Page 2 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy (Wild Hearts Ranch #1)

SOPHIA

I ’m staring at Belle packing up her photography equipment while I still hold on to the gorgeous kittens. After a long moment, the front door opens wider, and the three cowboys file back in. My knees actually wobble in response. Traitor knees.

These men are tall, still shirtless, and I’m suddenly breathless.

They stop short when they see me standing there with their kittens, and something shifts in the air. It makes breathing difficult.

“Well,” Blue Eyes almost grunts, his voice rougher than before. “Brutus is back where he belongs. Though your car has seen better days.”

I try not to stare at their bare chests, all those muscles, the way they shift when they move.

I really do. But my body isn’t listening to my brain right now, and every inch of exposed skin seems to radiate heat.

They’re all just standing there like a calendar come to life, towering over me, jeans slung low, dust on their arms, muscles still tense from the whole bull-wrangling thing.

How many men in Chicago can say they’ve taken on a charging bull with nothing but a rope and raw nerve?

Yeah… not exactly a common skill set back home.

My fingers tighten around the kittens. Distraction. That’s what I need. I spot a single-seater sofa nearby and shuffle over, gently placing the fluffballs down. They immediately pounce on each other like tiny gremlins, batting tails and chewing ears.

The room goes quiet.

Then the Alpha with blue eyes and dirty-blond hair says, “Guess introductions are in order. I’m Cash Winslow.”

The one with dark brown hair and bewitching mocha-colored eyes gives a short nod, sending my stomach into a ridiculous flutter of butterflies. “Walker Stone, and we live here on the ranch.”

Of course his voice is low and smooth. His jaw is dusted with stubble, and there’s this quiet steadiness in his eyes that makes it really hard to look away.

And the third, with a cowboy hat and auburn hair, doesn’t say anything right away. Just watches me with those green eyes in that judging way.

“Ridge Colter,” he finally says in a deep voice that shouldn’t captivate me, but damn him, it does.

I nod, trying not to let it show how off-balance I feel. Cash, Walker, Ridge. The names click into place. Blue eyes. Mocha eyes. Green eyes and a hat. Now with identities.

Then Walker tilts his head slightly. “So now that Brutus isn’t trying to murder you… you want to tell us what you’re doing here?”

Right. That.

I straighten up, clearing my throat. “Sophia Hollis. That’s my name.” Sweat rolls down my spine. Why do they make me nervous?

More silence. They’re waiting.

“Well,” I start, shifting under their combined stares. “I, uh… recently inherited Wild Hearts Ranch.”

That lands heavily. Their eyes wide, breaths fast. Belle is just watching us with a smirk. She is enjoying this way too much.

I push forward, words rushing out. “Technically, not from Rose. It was her grandson Nolan Martinez. He left it to me.”

Their expressions don’t change right away, but the shift is immediate. Like I just dropped a match into something I didn’t realize was flammable.

I almost wish I’d kept a kitten in my arms. At least then I’d have something warm and nonthreatening to hold when the fallout starts.

“Oh,” Walker murmurs.

“That’s impossible,” Ridge states flatly. “Rose promised us?—”

“We had an agreement,” Cash finishes, all traces of amusement gone from his face. “Five years of running the place, and then we could purchase it at fair market value.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it. The looks on their faces make my chest tight. “I had no idea. But I have the will, and the lawyer confirmed everything.”

“Are you a Martinez?” Ridge asks, suspicion clear in his tone.

“It’s… complicated.” Understatement of the century.

“But, legally, the ranch is mine. Look, if you want to buy it, that makes things easier for everyone. I need to get back to Chicago, and you want the farm. We can work this out.” My heart is thumping loudly in my chest as the words rush past my lips.

“You would sell it to us?” Walker asks, tilting his head like he’s trying to read between my words, like he’s just waiting for the story to fall apart.

I open my mouth, then close it again.

Everything is happening so fast. I nearly died earlier.

I’ve been charged by a bull, hit a tree with a rental car I can barely afford to fix, and now I’m standing in a room with three shirtless Alphas watching me like I might be their next problem.

I can’t tell if they’re being polite, suspicious, or silently plotting to throw me off the porch.

All I know is I didn’t come here to fight.

I came to get my inheritance, sell it, and finally have enough cash to breathe.

Because Omegas like me? When we lose our mates, we don’t get safety nets.

We get silence. Unless I want to sign up for one of those Omega auctions and let some Alpha buy and claim me like I’m a prize pig at the county fair.

Hard pass.

I’ve already done the whole owned thing. Look where it landed me—broke, alone, and clawing my way out of the wreckage with nothing but sarcasm and caffeine.

This inheritance? It’s my one shot to stand on my own feet.

No Alpha. No collar. Just me, finally choosing my own damn future.

And if Lady Luck is feeling generous, maybe she’ll throw in the kind of Alpha I’ve only dreamed of…

one who doesn’t want to own me but actually stands beside me. Supports me, no matter what I choose.

And I’ll be damned if anyone gets in the way of that.

“I wasn’t planning to keep the ranch,” I say finally, quieter than I expected. “This place… it wasn’t meant for me.”

And it wasn’t. The place was left to Nolan—my Alpha.

Or, my deceased Alpha, who passed eleven months ago.

A man I didn’t love, not really. Definitely not in the way everyone assumed.

He hurt me more than he ever helped me, but…

this? Leaving me something in his will? Even if it was just the thing his grandmother left him?

That was the one decent thing he ever did.

Nolan never updated his will after Rose passed, just a month before him.

With both of them gone, the lawyers spent nearly a year working through challenges from the family before they finally contacted me.

Apparently, someone tried to contest it, but that was eventually sorted. So, legally, here I am.

An Omega who doesn’t belong here, outnumbered and completely out of her depth.

My friend, Meredith, and her brother were supposed to come with me as my backup, my buffer, but they bailed at the last minute because of a family emergency.

So now it’s just me, standing on shaky legs in the middle of unfamiliar territory, trying to pretend I have a clue what I’m doing.

I don’t.

There’s nothing for me here. Just the overwhelming scent of three Alphas, which scares me because of how attracted I am to it, whose home I’ve just dropped into like a grenade.

For a second, none of them speak.

Then Ridge runs a hand along his jaw, exchanging a look with the others.

“We’d be open to discussing price,” he says slowly, like he’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that this is even happening.

“But maybe you should talk to your lawyer first. Get the full picture before anyone signs anything.”

“Yeah,” Walker adds.

Cash just watches me, jaw tight.

I nod quickly, grateful for the pause in pressure. “I actually have his info.” I dig in my shoulder bag with shaky hands until I find the printed email, crumpled but legible. “Ben Hartwell. He’s based in town. Says his office is on Front Street?”

Belle perks up. “Hartwell? I saw him this morning when I grabbed coffee.” She eyes me, already shifting into motion. “How about I take you into town? We’ll swing by his office, and you can figure things out from there.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah.” She nods toward the door. “Grab your stuff, and we’ll go.”

Then she turns to the guys. “I think I got all the shots I need anyway. Thanks for the last-minute heroics. You three just sold every calendar in a five-state radius.”

Walker gives a small smile. “Glad we could help.”

“Anytime,” Ridge adds, tipping his hat slightly.

Cash just nods, his expression unreadable. “We’ll be here when you return, Sophia.”

His voice hits with just enough weight to make my stomach flip. I really can’t pin down their reactions. Are they happy, pissed? What is their deal?

I glance back once as I follow Belle out.

The three of them are still standing there, shirtless, gorgeous, and silent.

And I can’t help but feel like I’ve dropped a huge bomb on them.

I’m just as rattled. Walker goes to collect the kittens in his arms as we walk away, my pulse racing, my stomach knotted.

I’m so far out of my comfort zone right now .

“Thanks for the help,” I say awkwardly. “Even if we are on opposite sides of this situation.”

They just smile, and it leaves me more uneasy. Tough crowd, but I can’t blame them. Yet, how was I supposed to know they’d made a deal with Rose?

Belle’s truck is a cheerful yellow monstrosity that looks like it could survive the apocalypse. As I climb in, I sense three sets of eyes burning into my back.

“So,” she says conversationally as we bounce down the dirt road once we take off in her truck. “On a scale of one to ten, how screwed do you think you are?”

“What do you mean?” I glance at her, tugging on my seat belt.

“Oh, honey.” Belle laughs, one hand on the wheel like this is her favorite soap opera. “The way those boys were checking you out? Scenting you? And then you hit them with the little detail that you’re inheriting their home out from under them?”

I scoff. “They weren’t checking me out. They were shocked. Just like me.”

Belle arches a brow without looking away from the road. “Uh-huh.”