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And what, make out with her from time to time whenever he passed through town? She wanted kids and all that—no way you’re going there, are you?

His subconscious was a dick. A truth-telling dick, but a dick all the same.

He kicked the dirt, confusion swirling at his feet along with dust. He’d come home after their creek-kissing extravaganza to an email saying there’d be a delay for the Steel Born product that was supposed to be delivered that weekend. But it took him four hours to work up the courage to call her—not because he was worried what she’d think of the delay, but he was positive what hearing her voice would do to his resolve.

Obliterate it on the spot, actually.

That was four days ago, and he never did call back. Just a one-line text. “Got the order stuff under control. Talk soon.”

Was it too late to try again? Especially since the reason he’d hung up on her in the first place hadn’t come back since. Well, if the kid didn’t want a job, Jax didn’t want him on the ranch. It was too much work for someone to go at it half-assed.

Either way, he’d have to see Jill in a few minutes since they had a meeting he couldn’t push to email.

He loaded up the truck and was about to take off when Gander ambled over and rubbed against his leg with his head.

“Hey there, pup. Whatcha up to?”

Gander glanced back to a swath of bushes along the cliffside. He barked once, and Jax rubbed his eyes as they parted and another dog appeared, this one far better groomed and proper than Gander’s wildness.

“Well, who’s this?”

Gander barked again, and the sleek, yellow dog trotted over. Jax took a glance at the dog’s neck. Sure enough, there was a pink collar with a tag.

“You must be Lily, huh? It’s nice to meet you, girl.” He gave her a hand to sniff, but she bypassed that and gave him kisses instead. Gander sidled up beside her and nuzzled her with his nose. Jax laughed. If he didn’t know better, he’d say these two were sweet on one another. “Well, aren’t you two cute? Gander treating you well?”

She gave him another kiss on the hand before both puppies meandered toward the copse of juniper.

“Where y’all headed?” he asked.

Curiosity got the better of him, and even though it might make him a few minutes late to his meeting with Jill, he jogged after the dogs. Only three steps inside the small semicircle of juniper bushes was Gander’s bed, tucked under a branch that protected it. A couple rawhides and a ball were there, too.

“So, you two are shacking up, huh?” As an answer, they laid next to one another on the flannel oversized pillow. Jax had never considered dogs to be dainty—at least none of ’em he knew could be described that way—but darned if that wasn’t just how Lily laid down and purred like a cat against Gander’s shoulder.

“You two are pretty damn adorable. But you know I’m gonna have to tell your dad about this little love nest, don’t you?” He chuckled.

Bennett would get a kick out of these two parading around like newlyweds. What made it even sweeter was that Gander didn’t seem to care that she was knocked up already.

He bent down, gave them both a scratch under the chin.

The only thing that gave him pause was the errant thought of curling up on the couch with Lily’s owner the same way the pups were cuddled in the bushes.

Hmm. Wherever that idea came from, it had no place in his head, not when he wasn’t going to be around Deer Creek much longer. The kiss was enough to send him into cardiac arrest, but was it worth upending his future?

An ache pulsed in his chest, but he ignored it.

That was the one downfall to having a nomadic heart in a world built around structure and planting roots—he broke his own heart every damn day.

At least if he kept his distance from Jill, he didn’t run the risk of breaking hers, too.

You’re really back to running away from things again?

He grumbled a snarky comment to his subconscious.

Bad enough he had to break it to Jill that her dog was the puppy version of betrothed to a Deer Creek dog. Man—could this day get any more ridiculous? For a sleepy town, a lot sure happened around there.

When he finally made his way to the house to shower up, the kid who’d been wandering in and out of the property was there, pacing and mumbling to himself.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you,” Jax called out.