Page 66 of The Mountain Echoes

“I can buy some land and?—”

“Maverick,” she cuts me off. “I thought we decided you wouldn’t bringthatup.”

“NotbuyLonghorn. Just…buy some land.”

She glowers. “That’s the same thing.”

“It’s not.” I shift so I’m facing her, locking her eyes to mine. “I’ll buy a section—pay you a fair price. You get capital. I’ll lease it back to you. Hell, we can draw up a contract that lets you buy it back in five years, same rate. No bullshit.”

She stares at me with those dark eyes, wary and sharp as a scalpel. “Why would you want to do that?”

“’Cause you deserve a chance to make it.”

Until I say the words to her, I don’t realize how much I mean them. I respect her for wanting to keep the ranch, to make it work, to bring it back to its glory. I like a woman with a spine, with courage, one who can look at the storm that’s coming and still roll up her sleeves and put one step in front of the other.

“You want a hand up,” I argue when she doesn’t say anything. “Not a handout. I’m offering the former.”

She gives me a long, assessing look. “Thirty acres. On the south ridge. You buy it for fair market value. We putit in writing that I have the right to repurchase it within five years—same price, adjusted for inflation.”

My eyes linger on her, enjoying her. “So, I don’t get paid a dime for my efforts?”

She rolls her eyes before shooting me a pointed look. “And you don’t touch it in the meantime. No development, no subleasing, no fencing it off for anything other than grazing. Ranch use only.”

I smile. “Alright, you’ve twisted my arm.”

Her lips twitch again. I feel like I won something.

“Excellent,” she replies, her tone lighter than I’ve ever heard it. “But if I so much as hear you’re planting roses or some shit for a wedding venue, I’ll burn it to the damn ground myself.”

I raise a hand, palm out. “I swear to treat it like I’d treat my own land, Aria. And I fuckin’ hate weddings.”

So, when we get married, we’re gonna elope.

I am stunned at the reckless thought that runs through my mind.

What the fuck?

I barely know this woman.

She drains her cup and bites her lower lip. She’s not being provocative or trying to seduce me, but she’s doing both, without making an effort.

Yeah, I have regressed to being a fuckin’ teenager with a boner because the girl he has a crush on is looking at him!

“I can’t sell without Celine agreeing to it,” she says pensively. “And…I know she wants to sell…but I doubt she’ll agree to put the money from the sale back into the ranch.”

“Let me handle Celine.”

Her eyes darken, her lips press into a tight line. “I don’t care how good you are in bed, Maverick, she’s not going to give up a hundred grand ‘cause of it.”

“I’m not sleeping with her,” I bite the words out because she’s pissing me off with her accusations. “I told you, I don’t share.”

Aria gives me a dry, disbelieving look. “I’ll talk to Celine and see how it goes and reach out to you. Thank you for offering your help.”

She’s back to being polite. I fucking hate it.

She pushes up from the counter. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“I’ve given you no reason to distrust me.”