father, I presented myself in a totally different way. I smiled and fluttered my eyes. I held my most flattering poses and occasionally made little gestures that caught male attention and kept them interested.
Maybe it was a soft giggle or sliding my eyes over in their direction like I was sneaking a look at them and not wanting anyone to notice. I might move my hair away from my neck or brush my fingers over my collarbone. Every movement was measured and carefully designed by my focus on being what that particular man wanted. That was how I got things done.
It was never about who I was.
“You’re not going to crack that egg into that pan, are you?” Colt asked as he walked over and sat down on one of the stumps.
“I was planning on it,” I said. “I don’t think I can just hold it near the fire and hope for hard boiled.”
Sawyer laughed again and shook his head. “He means you haven’t put any fat in the pan. You have to have something in there to grease it up or those eggs will stick to the cast iron like cement. And I have a feeling you don’t want your next ranch life lesson to be how to scrub egg-encrusted cast iron clean.”
“That’s definitely not on my priority list,” I said.
“Well, you’ll be learning how to wash up these dishes one way or another,” he said. “It’s just a matter of how we see it is.”
I narrowed my eyes at him slightly. “Did you just do a chore bait and switch?”
He winked at me and my knees went a little bit soft. “Let me help you out,” he said.
“I thought I was supposed to do this on my own,” I said.
“You will be, just with a little bit of guidance,” Sawyer said.
It was far from anything I would ever recognize as flirting. So, why did it make me feel a little bit breathless?
He helped me make breakfast, bulking up the dishes a little bit so there would be something for Cecilia to eat whenever she decided to make her grand appearance. When I was done eating, I sat down with another cup of coffee and listened to the conversation happening around me. Sawyer met my eyes and smiled at me, giving me that little flutter again.
I began to feel a bit of confusion as I sipped the coffee and breathed in the sweet, fresh air. Was I actually enjoying sitting on a log by a fire in the freezing cold of early morning? Or was my body just so grateful for the heat that it was just endorphins talking?
Chapter 15
Sawyer
“About time,” Lucien said under his breath. I grinned. Indeed, it was.
Below us in one of the fields in a valley, a herd of cattle was roaming around. It was Wednesday, and the group had been riding hard, and our first night of real camping was in the rear view. Now we were fully in it, and while the men seemed grumpier, albeit enjoying themselves still, Cecelia had gotten worse, and Jane had seemed to get better. She was still a pain in the ass and was either confused or upset when little things didn’t go her way, but at least she didn’t complain as much.
I had found myself taking the rear of the group for much of the day’s ride the day before, if nothing else so I could watch her. She looked over her shoulder pretty often at me, giving me a smile. Then she would kick her horse into a trot, and I would have a hard time seeing anything other than her perfect ass bouncing in the saddle.
But Wednesday morning was going to be the action morning, and I wanted to be at the front to help guide them. Everyone was well rested, as much as they could be, and warned that today was going to be a full day. I had spent a considerable amount of time around the campfire the night before giving them detailed and explicit instructions on what to do if things went sideways. And they almost assuredly would. I had yet to have a tour where everything went perfectly. I still had high hopes though, since Walter and Lucien seemed like they were in their element, and Rubin was eager to please and impress.
“It’s time,” Colt called from nearby. “Everybody remember what we talked about?”
There was a murmur of agreement from everyone except Cecelia, which was no shock. This would be