Page 17 of Brazen

“Me?” Wes pushed his hat back a touch.

“Yeah, you, Mr. Grump,” she said with a smile.

“I’m all happy now,” he replied. “Got my mate and my little girl. What else could I want?”

I glared at my boss. “Seriously?”

“What?”

“I don’t have my mate or my pup. My mate is going on a date with the town dentist tomorrow night, and I–”

“Have your thumb up your ass.”

“I do not.” I sounded like a five-year-old. “I’ve got a kidnapping plan all laid out.”

“No kidnapping,” Charlie repeated. “Stalking’s not a good look either if you’re trying to win her over.”

“Too late,” I said. “But she hasn’t seen me.”

She rolled her eyes as she ran a hand down Spirit’s gray back. “Next you’re going to say you stalk the elementary school. Levi’s going to have to arrest you.”

“I only passed by once yesterday when all the kids were on the playground.” I smiled like a proud dad. There was no way I could keep my distance from the little guy. “Man, my pup is the best on those monkey bars.”

My phone rang, and I fished it out of my pocket and looked at the number. “Hey, Ernie, how’s it going?” I walked out of the barn, even though a private conversation around shifters was practically impossible.

“It’s going well. How are things over at Wolf Ranch?” he asked.

In a small town, chit chat was required before any business got discussed. Especially with the older generation since they loved to hear the good gossip first.

“Yeah, they’re good. We have a new foal that Charlie’s looking at.” An idea came to mind. “Say, I’ll bet JT would like to see her, too.”

“You leave Clio and JT out of your plans,” Ernie chuffed. “You have plenty of other women falling all over themselves for you in this town and every town you hit when you were in the rodeo. Leave my mechanic alone.”

I smiled with zero amusement. “Did you get that part in?”

“Yep, I got it here. Nothing like the old days when it took weeks. Now with the computer things are sent overnight, which is good ‘cause I bet you want to beat the weather.”

“Sure do.”

“You can pick it up anytime.”

I looked out to the field where the tractor was still sitting, and an idea sprouted. “Yeah, I was hoping you could send Clio over to install it. This one seemed a little tricky for me.”

“A PTO shaft? A little tricky for you,” Ernie repeated, obviously not believing me. I’d been fixing my own vehicles since I was a teenager, and he knew it.

I appealed to his business sense. “Yeah. I know you probably charge a lot more to send someone out, but we can pay it. I can pay it,” I amended because I knew Rob would kick my ass if I tried to bill it to the ranch. “Like you said, we gotta beat the rain, and there’s lots to do on a ranch this size.”

“Yeah, okay,” Ernie agreed.

Ha. Got him.

“I could come out.”

“Not you,” I rushed in. “It has to be Clio. She, ah, she knows how to do this repair, I’m sure, and I thought you were retired. I bet Edna will be riding your rump, and it’ll be the talk of the town by dinner.”

I couldn’t miss the disgruntled grunt from the old man.

“Can you send her out?”