“Well, I apparently like to stare at people, so it kinda comes with the territory.”
I shot her a smirk. “Still hung up on that, huh?”
“I just can’t believe you noticed. Fifteen-year-old Claire is humiliated.”
“But adult Claire isn’t?”
She smacked my arm, laughing. “Asshole.”
“It’s okay, I know I’m sexy. It’s hard not to notice.”
“When’d you get the tattoo?” I considered it a win that she didn’t deny thinking I was sexy. I wasn’t sure my ego could take her denying it.
I let out a heavy sigh. “When I was twenty-two, right before I came home from college. I thought Mount would think it wassome great declaration of my love for the ranch. That I was as dedicated as he was. That I had what it took to run things one day. He took one look at it, said it was the stupidest thing he’d seen, and never brought it up again.”
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been really difficult.”
I shrugged a shoulder, brushing off the phantom sting of his words. “I don’t know what I was expecting, honestly. Nothin’s ever good enough for that man.”
Her hand was warm and comforting on my thigh, an anchor in the storm of emotions my father stirred up. “I think what you’re doing is really brave. I’ve seen all the changes you’ve made to Circle M. The improvements. And while I’ve nearly shot your drone out of the sky a handful of times, I could only dream of that kind of stuff for Golden Bridle. Or just the simple act of someone who cared about it as much as you care about Circle M. Don’t let him convince you that you don’t have what it takes because you’re already doing it, Beau. Your siblings believe in you, and so do I.”
Why’d it feel like she just ripped my heart out and somehow repaired it at the same time? I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. It was all the thanks I could muster without exposing how much I needed to hear that.
Claire’s phone rang, thank God. I could focus on not crying while she took care of that. “Hello?” She let out a disgusted sigh, and my interest was immediately piqued. “What do you want?”
“Who is it?” I mouthed.
She put the phone on speaker, setting it on the center console. Preston Hollis’s smug voice filled the cab. “…and I’ve been talking with Beaumont, and he’s said some pretty interesting things about pushing you out of your land once he gets this partnership with Cavendish.”
I wrenched my jaw, my knuckles whitening around the steering wheel. I opened my mouth to respond, but Claire heldup a finger, silencing me. “Really? That’s funny because I’m sitting with him right now, and he has no fucking clue what you’re talking about and looks pretty pissed.”
Preston started blabbing random shit. Panicking. And all I felt was pride.
“Why don’t you pull your head out of your pretentious ass and realize that we are never going to sell to you. I can speak for both of us when I say we’d rather die than do business with you and your greedy as fuck family. Donotcall me again, or you will regret it.”
She slammed her finger on the screen, hanging up on him as I pulled into Golden Bridle’s driveway. “God, he’s fucking annoying,” she snapped. She glanced over at me, doing a double-take when she saw me grinning at her like a fool. “What?”
My smile widened, and I shook my head. “Sexy as hell,” I murmured, looking back at the road.
“You’re sick in the head, Beaumont.”
“What can I say? I like what I like.”
I walked her to her door. “You didn’t have to walk me up,” she said, fiddling with the key in the deadbolt. I made a mental note to fix that next.
“I know. But I wanted to.”I don’t want to leave you yet, I almost admitted.
“I’m not inviting you inside,” she added as if that were some kind of deterrent.
“I know that, too.”
“Well, you just know everything, don’t you?”
I smiled smugly. “Sure do.”
“I bet you don’t know this,” she said, and then got on her toes, her mouth hovering by my ear. “That was the best goddamn kiss I’d ever had in my life, too. And I’m gonna think about it later tonight.”
And then she slammed the door right in my fucking face.
