EMMETT (The Corbin Brothers Book 3) by Lexie Ray Read Free Book Online Page B

realm of my experience. This was exactly what I had wanted out of Dax Malone, and the fact that I was getting it instead from his daughter, Peyton Crow, was even stranger. But I had to temper my enthusiasm with caution.
    “You said you’re good at secrets.”
    “That’s right. I did say that. Glad it stuck with you.”
    “If my brothers find out that I’m going behind their backs, talking to people about horses instead of cattle, all four of them would probably gang up on me and beat my ass in for me.”
    “Well, I won’t tell your brothers about us discussing horses if you don’t tell my father we’re doing the same thing.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “You tried to go talk to him earlier today, didn’t you? Don’t lie to me. I can smell it from a mile away. He turned you down. You wouldn’t have approached me, otherwise.”
    “You think he’d be pissed if he found out you were talking to me?” I asked. “He seemed pretty hostile.”
    “He would never give away even a scrap of information if he thought it might give someone the leg up over him,” she said. “I’ve had to yank every bit of knowledge from that old fart like it was pulling teeth, but I know enough — and then some. Yeah. He’d hate it if he found out I was talking to you — especially since he turned you down first.”
    “I guess we both have secrets that need keeping, then,” I said.
    “I guess we do.” She stepped back and stuck her hand out. “I’ll keep yours if you keep mine.”
    I only hesitated a moment before putting my hand in hers and shaking it. She had a strong grip — stronger than any woman I’d ever shaken hands with.
    “It’s a deal.”
    I hoped I knew what I was getting myself into.

Chapter 3
    For weeks, it was all I could think about, all I searched on Google when I got a spare moment, though those came fewer and farther between now that I was back to working full time on the ranch. I knew I would have to play hooky from the ranch in order to devote as much time as was necessary to the project with Peyton, and I thought about how I’d manage that, too. But my head was full of dreams, and for the first time in a long time, I was really excited about everything, launching myself out of bed every morning, running myself happily ragged.
    Peyton and I corresponded cautiously at first, and then constantly, both of us finally settling on a morning we could both carve out to meet in person. She’d come here, to my trailer. I’d be missing a scheduled assignment, but I didn’t think I’d be missed. There were too many moving parts on this ranch for one to draw any sort of extra scrutiny.
    That morning, though, after a night of anxious tossing and turning, I had to stop and laugh at myself. I was trying on shirt after shirt like I was nervous about my appearance. She knew what I looked like, and she’d still agreed to this meeting. Anything would be fine.
    But after that personal pep talk, when I heard the crunch of gravel outside the trailer, I jumped, tossing off the shirt I had been sure I’d decided on and pulling on the first one I’d tried. I shoved the rest of them in the chest of drawers, pushing my hip against them until I forced them shut, shirts bulging. That would have to do. I wasn’t going to make her wait.
    I bounded out of the trailer with a grin, ready and not ready at all to greet her, looking at where her car should be, and saw nothing. What the hell? I’d been certain that I’d heard her out there, even if she was a little early — though not by much. Was that how anxious I was about this meeting, that I’d hallucinated the sound of someone approaching the trailer? I shook my head at myself for not the first time that morning. It was like a first date, or something, only it wasn’t. This was a business meeting. No dating. Business only. Forget pleasure, how nice it would be to lay eyes on her again.
    “What’s up, Emmett?” Avery asked, clapping me on the back and making me