The Bad Boy's Bride

Shit.

I guess I’m going to Wyoming if I can get the time off. Frankly, I’ve only ever heard…well, nothing about Wyoming. Except for the fact that apparently it’s pretty and there are a lot of bison there.

Jane and Melody continue blowing off steam. It never leads to anyone confronting Solomon, but it’s just enough of a release so they can get back in the kitchen with clearer heads

The back door to the restaurant bangs open and Solomon strides out. Jane and Melody go silent instantly. “Of course,” he says with a hard edge to his voice. “Melody, we’re in the middle of a rush and it’s not time for your actual break. Get your ass back inside.”

She rolls her eyes in my direction, but she goes. Jane puts out her unfinished cigarette and scurries back in as well, unwilling to face whatever was coming from Solomon. He looks over at me. “So I assume they were out here talking shit about me, right?”

I lift my phone. “I wasn’t paying attention. I’m catching up on my emails.”

He grunts and leans against the alley wall, taking a break himself.

“By the way, I was going to ask you,” I say. “I know it’s short notice, but I need a couple of days off.”

Solomon grins. “Mental health days? I kind of expected it with you working so hard. You can take whatever time you need.” Pushing off the wall, he steps toward me and puts a hand on my arm. “In fact, maybe since you’re taking some days off, we could spend some time together, away from the hot kitchen. Maybe have a non-business dinner. Get to know each other outside of work.”

Oh, shit.

Solomon definitely is, by conventional standards, very handsome. He’s tall and broad with dark hair and beard scruff that gives him a carefree European vibe. But he’s never been my type. And even if I found him the most attractive human being on the planet, I wouldn’t sleep with him. No way. It’s hard enough being a woman with ambition in this male-dominated industry. I would never risk my reputation by sleeping with anyone in this kitchen. I’ve seen too many women’s careers derailed by accusations of the sleeping their way to the top.

Also, ew. I can’t separate the man from his ego and assholery.

I pull my arm away from him, definitively but also trying to hide my total disgust. “I’m not taking mental health days,” I say with a tight smile. “I need to go to Wyoming tomorrow on family business. It’s urgent. But I should only be out for a couple of days.”

“Oh,” he says, clearly disappointed. He looks me up and down, and for the first time I realize that he’s looking at me not like a co-worker, but as a conquest. How long has he been looking at me like that and I hadn’t realized it?

“All right. Well, have a safe trip.” His tone isn’t pleased. In fact, it’s borderline angry. But I can’t think about that right now. He said yes, and my break is up. Time to get back in the saddle and finish dinner service.

Then, I guess, I’m packing for Wyoming.2ClaytonI look out the window over the river, not absorbing the view in front of me, but looking past it, completely lost in my thoughts. I had hoped that the message that I’d gotten from Katie was wrong, and that this was all a dream, but it’s right in front of me. All of my worst fears.

“I’m so sorry, Clayton,” she says. “But there’s still a way to make it right. I’m already working on it. Hopefully by the end of the day the ranch will be yours.”

I fight back the instinct to growl at her. Katie is an older woman, and undeniably kind—especially for a lawyer. That’s a rarity in itself, and I’m not surprised about the fact that this was the person that Evelyn chose to trust with her estate. I am surprised that Evelyn’s last wishes can’t be followed.

“Rocking R Ranch should already be mine, Katie,” I say, working hard to keep my voice even. “The will is incredibly clear. It’s black and white. There isn’t any reason to discredit it or think that I pressured her into changing it. It was signed long before I even knew that she was leaving the ranch to me.”

Evelyn Roscoe. My heart still hurts when I think about her. It hasn’t been long since she died. It was definitely her time, and I’m grateful she went peacefully, but it still hurts that she’s gone. She wasn’t just my boss; she was my mentor. For so many years. She was more like a mother to me than my own family ever was.

Despite our close relationship, I never imagined that she would leave the ranch to me. Rocking R was her baby—her whole life. She loved it like it was her child. She needed that land and open space like she needed oxygen. And whoever she met or brought on to that land, well they left with the same appreciation and love in their heart for the Rocking R as she had.