Ruthless (Wolf Ranch #6) - Renee Rose Page 0,41

known him most of my life, I didn’t really know him. Although, he would argue with me about that since we were more intimate than I’d been with anybody. That didn’t mean I was in love. I didn’t even know what love was. It wasn’t like I’d had a good example of it at home. I never felt loved by my parents. The closest I’d felt to affection was the kindness from Uncle Adam. I liked my friends. But the Big L? Love? Nah. It was a stranger to me. I’d never professed love to the few boyfriends I’d had in college.

I’d learned to have sex without love. If I waited to be in love with someone to have sex, I’d have died a virgin.

I had no idea what was going to happen in the future, but I knew I couldn’t hang my hat on Rand’s supposed undying love and a happily ever after for the two of us. Planning on this thing going somewhere would be a big mistake.

That was what it felt like with my work, too. I was going nowhere.

I was in a flipping storeroom counting liquor bottles. I had an advanced degree in music, and I was in a cowboy bar in the middle of Montana. I’d taken the bad situation of being a broke grad student who hated her field of study to something worse. I wondered if on some subconscious level I came here so I wouldn’t have to play music any more. There was nothing in Montana for me to do as a violinist. Lessons to local kids? As if that was going to pay the bills.

But I also didn’t want to be a professional bartender. Cody was great, and he was a solid business owner, but slinging drinks wasn’t what I wanted to do with myself.

I grabbed the clipboard and shut off the light.

“There you are!” I stopped halfway to the bar when two blonde women came up to me as if we were long lost friends. One was in her early thirties, short with glasses, and the other one was curvy with a sassy smile. The one with glasses nudged the other, but looked at me as she said, “Careful of the storeroom. Last time Becky was in there, she got knocked up.”

I stared at the other one who was now rolling her eyes and blushing. “Whatever,” she said, shrugging and not denying. She’d gotten knocked up in the storage room? Seriously? “By the look on her face and the clipboard in her hand, I had way more fun.”

“Probably,” I replied, not sure what to say.

“I’m Becky,” she said. “I’m Rand’s sister-in-law.”

The lightbulb went off. These were human mates of the guys from Wolf Ranch. That made Becky Clint’s mate.

“I’m Audrey,” said the blonde with glasses. “Boyd’s wife. We work at the hospital, and since we were in town still, we decided to stop by.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how… perky they were. I wasn’t sure if they were always this way or not. “Great.”

Cody waved me over.

“Want a glass of wine or anything?” I asked, walking to the bar and lifting the pass through. I held it up for Cody, and he took the clipboard from me.

The ladies had taken stools at the bar. “We’re both driving back to the ranch, so no alcohol for us, but I’m starving,” Becky said. “Breastfeeding makes me hungry all the time.”

“I heard you had a baby,” I said, putting a menu between them. Rand had told me about his family the other day as he’d worked on the electrical. He’d had to take the switch out and somehow feed modern wiring to a plug a few feet away by tugging it through behind the wall. In some spots, he’d had to poke through the sturdy plaster. It was a mess and a huge undertaking. I’d asked him after trying to pay him for his work… again, but he’d pushed me off. So far, it was only electrical supplies he’d purchased… the fuse box and a heck of a lot of wire. That wasn’t ridiculously expensive… so far. I’d get squared away with him. I would, dammit. “Lily, right?”

Becky smiled “That’s right. Audrey had a baby, too. You’ll be Aunt Natalie to both girls.”

I stepped back and held up my hands. “Whoa, not sure what Rand told you, but—”

They grinned at me. “Rand told us you were driving him crazy,” Audrey said. “Nice job.”

A waitress came to the bar and handed me a