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She backed out of the spot and rolled out of the parking lot toward the highway leading to the ranch.

“How are you associated with the Gracey Ranch?” He must be warming up to her if he was asking questions.

She was wrong about his size. He wasn’t just huge—he was a giant. His head almost brushed the ceiling, and his hard body took up the entire seat. His thick forearm rested on the center console, looking like a weapon of mass destruction with all those veins snaking through sinew.

“My family has owned the ranch for the past three generations. I’m Meadow.”

Did he recognize her name the same way she knew his? Had Forest mentioned her to his friend?

Of course she already knew he had—Forest was her number one champion. Her playmate in childhood.

Her protector in her teen years.

Her stomach hollowed at that thought, which she shoved deep inside her where it would never see the light of day.

“Forest’s sister.” His voice came thick and rough.

The tears she hadn’t shed in months since that terrible day when they received word Forest was killed in action threatened at the back of her throat. She gulped around the lump.

She wanted to talk about her brother—needed to. Daddy refused to mention him at all. She understood it was hard for him, but dammit, it was hard for her too. And her sister was off gallivanting through Europe, running from it all.

Silence filled every corner of the truck, heavy and charged. Meadow was usually the one to cause discomfort, and living with this was bordering on unbearable.

After half an hour, they turned onto the main street leading through the small town that was local to the ranch. She waved a nonchalant hand. “Welcome to Eden, Montana. Population 997. We’ve got two bars, a grocery store, three churches and a bunch of assholes calling themselves cowboys.”

He grunted but said nothing.

“There’s not much to do here besides drink beer and rustle horses. I hope you don’t expect to be entertained.” She was rambling, something she did whenever she was nervous. And the big SEAL next to her made her palms sweat on the steering wheel, she gripped it so tightly.

When he didn’t respond, irritation wove through her. Was the guy a part-time mute? Did he take a grenade to the brain back in Iraq?

Despite Forest’s good view of him, Colton Nox probably thought he was better than her. When it came to men, they didn’t see her as the grown woman she was. And her father sure as hell didn’t see her as one. How many times did he tell her not to speak to his business associates when they came to the ranch?

“You’re a city boy.”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Forest didn’t tell me what a big conversationalist you are.”

He didn’t respond at all. She didn’t get a single rise from him—not even a grunt.

The small town melted away to open fields and mountains.

“A misconception about Montana is it doesn’t get hot. But at this time of year, the humidity’s high and you’re gonna sweat your balls off.”

“Right.”

Right? He didn’t even respond to her crass statement? His one-word answers were driving her crazy.

She shot him a look from the corner of her eye.

His rugged features were chiseled from granite. His jaw set in a firm line that made her think that he wasn’t capable of smiling at all, even though she swore he’d chuckled when she tossed the parking ticket on the ground.

“Have you ever worked on a ranch before?”

“No.”

“Seen one?”