Page 82 of Cash
Even seasoned ranch hands like me get sore upon occasion. Never fun. Mollie isreallysore, and I know it’s going to take more than a couple Advil to make her feel better.
Was I wrong to run her a bath? Part of me feels like I’m crossing a boundary. Anintimateboundary. Normal people don’t invite their bosses into their homes for a soak.
Then again, my relationship with Mollie is anything but normal. How can I be normal around the girl I love to hate?
Thing is, I don’t hate her anymore. I…don’t know how I feel, but I do know I’m not about to leave this girl crying alone in a bathtub.
I could go. I probably should go. Still stuff to do at the horse barn. Have a couple of calls to return that I missed throughout the day.
But my feet don’t move. Instead, I hang my hat on the hook by the door and grab my phone—having Wi-Fi at the cabin means I don’t have to use my walkie-talkie—and call Duke, who I know will be at the New House right now, grabbing a snack.
“I’m on it,” he says when I give him instructions. “Sawyer and Ella stopped by, so I’ll get their help.”
“Give that baby a kiss for me. I’ll see y’all at dinner.”
“You all right?” Duke pauses. “I saw you leaving with Mollie.”
“I literally had to carry her out of the barn to stop her from working. Her body’s wrecked.”
Duke chuckles. “Something tells me you didn’t mind carrying her one bit.”
“Shut up.”
“She okay?”
“I’m handling it.”
“I bet you are.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Y’all would make a cute couple.”
“Goodbye, Duke.”
“Go easy on her, would you? We like Mollie. She’s got questionable taste in men?—”
“Why? Because she ain’t into you?”
My brother chuckles. “Because she’s intoyou.”
“Shut up,” I repeat, even as my heart skips a beat. “She’s not into me. We’re just…we work together.”
This time, Duke flat-out laughs. “Your voice sounded funny when you said you had to stop her from working.”
“I wasn’t expecting her to bust her ass like that, is all.”
“Garrett’s daughter? Really? The one who’s been up at four a.m. almost every damn day she’s been here?”
I groan. “She’s not who I thought she was.”
“Aw, yeah. The plot thickens.”
“There is no plot. I’ll have you shoveling shit all day tomorrow if you don’t quit your talking.”
“You’re the one who hasn’t hung up.”
“I’m hanging up!”