Miss Firecracker: Wild West Boys, Book 2 by Lorelei James Read Free Book Online Page B

For now.”
    She chewed on that for a second. “You looking at moving?”
    “I don’t know. Keeping my options open.”
    “Your family is there?”
    “Lots of extended family around Sundance and Moorcroft. But sometimes it’s too much. Everyone and their dog knows everything about you and your entire family, going back generations. It’s been a relief to be here where no one knows me.”
    That sounded ominous, like he was a damn fugitive or something. He backtracked. “As for immediate family, my older brother, Nick, is a police detective in Denver. He and his wife, Holly, are about to make me an uncle.” Blake paused. “What about you?”
    “Just one younger brother. Jackie. He goes to college in Lincoln. That’s where my folks are this weekend.”
    Easy silence settled between them.
    Blake gazed out the window, amazed by the lush, green landscape of western Nebraska, a world of difference from the dry dust and sage of eastern Wyoming. It was flat here, not hilly, with treeless plateaus where you could see for a hundred miles. The humid air was filled with the earthy scent of vegetation.
    Willow turned off the highway onto a gravel road. Behind a copse of Cottonwood trees stood an old two-story farmhouse, recently renovated with new Color-loc siding, a new roof, new gutters and high-end Pella windows. The detached three-car garage was new too.
    Blake didn’t see a barn or another outbuilding. “This place all yours?”
    “Yep. I bought it after I graduated from Vo-tech. I couldn’t live with my folks, or in town, but I didn’t need a place with a large acreage either.”
    “Not a horse or cattle girl?”
    “God no. I cannot fathom spending my life a slave to animals. Only to ship them off for slaughter. Seems barbaric.”
    Yeah, he was really glad he hadn’t told her about his “barbaric” life as a sheep rancher. He’d heard that leading “lambs to slaughter” line enough times and it was another good reason he kept his mouth shut. He glanced across the empty pasture hoping the breeze would cool his flaming cheeks. “What is the acreage?”
    “Small. Around ten acres.”
    “That is pretty tiny.”
    “Hey, it’s not the smallest one around.”
    “I didn’t mean it as an insult. I guess I’m just used to Wyoming ‘small’ acreages.”
    “What’s considered small there?”
    “Anything under a thousand acres.”
    “Holy moly.” She parked on the concrete slab in front of the garage.
    Blake hopped out of the truck. She led him through the small covered breezeway between the house and the garage.
    A large deck stretched along the backside of the house. Willow slid a key in the top lock of a set of French doors. She stepped inside and motioned him in. “You want a tour?”
    “Sure.”
    She walked him through the main floor, room by room, detailing the changes and improvements. Blake was impressed with the quality of the work, but also that she’d kept the simple country charm of the farmhouse. Some of the places he’d remodeled with his cousins were just damn gaudy.
    “Is the crown molding original?”
    “In the living room and dining room.” She pointed to the thin, square-cut strip of wood along the ceiling in the kitchen. “Probably overkill to put it in here, but I thought it’d unify all three spaces.”
    “It looks like it belongs, which is why I asked.” Blake smiled at her. “If you tell me you did every bit of this remodel yourself I’ll feel like a total slacker.”
    His comment jarred her for a second, but she recovered quickly. “I did a lot of it myself. Luckily I didn’t have many structural changes.” She smacked the solid wall with the flat of her hand. “Lots of nights and weekends. Whenever we hit a slow spell and Dad was reluctant to let any of the guys go, knowing business would pick up, we worked over here.”
    “You and your dad work together on jobsites?”
    Willow’s eyebrows drew together. “You’re the first guy who’s asked that. Most guys say,