Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“What the fuck was that?” Bradley whispered.
“Just a kit fox or jackrabbit,” Nicole said without taking her eyes off the clipboard. “It’s not gonna hurt you.”
Walt didn’t seem reassured. Even Leo had to admit it was hard not to feel exposed when surrounded by nothing but black sky and unending stars. The closest he’d ever been to this degree of isolation was his summer at Wilder Ranch, and at least that property had electricity and toilets. Here they were out in the middle of nowhere with just the moon and the stars and a few torches to light their way. Leo assumed it was safe at camp, but so far there’d been no sign of Nicole’s boss, and he wouldn’t exactly say Nicole seemed overly concerned about their well-being.
“I will ask you not to wander around, though. It’s flat here, but it won’t be for long. We don’t want anyone tumbling over a cliff because they got disoriented taking a leak in the dark.” She pointed to a small cluster of buildings. “For tonight, the tack shed and outhouse are that way, but stay inside the boundary of the lanterns. If you can’t see the ground, we can’t see you.”
Terry stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “What’s the mountain lion situation ’round here? I’ve read they hunt in this area. I assume you have some kind of perimeter fence set up.”
Nicole bit back an amused smile. “Fence wouldn’t keep ’em out if they really wanted in.”
“A gun would,” Terry countered.
“I got no problem turning a rooster into a hen with one shot,” she said, “though it’s my experience that guns usually cause more problems than they solve. But if you’re worried, just know mountain lions don’t have much use for us and are usually following the mule deer this time of year, anyway. Just do what we ask, and we’ll keep you safe.”
“ ‘We’ being just you and your girlboss?” he asked, and the rest of them took a step away, distancing themselves from Terry’s mouth. Apparently he hadn’t seen Nicole’s knife.
“Why do you assume my boss is a girl?” Nicole asked, arching a brow at him.
When Terry inhaled to answer, Bradley quickly cut in. “I’m sure he just meant, like, we don’t imagine a man would just leave you out here alone with a bunch of guys.”
Nicole laughed at this. “I can handle myself just fine.”
Leo had no doubt this was true.
But Terry couldn’t help himself: “Can you?”
Nicole took a step forward, eye to eye now and staring him down. “We’ve been capably taking care of tourists for nearly a decade. There are a few cowboys who use this camp when they need to, and we have a guy who jumps ahead to leave supplies along the trail, but you won’t see them and you won’t need them.” She paused, gazing evenly at him. “That going to be a problem? I can call someone to come pick you up before we head out tomorrow.”
Terry laughed but took a small step back. “Nah. That’s all right.”
“Good.” She held his gaze for a beat longer. “You’ll meet Dub in the morning.” Nicole smirked. “I invite you to run these questions past her as well.”
She gave each of them a set of handouts, and in the flickering light Leo could just make out what he assumed was a list of rules stapled to a brief trip itinerary. All for him to look over tomorrow. For now, at the top of the first page and circled in red was his tent number. Nicole told them to turn in for the night and that breakfast would be served at seven o’clock sharp. “Get some sleep,” she said with a wink. “You’ll need it.”
Leo moved to follow the scattering group when a figure just out of the firelight caught his eye, a mirage at the edge of the moonlight, stepping out of the small horse pen. Stick-straight hair sparked the memory of fall leaves and naked skin on the bank of the river. It was a hazy memory, or maybe he was already half out of it, already dreaming. Shaking his head, Leo climbed into his tent and tumbled onto the sleeping bag there. He didn’t even kick his shoes off. The sense of déjà vu was gone before he could get a solid hold on it, and within minutes, he was asleep.
Chapter Four
TO LILY, THERE was no such thing as sleeping in. There were no holidays, only the special workdays with clean jeans—not dirty ones—at the dinner table. Even as a little girl she was up with the sun. In the summer, feed needed to be put out and troughs filled, meals prepped, and guests tended to. In the winter, the work changed, but no matter what, the horses came first, the humans came second, and self-care specifically fell somewhere much further down the line.