Chapter One
Hunter
“Hunter!” my best friend, Reese, hollered after me as I marched into the locker room. I had to get showered as quickly as possible so I could head home to the ranch. There was always work to be done, and today was no different.
I’d chosen a college as close to home as possible, and I was grateful when they offered me a football scholarship. I’d worked hard to earn my grades and even harder to be one of the best football players the state had seen yet. But despite fans begging me to, I wasn’t going pro.
My life began and ended with the Blume Ranch, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I loved my family. I loved the ranch. I lived and breathed the hard labor that surrounded being a cowboy.
And today, like every other day, I had chores to get done, and I wanted to get them done before the cooler air moved in this evening. It was only fall, but winter was going to hit hard this year, which meant the cold was going to move in a lot sooner than any of us wanted it to.
“Yeah?” I called over my shoulder as I stepped into the locker room.
“You headed to the ranch after you leave here, or you got time to chill at my place for a while?” he asked.
Reese had moved out of his parents’ house as soon as he graduated high school. They didn’t get along at all. His parents were very strict Christians, and though they hadn’t disowned Reese when he’d come out as bisexual to them, they certainly hadn’t made his life easier. In fact, some of the things they did to him to try to “make him straight again” were disgusting, and I never wanted to repeat them.
The only reason he didn’t get sent to a conversion camp is that my dad finally had enough and stepped in.
“Headed to the ranch,” I told him as I stripped out of my uniform.
He began stripping out of his clothes as well while I grabbed my towel and soap and headed for the shower. “Doesn’t showering defeat the purpose?” He chuckled, following me a minute later.
“Eh,” I grunted. “I can’t stand the feel of dried sweat.”
Reese snorted. “Never understood how you’ve lived and worked on a ranch all your life, and you can’t stand the feel of sweat.”
“It’s the salt,” I told him. I really couldn’t stand the feel of the salt on my skin after my body dried. It was…gritty and made me feel like I’d been rolling around in the sand on a beach somewhere, which I wasn’t too fond of either.
Reese snorted. I finished my shower and quickly dried off before yanking on a pair of well-worn jeans and a t-shirt, throwing on my flannel shirt on top before grabbing my baseball cap out of my locker. It drove my dad nuts that I wouldn’t wear a Stetson; a ball cap just worked better for me. If the bill of the hat was getting in my way, I could just flip it backward and continue on with my day. Couldn’t do that with a regular cowboy hat. The brim was always in my way.
“See you later, Reese!” I called over my shoulder as I headed toward the exit.
“Hit me up later,” he replied, his shower shutting off. “We’ll grab a beer and fries from the bar.”
“Sounds good.” And it did. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a chill moment at the bar. Probably my twenty-first birthday. But being twenty-two in my last year of college, trying to juggle one of the hardest years of my college career along with managing my new job as the foreman and football… yeah, it was harder than I thought it would be.
But it was also a challenge, and if there was one thing I really enjoyed and thrived on, it was a challenge.
I yanked open the door to my truck and slid in before grabbing my phone from my pocket and shooting a text to my dad.
Hunter: On the way. I’ll be there soon.
His response was almost immediate, just as it had always been since I’d gotten a phone. Unless he was on a part of the ranch that cell service didn’t reach, he always responded to my messages. My dad wasn’t the kind of man to show his affection through words, unless he was with my mom. But he was very attentive and always made sure I had what I needed.
That was his love language—taking care of people. And it worked for me since I wasn’t keen on having anyone dote on me. It just wasn’t my thing. I’d always been an independent kind of person, even as a kid. It drove my mom a little nuts.
And it really frustrated any girl I dated. They wanted affection, to be showered with love and touches, and it just wasn’t me. Mom thought I just hadn’t met the one for me yet. I figured she was just hoping for something that wasn’t ever going to happen.
Because another thing about every girl I’d ever dated—they didn’t understand that my first love was this ranch. I would never leave this place. I would never move on. My college degree centered around me being able to take over this ranch one day; I was double majoring in agricultural business and management and animal health.
It was one of Dad’s stipulations. I had to hold a degree. I just didn’t think he ever expected me to double major like I was. But I also knew he was extremely proud of me. I couldn’t go anywhere in town without someone congratulating me on something I’d done because Dad had gone out and bragged about me.
I pulled to a stop in front of the house about thirty minutes later and slid out, my boots thumping on the hard-packed dirt. Dad was leading a girl about my age out of the house. She was a bit skinny, her jeans loose on her legs. She was wearing a worn black ball cap on her head, and she looked tired, a hard look twisting her features into a scowl.
Who in the world was she?
“Dad,” I strode up, grabbing both of their attention, “who’s this?”
Dad smiled down at the girl, but she didn’t return it. She just continued staring at me, not even caring that her stare could be considered rude. Immediately, I didn’t like her. And if she was looking for work, I’d run her off if she thought she was going to walk around here with a stick up her butt all the time.
“This is Tess Greenwater,” Dad introduced. “She’s going to work the horse stalls for a while until I see how she pans out.”
I clenched my jaw. “As the head foreman, you didn’t think you needed to consult me?” I asked Dad, not liking her attitude. She looked like trouble.
Dad grunted. “Not for this, Hunter. Go on inside. Your mother has food ready for you.”
I scowled and then spun on my heel, heading into the house. I heard the girl—Tess—scoff behind me.
It took every bit of my willpower not to turn around and put her in my place.
She’d be gone before the end of the week. I’d make sure of it.
