Wild (Wolf Ranch 2)

“So what kind of engineer are you? I never asked.”

“Mechanical.” She shrugged, looking down at her hands holding the reins. “It’s boring. Math and physics. Calculations. That kind of thing.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Honestly?” She glanced my way, sighed. “No.”

“So why study it?”

“My dad is an engineer. Math and science were always things I was good at in school. So, it seemed logical. He pretty much said if I studied engineering, he’d pay for college. I needed his help with tuition, so that’s what I did.”

“And you and Audrey share the same dad?”

“From what we can gather, my dad and her mom got together for a one-night stand. They were eighteen or nineteen. My dad probably forgot her name that night. He met my mom and married her a few years later. They divorced because he found a newer model in his office. He isn’t much of a commitment type. Not for a wife or a kid.”

“Was he glad you went into engineering?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think he really cared. I mean, he pays the tuition. But I thought… I thought we’d have something in common.” Looking my way, she gave me a fake smile. “Silly, right?”

I moved my horse a little closer to hers, so our legs bumped. “Nah. Parents are supposed to give out love unconditionally. It doesn’t sound like your dad was even around. Nothing wrong with wanting to be closer to him.”

“Well, it didn’t pan out.” Vulnerability flickered on her normally bright face, and my chest tightened for her.

Dammit, I wanted to make up for every wound she’d ever received. I wasn’t going to push the fact that her dad sounded like an asshole. If he hadn’t been there for her at all, he didn’t need to ruin our ride.

“Not every man will let you down.” Fuck, I’d always be there for her. Unconditionally. Even if it killed me. Even if it meant pushing her away. That made no fucking sense to anyone but me.

She shot a glance at me through her lashes, then looked away, like she didn’t know how to take that. Fuck, I’d confused the hell out of her.

I’d confused the hell out of myself.

Trying to woo a female without touching her? It was like some kind of Olympian challenge.

But I was going to keep at it.

“If you hadn’t chosen for him, what would you have picked as a major?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Nothing ever called to me.”

“Okay, so forget school.” There was a boulder in the way, and I steered us around it. “If you could do or be anything—you know, like if you had the magic wand or genie in the bottle who could just make it come true—what would you do?”

Her eyes lit up. “I’d own a cute little small-town bakery and make people happy with my chocolate chip banana bread or my Tiramisu roll cake.” She gave a sad laugh. “My dad would consider that a huge failure.”

Small town. She said small town. That boded well. As for a huge failure, Marina could never be one. I doubted she’d believe the words, so I’d have to show her. Get her to believe in other ways.

“I want to be made happy with your banana bread, little girl.”

She turned up the dial on those dimples. “I will make you some, then.” She lowered her lashes. “I could make you happy in other ways, too.”

She was fishing, trying to get me to say something like I wanted to drag her to the grass and fuck her here and now. Or lean toward her and kiss her. Something.

But I couldn’t, and I watched her face as the realization that I wasn’t going to do anything sank in.

“Come on, I’ll show you the waterfall. I don’t think we have time to go for a dip today, though. I promised to get you back for the wedding preparations, and I’m not going to be the asshole who breaks a promise to you.”

“Wow,” she murmured, rubbing her lips together.

“Wow, what?”

“The things you say.”

I cocked my head. “What about them?”

She blushed. “Nothing. Nevermind.”

“Come on. I’ll, uh, show you the falls.”

She looked away. Fuck. Were those tears in her eyes? Great. I was trying to do the right thing here, and it came across as being a total dick.

I kicked Cinnamon into a canter. I was not out here to fuck my mate. I was not out here to fuck my mate. I was not...

I took her up to the top of the ridge where the hot spring originated, and we could look down on the swimming hole.

“Wow, this is amazing,” she murmured. Hopefully this place would distract her from her disappointment. Our horses side-stepped next to each other, and Lucy lowered her head to eat the tender shoots of grass.

“Can we come back? Maybe tomorrow?”

“Um… sure.”