had some decision making to do.
He really hated change.
But it was starting to look like it was time to make one.
* * *
IT WAS LATE and Olivia was tired and cranky, feeling more than a little burned out after a long day at Grassroots. She missed having Bennett come pick her up. It had made her feel important, that she had a boyfriend who would come get her after work. That he was so solicitous and protective of her.
She missed it a lot.
She had missed it especially today when she had gotten into the car feeling exhausted and put upon, with the drive back to Gold Valley ahead of her. And now she had to make a stop at Get Out of Dodge.
Lindy had checked that it was okay. But Olivia hadn’t seen the point in being difficult about it. It was late, and Bennett probably wouldn’t be at the ranch anyway. He would either be at home or off on some veterinary emergency. Or, out at the bar. But it was very likely that the only person at the ranch would be Jamie. Even though things with Jamie were a little bit awkward, they weren’t insurmountable.
Lindy wanted pamphlets dropped off, and for Olivia to nudge Wyatt about what he was thinking about the partnership with Grassroots. Once Lindy got something in her mind, she was headstrong. She was incredibly independent. In Olivia’s opinion, the way that Lindy had left her husband and taken control of the winery, started from scratch, was admirable.
Not something that Olivia was certain she would have been able to do. She valued security and the opinions of other people too much.
She knew that Lindy’s divorce had impacted how people thought of her. Which wasn’t fair. Her ex-husband, Damien, had been cheating on her with one of the winery employees; it was hardly Lindy’s fault.
But people were hard on women. Exceptionally hard.
Olivia took a deep breath as she turned into the familiar drive that led up to the ranch. She had been up here countless times. As a family friend, and then as Bennett’s girlfriend. And it felt different now. Because it didn’t feel like it was part of her anymore. Didn’t feel like it belonged to her in any way.
It had. Like she was going to be part of this family. Part of this ranch that they had here. This legacy.
She felt sad about that.
There was a light on in the barn, and she stopped there. Jamie was probably putting the horses away.
She grabbed the pamphlets that Lindy had sent with her, clutching them in her hand as she headed into the red building.
When she saw who it was inside, she froze. It was not Jamie. Instead of her feminine, wiry frame, it was a masculine, broad-shouldered body. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, dark blue, and those sleeves were pushed up, which was providing her with quite an interesting show. He was bent down, the muscles in his forearms flexing with each pass of the push broom over the cement floor.
There was a black cowboy hat hanging on a hook, over the top of a bridle and lead rope.
She knew exactly who she was looking at. Because she had been fixated on those hands last night.
Her throat was dry. She couldn’t remember why she had come in here in the first place.
She looked down. Right. The pamphlets.
“Luke,” she said, his name coming out scratchy.
He stopped, midsweep, and then looked up at her, his green eyes hitting her with the force of a punch to the stomach. At least she assumed it was a similar sensation, though she had never been punched in the stomach before. But then, she had never felt anything quite like this before. Not since the last time he had looked at her, anyway.
“Are you looking for Bennett?”
“No,” she said. “I was looking for Wyatt.”
“I think he went out. Trying to drag Grant out of his hermitage, or something.”
Olivia nodded. She worried about Grant. But she also wasn’t surprised that he was still alone, even after all this time. She couldn’t imagine him with anyone other than Lindsay. They had been together for so long. She had been the love of his life. She didn’t know how you moved on from something like that.
She frowned. Was Bennett the love of her life? What if she didn’t get him back? Was she also never going to be able to move on? Well, it wasn’t like Bennett was dead. He was just not her boyfriend. That wasn’t the same thing.
“What did you need?”
Luke’s question dragged her out of her swampy thoughts. “Oh. I just... Lindy asked if I could bring these by.” She thrust the pamphlets out toward him.
He just looked at them. “Okay.”
She took a couple of steps toward him, with the pamphlets still held out. “Because she thought Wyatt might want to see these. You know, because I know that Lindy’s brother had mentioned to him that Lindy was interested in doing some kind of a... You know, mutual promotion thing...”
“Wyatt mentioned as much,” Luke said, propping the broom up and leaning against the handle. “He also said he wasn’t sure about working with the ex-wife of a friend.”
“Is he still friends with Damien? Because Damien is a cheating louse.”
“Bros—”
“If you say bros before hos, so help me God, Luke, I will give you a paper cut with one of these pamphlets.”
His green eyes glittered with wicked humor. “I wasn’t going to say that.”
“You were.”
“I will take your pamphlets,” he said, reaching his hand out, but not making a move toward her. She swore he was trying to be agitating.
She closed the distance between them and placed the pamphlets in his outstretched palm, her fingertips brushing against his bare skin.
She ignored the little zip that raced down to her stomach. “Thank you. Just make sure Wyatt gets them. For the record, I’m not sure that Lindy is thrilled at the idea of working with a bull rider.”
“Why is that?” Luke asked.
“Pretty sure she hates everything associated with the rodeo, given her husband works PR for them, and also, bull riders specifically since he used to hang out with them. And, more specifically, Wyatt.”
“Fair enough. Now, I don’t know that I’m the best person to judge, considering I don’t know that I’m a candidate for fidelity myself. But I’ve also never tried. And never promised it.”
“Great. Congratulations on being slightly less disgusting than my friend’s cheating husband.”
He looked around as if he were searching for something. “Is there a badge for that?”
In spite of herself, Olivia laughed. “I’ll have one made.”
“I’ll
