Off to the Races (Gold Rush Ranch, #1)

by Elsie Silver

Which sounds pathetic—I know (hello abandonment issues!)

Tall? Check. Dark? Check. Handsome? Check. Looks like he wants to kill me? Also, check.

Sometimes you’re born into a family, and other times you choose them. And when you choose them, you know in your bones that they’re right for you.

I feel like I’m looking at the sun, blinding but so deliciously warm that you just close your eyes and bask in the glow, anyway.

Off to the races, honey.

I gave Billie what I thought was an impossible task. I believed I set her up to fail, and she gave me the middle finger in the most spectacular way

possible. I’m not mad. She’s an impressive woman. Smart, tough, kind, beautiful.

And maybe that’s the most annoying thing about her. She doesn’t ann...

Nope. To her I am nothing but a painful STD.

And thank you? A fucking thank you? After we both just completely incinerated each other? With chemistry like that? I don’t think so, Billie.

And he props me up, like I knew he would. He doesn’t placate me or tell me it’s going to be okay. He doesn’t offer me fake words or try to console me, to fix me. He just lets me be. And as memories of all our quiet moments together bubble up in my mind, I realize maybe he cares about me more than I thought.

“How long you been staring at me, Boss Man?” she mutters. “Since day one,” I whisper in her ear. “Take the sappy shit somewhere else, Vaughn.” I snort. “There she is.”

I volunteer as tribute!

don’t want to talk. We’re not friends.” His words are like a paper cut. They sting, but don’t

produce any blood. “What I want is you, straddling me, and I don’t let friends do that.”

“No, Billie.” His hands stroke me. “I’m going to eat that perfect pink pussy and then put you back to bed. And tomorrow? Tomorrow all you’re going to think about is how good you felt with my tongue inside of you.”

Close a high-stakes business deal? No problem. Fire someone? I’m your man. Talk to a girl you like and respect? I guess I’ll just crumble instead.

I want him to choose me. I want him to work for it.

I need him to man up, and he didn’t. And now I’m disappointed.

“Let me redefine that line you keep talking about: you are more than my employee and I am more than your boss. I’m done giving you space that we both don’t want. It’s not at all complicated. You’ll work with me during the day and underneath me at night. Every night. There will be no tiptoeing. There will be no running. There will be no one else.”

What I should have told you is that I want you and to win races. I want it all.”

“Eyes open, Billie,” he rumbles as he squeezes my chin and tips it down. “I want you to watch me fuck you.”

Because maybe, just maybe, if I couldn’t scare him off, he’d be worthy of my trust.

You’re honest with them about their shortcomings, but you’re still on their side. No matter what.

I feel his absence like a missing limb.

can’t put my finger on when I fell in love with him anymore. It just feels like I’ve loved him forever. Like our hearts have been intertwined for so long that cutting his from mine is causing me to bleed out.

I knew that while I had already broken your trust, I didn’t have to break your heart by selling your horse.”

“I want you. And there’s no price on that. The money. The horse. None of it matters so long as you give me a chance to earn your trust back.”

“I love you, Billie. And I’m an idiot. I obviously don’t know much, but I know that both of those statements are true.”

“I’ll always choose you, Billie.”

Because I believe him.