Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 103159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
I nodded, not sure what else to offer. “That could change too. He seems to like Kimber.”
“Please,” Rose said with a huff. “She’s a dancer who lives in New York. It would never work.”
“It might.”
She looked at me, her face serious. “He might like her for a few dates, but that would be it.”
I was almost positive that meant “he might like to sleep with her, but that would be it.”
“Aunt Lincoln said he mentioned liking Sarah as well.”
Forcing myself not to clamp down on my jaw or ball my fists again, I replied, “They both seem nice.”
Rose brought the Bronco to a stop in front of her uncle’s house and turned to face me. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this, Kipton?”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Host this show and watch him go on all these dates?”
I nodded. “Of course, I am. Rose, haven’t you ever been attracted to a guy and just remained friends with him? This is my job right now. I need this money for…”
My voice trailed off, and Rose lifted her brows.
“I need the money. And I’m not going to be bothered by Hunter going out on dates. I’ve barely even started to get to know him myself. I’m fine. It’s fine. Everything is good.”
“In my experience, when someone says it’s fine, it is never fine. Look at Ross.”
“Who?”
She stared at me. “Ross, from Friends.”
I crinkled my nose. “What?”
“You’ve never watched Friends? Oh my God. We need to have a marathon session and watch all ten seasons!”
I blinked a few times and said, “When am I going to have time to watch ten seasons of a TV show?”
“We’ll find the time.” She paused for a moment, then said, “I like you, Kipton. Aunt Lincoln really likes you. Hell, the entire family likes you. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I appreciate it, and whatever it is you think you saw today, it wasn’t like that. I can think a guy is hot without being jealous that he’s giving other women attention. Hunter doesn’t owe me anything. We’re friends, and he knows I’m here for him if he needs to blow off some steam.”
Her eyes went wide.
“No! Oh my God, no. I don’t mean like that. As a friend. I’m here if he needs to talk.”
Rose waggled her brows. “If you say so.”
I folded my arms over my chest once again and said, “I say so.”
It was time for me to put the silly little crush I had on Hunter to rest. I had a job to do, and from this point on, I was going to focus on that and only that. I couldn’t jeopardize my feelings over the payout from this position.
Little did I know it would be so much harder than I thought…and that Rose was wise beyond her years.
Chapter Nine
HUNTER
“I’ve got three different outfits, so whatever the date is, I think we’ll be prepared,” Winnie stated as we walked into the barn Wednesday morning. The production crew had been here since dawn, and judging by the mood that my brother Blayze was in, they were more in the way than he’d anticipated.
“Do they have to do these in the barn?” he asked as he walked up to me.
“Dad already told them they could, and they want the whole ranch feel.”
Blayze rolled his eyes, then gave me a once-over. “You polish up real nice, little bro.”
I shot him a dirty look. Before I could respond, something caught my eye—and I turned to see Kipton.
My breath caught in my throat as I let my gaze trail over the tight jeans, the cowboy boots, and the tighter sweater that showed off her curves. The barn was heated, so she wasn’t wearing a coat. Her body reminded me of those in the pictures that Solo, one of the ranch hands, had pinned up in the bunkhouse here on the ranch, where a lot of the hands lived. He called them pinup girls. Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth and, of course, Marilyn Monroe.
Kipton had that look about her. Classically beautiful. I remembered reading that after the Miss Montana pageant, something she’d never done before, she’d received several inquiries about modeling, which she’d declined. From the little she’d told me about her family, I knew she did the pageant solely for the scholarship money. Still…those damn pictures had kept me awake more than once while in bed.
“Hunter?”
My brother’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. He turned to see what I was staring at and chuckled. “Didn’t I warn you about falling for her?”
I shot him another dirty look. This one I assumed was more severe, because he held up his hands as if to say he surrendered.
“Kipton is my friend. But I can also acknowledge that she’s beautiful.”
Blayze nodded. “According to Bradly, she’s…and I quote…‘hot as hell and the most beautiful woman out of all of them.’”