Page 21

After the embarrassing morning wake-up call, I throw on some clothes and pull up my boots. I do my morning routine and eventually make it out to the kitchen where I smell food.
My mouth drops open as I see Ryker has prepared a feast, along with coffee. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage await me. I would kiss him if I could. But I won’t, because that will just make things way more tense than they need to be.
“So, are you ready for today? Becoming a ranch hand?” He laughs. He makes a plate for me, full to the brim with breakfast goodness. I look over and see he has everything but the eggs. Internally, I let out a little laugh and eat mine.
“No, but I’m excited. Just not sure how good I’ll be. I mean, I’m from the city, so I don’t have a lot of ranch experience.” Shaking my head, I take another bite of my eggs. I moan as I eat.
Ryker clears his throat as he looks back down at his food. I smile as I sip my coffee. I probably could have reacted faster to keep that from happening, but for fuck sakes, it was five in the damn morning.
Finally, I say, “Hey, you know, I used to think that chicken eggs had little aliens inside them.” I press my lips together to keep from laughing.
“Oh, no. She told you that story? Ugh. I was four!” He drops his face into his hands and laughs. “I can’t believe she told you that.” Ryker shakes his head.
I giggle and we go back to eating. Seriously, this man can cook. Even if he doesn’t like eggs or still has an issues eating them, he can cook one hell of an egg. The eggs are fluffy and not over cooked, basically melting in my mouth. The bacon is just as perfect, not too crisp and not too soft in texture.
“I do want to apologize now if I screw anything up. Newbie and all.” I point to myself and shrug.
“Don’t worry. You’re in capable hands. Been working on this farm all my life. Well, until I went into law enforcement.” He throws back the rest of his coffee. “You ready?”
“Let’s do this.” I rub my hands over my face and let out a groan. We both grab our phones and keys and head out the door, locking up before we head towards all the barns and buildings.
First thing we do is walk over to the shop and pick up a Gator to drive around the ranch with for the day. I learn that the shop is a place where they keep a lot of equipment and tools. To me, it’s basically like a big garage, minus the cars.
We stop at the storage where the food is at and pick up some bags of food for the cattle. As we drive to the animals, I look out around the property. It’s beautiful out here. The sky is darker on the west side of the ranch and the sun rises and brighten the sky in the east. I’d like to say I can smell the fresh air, but I can’t. I’m surrounded by animals, cows specifically right this moment. The god awful smells that come from their waste, the sounds of their moos as we approach, and then the soft feeling of the soil below me as I walk. If I were Dorothy, I would think this was Kansas. This place is so different from New York. I’m so used to the concrete jungle that is home. It’s so open here. So back to nature. The sounds, the sights, the people, everything is the complete opposite, and I love it.
We make sure the cattle have enough water and food, and then we get back in the Gator.
I look over at Ryker, pursing my lips. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Why are you helping me? I mean, I’m sure the other people here could, but why you?”
Ryker sighs. “I don’t know, Zo. Honestly, I just feel like I should be the one helping to show you the ropes. Call it an instinct or whatever; I just feel like I need to.”
Satisfied with the answer, I nod. We head over to the chickens and get them fed. The chickens have some nice accommodations for being chickens. They have a covered area that is surrounded by a mesh that keeps them inside the coop. It is basically a huge shed like structure that allows for them to stay dry and keep their food from getting wet. Built into the side of the covered patio for chickens is what I call their apartment complex. Ryker informed me its a hen house, but I’ll stick with my name for it. They have a feeder and access to water outside the apartment complex and that encourages them to stay active.
While we’re messing with the chickens and their feed, I see three other men walking towards us. Immediately, I know it’s Ryker’s brothers. They look like carbon copies of each other with slight differences.
“Hey there.” One of them tips his hat. “You must be Zoey. I’m Levi.” He holds out his hand, and I slowly reach over to shake it. I’m becoming more comfortable around this family. More than I ever thought I would.
Levi looks like Ryker, but his eyes are green, and his hair is lighter. He has the same strong jaw as Ryker. He is about the same height as Ryker too.
“Ma’am.” Another one comes up from behind Levi. “I’m Maverick, the baby of the family. You can call me Mav.”
Shaking his hand, I take in his baby-like features. Out of all three of them, he looks more like his mom in the face, but he has the dark hair and smiles like the Ryker. His eyes are the same caramel color their mom has.
“Zoey, please.” I blush at the call of ma’am. “And that means you must be Asher.”
He tips his hat and extends his arm. “You would be correct. Nice to meet you, Zoey.” Asher has much darker hair, and a lighter blue in his eyes than Ryker. His jaw is shaped like both Ryker and Levi.
All of these Holliday men are fucking gorgeous. Broad shoulders, strong arms. They all are tall, dark, and handsome.
Except there’s something I notice when I shake their hands. None of them give me the jolt like I get when I touch Ryker. I’ve never felt anything like it before. He makes my body come alive.
After the brothers take off to handle some things around the ranch, Ryker and I stand there for a moment. I look around and take in the mountains in the background.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ryker crosses his arms against his chest and smiles.