfway down to my taxi, Jessie came screaming after me, her face red with tears and her voice frantic.
“I almost forgot to give this to you!” she screamed, hiccoughing through the tears. “I made you…a key chain…for being my…best friend.” I bit my lip and blinked back the tears. Saying goodbye to these kids felt like leaving a piece of my soul behind. No one ever tells you just how attached you’ll grow to the kids you nanny.
The little beaded key chain is attached to my purse, and I play with the ribbons she tied all around it while I sit here on the plane. Something happened with our gate, so we’ve been stuck sitting on the runway for — I check my phone — thirty minutes now. The air-conditioning doesn’t seem to be working either, and even though summers in Montana aren’t scorchers, it’s still hot as hell with all these bodies squeezed in like sardines.
I lean my head against the cool plastic next to the window and take some deep breaths. I’ve never been good with tight spaces, and the anxiety of this new place and new job on top of this really isn’t helping me feel any better. God, this stagnant air! Can they not do something about this?
“First time in Montana?” the guy next to me asks. I look over at him and give him a small smile. I hate small talk. More than that, I hate small talk with men.
“Yep.” I pop the p.
“What brings you here?” He’s clearly a local, sporting a cowboy hat for absolutely no reason.
“Starting fresh,” I tell him with a shrug. “Got a job on a ranch helping with rescue animals.”
“The Blacks’ ranch?” His eyebrows raise so high I can barely see them under the brim of his hat.
I roll my lips and nod. “Yep,” I say, popping the p again. “You know the place?”
“Everyone does.”
Our attention gets pulled to the front of the plane as it begins to move, pulling into a gate we’ve been staring at for half an hour. Finally, we’re getting the fuck off this plane. I don’t want to be dramatic, but I was going to die if we didn’t soon.
“I’m from the area,” he tells me while I try to yank my stuff from under the seat in front of me. “Grew up going to school with those boys and their sister. They’re good people. They’ll take good care of you.”
Finally, my backpack dislodges from whatever the hell it was stuck on, and I’m able to pull it up onto my lap. I awkwardly try to put it on while not getting all up in his personal space.
“Well, that’s good.” Another polite smile. “But I can hold my own.”
“I’m sure you can.” There it is. That’s what I was waiting for. The once-over. His eyes roam over my body like it’s the Mona Lisa, appreciating every curve that’s on display. “You look like someone who can put a man in their place.”
“I can.” I raise an eyebrow. “Eyes front, soldier.”
He gives a hearty laugh and a little salute before standing to walk out into the aisle. Standing and stretching my legs feels amazing after being crammed into that tight little space. It’s not that I’m tall; I’m not. I’m 5’5” on a good day. But I’m not the thinnest girl, and that makes it tough when all of the seats are built for a size two.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my body. I have no qualms with the size eighteen I buy in jeans and the thighs that stretch them out. I just wish the rest of the world would get its ass in line.
“Good luck with your new job,” he says, glancing at me one last time with humor in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll see you around town sometime.”
“Maybe.”
I stare at his back as we walk down the aisle of the plane. He’s not bad-looking, but the last thing I want to do is get involved with someone in a town as small as Cane Creek. Growing up in a town like that, I know how the rumor mill works. It’ll churn out so much shit so fast that it’ll make your head spin. And I’m here to start something fun, and men — in my experience — are not fun.
“Name’s Gray.”
He holds his hand out for me to shake once we make our way into the airport. The sweet, air-conditioned space calms my nerves, and I take a deep breath. It finally feels like I can breathe.
“Poppy,” I say as I take his hand. It’s quick, though. I don’t let it linger. “Nice to meet you, Gray. But the ladies’ room is calling.”
I break off from the direction he’s walking and give him a little wave before turning my back on him. The last thing I wanted to do was walk all the way to baggage claim with him, making small talk while he worked up the courage to ask me for my number. So I take my time in the restroom to splash some cold water on my face and run a brush through my hair.
I’m starting to worry that I should’ve done something different with my hair. In San Francisco, no one bats an eye when you have fun colors in your hair, but in Cane Creek, Montana? It may draw attention I don’t really want. And now I’m worried that my new employers are going to take one look at my peach-colored hair and regret hiring me for the job.
Too late now. And I like the way it looks next to my splattering of freckles and hazel eyes.
When I feel like it’s been long enough that Gray can’t possibly still be hanging around, I walk down to baggage claim. It was hard to fit my entire life into two suitcases, but I’ve done it enough in the last eight years that I made it work. I didn’t want to show up with too much shit. I imagine they’re already going to think a certain way about me since I’m coming from the big city.
Pulling hard, I manage to get both suitcases off the revolving belt. They fall to the ground with loud clunks, and my cheeks burn. Everyone around me is dressed in boots, jeans, and hats. My sundress and sandals stick out a bit more than I thought they would. I’m going to have to go shopping. I do not want to be labeled the high-maintenance city girl.
“Where to?” the taxi driver asks after loading my luggage into the trunk of his car. I’m sitting in the back seat, digging through my purse and backpack to try and find the hair tie I swear I left out of my luggage.
“The Blacks’ ranch.”
“The Rescue Ranch out on 43?”
I meet his eyes in the rearview for a second and give him a polite smile. “That’s the one.”
“Alright, then!”
The ribbons tied all over the key chain Jessie made me catch my eye. That’ll have to work. I’m hot, and my hair is about to drive me insane. So I carefully untie one and then use it as best I can to tie my hair up and out of my way. It’s not going to look the best, but I don’t have the patience right now to care.
Especially when we pull into a long dirt driveway that leads us under a steel archway with “The Black Family Ranch” cut out of it. The mountains sit behind the expanse of farmland, and the sun is high in the clear blue sky. I gaze out at the massive trees that line the driveway and the animals grazing behind the wooden fences.
“Alright, miss,” the driver says as we make a circle in front of a white two-story house. The front porch wraps around the entire thing, and there is a porch swing on either side, with a bright yellow wreath anointing the door in the middle.
I immediately want to drink sweet tea on this porch.
“This is it?” I ask, a little bit in awe of how cozy it looks. I don’t know what I expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.
And it definitely wasn’t the attractive man leaning on the porch railing, watching me with a smile as I step out of the car.
“Hey, city slicker!” he calls as he walks down toward me. “Name is Wells.”
His smile is warm, and I immediately like him. He looks to be my age or maybe a little older. His hair is a dark dirty blond, and his eyes are like chocolate. The corners of them are crinkled from the intensely happy smile painted across his mouth.
“Poppy,” I tell him, returning his grin with my own.
“So?” he asks, his hands on his hips as he looks over the land and then back to me. He keeps his eyes off my body, which I appreciate.
“So?” I ask, not sure what he’s getting at.
“What do you think? Is it what you imagined?”
I look around, taking in the fresh mountain air and the noises of the animals. There’s a faint smell of cow shit on the breeze, which just reminds me of my childhood home. Just…way nicer. I come from a small town that’s filled with meth heads and alcoholics. This place reeks of old money.
“Honestly,” I say, looking back in his direction, “I’m not sure what I expected. But this is beautiful.”
“Yes, it is. I’ve been lucky to call this home my entire life. I’m the youngest of the siblings. Rhett will be popping up anytime now, I’m sure. He’s the oldest — takes care of the working ranch side while I normally just work on the rescue animals. Hayes is around here, too, but we probably won’t see him. My guess is he’s off playing his guitar somewhere to piss Rhett off.”
The humor in his eyes makes me want to laugh along with him. I can definitely tell he’s the baby of the family. He has that look about him, and he just acts like he has less to worry about than a normal rancher might.
“We have another brother — Dean — but he’s not around right now. And we had a baby sister, but…” He clears his throat and forces a smile. “Yeah, she’s not around right now either. Anyway.” He smiles as big as he can and waves his hands around him in a look at this place gesture. “Let’s give you a tour!”
He grabs both suitcases by their handles and drags them up the dirt path to the front steps. I’m thankful he’s taken both of them, even though I feel bad I didn’t even try to take one back. But I’m tired, and that man is a cowboy. He has plenty of strength to get those things hauled up to the house.
“We’ll put your shit, excuse me, stuff in the main house for now, get you introduced to Momma and Pops. Then after the tour, I’ll take you to where you’ll be staying on the property. I’m sure Pops told you, but you’ll have your own place. We have some cabins scattered across the property, and we got one all cleaned up for ya.” He looks over his shoulder and winks at me before yanking the screen door open.
“Momma? Pops?” he shouts at the top of his damn lungs once he’s in.
And damn, it’s even more gorgeous on the inside. His mom has it decorated like a home. There are warm colors and comfortable couches and chairs that I could sink into for hours while reading a book. She has pictures of her family on every wall, and the old wooden floors creak beneath our feet as we walk down the hallway and into the kitchen.
“Hi, Poppy!” An older man stands from where he was sitting at the table and walks toward us. His hair is all grey, almost white, and he’s got an old pair of glasses hanging on to the tip of his nose for dear life. Wells looks exactly like him. They even have the same eye crinkles when they smile.
“Poppy, this is Pops,” Wells says, bobbing his head between the two of us. “That’s a mouthful.”
“Homer Clyde Black the Fifth, at your service. But you can call me Clyde, dear.” He takes my hand in his own, his work-beaten fingers wrapping tightly around mine in a comforting gesture.
“Clyde,” I repeat back to him. “Very nice to meet you.”
“Where’s your brother?” he asks, dropping my hand to turn to Wells as he sets my suitcases by the back door.
“Which one?”
“Rhett. I told him to have his ass, excuse me,” Clyde says, briefly turning back toward me before continuing, “butt over here to greet our Poppy.”
Our Poppy.
That feels nice.
“I really don’t mind the swearing,” I chime in, leaning toward the two of them. “I was brought up in the backwoods around a lot of boys who had no manners.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t try to have them now,” Clyde teases, winking at me just like his son did a moment ago.
“Not sure. Last I saw, he was out messin’ with the cattle fence out near the rocks. Probably got caught up. Where’s Momma?”
“Ah,” Clyde says, waving a hand in Wells’ general direction. “Out with the kids somewhere. Who knows?”
“Alright, well, I’m gonna take Poppy here on a little tour around the ranch and then come back to grab her stuff.” Wells opens the back screen door and gestures for me to go through it. “We’ll be back in a bit. If Rhett shows up, send him down to the dogs.”
“Don’t let him run you ragged!” Clyde calls after us.
I laugh at Clyde and then do a little jog down the back stairs to catch up with Wells. We’re heading out toward a barn off the back of the house.
“Much easier to travel by ATV,” he tells me when I catch up. “We have a fuck ton of them, so we’ll get you one to keep parked by your cabin. Help you catch a few extra minutes of beauty sleep.”
“Thought you were going to try to have some manners,” I tease.
He shrugs. “Figured you should probably get used to it sooner rather than later. Because once you meet Rhett, you’ll be lucky to have a single sentence come out of his mouth that doesn’t have profanity in it.”
“I think I’ll survive.”
For the first time, he looks me over. But this doesn’t feel like he’s checking me out, more just appreciating the way I carry myself. He nods.
“I bet you will, Poppy. I bet you will.”
He uses those strong rancher arms to rip back the barn door. It creaks and moans under the stress of moving, and damn, do I relate to that. Once I hit twenty-five, it was like my joints decided to just quit on me. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
“So…ATVs, huh? A fuck ton of them?”
“Yep!” He pops his P, too. I like this guy. “This one’ll be yours. Got it cleaned and gassed up.”
Pulling back the tarp that was over it, he reveals a gorgeous Polaris RZR. I’d know one anywhere. We used to have these and would drive them around our small town at night to get to each other’s houses. I distinctly remember smoking weed for the first time out of a Coke can in one years ago.
“Ever ridden in one?” he asks, pulling me out of my memory bank.
“Many,” I tell him, climbing into the passenger seat. “Drove them, too.”
“Well, aren’t you full of surprises, city slicker?”
I roll my eyes at that little nickname I’ve been given. If only he knew where I grew up…saw the double wide I called home. He might look at me a bit differently.
“Where to first?” I buckle in and relax back in the seat, making sure to tuck my dress between my thighs. Don’t need that blowing up in the wind.
“Figured I’d drive you around the main spots on the property.” The engine revs to life, and I throw my head back in laughter when he wags his eyebrows at me. “Then I’ll take you down to the dogs!” he shouts over the roaring noise.
We jerk forward and roll through the barn doors before he guns it, and we’re off. I grab onto one of the bars above my head and smile wide. This is the most fun I’ve had in ages, and I’ve only been here for all of twenty minutes. I can’t imagine how the rest of my time here is going to go, but I’m incredibly optimistic.
I’m giddy from it all. This is turning out to be the best decision I’ve made for my life. The scenery opens up as we race through the fields, showing off the blues and pinks of the mountains as the sun shines down on them. The animals graze, and the birds fly overhead. Wells’ cologne mixes with the hint of gasoline from the ATV, and I breathe it in like it’s life-giving.
Yeah, I think to myself as I tilt my head back and close my eyes against the sunshine. This is where I belong.
