Must Love Cowboys: This steamy and heart-warming cowboy rom-com is a must-read! (Once Upon A Time In by Carly Bloom (ereader for textbooks .txt) 📗

hope just as surely as his lungs filled up with air. There was one thing he’d wanted for seemingly his entire life, and he’d just had her. Multiple times. Multiple ways. And goddammit. He planned to keep her.

Someone pounded on the door. It was probably Bryce, so he grabbed a pillow to cover himself, climbed out of bed, and answered it.

Bryce stood there with his left eyebrow raised. Do you know what time it is?

Beau stepped back and let him in.

“Jesus Christ. What happened in here?” Bryce asked, yanking the curtains open. The comforter was on the floor. The sheets were bunched up at the foot of the bed. Rose petals were strewn everywhere.

Beau winced as the light hit his eyes.

“Never mind. Don’t answer that,” Bryce said. “But you’re going to pay for that lamp.”

Beau picked the lamp up and set it on the nightstand. “I don’t think it’s badly broken.”

It didn’t matter if it was. He’d happily pay for it. Right now, he’d happily do just about anything.

“I’m going to meet up with Ford at the lodge and have a cup of coffee. Why don’t you come join us? Then we’ll get our day started.”

“Sounds good,” Beau said. Because everything sounded good right now. There was literally nothing on this earth that could bring him down.

“So, uh . . .” Bryce smiled. “I’d say things went pretty good between you and Alice last night.”

Beau dropped the pillow. He was as naked a jaybird, but he had zero qualms. “Pretty good,” he said with a wink.

Bryce shook his head. “I could have done without seeing the morning wood, brother.”

Beau laughed. “You see it every day when you get out of bed. I’m hitting the shower, but I’ll be quick. I’ll meet you and Ford in a few minutes.”

He stuck to his word, and it was only about fifteen minutes later that he walked into the grand lodge. Ford and Bryce sat by a huge fireplace—it would probably be really nice in winter—holding coffee cups and talking.

Beau helped himself to a muffin wrapped in cellophane and sat in a leather chair next to Bryce. “Good morning.”

“Mornin’,” Ford said.

There was tension across Bryce’s brow. He looked at Beau. Brace for it.

Ford leaned back in his chair. “Worth called. The pump stopped working where you hooked up those new solar panels. He’s called a technician and he moved the cattle down to the river.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. “Who’s watching the cattle? They can get across the Rio Verde right now.”

“He’s got a couple of guys on it.”

Maybe Worth should be the fucking foreman. “So, the pump stopped working? Like, entirely? It was working when I left.”

“Something must have happened. Don’t fret over it. We should have paid someone to come out and hook it all up in the first place. I just wanted to keep you apprised because you’re the foreman.”

What kind of a foreman let his cows get thirsty during a drought? Twice? Fire-hot shame and embarrassment took over Beau’s body, making him break out in a light sweat. “Yeah. Well, I’m real sorry about it.”

Ford shrugged. “You tried to save us a buck or two. But next time, if you aren’t sure what you’re doing, just let me know. If Worth hadn’t caught it—”

“The cattle could have died.”

“This drought is a bitch for sure,” Ford said. “Right now, everything is about the water. And that reminds me. Little Rosa and I are going to play in the pool while you two suckers work your asses off today. I’m on vacation.”

“It hardly feels like working,” Bryce said. “After years of wrangling cows, wrangling chairs and tables is easy.”

“I suspect Anna will be a tough taskmaster,” Ford said with a chuckle.

As if she’d heard her name, Anna walked in. She spotted them and came straight over. “I need you to haul a margarita machine to the bridesmaids’ suite.”

“Right now?” Bryce asked.

Anna shrugged. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.” Then she turned her attention to Ford. “Claire is looking for you. She wants you to take the baby so she can go to Austin.”

“What is she going to Austin for?”

“Shoes.”

Ford sighed. “I should have seen that coming. Tell her I’ll be there as soon as I finish this cup of coffee.”

Beau was hardly listening. He wanted to leave here and get back to Rancho Cañada Verde so he could check on things. Take a look at that solar panel hookup, make sure Worth wasn’t going to let the cattle cross the Rio Verde . . . Dammit. Why hadn’t he just admitted the instructions were over his head?

It hadn’t felt like it, though. He’d understood the diagram.

Anna marched off and Ford stood up, downing the rest of his coffee in one gulp. “I’d better get going so Claire can buy all the shoes in Austin and be back in time for the wedding,” he said. “And Beau, speaking of Austin, I heard Alice’s good news. Claire probably wasn’t supposed to tell me, but she did.”

Alice’s name got Beau’s attention. “Pardon?”

“She told me Alice got that big, fancy library job in Austin,” Ford said. “Claire’s happy for her, but she can’t believe Alice is leaving Big Verde.”

Bryce looked at Beau. What is Ford talking about?

Beau had literally no idea. Ford leaned over and slapped him on the shoulder. “Long-distance relationships can be hard, but Austin isn’t too far away. And when something’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, right?”

Alice had gotten a new job? In Austin? The ground seemed to tilt, and the sip of coffee he’d just swallowed rose into his throat, along with a healthy dose of bile. He worked hard to keep his face blank. He didn’t want to look like he felt, which was sick. And stupid. Stupider, in fact, than he’d ever felt. And that was saying something.

How could Alice not have mentioned a new job in another town? Like, how could that have happened? Jesus. Their fake relationship really was fake. He’d fooled himself (easy to fool a fool). But he