Page 48 of Wrangled
“As I’m the only one of us that drives, I’ll ride down. What’s wrong?” All the lightness from before is gone.
“Nothing, I promise. It’s actually good news. I had some buyers come around today. They made me an offer on the cattle.”
“You’re selling the cattle?”
“Half of it. Yes.”
“Okay, and the offer?”
“Less than what I know I could get, but I was the one who suggested it. I want a quick and clean sale, and this way they know better than to hesitate because plenty of others will be waiting in the wings to buy it out from under them.”
“Ruthless. I like it.”
“I thought you might. I’m gonna need a financial advisor. I know you mentioned it briefly when I got my inheritance, but I’m out of my depth here. I’d love you even more if you took care of all that boring stuff for me, especially as I’m going to be paying you now.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. You deserve every penny, and we both know I can afford it.”
“Okay, fine, and yes, I’ll deal with the advisor and all the boring shit you don’t want to. I’ll still need you to read and sign things. I’ll get you a damn fax machine.”
“People still use those?”
“Smart people do. You don’t need the internet for one, and they’re harder to hack or intercept.”
“Not my area of expertise, but I’ll go with whatever you want. Oh, I bought a load of stuff today, so if you get a bunch of notifications from my bank, authorize them for me.”
“Anything interesting?”
“I bought a tractor?”
“I don’t thinkinterestingmeans what you think it does.” She mutters, making me laugh, as I lock up and carry my glass down the hallway to the back deck so I can sit and star gaze for a while.
“I bought some seeds and plants, and a bunch of other things. I’m excited, Jen.”
“Then I’m excited to.” And funnily enough, I believe her. All she wants is for me to be happy. I’m not sure that’s something I can give her, but I’m going to damn well try.
I look over toward the ranch house and see the lights on in the living room. Because they are, I see Riggs move past the window before turning and moving the other way. I frown as his arms move animatedly along with his lips. Is he talking to someone?
“Hey, Jen, I’ve gotta go.”
“Wait, you haven’t told me about this sexy voiced man. Dammit, you distracted me on purpose.”
“He has an eyepatch.”
“Ooh sexy pirate vibes.”
“A deep, gravelly voice.”
“Sexy audiobook narrator vibes.”
“And he’s a former gangbanger.”
“Sexy group sex vibes. Wait?—”
But I hang up before she can say anything more, guessing she’ll probably know more about Riggs than he knows about himself, before she arrives here. I put my phone on silent, knowing she’ll call me back, and when my cellphone lights up, I grin, because I was right.
I put my phone in my pocket and head toward the ranch house as Riggs continues to pace backward and forward. My frown deepens as I approach. I can’t make out his words as the building is pretty well insulated, so I try the door, happy to find it unlocked and slip inside.
