A few hours later, we had finally moved on from picking up burned wood to using shovels and metal rakes to clear away the smaller debris.

Jayden had come back awhile ago and went back to work. Now he paused to pull his shirt over his head, tossing it over a nearby fence. His body was gleaming with sweat and his abs flexed under his tanned skin.

I found myself leaning against the rake I had been using with my eyes locked on his body. Hey, I was a girl. I couldn't help but notice when a hot guy took off his shirt.

"Like what you see Sweetheart?" Jayden said with a devilish grin.

"I'm sure she'd love this view a better," Landon remarked and I glanced his direction to see his defined six pack as he stood shirtless.

I blushed and looked away from the two hunks in front of me and found a safe zone with Dylan, who still had his shirt on. I walked over and propped my elbow on Dylan's shoulder, who tensed and blushed.

"Eh, I've seen better," I claimed, shrugging Jayden's and Landon's hotness off.

Like that was realistically possible.

Jayden's eyes sparked and narrowed, "I doubt that Sweetheart."

We all went back to work and I tried to keep my eyes off their bodies, which was extremely hard to do.

My arms burned from the workout they were getting and my back ached from the constant bending and lifting. My hands felt raw and blistered under the black ash and dirt that covered them, and I paused, examining them. Dylan stopped beside me, examining my hands as I tried to brush some of the dirt off onto my shorts. He grabbed my hands, a frown causing his eyebrows to furrow.

"Come here," he said, leading me to the water pump and turning it on, pulling my hands under the running water to wash the dirt and grime away.

I was surprised by his sudden determined demeanor; it was so different from his usual shyness. I resisted the urge to tell him I could wash off my own hands. I didn't want to spook him out of whatever confident attitude had washed over him. Plus, the cool water and his skin on mine did feel kind of good. My poor hands weren't making it through the work very well. Blisters had formed on my palms, the rest of the skin a deep, raw red. I took a sudden intake of breath at the sight and Dylan's eyes flickered away from my hands and upward, pausing on my chest before back again.

What was it with Dylan and always ogling my breasts? It was even covered this time!

A blush burned his cheeks and he awkwardly let go of my hands, shuffling back a step away from me. It looked like he had snapped out of whatever trance he had been under, his confidence disappearing as he shifted back into his usual shyness.

"You should probably go and put some ointment on them," Dylan suggested, not meeting my eyes.

I looked at Landon and Jayden, who were both still working hard. I had caused this destruction. I would keep working until they stopped or I keeled over from dehydration and my hands fell off.

"It's okay, I'm fine." It was true. I wouldn't die from a couple blisters. I had had a lot worse injuries than this, just not on my hands.

"Um, you need gloves," Dylan muttered, yanking off his own gloves and shoving them into my grasp before walking away.

Ah hey, gloves. That was probably a good idea. I glanced at the guys, and saw they were wearing work gloves. Apparently, it was a good idea the other guys already had.

All of them had been wearing gloves all day and I hadn't even noticed.

"Thanks," I called out to Dylan, who just hunched his shoulders a bit in a shrug and kept walking. He picked up his shovel and got back to work.

Landon walked by and clapped him on the shoulder, but they didn't say anything.

I slipped my hands into his gloves, which were still warm and slightly damp from his sweat, and flexed my hands. My hands still burned from the pain of the blisters, but at least I'd have some protection now. I put my gloved hands on my back and stretched, trying to get the pain in my back to ease up a bit and looked around.

Didn't ranchers normally have tractors? Why weren't they using that to clean up the remnants of the barn?

"Don't you all have a tractor we could be doing this with?" I asked as I grabbed my rake again, hoping I didn't sound like I was whining.

The guys all paused and exchanged a glance, not really looking at me as they went back to work. Strange. They all seemed to be trying to avoid answering my question.

"We don't have one," Landon finally replied, but he still wouldn't look at me, none of them would.

"Why not? Don't all ranchers and farmers have a tractor? It's like an unspoken law or something."

They all exchanged another look, conversing among themselves without saying anything. Finally, Landon sighed and said, "We don't have one anymore. It was in the barn."

Wait, I had destroyed their tractor too? Wow, was there anything I hadn't burned down that night? I can't believe how much damage I had caused by accidentally dropping a cigarette.

How was I supposed to replace their tractor? I had no money to buy one, but that didn't mean it wasn't something that I needed to do. I felt obligated to put everything back the way it had been.

"Oh," I finally managed to say, watching as they just nodded and kept working.

The air had held a comfortable work atmosphere before, but now it was tense and uncomfortable.

The sound of a bell ringing caused me to look around in confusion. The guys set their tools aside and Landon glanced towards the house, where I saw Polly outside ringing a bell, "Lunch time."

We walked to the house and as I passed Polly she smiled, "Lunch is on the table so y'all can wash up and eat."

I nodded and managed a tiny smile, "Thank you."

"You're welcome Honey. Ya better hurry up, those boys will eat everything in the house if ya don't get in there pretty quick."

I wasn't sure how much I was supposed to wash up, I felt like taking a long shower but knew we'd be going back to work after lunch, so it wouldn't do any good anyway. I just washed my hands and face, threw on a new shirt and went back downstairs. I passed Polly by the door, who held out a pair of gloves, "The boys said ya needed some gloves to work in and I always buy extra pairs just in case. Ya can have these Honey. How are ya handling the work?"

"It's hard but nothing I can't handle," I answer, hoping that was true.

Polly smiled and shifted a basket of food on her arm, "That's good honey, I'm glad. If those boys start working you too hard then just say so. Sometimes they don't realize that not all of us can keep up with them. I'm gonna take these sandwiches out to Chili and the other boys now."

Polly left the house. I headed to the dining room where Jayden, Landon and Dylan sat eating sandwiches and drinking lemonade. I took a seat beside Jayden, and Dylan passed me a plate with a couple chicken sandwiches on it. I took one and started eating it, glancing around the table at the guys, who were mainly focusing on inhaling their food.

"Have you been to a rodeo before Nova?" Landon asked as he took another bite of his sandwich.

"No, I haven't."

"Well you can come to the rodeo with us next week, we're all going," Landon offered. "Dylan and I do team roping, Wyatt rides the broncs and Jayden and Gavin do the bull riding. Polly bakes her pie for the best tasting pie contest. It's fun, you should come."

Going to a rodeo, packed with a ton of people that they'd probably want to introduce me to just didn't pique my interest. "I don't know."

"Sweetheart, you haven't seen anything until you've seen me ride a bull," Jayden said.

I couldn't imagine that watching people get on top of raging bulls and attempting to ride it for eight seconds would be fun. I mean, there was every possibility they would be gored by the bull. I didn't want to watch that.

"I just don't think it's my thing," I admitted with a shrug, starting on my second sandwich.

"I guarantee you'll enjoy seeing me ride a bull. If you don't, then you can always try riding one yourself," Jayden grinned.

There was no way I was ever getting on top of a bull. "Yeah, I'm not riding a bull. I don't want to get gored by their horns."

"Sweetheart, I'll be your bull," Jayden said crudely, putting his hands on top of his head and raising two fingers, making weird grunting moo sounds that I took to be his bull impression, "though I can't guarantee that I wouldn't impale you with my horn." He made an extremely crude gesture with his hand on his lap and winked.

My jaw dropped open and I openly gawked at him, then burst out laughing. I was actually laughing, something I hadn't done in a very long time. I buried my face into my arm as I did, tears starting to blur my eyes.

I had no clue what was so funny, what he had insinuated deserved a smack upside the head, not this.

I felt wet warmth on my fingers where I held my sandwich and looked up to see Jayden taking the last of my sandwich with his mouth.

I immediately stopped laughing and smacked his nose. "Hey!" No one steals my sandwich and gets away with it!

Jayden jerked back slightly in shock. He smiled, but his eyes went dark. Liquid pouring on top of his hair and across his face wiped the smile off his face, leaving only disbelief. He stuck his tongue out and licked some of the liquid still dripping off his face. Then his eyes narrowed on me and my now empty glass. "Did you just fucking dump lemonade on my head?"

I shrugged and sat the now empty glass on my plate. "I have no idea, maybe if I still had my sandwich then I might be able to remember. You should really clean yourself up though, you're dripping onto the floor."

I stood and grabbed a napkin, dropping it on his head and patting it a couple times. "Here you go, that should help."

Landon and Dylan were howling with laughter, clutching their stomachs while Jayden just growled. I grabbed my dishes and headed to the kitchen, trying to keep my stride even as I went.

I was proud for standing up for myself, but I knew Jayden would get me back for it.

You didn't punish a bad boy without expecting retribution.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By the time evening came around we had finished removing all of the debris from the burnt barn and were scraping the ash away.

"It's getting late, we'll go ahead and quit for the day. We have to feed the livestock. Tomorrow we'll work on pouring the concrete flooring for the barn. It will be a lot better than the dirt flooring we had in there before," Landon announced, leaning his shovel against the fence.

All the guys headed off in different directions and I stood there awkwardly, not sure if they wanted me to follow one of them or go back to the ranch house.

Jayden glanced back at me and jerked his head, motioning me towards him, "Come on Sweetheart."

Well, I guess he made my decision for me. Plus, I wanted to do some exploring of the ranch anyway.

I followed Jayden into a small shed where he grabbed a couple of buckets, handing them to me, "Put a scoop of this feed in each bucket."

I nodded and grabbed a scoop, pouring the grain into the buckets, my mind drifting as I worked. They were already having me help out with the animals, and I wondered how much they would include me in their life. I had to admit that living on a ranch didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. It was surprisingly peaceful here.

Well, as peaceful as it could be while surrounded by these guys anyway.

Hot breath fanned across my neck and I felt a body brush up against mine, Jayden's voice coming out husky and deep, "It's so hot watching you work."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away, "Imagine how hot you'd be if you were actually doing something."

Regardless of me brushing him off, he moved even closer, this time his lips grazing my neck. "Sweetheart, I'm ready to do plenty to you. What do you say?"

I turned my head to stare into his steely eyes to see if he was serious. Maybe this was some kind of trick to get me back for dumping lemonade on his head.

His hands gripped my hips as his lips brushed across my jaw, slowly traveling across my chin until his lips hovered over mine. His eyes, now dark with lustful intent, lowered to stare at my mouth. I breathed hard. Our lips were so close to touching that if I moved forward even a millimeter, it would cause them to press together in a kiss I was sure would cause my toes to curl.

A shadow falling over the door broke me out of my trance and I smirked, "I say no."

Jayden growled and moved back away from me, "You'll change your mind sweetheart."

I glanced behind him to see Dylan at the door and look on his face had me rethinking my attraction to Jayden, as his eyes lowered, and he disappeared before I could say anything.

Landon arrived at the doorway then, regarding the two of us before his expression darkened. "I'll take this from here Jayden. You can work on giving the horses hay with Dylan."

Jayden grunted, clearly frustrated with being interrupted, "I've got her. You go back to what you were doing."

"But brother," Landon, grasped his shoulder, "you're so much stronger than me and I just can't handle lugging all the hay."

"Bullshit."

"So you admit that I'm stronger than you."

"Shut up," Jayden grumbled, shoving past him and out the door.

"Come on, let's feed the horses their grain," Landon grinned and grabbed some of the buckets, heading out the door with them.

We gave the horses their grain, which consisted of almost getting bit or kicked on several different occasions. Regardless of how much they were pigs with their food, I still liked them, petting the ones that Landon said were okay.

There was one bucket left and we headed to a round corral with extra tall fencing. When we entered I saw a gray horse pacing the other end, eyeing us warily. It was the same horse I had let free the night the barn caught on fire.

So he hadn't escaped then.

"You caught him," I whispered and my heart tore a little bit.

He needed to be free. The first time I saw him I knew what he needed, but it seemed they were blind to it. They didn't realize he should be uncaged.

"You recognize him," Landon observed, "We've been trying to rehabilitate Storm for months now with no luck. We can't get close to him unless we put a blanket over his face, and even then he's hard to handle. He's unrideable," he paused with a smirk, "Remember, this isn't a Flicka movie, so don't go trying anything stupid."

I knew he was just trying to make a joke, but I also knew in my heart I probably would end up doing just that.

Storm needed to be free and I was going to help him with that.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When Chili, Wyatt, and Gavin arrived back from their fence work, I could feel Gavin's eyes on me before I spotted them. My muscles tensed just from his glare.

They all rode in on their horses, tying them up at the fence before heading to the house. It took me a minute to realize what was missing.

The truck.

Had they left it out there in the field? Maybe it was a normal thing for them to do. How was I to know? I knew nothing of ranching.

"Looks like they're having trouble with the truck again," Landon commented, "Gavin's not going to be happy."

"Ah, it's his truck?" I asked, too curious to keep my mouth shut.

"No, he just has a tendency to blame people for things that aren't their fault when he's angry, even if it's his own fault."

Somehow I could tell he wasn't just talking about the truck. He was saying that Gavin blamed me for burning down the barn, but that was my fault, so he had the right to. But who would he blame for the truck breaking down? Chili? Wyatt? "So he'll blame Chili or Wyatt for the truck breaking down?"

"No Sweetheart," Jayden appeared behind me, "he's going to blame you."

Wait, what? "Why?"

Landon frowned, "Because he hates you right now and will blame everything bad that happens on you."

"So, I'm the scapegoat now?" Wow, things just kept getting better and better.

"Don't worry Sweetheart, stick close to me and I'll keep you safe," Jayden smirked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"You're the last person here that would keep her safe," Landon remarked, and proceeded to have a silent conversation with Jayden of glares, dark looks, and jaw clenching.

What was that all about?

I had no time to think about it because Polly called us in for supper and we all headed to the house. I couldn't help but notice that they shoved each other as they walked. Maybe it was just a brotherly thing, but it felt like more than that. They were both mad about something, but they weren't voicing anything about it.

Dylan lingered behind me, and I slowed down until we walked side by side. I knew it probably wasn't my business but I had to ask, "What are they fighting about?"

He blushed and kept his eyes on the ground in front of him. "Don't trust Jayden too much," he mumbled, so low I could hardly hear him.

"Why not? I've dealt with bad boys before."

Dylan took a deep breath and glanced up, checking to see how far away Jayden and Landon were before responding, "Just be careful."

We entered the ranch house, both of us falling silent. Dylan seemed to be the most innocent of all of them. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to give out a warning without a good reason. But then again, maybe he was just acting jealous because of what he saw between Jayden and me in the shed. We didn't do anything, but maybe it appeared like we had.

Either way, I didn't know what to think.

Not that it really mattered. I had stopped trusting anyone a long time ago. I had no doubt that before the barn was built, there would be a knife in my back.

That was just the way my luck with people seemed to run.