Page 15 of Braving the Storm

Would he care if I did attempt to date someone, anyone, while I’m here in Crimson Ridge?

Do I care if he cares? Do I want him to care?

Oh my fucking god. If I’m even thinking about this for two milliseconds, then that is certainly my sign that I need to try and find myself a date.

“You two all done?”

“Yup. Catch you tomorrow, old man.” Kayce steps back, and I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Meet you at the truck.” A wall of muscle pushes straight pastme. He does that thing again, where he’s out the door without a second’s hesitation, muttering over his shoulder as if I’m a giant inconvenience.

While I’ve been stuck in my little internal battle, the other two have been talking, and I’ve been completely zoned out. So now I’m scurrying to catch up with my uncle, while behind me, I hear Kayce call out.

“See you tomorrow, city girl. Wear something for riding. We’ll have you up on a horse in no time.”

Chapter 6

My boots crunch across the loose gravel as the cool early morning air whips against my cheeks. With fingers clutching my coffee thermos tight, I make my way over to the cowboy perched, waiting for my arrival, on the tailgate of his truck.

Kayce gives me a lopsided grin before jumping down. He’s dressed in faded denim, a worn hoodie with a logo featuring a bucking horse, and a cream-colored cowboy hat.

This man also looks far too cheery for this time of the morning.

“Good morning, Stôrmand, lovely to see you… looking handsome as always.” He calls out and salutes the man who is currently making his way to the barn.

All he gets in reply is a middle finger raised in the air and the man’s back.

"Come on, you can come feed the hungry fuckers with me, and then we'll saddle you up.” Kayce shakes his head, a smug expression on his face, and slams the back of the truck shut.

My scrunched eyebrows give away the fact I didn’t understand a word of what he just said.

“Hop in. Come meet the cows.”

“Oh, right.” I slide in the passenger’s side. There are assortmentsof food wrappers lying around and empty coffee cups in the holders.

“Looks like a teenage boy stole your vehicle when you weren’t paying attention.” My lips quirk.

“Don’t you start… you sound too much like my dad spouting that kinda nonsense.”

I nudge the graveyard of candy wrappers and crumpled brown takeout bag to one side with my boot.

“What exactly are we doing? And please don’t expect me to be anything but a hindrance.”

“This time of year, we’re still feeding out for the cattle. If the snow’s thick, we bring the horses whenever we need to get down to these parts of the ranch, but right now, the track’s good enough we can sit pretty in the truck.” He starts the engine, and we idle our way, bouncing down a muddy, rutted path leading away from the big house and the barn. In the distance, Devil’s Peak watches over the ranch. Pine trees rise up some rocky outcrops to our right, and on the left, grazing land stretches out as far as I can see.

It’s rugged out here, but beautifully so.

“How do they survive the cold?” Considering I’m busy wriggling my fingers in front of the air vent, I’m already feeling sorry for these cows being out here through the depths of winter.

“They’re built for this. We run an Angus breed that can handle the ice and the snow. Even when the weather is ugly as shit up here, they can hack it. The snow packs into thick layers on their coat and acts like an extra layer of insulation.”

“Like wearing a jacket?”

Kayce chuckles. “Yup, keeps ‘em real toasty warm.”

“But you still have to feed them every day?”

“While the snow’s here, and until the pasture really starts to come away again with spring growth, we feed out.”