I teeter on my heels a bit when I come in contact with more damn gravel, but I right myself with a hand to Karen’s side.
Goodness. These people really need to learn the convenience of concrete out here.
One foot in front of the other, I head up toward the house and don’t stop until I reach the entrance. The main door is wide open, and only a screen door separates the outside from the inside.
Gently, I rap my knuckles against the wood, and moments later, an adorable little blond-haired girl comes running down the hall and right toward me.
She pushes the screen door open with one of her cowgirl boots and steps out until she can keep it open with just her hip. With pigtails and dimples and big blue eyes, she just might be the cutest kid I’ve ever see in my life.
Is this Rhett Jameson’s little sister?
“Who are you?” she asks, ignoring any sort of greeting and getting straight to the point.
I grin. “My name is Leah. What’s your name?”
“Joey,” she answers, her small hands moving with her words. “Well, Josephine, but everyone calls me Joey.”
“That’s a very pretty name.”
“And you’re a very pretty lady,” she says, and her eyes move up and down my body, taking in my hair and my face and my dress and my shoes. “Maybe the prettiest lady I’ve ever seen. Are you in movies?”
“No, I’m not in movies,” I answer on a soft laugh. “But you know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”
She giggles, and then her eyes get big. “Wait…oh my goodness! Are you here to teach me how to braid my hair?” Her button nose crinkles up in the most adorable way. “My granny told me she’d teach me how to do it, but I think she can’t remember, and is that why you’re here? Because you know how to do it?” she asks, and her short legs bounce up and down ever so slightly.
“Uh…” I pause, completely entranced by this sweet little human, but also utterly confused. “Actually, sweetie, I’m not here to teach you how to braid your hair. I’m here—”
“Aw, shucks.” She swishes one fist from her right hip to her left hip, and her tiny mouth points down at the corners.
Immediately, I feel like the worst human being alive, and it takes everything inside me not to step inside the house and ask her to get me a hairbrush.
But I rein in the emotion and offer up something I hope will soften her disappointment.
“How about this? Since I’m going to be here for the summer, I’ll make sure someday very soon, I teach you how to braid your hair.”
“Yeah?” Her big blue eyes light up like the sun. “Ya promise?”
“I promise.”
Truthfully, I’m just assuming this young girl lives here on this ranch, but I have no idea.
I don’t know if she’s Tex’s daughter or someone else’s daughter. I don’t really know much of anything. Haven’t known much of anything since I told Frank Kaminsky I’d take this job.
But so far, feeling out of the loop appears to be par for the course.
The girl steps out of the house on her tiny cowgirl boots and wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m so excited, Leah!”
I’m shocked at first by her instant affection, but it doesn’t take long before I’m putty in her teeny hands.
“Me too, Joey.” A tickled laugh emerges from my lungs, and I pat her head tenderly.
Eventually, she steps back and puts one hand to her hip. “So, if you’s supposed to be here all summer but it’s not just for my hair, why are you here?”
“I was just about to ask the same thing, Joey.” A deep, raspy voice fills my ears, and that’s when I realize someone else has joined our conversation at the door.
My eyes move up, up, up past Joey and land on a pair of perfectly worn-in jeans, over a shirtless and firm set of abs and an even firmer chest, and they don’t stop until they meet aqua-blue eyes that are pointed directly at me.
Holy shit.
This rugged, fine-as-hell specimen standing right behind Joey isn’t just any man; he’s the manliest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. His body is stretched tight with the kinds of firm muscles that do not come from protein shakes and a gym membership to LA Fitness. No. These are real muscles, made from hard, sweaty work on a big-ass ranch like this.
If you typed the words “hot cowboy” into Google, I’m pretty sure this guy would be the number one search result.
And he looks so damn strong, so physically capable of anything, I honestly think he could lift a car just for the fun of it.
With brownish-red hair that looks almost gold in the sunlight, a sharp jaw that’s peppered with some scruff, and full lips that are set in a firm line, I can’t help but wonder who is this guy?