Page 18 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

He nodded. “You’re Amelia, right?”

“I am. And you’re Ashton. But we already knew that – so, what’s the real question?”

He grinned. “What do you do here?”

“I work with your Uncle Cash.”

“Yeah but doing what?” he asked.

“Helping to solve problems,” she told him.

He gave her a small smile. “You mean hacking?”

She nodded slowly. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“Will you teach me sometime?”

“It’s not something you can learn in five minutes.”

“I know. But I’m a fast learner.”

The way he smiled at her – and the intelligence in his eyes – made her breath catch in her chest.

“How much do you know?” she asked. “Are you a coder or a gamer?”

“Mostly a gamer. But I want to learn more coding.”

It was probably a crazy notion, but she had to test the theory.

“What do you know about root?” she asked.

He gave her a puzzled look – and she relaxed. Just because something about that one-word message from Rootless2 had made her wonder if the sender was a kid… there was no reason to suspect the kid might be Ashton. That would be like putting two and two together and coming up with… 17,465,457.

“I know it’s like… fundamental access. Right?” Ashton said.

She nodded. “Right. If you really want to learn, we can set up a time when I’ll show you a few things.”

“Will you be here next time I come for dinner with Uncle Ford?” he asked. “If you are, we could do it then.”

She smiled. “Maybe so.”

“Ashton!”

They both turned at the sound of Everly calling his name. He swung his legs back around and jumped down onto the deck.

“That’s my mom. I’d better go.”

“Yes, you’d better.”

She watched him run down the steps. When he reached the bottom, he turned around and walked backward away from her.

“You’re going to stay here, aren’t you? I hope you do.”

She smiled as she watched him go – not wanting to commit to more of an answer than that.

~ ~ ~

Ford parked his truck next to Amelia’s car behind the house. He was surprised that she was back so soon. She’d worked later than this most evenings since she arrived.