King reaches out and puts his hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Go on in the barn. Have Alan get you started, and I’ll be in in a minute.”

Eli takes off running and seems to remember me at the last minute as he waves and hollers over his shoulder, “Bye, Mom. Love you.”

I wave. “I love you, too.”

When it’s just King and me, I start to feel self-conscious under his stare. “Well, thank you. I need to get to work.”

He walks in step beside me. “Call me King.”

“Okay... King.”

I keep walking and pull my door open, but he holds on to it. “Can I ask you something?”

I stop between him and the car. “Uh, sure.”

He moves closer, and I take a deep breath. “You said that no one else is allowed to pick up Eli but you.”

I nod but don’t comment. I definitely don’t want to get into this with him, but I can see on his face that he’s not going to let it go.

He searches my face. “Who else would be coming for him?”

I jut my chin out. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him it’s none of his business, but instead I give him the truth. “His father.”

He nods as if he already figured that out but needed to hear me say it. “And it would be bad if Eli went with him?”

I open my mouth and close it quickly. How nice would it be to tell him the whole story—to actually talk about it. There’s something about King that makes me feel safe, but I know I can’t give in to that. One week. He’s in our life for one week, and then it’s over, so all I do is nod my head.

His arms flex as he crosses them over his chest. He has his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and I watch the muscles cord from movement. “What about you? Would he be coming for you too?”

I drag my eyes away from his arms. “I’m not worried about me. My only concern is Eli. If this is a problem...”

I trail off, not wanting to finish. I don’t want to take Eli out of here. It was one thing when he didn’t know about it, but I can’t now. He learned so much yesterday and claimed it was the best day of his life. How could I take that away from him? So instead, I tell him, “I need to go. I’m going to be late.” Which is not a lie. I do need to go.

He pulls his phone out. “Give me your number.” When I don’t start ticking off numbers at him, he holds up his phone. “Just in case I need to get a hold of you about Eli.”

I give him my number, and he sends me a text immediately. “I just texted you. Now you have my number too. If you ever need anything, just call me.”

“I won’t,” I insist.

He shrugs, and when he doesn’t say anything else, I get into my car. “Bye,” I mutter to him before shutting the door when he steps back.

I drive down the driveway, and when I look in the rearview mirror, King Bryant is still standing where I left him, watching me drive away. I shake my head and try to get myself together. King is no doubt a formidable adversary. I can just imagine what he’s like when he puts his mind to something. He’s obviously concerned about Eli and from the sounds of it, me too. There’s a warmth that spreads across my body just remembering the way his body tensed when I said it’s Eli’s father we’re avoiding. King is a protector, and it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a teenage boy or a single mom. I grip the steering wheel even tighter. It would be easy to lean on a man like King, but I can’t, no matter how badly I want to.

Chapter 8

King

I’ve thought about her all day. So much that I think I’m imagining things midday when I’m talking to the head of the Tennessee Cattleman’s association by the corral and see her walk by. Mr. Jenkins and I are in a deep discussion about the new safety standards we introduced on the Double B. He traveled all the way from Murfreesboro, and quite honestly, I need to stay on his good side. But seeing Natalie, I can’t help but go and see what’s wrong.

I clap Mr. Jenkins on the shoulder. “Can you excuse me for a minute? There’s something important that came up, and I need to handle it real quick. I’ll be right back.”

Mr. Jenkins is obviously surprised and a little taken aback. I’m sure he’s used to most ranchers kissing his ass, but that’s not who I am. I don’t wait for him to answer. I take off toward the barn.

Tags: Hope Ford Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net