Page 16 of His Country
Sugar hopped out of the truck once Aiden dropped the tailgate. He took his time making sure it latched, fiddling with it longer than necessary. With a final tug, he turned to see Ethan chatting with Frank. His hair was messy, pushed back like he’d run his fingers through it to keep it off his face. He was wearing a pair of dark green coveralls, the top half pulled down and tied around his waist. The dark long sleeve underneath looked warm, too warm if the way he’d rolled his sleeves up to the elbow were any indication.
Ethan’s forearms were tanned, big hands with slender fingers wrapped around his biceps as he leaned in to listen to Frank. Just under the cuff of his right sleeve Aiden could see lines from a tattoo.
Sugar darted out from the truck, making a beeline for the vet. Ethan spotted her and his face lit up with a grin, white teeth flashing against the dark scruff peppering his angular jaw.Kneeling down, he welcomed her with open arms, scratching her favorite spot behind her ears.
“Hey good girl,” he called softly, voice low like he was speaking just to her. She nosed his pockets and he laughed, reaching in to grab a treat. She whined happily, tail swinging.
“Can you sit? That’s a girl.” He charitably gave her a treat when Sugar’s wiggling butt touched the ground for a nanosecond. She took the offering with a crunch.
It was only when Ethan’s attention drifted from dog to her owner that Aiden realized he was just standing beside the truck staring at Ethan. Coughing, he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth and forced himself to move forward.
Ethan stood, dusting off his knee. With a grin that couldn’t possibly mean anything good, he nodded towards Aiden.
“I see you found your hat.”
So much for pretending it never happened.
Grunting, he moved past them and opened the cow shed. It was an open building with a trough running alongside one wall. The back walls had panels hung up, able to be taken down to create individual stalls if they needed. Right now, it was open to the pasture, giving the cattle a place to come in out of the weather.
The majority of the herd was gathered in the shed, finishing up breakfast and lazing about.
Frank gestured to the cow shed and told Aiden to help Dr. Landry check the pregnant cows. He didn’t wait for confirmation, just left them standing there. Aiden didn’t need to look to know that Ethan was watching him. He resisted the urge to adjust his hat—he really didn’t want to draw more attention to it.
Aiden had been working at Rolling J long enough that it was easy to slip into the comfort of monotony. They were lucky the herd this year was small. Frank had sold a fair few last year toput more money into Carol’s Bed and Breakfast endeavors, so it didn’t take long to work through the herd.
Much to Aiden’s chagrin, Ethanwascompetent. He was efficient without losing his compassion, taking a few extra moments to settle the more nervous animals. Confident, too. Even though he was young, he moved with the surety of a veteran. Aiden found his eyes lingering more than once. The way he grinned while soothing a nervous cow, or how his t-shirt bunched around the slope of his shoulders. More than once, he was caught staring by brown eyes sparkling with mirth. Like he knew exactly what Aiden was thinking.
He probably did, the nosy ass.
In the privacy of his own mind, Aiden could admit that Ethan was good looking. Not in the same flashy way Everett was. Everett was like the sun, big and bright with an orbit so strong you couldn’t help but get sucked in. No, Ethan was closer to a mountain. Solid, steady. Always on the peripheral, easy to get used to. But when you looked closely? You could spend hours watching the way the sun splashed across the eastern peak or get lost in the mesmerizing twist of shadows dancing across the craggy face.
Not that Aiden cared.
Aiden released the last heifer from the stocks as Ethan pulled the arm glove off twisting the end and tossing it into the back of his truck to throw away later. Closing the gate, he made the mistake of looking up and meeting Ethan’s eye.
“You impressed?” he brazenly asked.
Aiden sucked his teeth. “Not bad. For a city boy.”
Ethan laughed. “Worse,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “Suburbs.”
There was a kind of ease in the Ethan spoke to Aiden. Like they hadn’t shared this humongous event a few nights prior. It wasn’t just about the almost dying part—although Aiden wouldbe lying if he said that coming back from the other side with Ethan’s fingers down his throat hadn’t affected him—it was the simple fact that Ethenknows.With one foot in his past and the other in his present, he straddled a line Aiden had hoped would never be seen by the light of day.
They say there’s three sides to every story—theirs, his, and the truth. Ethan knows two of them. That makes Ethan the most dangerous man Aiden had ever met.
“You know,” Ethan continued, ignoring Aiden’s cold shoulder. “I’m impressed you still use horses to work the cattle. Most rancher say they’re cattlemen, not cowboys.”
Aiden shrugged as he secured the gate. “Depends, I guess.” He let his eyes drift towards the fields. “Down south where it’s nice and flat, it’s easier to use four wheelers or something. But terrain is too varied around here. Too many places tires can’t go.”
Ethen followed Aiden’s gaze, joining him by the fence. Resting his elbows on the top rail, he leaned in like they were old friends settling in for a chat. “Texas is pretty flat. So how come you’re so good on a horse?”
Aiden swallowed thickly. “Who told you I was good on a horse?”
“Nobody,” Ethan answered easily, but he faltered under Aiden’s scrutiny. “Billy might have mentioned something.”
Aiden didn’t flinch, but it was a near thing. Hearing Billy’s name so close was almost like a bomb going off, and he wasn’t sure if he was quick enough to dodge the shrapnel.
“Yeah, well,” he grunted, unsure what he wanted to say. “My mom loved them.” Aiden distinctly remembered spending time in the barn with his mom, mucking stalls and cleaning tack until it was too dark to see. The radio would be playing, his mom singing under her breath as she ran her hands over every inch of her beloved animals.