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The music pulsed in the air as Meadow hiked up to the entrance of Badlands. When she reached the door, the bouncer who usually only checked IDs stood there with his arms folded.

She offered him her very best smile, the one she’d been told her entire life was contagious. Only he didn’t smile back.

Sticking out a foot, she twitched her weight onto one leg and cocked her head at him. “Gonna let me in?”

“Nope.”

“Why not? I’ve got my ID this time.”

“We’re at full capacity.”

She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the packed parking lot. “You’re kidding.”

“Sorry.”

“You’re really not gonna let me in? I’m small.”

He dropped his gaze from her face to her long legs accentuated by short shorts. The ones she’d put on with the intention of going to the bunkhouse to drive Colton to the brink of his sanity. Only he wasn’t there.

So she’d come to the bar thinking that he might have come to the hangout with the other ranch hands. Sure enough, that junky old truck he’d gotten running and drove everywhere was parked at the end of a row of vehicles.

She really needed to persuade this big ape to let her in the door even if it broke fire code regulations.

“I can’t let you in.”

“Not even if I tell you that Livia and I are tight?” Livia was the owner of Badlands. She took over the place after her daddy up and keeled over from a heart attack. Since then, she’d been trying to expand into a distillery, but she confided to Meadow that her financial backing fell through last-minute.

He shook his head. “Not even name dropping can get you in.”

At that moment, a man appeared over the bouncer’s shoulder. Even in the dim lighting from the parking lot, Meadow could see the guy was a nasty shade of green.

“You better let him out quick—he’s about to puke his guts out.”

The bouncer whipped around, and the guy shot past him, took two steps into the parking lot and bent over, hurling.

Meadow took her chance and dodged past the bouncer, who just shook his head at her.

Once inside, she glanced around, scanning the hopping crowd for anyone she knew. Desiree mentioned she might be coming down tonight to blow off steam, but she didn’t see her friend at any of their usual tables.

The music got in her blood, and she moved through the crowd to the beat. As she passed by the bar, she caught sight of the bombshell redhead racking up drinks as fast as the patrons could toss them down their throats.

“Livia!” she called out.

The woman looked up and grinned at her. Then she jabbed a finger toward the back of the room.

Knowing that she was pointing out the rest of the crowd from the ranch, Meadow waved at her and continued on.

When she reached the edge of the dance floor, she searched for that Stetson Colton had bought a few days after he arrived in Montana. It stuck out for how crisp and new it looked compared to everyone else’s.

Purposely, she walked in front of him. If he saw her, he didn’t call out her name.

From the corner of her eye, she studied the rigid way he held himself. He was completely immune to her charms, her presence.

After being alone so long, with only her absent father as occasional company, she had hoped that Forest’s friend might become her friend too.

Still, he ignored her.

On a whim, she swung toward the mechanical bull. A guy was whipping on it far faster than he should have been, given his state of inebriation. As she watched, he tipped to the side and tumbled to the floor.