“I understand,” I said. “It’s what I always hoped for really. A tour like this reminds people of what’s important. It helps bring them together. It helps them forget the things that don’t matter and remember all the things that do.”
“Is that what you’re hoping will happen with Jane?” Colt asked slyly.
Well, shit. He was on to me. Not that I had done a lot to hide it, but I was hoping it wasn’t so obvious he would say something about it. Not again, at least. I wondered how much he had sussed out about what had already transpired between Jane and me.
“Ain’t nothing happening there,” I said, trying to lie my way out of it. It was no use.
“Uh huh,” he said. “That’s why you get all googly-eyed when you look at her, and she stares at you like you just hung the moon all by yourself?”
I kept my mouth shut and we rode on for a few more seconds.
“Deny it all you want, little brother, but I know that look,” Colt continued. “Just remember, this is a business venture, not a dating service. Hooking up with your clients is a real fast way of sinking your own ship, if you know what I’m saying.”
“I know,” I said, hoping that was the end of it. If only I was so lucky.
“At any rate, Cass would most certainly not approve,” Colt finished.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something. Especially since he brought Cassidy up.
“You know what?” I asked, fully cognizant that no good discussion generally followed “you know what?” in a sentence. I waited for him to respond, but he didn’t, so I plowed ahead anyway. “I don’t rightly give a damn what Cass thinks.”
“Well, that seems short-sighted,” Colt muttered jokingly.
“Seriously, I don’t,” I said. “I like this girl. A lot. And I know by all logic and reason that it would not, could not work. She’s a city slicker if there ever was one. I get that.”
“Polar opposites,” Colt agreed.
“Right,” I said, not sure how much I liked him agreeing with me. “She’s used to the fancy life. Late nights at VIP clubs and expensive champagne. I’m used to nights in bunkhouses or in a sleeping bag under the stars with dirt under my nails. Drinking coffee out of an old tin cup. I know. We’re all wrong for each other, and I get that. But dammit, I like her.”
There was silence for a few moments as Colt rode on. His expression hadn’t changed, an amiable smile across his face and his body relaxed. He didn’t seem too upset that I had blown up at him, as if he realized that it wasn’t really aimed at him anyway. It was aimed at me. I was talking to myself and using him as a sounding board.
She was all wrong for me, and I knew it. No matter how enamored with her I was, she was absolutely everything wrong for a person of my kind. She was from the rich side of the tracks, so to speak. She was used to being pampered and having people fawn all over her for being wealthy and beautiful. She likely had her pick of pretty boys in designer suits and Maseratis. I was just a distraction to help her get through the pain and sorrow of having to work for a few days to keep her father and the money flow coming.
It was pessimistic, but it was probably true. I had to keep reminding myself of that. Sure, we had chemistry, and I was dying to have her skin next to mine, but it was all temporary. The ranch? That was forever. And I couldn’t go screwing up the future of the ranch over some woman who probably wouldn’t remember my name in a few weeks.
“I just want to remind you,” Colt said, “that finding what is important in life isn’t just a lesson they can learn. You can too. It’s the ranch.”
“I know,” I said.
“I get that you like her,” Colt said. “She’s a pretty girl. But the last thing we all need is for one of us to stick their neck out and complicate things over a woman. Garrett already played with fire galivanting all over the damn country, drinking himself into oblivion and trying to bang anything that moved. You don’t need to get all tied up in somebody like Jane. She’s trouble, Sawyer. Sheer trouble.”