I woke up the next morning with my body aching, worn out from such a hard day’s work. I grumbled as I sat up and stretched my aching muscles, standing up and getting dressed for the day. My hands were raw and sore, tired to the bone, but I refused to complain to Cooper or his family—whatever game he was playing, I was here to do a job. I wasn’t going to show him weakness by letting him know how hard the farm work was on my body, and I wasn’t going to beg him to let me see the business branch, either.

I looked at the clock to see that it was past eight, the sun long since risen. It surprised me that Cooper hadn’t woken me up but I was grateful—I had needed the rest if I was going to go back to working with my hands today. I went downstairs from the bedroom and into the kitchen, where Abigail and Jane were sitting at the counter, both of them eating from massive plates.

“Go ahead,” they said when I walked in. “Eat what you want. You’re going to need it.”

I went to the counter and got a plate, filling it up, then went to sit with them. I felt shy around people I barely knew and felt no less so with these two, especially given that I was there in order to trick their brother. Still, they both gave me friendly smiles as I sat down to eat with them.

“So how is this whole thing going?” Abigail asked. “What do you think of Coop?”

“Uh—”

“You don’t have to lie,” Jane said. “We know he’s a pain. And ma told us about what he did to you yesterday. I would have kicked his ass if I would have known.”

“He didn’t really do anything wrong,” I said. “I could have come inside, I just—needed some time alone. I was upset.”

“Uh oh,” Jane said, crossing her arms over her chest. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “We just—don’t get along very well.”

“That’s because he likes you,” Abigail said. I snorted.

“No, he doesn’t,” I said. “If he liked me, he’d take me to see the branch. So far, he says he won’t.”

“He wants to test you. He does it with everyone. Wants to know what you’re made of.”

“He’s about to find out what I’m made of,” I grumbled.

“Good girl,” said Abigail, chortling. “Somebody needs to turn it around on him. What’s your plan with him, anyway?”

I swallowed, hoping they couldn’t read the guilt on my face.

“I’m supposed to figure out how he runs things and report back to the board,” I said.

“Honey,” Jane said. “You have all the power with him. Don’t let him push you around.”

“Is he always like that?”

“He’s tough, but he’s a good guy. He looks for values in people—how they work, how they treat people.”

“I see,” I said doubtfully. So far, I hadn’t seen him with many people, but he didn’t seem to value anything in me. I got angry all over again thinking about what he had said to me the day before about never working a day in my life; I had worked hard through school, working two jobs and going to classes full-time. Abigail could read the look on my face.

“Don’t let him get to you,” she said.

“Do you know where he is?”

“I think he’s out fixing the barn with Mercy and John.”

“Are they staff?”

Abigail nodded. “He told us to send you out there when you’re done.”

I stood up, then, carrying my dishes to the sink. Before I left, Abigail stopped me, looking at me intently.

“Don’t let him get to you. You be tough with him,” she said. I nodded, smiling at her, and left to go to the barn. I looked around the ranch as I walked across the property—it was massive and beautiful, with an apple orchard at the far end, three barns, the stables, and several other out buildings that I didn’t recognize. The place really was breathtaking, everything green and lush, natural and nothing like my place in the city.

I froze for an instant when I first saw Cooper, coming around the corner and catching a glimpse of him standing with a woman. He had a big grin on his face, flirtatious, his eyes low as he stared at her. My eyes wandered over him—he was shirtless, the hard lines of his muscles etched into a broad, strong body. There was sweat beading off of him, and my eyes lingered on his chest for a moment before he caught me staring.

“There you are,” he said, his smile falling when he saw me. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Seems like you’ve been plenty busy,” I said to him, glancing over at the woman, who was beautiful and dressed in a short denim skirt, a look that could not be pulled off by anyone bigger than a size ten. She looked me over, a smile on her face.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Mercy. I hear you’re here evaluating our man.”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“What kind of impression has he left so far?”

“Mercy—”

“Not a great one,” I said to her dryly. She laughed. It was then that a boy joined us, no older than seventeen, with a thick dusting of freckles on his face, along with ginger hair. He was a scrawny kid, but obviously strong, as if he’d been working at the ranch for most of his life.

“Hey, John, you can get out of here,” Cooper said. “Thanks for your work today. Did you get those boards cut?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said in a voice that was deeper than I expected. “Do you need anything else before I go? I can feed the horses—”

“No, thank you,” Cooper said. “You’re a good man. Go on home. Tell your mama that I’ll see her later.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy repeated, glancing at me nervously before he left.

“I guess I’d better let you two get back to work,” Mercy said, her eyes flitting between me and Cooper. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“See you later, Mercy,” Cooper said, and I was surprised that his eyes didn’t follow her as she walked away. Instead, they were focused on me, my face, and briefly my lips. I remembered that kiss from the night before and it was like I could still feel his mouth against mine. No matter how angry I had been at him, that kiss was something that I would never be able to forget.

“How are you this morning?”

“Great,” I said sarcastically. “What are we doing?”

“We’re going out to fix a gate to the goat pens,” he said, his hands on his hips. “Think you can handle that?”

“I can handle anything you want me to do, Cooper.”

He grimaced. “I highly doubt that, Violet.”

The tone in his voice made me shiver. It was commanding, hard and unyielding. He was challenging me, but at the same time, he didn’t think I could live up to the challenge. I decided that no matter what happened, I was going to prove him wrong. I wouldn’t complain and I would do everything he told me to do. There was no way that I was going to confirm what he thought he knew about me—that I never worked with my hands, or wasn’t capable of doing these things on my own.

“What do you want me to do?”

“In general or right now?”

I didn’t answer him, but stared at his face, my eyes traveling down to his body again.

“Right now,” I said, my throat feeling dry. He grinned when I looked up at him again.

“Something on your mind, Violet?”

“No,” I said quickly. “No, I’m ready.”

“Okay,” he said, grabbing his shirt, throwing it over his shoulder as we walked. It was hot outside, and I was sweating under the sun. It felt good to stretch my legs, though, and it was nice to be outside in beautiful surroundings rather than cooped up in an office all day.

“Is Mercy your employee?”

“No, she’s a good friend of mine. She delivers us hay every once in a while.”

“And the boy?”

“Family friend,” he said. “Lives on the ranch next to us. He’ll be coming over to dinner tonight. Most of the workers come to supper on Thursday nights.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep. Ma feeds them all. It’s been a tradition in our family since before I was born. It’s the way my father did things for years.”

“How many employees do you have?”

“Six part-time employees right now, but only four of them will make it tonight. You’ll get to meet them before most of them come in tomorrow.”

“Will we be working outside tomorrow?” I asked him as we walked up to the goat pens. There were a dozen goats out there, two of them tiny, bleating and chewing as they eyed us. I saw that the wooden gate to the pen was falling off its hinges, propped up on a cinder block so that it wouldn’t budge if the goats tried to push it open.

“Yes,” he said. “If you can handle it.”

“Like I said, I can handle anything you throw at me.”

He stared at me, a small smile on his face.

“I’m starting to believe that, Violet.”

For a moment, we just looked at each other, and I felt something flutter in my stomach at the desire on his face. I had seen it the night before, too, in the stables when he’d kissed me. But I had sworn that it had just been the heat of the moment, that he’d been angry, wanting to shut me up. There was no way that somebody like Cooper Maverick would be truly attracted to me, not given the women I’d seen him flirt with so far.

“Come down here and hold this,” he said to me, gesturing for me to join him on the ground. I crouched down next to him, our knees touching. I stumbled slightly in the dirt, my foot slipping, and had to brace myself on his shoulder to keep from sliding onto my knees. I managed to hold myself up, but not before the feeling of his skin on mine spread an electric energy through my body.

“Hold what?” I asked him, but he didn’t respond. I turned to see that he was gazing at me, at my lips, a look of wonder on his face. I felt myself blush and cleared my throat.

“What do you want me to hold, Cooper?”

He shook his head, as if breaking himself from a reverie.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Hold these two pieces together. I need to tie them closed.”

I did as he said, trying not to look at him. We were close, so close that I could feel him brush against my knee when he moved, beginning to wrap the fence tight with a thick, heavy twine.

“Why do you do all of this yourself?” I asked him. “You have more than enough money to hire someone to fix this gate. I wouldn’t think you’d want to do all this hard work if you could avoid it.”

“I like it. I like working with my hands,” he said. I glanced over at his hands, how big they were, how adept as he quickly wrapped the gate together.

“There,” he said, looking at me. “Now you get to hammer it closed.”

“Me?” I asked. He grinned, nodding.

“Yes, you.”

“Good,” I said. “Sounds like fun.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure it does.”

“I like to work with my hands, too, you know,” I told him.

“And what do you do with your hands, Violet?”

“I like to paint,” I said. A real smile broke over his face then, not a sly grin or something dry and mirthless, but curious and happy. It made him look radiant along with his golden skin, his messy locks, that perfect body.

“Really?” he asked. “What do you like to paint?”

“Nothing interesting,” I shrugged, embarrassed to talk about it. I looked at the gate.

“So I’m going to hammer—”

“Hey,” he said. I glanced at him again, this time looking up to his face.

“What do you paint?” he asked.

“Abstracts, mostly,” I said. “Which I know sounds stupid, but—”

“No,” he said. “No, it doesn’t. I was never very good at abstracts myself.”

“You paint?” I asked him. He nodded.

“Portraits,” he said.

“Can I see some?”

“Only if you do something for me,” he said. I raised an eyebrow.

“What’s that?”

“I want you to promise to paint something for me,” he said.

“What?” I asked him, flushing again. “No, I couldn’t—”

“I have all the supplies. Everything you’ll need.”

“Is this another test?”

“You can think of it that way,” he said, his eyes sparkling as he looked at me.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe.”

He smiled again. “That’s good enough for me.”

“Good,” I said. “Now give me the hammer.”

“I’m not really going to make you do it,” he said, picking it up. “I was just kidding.”

“No, give it to me,” I insisted, holding my hand out. He handed me the hammer, a small smile on his face.

“Think you know how you use that thing?”

“I’ve swung a few hammers in my life,” I said, smiling at him. He laughed, handing me a nail.

“I’ll hold it,” he said. After a few tries, I managed to do it right, but not before he laughed and teased me for my bad aim.

“Are we finished?” I asked him. He nodded slowly. We were still crouched down, still facing each other.

“I have something to show you,” he said. “I—”

“Cooper!”

The voice came from the house. Cooper stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans, and reached out to take my hand. I took his and he helped me to my feet, his eyes on mine. For a moment, I thought he would kiss me again—he dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, leaning into me, but before he could do it somebody called his name again.

“What do you want, Abigail?” he shouted back, a tone of annoyance in his voice.

“Mom wants you in the kitchen,” she said. “Your stupid brothers left her here to cook by herself.”

“Coming,” Cooper said with a sigh, looking at me.

“Looks like I’m on kitchen duty.”

“You gonna leave me out here again? Make me clean out the goat pen?”

He laughed, looking almost bashful as he ran his hand through his hair. “No, you can come with me. Know how to cook?”

“That’s one thing I do know how to do,” I said to him. In one of the foster homes I’d lived in, my foster mother had always had me by her side in the kitchen. I hadn’t stayed with them for two years, but memories of being close to her, of feeling like family while we were cooking still lingered every time I was in a kitchen cooking the way we used to.

“Good. Ma’s going to put you to use either way. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” I said to him. For a moment as we walked, there was no tension between us, just an easy silence during which I sometimes caught him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. I smiled at him once, unable to help it—though I didn’t like Cooper very much, it had been nice to have a soft moment with him. I only hoped that we continued to get along; there was no way I was going to convince him to sell his share if we were fighting all of the time.

We got back to the house to find Marie in the kitchen, bustling around. She shot us both a look when she came in.

“You, pretty girl, you know how to cook?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said to her. She gestured for me to go to the stove.

“Try and do something with that stew. It’s a new recipe and it’s not working out. Doesn’t taste right.”

I nodded, doing as she said, lifting the spoon to my lips to taste the broth of the stew. I searched the cabinets for a moment, finding the spices, starting to throw them in a pinch at a time. Cooper watched me for a moment with amazement on his face, as if he was doing magic tricks. I smiled over at him and he dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, a sly smile on his face.

“You’re on dishes, Cooper,” Marie said, and I snickered to myself as he protested like a kid.

“I can help with the food, ma.”

“And you can help with the dishes,” Marie said in a stern voice. “Go get on ‘em.”

“Okay, mother,” he grumbled, going to the sink. Marie caught my eye and winked at me.

“That’s how you keep these boys in line,” she said.

“You must have had a rough time when they were all kids,” I said. “A bunch of little boys.”

“My sisters were worse,” Cooper said. “Always in trouble.”

“It’s true,” his mom said. “Abigail was a terror. Always breaking something. Cooper here was actually a good boy.”

“So what happened to you?” I asked Cooper teasingly. He gave me a small smile and went back to washing the dishes.

By the time dinner was done, I could hear people out in the dining room, all of them talking and laughing while we finished up. I helped Marie and Cooper carry dishes out to the dining room, where Cooper’s brothers and sisters were, along with a few people I didn’t know and John, the teenager.

“Hey, Lola,” Cooper said, grinning at a red-headed woman who sat next to John. She was older than both of us—probably Marie’s age, but the look she gave Cooper wasn’t at all the look of a family friend. She stood up, wrapping her arms around him.

“So good to see you, Cooper,” she purred. I eyed her as she looked at me, a smile on her face.

“Who is this? New—”

“An employee,” Cooper said, glancing over at me. “She works at Maverick.”

“I see,” said Lola, looking at me with disinterest. She turned back to Cooper.

“Come sit next to me, Cooper. I want to hear all about what you’re doing here.”

“Okay,” he said, his eyes on me for a moment as they crossed the table and sat next to each other, John on the other side. I sat across from them, trying to keep my eyes off of Cooper. Something within me went hot when I saw how he looked at the woman, again flirtatious, and it irritated me for some reason that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Thanks, everyone, for coming,” Marie said warmly when we were all seated at the table. “I’m especially thankful for our new friend, Violet, for helping make this food somewhat edible.”

“Everything looks great, ma,” said Jane. “And Violet.”

“I helped,” Cooper said. I snorted.

“You did the dishes.”

He beamed at me. “But it was very helpful, wasn’t it?”

“It was very helpful, baby,” Marie said. “You’re a good boy.”

Cooper made a noise that made me laugh, and his eyes met mine with a playful look. Everybody started to eat and the conversation grew loud and raucous, seeming like everybody was talking over each other—but it was warm and comfortable, and I found myself laughing often at something one of Cooper’s brothers or employees had said. By the time dinner was over, I was full and comfortable, and I felt like I had spent half the time with my eyes on Cooper, who seemed to be having the same problem as me.

We got up after dinner, everybody stretching, about to make their way out to the patio before everyone left for the night. It was cooler outside than it had been during the day, and as we sat outside, I watched the lightning bugs light up the night sky, hovering just above the ground. It really was beautiful—and I felt comfortable sitting there, enjoying the breeze. I noticed that I didn’t see Cooper or Lola anywhere, but I tried not to let it bother me as I sat there. Instead, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and enjoyed the night air.

“Cooper!” Marie called out. “Where is that boy?”

“I’ll go find him,” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. I got up and opened the sliding glass door to go inside, slipping in quietly. I could hear Cooper’s voice along with Lola’s, coming from the kitchen. I found myself walking quietly, standing at the door, nervous to interrupt but knowing that I had to.

“So, Cooper,” I heard Lola say in a seductive voice. “The rest of the kids are out tonight. If you want to come by...”

“Oh, I’d love to,” Cooper said. “But I’d better not. I’ve got a lot of work to do while I’m here. Better not get too distracted.”

“Coop,” the woman said, and I could hear the pout in her voice. “Aren’t you interested? Or is it that girl you brought—Violet? You seemed to be looking at her an awful lot.”

Cooper chuckled. “Does Violet look like my type?”

I felt something burn in my stomach at the words, something hot and angry.

“I’m not interested in her at all,” Cooper said, his tone defensive. “I don’t even like her.”

“Oh,” said the woman. “But—”

“Listen, Lola, I would love to come home with you,” he said in a low voice. “But—”

“Where’s Cooper?” came a voice behind me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I turned to see Abigail coming in through the glass door. “Is he in there?”

“I think so,” I said, pulling quickly back from the door so it didn’t look as though I was listening. My heart was pounding in my chest, so hard it was almost painful. “I—I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“Are you okay?” Abigail asked, frowning.

“Yes, I just—tired,” I said to her. “Not used to working on a farm.”

“That makes sense,” Abigail said. “Well, don’t bother saying goodnight to the others. They’ll just keep you up. I’ll tell them you’re tired and not to bother you.”

“Thanks, Abigail,” I said, already hurrying past her and up to my room. The anger I was feeling toward Cooper was massive, all-consuming as I laid there in bed, staring at the ceiling. For a moment, I had allowed myself to think that he might be interested in me—not as a lover per say, but as a person. But I’d heard the words coming straight from his lips; Cooper didn’t like me, wasn’t at all interested. I forced the thoughts out of my head—I had never really let a man make me feel bad about my body, not since I’d grown into it and decided that no matter what, I was going to love my curves without comparing them to any skinny girl. But something within me raged, thinking about his words and angry that he had kissed me when he hadn’t even been remotely interested.

It was about an hour later that there was a knock on my door, and I stared over at it.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Cooper,” he said. I sighed and thought about not opening it, but got up and did so anyway. I glared at him, his look of innocence. Not only was I angry, I felt hurt—for a moment, Cooper had kissed me, he had laughed with me, and now he was telling people that he didn’t even like me for who I was. I didn’t blame him, but it still stung to hear—especially after we had seemed to get along so well today at the gate.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“I’m trying to sleep?” I said. “And you’re here bothering me?”

“Sorry?” he said slowly. “What?”

“What do you want, Cooper? You’re making me do hard labor every day and you won’t even let me sleep?”

“I wasn’t—”

“Just go away,” I said to him, shutting the door in his face. I took a deep breath, lingering when I didn’t hear him move on the other side. I was tempted to throw the door open again, to yell in his face, but instead I locked it and went back into the room.

“Won’t you at least tell me what’s wrong?”

“I don’t like you. Go away.”

I heard him sigh on the other side of the door and left him there, climbing into bed.