I nearly growled as I went back to my room, confused and furious. I had thought that we were getting along better today—I wasn’t going to let myself be drawn in completely by Violet, knowing of her betrayal, but the constant tension and fighting was wearing on my nerves. I was worn out and managed to sleep eventually, but not after sitting there and letting it nag my mind, wondering what her problem was after a day of getting along. Violet had no reason to be angry at me as far as I knew, and I had every reason to be angry at her.

In the morning, I got up later than usual, went downstairs to the scent of breakfast cooking. I walked to the kitchen, pausing when I heard my mom talking to Violet in the other room.

“What exactly do you do at Maverick?” my mother asked. For some reason, I didn’t go in, but lingered outside. I wanted to hear Violet’s answer, wondering if she would lie to my mother as she did to me.

“I used to be an assistant to the CEO, but I got demoted,” Violet said. I raised my eyebrows as I listened, confused.

“Oh, why did you get demoted?”

“Boss decided his friend’s daughter would do better,” Violet said in a bitter voice. I gritted my teeth just thinking of Dirk, how he was exactly the kind of person who would prioritize friends of the family.

“That’s terrible,” my mom said. “Did you tell Cooper?”

Violet gave a dry laugh. “I’m sure he knows.”

“He might not,” my mother said.

“Cooper’s a board member. He probably knows everything that’s going on there.”

“Bless your heart,” my mom said. “But you still work for Maverick—that’s something to be proud of. It’s a good company. A prestigious company. I’m sure your parents are proud of you.”

“Both of my parents are gone, actually. I don’t have any family of my own,” Violet said in a slightly sad voice. My mother apologized, but I heard Violet brush it off.

“It’s no big deal,” Violet said. “It was a long time ago. But I appreciate you making me feel so welcome here. It’s nice seeing families together.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here, Violet,” my mother said. “That stew would have been nothing without you.”

Violet laughed. I went inside then, feeling guilty the more I listened. I’d had no idea that Violet had been demoted, nor that she didn’t have a family. I hated myself in that moment for the power play, for testing her so hard, for making her work to go to the business branch when she deserved to go there in the first place. Both Violet and my mother looked up at me when I walked in, and Violet’s lips pressed into a thin line, a look of hatred on her face.

“Good morning, lazy bum,” my mom said to me, coming over to kiss me on the cheek. “Violet and I were just getting to know each other. She’s a good girl.”

“Is she?” I asked. My mother nodded firmly.

“You’d better be nice to her,” she warned. I laughed.

“I’ll do my best, ma,” I said.

“Good,” said my mother. “Now get something to eat and go bring me some eggs. Nobody collected from the hens yesterday and I’ll bet they’re being idiots.”

“Alright,” I said to her, glancing at Violet. “You up for that?”

“Yes,” she said in an icy voice. I rolled my eyes at her, sitting down to eat. When we were finished, we went out to the hen house, walking in a stony silence that seemed to make my skin crawl. I turned to her once we got to the hen house, my back to the door.

“What is wrong with you, Violet?” I asked her. “Why are you suddenly so angry?”

Her lip curled up in a snarl. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“No,” I said, looking into her eyes. “Tell me.”

“You kissed me,” she said. “And I—I hated it. It was wrong. You’re disgusting.”

“It was wrong,” I agreed. I had lost control in that moment, I knew—I shouldn’t have kissed her in the first place. “But you didn’t hate it. You can’t lie about that.”

“I did,” she said defiantly, looking up at my face. “And I want you to apologize and promise you’ll never do it again.”

“I will never do it again. I’m sorry,” I said to her.

“Good,” she said, trying to push past me to the door to the hen house. I put my hand out to stop her, touching her shoulder, making her shiver as she stepped back.

“You think we’re done here?”

“I think it’s time to get to work, yeah,” she said. I shook my head.

“I don’t like this attitude,” I said to her, knowing that I was digging at her, knowing it would get under her skin. Every time she made me angry, I thought about why she was really here, what she was doing.

“So?” she asked.

“That kiss,” I said. “Was a mistake. But you loved it.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head, though her eyes told the truth.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about it, either,” I said to her. Her brow furrowed.

“Don’t say that,” she snapped. “I’m not even your type, remember?”

“Wh—”

She pushed past me then and into the hen house, though I would have stopped her if she’d gotten the chance. All around her, the hens went up in a tizzy, squawking and flapping their wings. Violet let out a soft scream, covering herself as they all fluttered around her. I laughed.

“They’re just chickens,” I said to her. The corners of her lips twitched up into a smile, despite herself.

“I wasn’t afraid,” she said.

“Oh, you were so afraid of the chickens,” I teased her. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around.

“So what now?”

“Here’s a basket,” I said to her, putting it in her hand. “Gather eggs.”

“Do I just—reach underneath them?”

“Yep,” I said. “You can. Or you can move them. But they might peck.”

“No, thanks,” she said warily. She tentatively approached one of the hens, reached forward hesitantly to take one of the eggs. The hen pecked at her and she snapped her hand back. Again, I laughed, and when she looked at me, she started to laugh too.

“Shut up,” she grumbled, reaching up again. She grabbed the egg before the hen could peck her.

“See?” she said, glancing at me over her shoulder. “I can do it.”

“You’re a regular cowgirl,” I said to her. “Good at working on a farm.”

“Thanks,” she said softly, giving me a coy look before she started to collect the eggs again.

“You should talk to them,” I said to her. “It’ll calm them down.”

“What do I say to a bunch of chickens?” she asked me.

“Whatever you want,” I said.

“Okay,” she said, her voice soft. She started talking to the chickens in a quiet voice.

“Chickens,” she said. “What can I give you to make you peck this man’s eyes out?”

“Corn,” I said. “Give them corn and they’ll do anything for you.”

“Corn. Good. I’ll give you corn, and you can take care of this bozo for me. Got that?” she asked the chickens. I watched her as she worked, my eyes on her body, angry that I had told her that I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss—it was true, and it was something that I had thought about doing over and over again, something that I knew I couldn’t, for my own sake.

“Okay,” she said with her basket full of eggs. “Did I pass that test?”

I nodded, looking into her eyes. There was a soft look there, not as angry now that some of the tension had been joked away.

“I think it’s time to go to the branch,” I said to her. Her face lit up with excitement then, as if everything—the kiss, the fights—had disappeared, and was replaced by her joy. It made me feel guilty for the power play all over again. I normally hated things like that—and if Violet hadn’t forced my hand with her plan, I wouldn’t have been so harsh to her. It wasn’t in my nature to be so challenging and yet Violet hadn’t given me a chance. Despite my attraction to her, I had to remember what she was here for. Still, that didn’t make her smile any less powerful, and I found myself smiling back at her despite my reservations.

“Really?” she asked.

“You did good with the chickens,” I said to her. She gave me a playful look, holding the basket in her hands as we carried the eggs back up to the house. There was a shy expression on her face when she turned to me, after we delivered the eggs to my mother.

“Can we go today?” she asked, gazing up at me through her lashes. I swallowed.

“Yes,” I said to her. Her face broke into a wide smile, one that made something flutter in my stomach. It was bright and real—I could tell she was truly excited, and again felt slightly guilty that I had put it off for so long in favor of making her help me on the ranch.

“I’m going to go get ready,” she said, hurrying off. I watched her, my eyes on her back, on her ass, on her thick legs from behind. It was true that she wasn’t the type of woman I normally went for—I was used to dating models, thin women, classically pretty. But there was something about Violet that drove me wild, not in spite of her fullness, but because of it. I wanted to touch her soft skin, to kiss her all over. I shook my head of the thoughts and went to my room to get ready.