He nodded and smiled. “Yes, sir. Miss Will took Tink out for a ride a little bit ago. Should I stay and help her with the horse when she gets back?”

“Nah. Courtney is a big girl. She can handle it. Thanks, dude. I’ll see you tomorrow after church, right? Mr. Morris will be back in the afternoon, and then you can officially meet him.”

He reached out and shook my hand. “Sounds like a plan, sir.”

He turned and headed off to his old Chevy truck, and I headed back to the chair I had been sitting in. It was so damn hot out, and all I wanted to do was jump in the pool, but damn Courtney had me sneaking around, reading this stupid book of hers. I wouldn’t dare tell her I’d bought myself a Kindle, and I had loaded her favorite book on it. I had to know what it was that had always made her want to read it.

It didn’t take me long before I was completely engrossed in Nick and Alexa’s world. I thought I heard a noise, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the Kindle. Nick was just about to—

“Whatcha doin’ there?” Courtney whispered into my ear, scaring the shit out of me.

I jumped up so fast that it caused me to lose my balance. I stumbled backward and went right into the pool, Kindle and all.

Courtney started screaming, “No! My Kindle! You asshole, you ruined my brand-new Kindle.”

I looked up at her as she began stomping her feet with her hands flying everywhere, and I couldn’t help but smile.

I quickly removed the smile and started getting out of the pool. “Nice. You’re worried about a stupid-ass Kindle. No, really, I’m fine, Courtney. I didn’t just fall into a pool where I could have possibly hurt myself.”

She stopped jumping around and looked at me. “It’s not like you fell off a building, for Christ’s sake. You fell into a pool…with my Kindle!”

She reached for the Kindle, and I swore she wiped a tear away. I shook my head and then pulled my shirt up and over my head. Then, I began unbuttoning my jeans.

“Whoa there, cowboy. Giving me a free strip show isn’t going to make up for the fact that this is the second Kindle that has been destroyed while…”

I pulled my jeans down, and she stopped talking while she moved her eyes up and down my body. The moment she bit down on her lower lip and let out a small moan, I felt my dick jump.

This girl is going to kill me.

“Don’t worry, Court. I’m not stripping. I don’t want to walk through the house while I’m soaking wet.” I started to walk away but not before I grabbed the Kindle. “By the way, this isn’t your Kindle.”

She picked up my wet shirt and jeans and followed me. “Wait, what? If it’s not my Kindle, then whose Kindle is it? And why…” Then, she started laughing. “Oh. My. God. Reed Moore, were you…reading?”

I stopped, spun around, and looked down into her beautiful blue eyes while I gave her the best panty-melting smile I could muster up.

“Yes, Courtney Will, I was reading. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take a shower and get dressed to go out.”

Her smile dropped, and her mouth opened just a bit. “You’re going out? Where?”

I turned and walked away from her, making my way into the house. I didn’t want to tell her that after she had pushed me away the other day, I’d called up Melissa from work and asked her out for dinner. It was a dick move on my part, and ever since then, I had been trying to think of reasons to get out of it.

“Reed?” Courtney said in a soft voice.

I stopped at the edge of the stairs and looked back at her. “What?”

“I didn’t mean it the other day when I said I didn’t want to be with you.”

With that, she turned and headed through the kitchen. I heard the back door shut, and a few seconds later, the sounds of her truck starting and pulling down the driveway filled my head. I just stood there, stunned.

I sat down on the stairs and put my head in my hands. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was going to cry over a girl. She had me all tied up in knots, not knowing which way was up or down.

I ran upstairs, took a quick shower, and then grabbed my cell phone. I was thanking God that I had left it on the dresser and not shoved in my back pocket when I’d gone into the pool. I hit Melissa’s number and took a deep breath.

“Hey, handsome,” she purred through the phone.

“Oh, hey. Listen, something has come up, and I’m going to have to cancel dinner.”

“No. Oh no, Reed. I was really looking forward to dinner and maybe a little storage room fun again.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen again, Melissa. I’m sorry. I, um…I’ve kind of…well, I’m sort of, like…”

She let out a laugh. “Reed Moore, you sound like you’ve fallen for someone.”

I smiled and said, “Yeah, Melissa, I have. I don’t want to hurt her or you, so I can’t have dinner with you tonight. I hope you understand. I’m trying to figure things out with this, um…this girl, and…well, I’m doing a piss-poor job of it.”

She let out another chuckle. “Reed, thank you for being honest with me. Hey, what we did was fun, and I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t want to do it again. Can I offer you a bit of advice though?”

This is awkward in a way, but what the hell? “Sure.”

“If you love her, go after her, Reed. Don’t let her push you away, and don’t you push her away because you’re afraid of your feelings. Fight for it.”

I dropped my head and let out a sigh. “Thanks, Melissa. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”

“Go get her. I’ll see ya when you get back to work. Enjoy the last few days of your vacation.”

I thanked her again and said good-bye.

I hadn’t had the heart to tell her that I had no intentions of going back to work. Once I’d decided to become a partner with Layton, I’d made the choice to quit my job and focus on the ranch, so I had given my notice the other day.

I got dressed and headed downstairs. I looked around the kitchen and decided I was going to make spaghetti and homemade meat sauce. I had no idea where Courtney had gone, but I was banking on her being back for dinner. I pulled out my phone and sent her a text message.

Reed: Dinner plans were canceled. I’m cooking dinner. Will be ready at six.

I sat there, staring at the candles that were almost halfway burned down. I glanced at the clock. It was seven thirty, and I had heard nothing from Courtney. I hadn’t even eaten anything. The food was sitting in the middle of the table, cold and no longer looking good. Lulu and Midnight had been waiting in position for the last hour.