Free Billionaire In Hiding: The Complete Series (Alpha Billionaire Romance Western Love Story) by Claire Adams Page B

around in expectation. I felt as if someone might be just outside
the gates waiting to kill me. But as the truck moved further away from the
ranch, I began to relax just a little bit. How likely was it there would be
anyone even remotely close to our little Montana city? How would they have even
found me? No, I told myself I was being paranoid and that was all there was to
it.
    “How
are your hands?” she asked.
    I
held them out for her to see and showed off my proud calluses on them. They
were the hands of a true working man and I was actually proud of them. The
rough nature of my hands now showed that I was physically able to work the
ranch and I wasn’t that weak gym rat that I had been when I first arrived.
    Rough
callus-ridden hands weren’t something I ever imagined I would be proud of. Yet
I really was. My life on the ranch had been such a growing experience up to
that point and I was happy to stay a few weeks longer and continue to learn. I
still had the feeling as if I were away at summer camp and having Sarah there
made things even better.
    My
body had started adjusting to the long hours, although I was still very tired
and ready for bed each night. Since getting my watch, I was getting up with
everyone else and didn’t seem to be the butt of jokes anymore. Plus, there were
a couple new ranch hands that were doing more of the grunt work as I started to
take on additional responsibilities. Life was good for me and I didn’t feel
afraid for my life like I had when I first arrived.
    “They
healed up real nice. Thanks again for taking such good care of me.”
    I
wasn’t specifically trying to flirt with Sarah, but I honestly couldn’t help
myself. The way her big, brown eyes looked at me, she had ever nerve in my body
standing at attention. For weeks she had avoided eye contact and hurried out of
the barn whenever I was in there. But there she was, right next to me in the
truck, the two of us alone as we made our way into town. I didn’t regret my
decision one bit, I would have agreed to go anywhere with her.
    Sarah
kept her hands on the wheel and concentrated on the road as she drove. It felt
like she was trying to avoid talking to me, yet she had been the one who
invited me to come with her into town. I couldn’t help but stare at her as she
held onto the large truck steering wheel. Her long, brown hair was pulled to
either side in braids and she looked like a college girl. Sarah was half
smiling and I thought she would say something flirty to me, but just as she
started to talk she would bite her bottom lip and then stop.
    “It’s
just part of my job. You’re our employee; I can’t have you bleeding all over
the place or being in so much pain you can’t work,” she finally said.
    She
looked at me and then her eyes turned back to the road as she sat coldly
ignoring me for the rest of the drive into town. She was trying her best to put
distance between us and I understood. I wasn’t going to let it happen, but I
understood why she was doing it. In the six weeks that I had been on the ranch
I had already seen four men leave and three more take their places. It wasn’t a
place where men came and lived for a long time and I couldn’t promise her I was
going to stay much longer either. Who was I to try and build a friendship with
this woman? I could literally be gone at any moment. The agent who dropped me
off just had to show up at the front door of Mr. Miller’s home and I would
leave with him without a question being asked.
    I
couldn’t offer Sarah anything and I was selfish for wanting anything from her.
But I still wanted it. I still wanted her. Even if I was only there one more
day, I wanted to feel the gentle touch of Sarah’s lips against mine. I longed
for a moment when we could sneak away and she would let me explore her naked
body with my lips and hands. I’d take anything she was willing to give,
anything except the silence she was giving me as we drove into town.
    “How
am I doing with