Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

“You mean, why you hide out and let your ranch hands go into town for you and do whatever you needed done?” I asked teasingly.

He grinned, then suddenly cursed and turned off onto a dirt road.

“Where are you going?” I questioned.

Not alarmed, so to speak, but definitely curious. I was always curious, and Ace made me realize curious and curious were two separate things.

I mean, where normal men would’ve piqued my interest, Ace Valentine made my engine race.

“To show you some longhorns,” he answered.

I blinked slowly at him.

“You know someone with longhorns?” I asked.

He nodded his head.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Me.”

My mouth fell open.

“Really?” I breathed. “When did you get those?”

“When we moved back,” he answered as he stopped in front of a locked gate. “Scoot over here and drive my truck in. I have to close it back after we get through otherwise the curious little shitheads will get out. It’s like they have a sixth sense for when the damn gate is left open. And they’re a bitch to get back inside the fence.”

The moment he was out of the driver’s seat, I scooted over the dusty console and plopped myself into his spot. I had to scoot to the edge of his seat so I could reach the pedals, and my chest was practically plastered to the steering wheel as I did.

And no, I would not admit that I was more excited than ever.

Yesterday I’d been happy to help put up his tree. Today, I’d been more than eager to see him at the gym—even though my legs hurt something fierce, and I was feeling muscles in my body that I had no clue existed.

But the idea of seeing longhorns?

Well that just excited the ever-loving shit out of me.

I twisted and turned in my seat as I waited for both gates to swing all the way open before I put the truck into drive and crept forward.

When I was sufficiently inside, I put it back into park and went back to my seat, but paused halfway over the console when I saw the first longhorn.

“It’s so cute!” I cried out, practically pressing my forehead against the windshield in my excitement to see it better.

Ace got into the truck and slammed the door closed. “I don’t have to go any farther than right here. They’re like little social butterflies. They really love seeing me. I bought them off a lady who treated them as pets. She fed them every day straight out of her hand. Kind of like those at Smokes. If I come out here just to check up on the fence and don’t have any treats on hand, they get downright pissy.”

“I would, too,” I admitted, looking at him with excitement pouring out of my every pore. “Do you have treats?”

Ace grinned, making my heart pound for an altogether different reason. Mainly his beautiful smile that he rarely bestowed upon anyone else.

Ace started creeping forward, heading for the first cow he could see.

“How old is that one?” I questioned.

I’d grown up on a ranch my entire life, but my parents’ specialty had been goats and chickens.

Despite my mother’s attempts, my father never caved on getting cows. Ultimately, we had to admire them from afar. That was until my granddad had gotten his prized bull.

Before he could answer, I thought of another question. Speaking of bulls…

“Hey, I saw that you moved Scooby,” I said, fidgeting on the console beside him. “How did you think he looked?”

Ace put the truck in park and climbed out, rounding to the passenger door where he opened it for me.

I hopped down off the console, then slid across the seat until I was perched on the edge.

From there I hopped all the way down to the ground, grabbing Ace’s outstretched hand on the way down.

He didn’t let it go as he tugged me lightly around the hood of his truck as he answered me.

“I moved him, yes,” he said. “He eats a whole lot, and I noticed that he’s started leaning on a few of my fence posts in his haste to get to greener pastures. I moved him before he did any more damage.” He paused as the longhorns started making their way to us. “And he’s looking really good. Mean as hell. He chased me and my horse all the way to his new pasture. Let’s just say, if you wanted to start entering him into rodeos now, he’d probably perform for you.”

My eyes widened slightly as the first cow stopped next to us.

“If she swings her head, you may want to duck,” Ace rumbled as he pulled a bag of treats out of his front pocket.

I’d thought that bulge was something else…

“This one is pretty,” I admitted. “Where are the others?”

“Feed that one and they’ll come running,” Ace snorted. “I promise.”