“I better get back to shoveling,” Garrett said and handed me the reins.
“You know he was kidding, right?”
“Oh, yeah, but I do have lots to do still.”
Garrett made his way back to the first stall in the barn and I watched him every step of the way. He was much more handsome than the ranch hands we normally had. His tall, muscular frame should make the work easier on him, but even a man who thought he was in great shape was typically surprised by the amount of work that ranch hands actually put in each day.
Garrett looked more like a preppy businessman who was pretending to be a ranch hand, but sometimes that happened around our ranch, too. Young men would get sick and tired of the life they were leading and up and decide they wanted to be free as they took off on a trip around the country. Sooner or later, they would run out of their money and have to find work in order to sustain their new roadie lifestyle, a
nd that’s when they would come to us.
I wasn’t sure that was what was going on with Garrett though. He really seemed to be new to everything farm-related and didn’t even look like he was comfortable wearing his cowboy boots and jeans. I would have to make an effort to get to know him a little and see what had brought him to our ranch.
I watched as his blond hair bobbed up and down in the horse stall while he shoveled it clean. His hair was shaggy and looked like it had been professionally cut recently, which surprised me because most the men who showed up to work on the ranch had been drifting around for a while before they landed with us. They certainly weren’t paying money to get their hair cut.
“Do you have gloves?” I asked, as I put Buckjoy in his spot and walked over to Garrett.
“Who needs gloves?” Garrett joked as he held up his hands that were full of blisters. “These are the hands of a highly skilled shit shoveler.”
“Oh, God. Have you never worked at all? Those are horrible,” I laughed, but then felt bad. His hands were indeed in very bad shape.
“I’m more of a supervisor than a worker bee normally, but I’ll manage.”
“Here, let me get you some gloves. Those need to be drained and cleaned, too. Come see me at lunchtime and I’ll fix you up,” I said.
Garrett flashed a smile at me and my knees went weak; it caught me off guard and I grabbed onto the side of the barn to stabilize myself. I certainly wasn’t used to a good-looking ranch hand being around me and was even less comfortable with him flirting with me. If that was what he was doing? I hadn’t been flirted with in a long time, so I wasn’t even sure I knew it when a man was doing it.
Quickly I turned toward the cabinets on the other end of the building and grabbed him a pair of leather gloves. They were my father’s, but it was clear that Garrett needed them more than anyone.
“Put these on,” I ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” Garrett said as he snatched them from the air when I threw them. “Do you always give the order around here?”
His voice was light-hearted and his smile brilliantly white. I knew he was teasing me, but I wasn’t sure I was able to handle it. My life was in ruins and I had only come home to gather the pieces; I really didn’t have time for flirting; even if he was one of the most delicious men I had ever laid eyes on.
“I do have to give orders from time to time,” I said as I grinned back at him. “I’ll see you at lunch.”
I didn’t wait for his response and quickly left the building. My heart pounded with excitement at the interaction I had just had. There was something about Garrett that drew me to him. Maybe it was his smile, or his handsome good looks; or maybe it was just that my father seemed to like him. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I knew I was going to enjoy having him around this summer.
Chapter Three
Garrett
My isolation at the Miller ranch was suddenly looking up quite a bit. I hadn’t actually seen a woman in weeks, besides Mrs. Miller, and Sarah Miller was just the woman I needed to take my mind off the torturous work I was doing.
My mind was filled with all sorts of ideas about what I could do while I was at the ranch. How I could continue to build my company, better myself, plan out my testimony. But instead of being able to concentrate on any of the things I had wanted to, I was physically exhausted. My body hurt more in the few weeks I had been on the ranch than it had hurt after I ran a marathon just out of college.
Before coming to the ranch, I had imagined what it would be like to work all day and thought I could handle it. I was used to working hard at my company, but my work allowed me the opportunity to do much of it from behind a desk. Physical labor wasn’t something I had ever been afraid of and hard work was comfortable to me, but the past few weeks had felt more like a concentration camp than a place of work. I couldn’t imagine how anyone would willingly choose this as their job. The physical exhaustion was taking its toll on me.
Not only were my hands torn up and bloodied, but my whole body felt like I was only moments away from collapsing. Every night when I crawled into bed, I couldn’t imagine being able to wake up and actually move my body. I couldn’t read a book and I could barely write my ideas down in my journal before the sleep took over. Yet, day after day, I was up and working again in the horse stables. I was proud of myself for not complaining and trying to fit in with everyone.
My job there was temporary and I knew that. I had a court hearing coming up and if I could just get through a few weeks of working, then I’d be able to get back to my normal life. Although, I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t ever be able to get back to any sort of normal life. Frank Gordano wanted me dead, even if I testified against him and he got sent away to jail, I wasn’t sure I would ever really be safe. It was one of many thoughts that rolled through my mind as I fell asleep at night.
Sarah was much more beautiful than the picture of her I’d seen in the main house. She had been wearing jeans that were tight enough for me to see every last curve of her beautiful body. And boy, did she have some fabulous curves. I wasn’t sure if I lusted after her so much because I hadn’t seen a woman in such a long time at the ranch, or if it was because I was actually attracted to her. But from where I stood, either option was perfectly fine. I wasn’t going to be able to go after her though; I knew that Sid had been joking with me, but I also knew that I could be pulled away from the ranch at any moment. But Sarah was going to make for some great fantasies when I was alone in my bed at night—if I could manage to stay awake long enough to think about her.
When lunchtime came, I hurried over to the gathering room and was one of the first men there to get lunch. Missing breakfast was my normal routine back at home, but sitting at a desk all morning hadn’t made me nearly as hungry as shoveling horse excrement did. I was famished and scooped the food into my mouth as fast as I could.
“Careful, youngin’, you’re going to give yourself a stomach ache.”