Wrangling the Cowboy (Circle B Ranch #3) - Kennedy Fox Page 0,25
one, Gavin! Let’s start with my sister’s room.”
Maize elbows her in the ribs, and Kenzie dramatically coughs. “Shut up. I better do it, or you’ll be telling him all kinds of embarrassing childhood stories about me.”
With an unapologetic shrug, Kenzie smirks. “Well, duh.” She looks at her incredulously, which makes me wonder what they’re hiding.
With a sigh, Maize walks around me and tells me to follow her. I hear Kenzie chuckle, then she tells Grayson off, which makes me smile. These Bishop sisters don’t make anything easy.
“You already saw the dining room and entryway…” She waves a hand to the left as we walk down the hallway. “The living room is here, though we don’t get a lot of time to hang out or watch TV. Most of us are usually working or sleeping.”
“Looks cozy, though,” I say, shoving my hands in my front pockets so I don’t do something stupid like reach out and touch her.
She takes me through the rest of the lower level, then we go upstairs, and she points out her parents’ and Kenzie’s room.
“Mine’s at the end of the hallway.”
I silently follow her, not taking a second alone with her for granted. This is the most she’s talked to me since I moved to the ranch.
“It’s very you,” I admit after she opens her door and allows me to peek inside. Three walls are a neutral tan color, and one is a bright teal. Pictures of her and Kenzie on the ranch are framed and hung on the walls along with dreamcatchers. A white comforter is neatly spread across her bed, and fuzzy teal pillows are stacked high.
“You don’t even know me,” she states.
I study her. “I know enough.”
She swallows hard with her eyes locked on mine, but too quickly, she lowers her gaze and breaks our contact.
“It’s embarrassing to live with my parents at my age,” she blurts out. “I just turned twenty-five and still sleep in my childhood bed.” Maize groans, then shrugs. “But until they can marry me off, I’ll stay here.”
Bringing a hand to my chin, I scrub my fingers over my beard as I remember a similar conversation we had at the bar. “Marry you off, huh? To who? What happened to becoming a nun?”
Maize blinks hard, then shakes her head as if she has to remind herself not to react. “What? No, not like an arranged marriage or anything. But when you work on the ranch, it doesn’t make sense to move away. Especially when I work as much as I do,” she explains, leading me back toward the staircase. It’s amusing she ignored the nun part and is still playing her little game.
“Doesn’t hurt that it’s cheap rent.”
“That’s definitely a perk,” she says as we enter the kitchen, and when she checks the time on the wall, she adds, “Crap, I gotta go to the B&B and set up the desserts.”
“Let me help. It’ll go faster,” I offer, not giving her room to argue.
She sighs. “Alright, fine.”
After Maize announces we’re leaving, they tell us they’ll meet us there in twenty minutes. It will give me more alone time with her.
Since the B&B is only half a mile from her house, she leads me to a side by side, and we climb in. The silence slices through the air on the way over, and once we enter the kitchen, she gives me orders, and I quickly step into action.
“Pies over there, cakes and cookie bars on the other table, then fruit on the third one.” She pulls items from the fridge, and my eyes widen at the assortment of desserts laid out.
“Shit. You feedin’ an army?” I grab two pecan pies and inhale the sweet aroma.
“Just wait till you see all the Bishops together. There are a lot of us…” she says. “Then add in the ranch hands too.”
As I help her move tables around the dining area, I wonder how everyone will fit in here, then remember the rocking chairs and tables on the back porch.
Once we’ve set the desserts out, Maize puts the serving utensils in each dish and directs me to find the dessert plates. Then I grab the whipped cream and start the coffee maker as ordered. Once I’ve done what she’s asked, I head out of the kitchen and hear her talking to someone.
“Elle! It feels like it’s been forever.” Maize hugs her, and I immediately see the Bishop resemblance. Elle has long, dark hair and features similar to Maize.