Page 7

CHLOE

S weat dripped over my cheek as the sun beat down on me. The wind whipped across my face, giving a brief reprieve. Matt rode alongside me on his horse, Willow, while Ryder and Jason, with their horses, were on my other side.

“What are we looking for again, Chlo?” Ryder asked.

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. I knew they were just trying to help. “The perfect location to have the ceremony,” I repeated for the umpteenth time.

Even after three meetings, I still didn’t think the bride and grooms were officially set on a location. The closest we’d come to an agreement was that it should be on the ranch. The far paddocks would disrupt one thing, the close paddocks would disrupt another. They didn’t want the main part of the ranch used so that left us at square one.

It wasn’t like any of us knew exactly what we were searching for, but I had a feeling that when I saw it, I would feel the connection to the place. Thankfully, the spring heat wasn’t as bad as the summer heat, or I would have called it quits over an hour ago.

Scanning the field, I shook my head. It still wasn’t it. The trees were great, but it was too hilly. We need a flatter area, so we could put up a huge tent. Plus, we couldn’t expect Alex to walk up a hill for her down the aisle part of the ceremony.

Sighing, I nudged Bear into a lope and moved forward, hoping the next field yielded better results. I jumped as a hawk swooped in front of us and flew across the road. His wingspan was impressive as I watched him fly into the distance. As he got farther away, I took notice of the neighboring land. It was untamed and wild in all its beautiful glory. Wildflowers bloomed everywhere, and I couldn’t stop the grin that stretched across my face. King’s Ranch was a sight to see, but it was orderly and clean. The land on the other side of the fence was true Texas.

“Do the Kingstons own that plot over there?” I pointed to the field.

“No. They never went across the main road.” Jason shielded his eyes, peering at the land in question.

“Hey, Matt, isn’t that Blake’s property?” Ryder’s question snagged my attention.

“What do you mean Blake’s property? Like Blake the trainer?”

“I think you’re right, Ry.” Matt stopped Willow beside me. “Gavin and Travis bought Blake that plot of land when they thought she was going to leave them.”

“Leave them? No way. She and the guys are mad about each other. They just had a baby.”

“It wasn’t always like that. Blake was here for a different job. When her assignment was over, she was going to leave, but the guys bought her the land to convince her to stay and start her own training location,” Matt explained.

“But Thomas offered her the trainer position, and she took it. So the land has remained untouched,” Jason finished.

“Can we go check it out?” My eyes darted around the field, trying to find the closest break in the fence.

“Sure. The field over has a gate we can use.” Matt pointed to the left, and we headed in that direction. I could only see so much from this side of the road, but the fluttering in my stomach had me excited.

Ryder led us through the gate and over the dusty road. When we reached the property, I scanned the land. I led Bear around to the entrance and stopped. The view from the gate left much to the imagination, but I could picture it.

I’d need to walk the ground to understand it better, but I could visualize the area set up for a wedding. The ceremony would be on the right side, facing northwest so the sunset could paint a beautiful backdrop. The tent could be on the left, with the row of trees behind it.

My mind raced with the possibilities and superimposed the structures in my head. I turned and grinned at the boys behind me. They couldn’t see it yet, but I could. We’d trim some of the flowers but keep their wildness. The beauty of the space was in the imperfections and colors—a perfect complement to Alex’s chosen palette.

“I need to find Blake.” I brought Bear around and headed to the main road. The main gate was somewhere farther to the left. “How far is King’s Ranch from here?”

“About a mile.” Matt stopped next to me as I peered around at the landscape. I could work with that. It wasn’t super close, so we’d need accommodations to get ready here. Or at least a place for touch-ups.

I looked at the guys. “We did it!”

They shrugged. I didn’t mind that they didn’t understand my vision; they soon would. I nudged Bear, and all four of us set off down the road.

“Race ya,” one of the guys yelled.

Laughter drifted through the air as Matt, Ryder, Jason, and I raced to King’s Ranch. Already my body felt lighter. I’d barely wanted to acknowledge how stressed it was making me as each day passed without a location. Yes, I wanted a good grade attached to this event, but I really wanted Alex to have the wedding of her dreams.

“So, what do you think?”

I held my breath as I waited for Thomas, Declan, and Alex’s thoughts. As soon as I’d made it to the ranch, I beelined for Thomas’s office. He made a few calls, cut his last meeting short, and two hours later, we were through the gates of Blake’s property.

Blake immediately said yes when I told her about my idea. She never even gave me the chance to ask the entire question. Her excitement bubbled over and gave me hope that this could work.

We were all standing in the tall grass with the sun hanging low in the sky, painting the perfect backdrop for my vision. There was no way they couldn’t see how special this spot was.

“How much of the space do you think we need?” Declan asked, scanning the field with a calculating gaze.

“I’m not sure, but most of what you see now. I was thinking of putting a few other tents farther away so we have changing rooms. The large tent will have the dance floor, and we can extend it out further with a bar.” I waved my hands around, pointing to each area. It wasn’t the easiest to describe when we were only staring at an overgrown field, but I needed to get them to see it too. I knew it was perfect.

While I’d waited for Thomas to finish his work, I’d grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and did a rough sketch of what I was thinking. Later, I’d flesh it out and have a professional vision board for them. That was always my favorite part—creating the vision and going through it with the client. Seeing it all laid out made my chest buzz in excitement, and once the ideas started, I couldn’t turn them off until it was everything we wanted it to be.

Declan frowned.

Crap . Did they not see the potential? Maybe I shouldn’t have shown them such a crude drawing. I bit my lower lip, worry sitting like lead in my gut. “I’ll draw it up when we get back. Seeing it completely laid out on paper might help.”

“I’d see it better if the land was cleared.” Declan turned to Thomas. “Let’s have the guys bring the mower over and set a few of them to clear the space. If it doesn’t work out, no harm, no foul. Everything will grow back.”

“All right. see if any of your guys want to help. I’ll have Matt put it on the schedule.” Thomas turned to me. “When can you have the sketches?”

“I can do them when we get back. Give me a couple hours.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be waiting for you in my office.” Thomas grabbed Alex’s hand and tucked her under his arm as he approached the trucks. We’d opted to take the ranch vehicles over the horses. It made more sense on this terrain.

The blood pounded in my ears, and my chest fluttered with hope. If they liked my idea, then I had one of my most challenging tasks accomplished in less than a week. It wouldn’t always be like this, but it felt good to have something go easy.

Twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting in front of my computer, downloading the layout of the land on the country clerk’s website. I’d turned the dining room table into my workstation, since Jessie didn’t have an office in her house. My sketch was going to be a really rough estimate, since I couldn’t get a proper view of the property. I didn’t think they would mind, but I wanted to give this drawing a more professional feel. Researching the land had proven harder than I had thought.

“Are you almost done?” Hunter’s voice drifted over me. I sighed. His hands settled on my shoulders, and he squeezed. “You’re tense. Did it not go well?”

“It went fine. I’m just having trouble sketching it. I’m probably being too hard on myself, but I need to make sure this is good enough when I present it. How’d you find me?” Even as focused as I was in my project, it still registered how easy this conversation with Hunter was going. It was like no time had passed and we’d never spent the last few months apart.

“Jessie told me where you were. Are you still free for dinner?” he asked.

I glanced at my watch. “I need another thirty minutes.” When we got to the ranch, everyone broke for dinner and agreed to meet at the big house after to go over the layout.

“You done?” he asked when I put my pencil down.

I rubbed the back of my neck and winced. “I did the best I could.”

He rose from the seat he’d hung out in for the past thirty minutes. I loved how he didn’t rush me or make me feel like I was inconveniencing him for not being ready to go when he showed up. My brain felt like mush, and I needed something to think about even for a few minutes.

I knew just what to talk about.

I swung my hand out and smacked him on the chest. “When were you going to tell me about Kyle?”

“Soon?” Hunter laughed, rubbing his chest. “I was going to tell you tonight, but it seems you already know.”

“It’s kind of hard not to be filled in on the gossip, but you had no idea I knew. Were you just going to throw me in the deep end and see what I’d say? A heads-up would have been nice.”

Guilt sparked in his gray eyes. “I know. I’m sorry.” His mouth opened and closed, as though he was trying to find the right words. “That weekend meant everything to me, and I didn’t want to scare you off. I wanted to ease you into meeting Kyle and see how that went.”

He wasn’t wrong. The whole situation was new to me, and I had no idea what to do about it. “Even though I sort of understand, I’m still mad at you.” I pointed my finger at him and huffed out a breath. I wasn’t truly angry, but he needed to know he couldn’t keep secrets.

He was smart enough to try and hide the smirk that pulled at his lips. “I won’t do it again.”

I nodded, appeased for now. I stretched, working out the kinks in my muscles.

“Can I see what you have so far?”

“I’d love a second set of eyes.”

Hunter sat beside me and leaned in. I pushed my sketchpad at him, and he studied the drawing. “What are these?” he asked, pointing to the Xs in a row.

“The row of trees on the north side. I want to use those as a backdrop if possible. Maybe cover them in fairy lights for after sunset.”

“This looks good, but you seem unsure.”

“There’s so much riding on this. I don’t want to make a mistake.”

“But isn’t this just a preliminary sketch? Everything can be adjusted, right?”

“Yes, but the goal would be to have very little to adjust. The bride and grooms should focus on things for the wedding, not be worrying about their location,” I huffed, dropping my head into my hands. “By giving them the most accurate representation of what that will be like, it helps them see the vision and makes it easier to tweak the details. Ugh, I feel like I’m missing something.”

“Knock, knock.” Kyle stood in the doorway, lifting a large canvas bag. “I heard you were too busy to come to dinner.”

My brow furrowed. How did he know to…? I glanced over at Hunter. His smug expression let me know he’d reached out to Kyle.

“Thanks, Kyle.” He was so sweet to even think of doing that.

He walked to the opposite side of the dining room table and unloaded the bag. I couldn’t help but watch him. He was handsome and thoughtful.

Hunter and Kyle were a set. I knew Hunter liked me, but I couldn’t get a read if Kyle thought about me the same way Hunter did.

“Jessie made chicken parmesan. I brought bread and salad to go with. I hope you’re hungry.” Kyle finished laying out the food.

My stomach took the opportunity to voice its opinion on the matter. Glancing at my watch, I guessed I had a little time to indulge in the company and food. I closed my computer and set my sketchpad on top, shifting it to the side to make room.

“What exactly are you working on?” Kyle indicated to my sketchpad with his chin.

“It’s a sketch of Blake’s property. I’m showing where things could go and how everything would be set up for the wedding.” I took a bite of the salad Hunter placed in front of me.

Kyle divvied up the rest of the food and relaxed in his seat. “May I see it?”

“Sure.” I surprised myself with how easily and comfortably I handed him the book. I didn’t usually show anyone my work until further along in the process.

“What is this long shape here?” He pointed on the pad.

“It’s a side tent. Maybe a bar could go there, so it’s out of the way of the main tent but still close. Over here is where the ceremony would be. The altar could be placed here. And then over here is where another grouping of tents can go for the wedding party to get ready.” I pointed out each thing on the map.

“I know it might sound dumb, but what if you moved this tent over here and had the ceremony angled this way?” Kyle ran his fingers along the page, and I imagined the changes in my mind to picture what he was suggesting.

“I wanted the ceremony to have a backdrop of the sunset. It was beautiful there.”

“True, but there is a line of trees you don’t have on the map that would block the sunset if you had the altar here.”

I blanched, trying to remember seeing the trees he was talking about. When I went over it in my head, I vaguely recalled it. Groaning, I set my fork down and picked up my pencil and eraser. I’d had a gut feeling I was missing something, and this could have been it. After removing the ceremony location from the page, I turned it around to face Kyle.

“So this where the other tree line is?” I made light Xs on the page. When he nodded, I made them darker. “And you think I can push the ceremony location here so we can get a better angle?” I drew a shape on the map.

“It’ll free up this area for photos or something. There’s a fallen tree that will need to removed, but the tree stump is kind of cool. Also, there’s this huge cottonwood tree off to the side you can use for something.” Kyle’s voice faltered at the end when he caught Hunter and me staring at him.

“How do you know the land that well?” Hunter lifted his eyebrow.

“Blake used to take me there all the time.” Kyle shrugged. “We’d let Sapphire explore to keep her spirits up.”

“Thank you so much, Kyle. This helps a lot. I can’t believe I missed that.” I made a few more adjustments to the drawing and then added notes in my planning notebook for possible ideas. Glancing at my watch, I had twenty minutes before I was due at the big house.

I quickly finished my dinner and packed up my computer. “It’s time for my meeting. Thank you both for the advice.” I turned and gave Hunter a quick kiss before rising and skirting around the table to the other side. Before I could overthink it, I leaned down and gave Kyle a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for dinner and the help. I promise to make up for this.”

Kyle’s wide eyes found mine, and I fought the urge to kiss him on the lips just to see how shocked he’d be. My heart broke at missing out on more with him tonight. I didn’t know how long the meeting would be, and it wasn’t as if we had plans other than to have dinner. But it was supposed to be my chance to see if Kyle and I had potential. With Hunter and Matt, I knew we had undeniable chemistry. Kyle was the one I didn’t know where I stood with. Did he like me, or was he placating Hunter while I was in town?

“I look forward to it,” he said after a beat. A smile stretched across his face, showing off his gorgeous dimples. That urge to kiss him hit harder, and I had to step back before I gave in.

“Tomorrow night?” My stomach flipped thinking about it. I couldn’t think of anything on my schedule that would interfere. It all revolved around how tonight’s meeting went and speaking with Matt. We hadn’t had a private moment all day, and I’d be skipping out on a night with him again.

Kyle’s eyes danced. “Can’t wait.”