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“A joint venture.”

Wait. What?“A joint… Seriously? You wanna go in on this with me?”

“Yeah, man,” Brand said. “Bax mentioned that whole eco-farming thing you wanna do, and I did some research. It looks profitable, and it looks like agoodthing to be involved in. I’ve got my construction company up in Sheridan, but it’s big enough now that I don’t need to be there every day to nitpick.”

Bax rolled his eyes. “Mr. High and Mighty over here’s got people for that. And his people got people.”

Brand agreed with a shrug.

“Yeah,” Bax said, “and I’ve got the new rental-cabin business goin’ up on the other side of our property, but I thought we might tie the two together. It’s somethin’ we wanna talk to you about, maybe turnin’ the farm side of things into a teachable moment, and we could use it to lure people to the cabin side and vice versa. Like a dude ranch but for sustainable cows.”

Bells were ringing inside my head. What a great fucking idea! If Ididn’thave to go this thing alone, I could make Spitfire Ranch profitable a lot faster than I’d been thinking. And knowing I’d have support and camaraderie didn’t suck either.

“Y’all are geniuses, and you honor me,” I said, holding up my beer for a cheers. The guys joined me and we tapped bottlenecks, but there was one stipulation I needed to make before I decided to start a business with my friends. “I’m all for your joint venture, lads. Fair warnin’, though. It might mean you gotta deal with sheep again. It’s important to raise more than one type of animal because—well, it’s all about the soil…”

Bax nodded.

“Alright, I hope you know the amount of homework and heavy labor you’re agreein’ to, but if you’re up for it, I’d be proud to call you partners. There’s just one term you’re gonna have to shake on first.”

“What’s that?” Bax asked.

“The name. The ranch part of this deal will be called Spitfire. Ain’t nothin’ gonna change my mind.”

Looking across the table at each other, they both shrugged and at the same time turned their heads back in my direction and said, “Deal.”

Sunday evening broughtwith it late-May gloom and chill.

I’d busted my ass all week, getting everything ready before the drive, and I’d spent some time with the Lee brothers at their farm earlier in the day, talking dreams and ideas, but I needed to head back home early the next morning and planned on having “the talk” with my parents later at dinner, but before I went and did the biggest thing I’d probably ever do, I had to see my Spitfire.

When I knocked on her door, her porch light was off again. I tried to fluff the bunch of bright pink peonies in my hand, like the flowers in the drawing hanging in her living room she lovedso much, but all I accomplished in the darkness was knocking off petals, so I left them be and waited for her to open the door for me so I could see her face and breathe again.

The bouquet of flowers I’d spent two-hundred bucks on became a distant memory when the door swung open and she appeared in a deep-green silk robe, fresh from a shower, her cheeks blushing and her hair messy and falling out of the clip she’d put it up in.

Aubrey was all I knew.

“Damn, I missed you.” I stepped over the threshold, dropped the flowers onto a chair in her living room as I kicked the door shut with my boot, and picked her up.

I carried her to the hallway leading to her bedroom without her saying a word, but she pulled the clip out of her hair ’cause she knew what my intentions were. She gazed up into my eyes while I walked, and in that moment, I knew that she knew how I felt about her.

I hoped she was right there with me. The coy smile on her lips, the need coming off her body in waves of heat, and the sultry look in her eyes made me think she was.

“I want in you,” I said roughly.

She breathed, “Yes.”

When I had her sprawled across her bed, knees bent and open for me, I leaned over her and untied the robe. It slid over her luscious curves as her body was bared completely to me, lit up softly by a flickering candle on her bedside table, and I felt overwhelmed.

How was I the guy lucky enough to have this woman?

I had no clue, but I wasn’t about to waste time digging around my brain trying to come up with the answer.

“Strip,” she said.

Towering over her at the end of her bed, I obeyed, but I worried for a second that I might hurt her; she looked small and precious, but the want inside me felt so big.

I undressed as slowly as I could manage, teasing her a little. I pulled my shirt over my head and loved how her hips flexed in response and her legs spread wider for me. I was never disappointed with the way her slow gaze ate me up, and when she saw my chest and arms, those amber eyes always ended up on my tattoo.

I sat and slowly pulled off my boots, and she crawled up behind me silently, wrapped her arms around my waist, and unbuttoned my jeans.