Billionaire Husband Test (Billionaire Online Dating Service) Read Free Page B

mind.” Cooper’s inner stud couldn’t back away from Brand’s challenge. He wasn’t afraid of hard work. He’d hauled hay all summer for six years straight going through high school and college. The work helped him earn money for rent and food. Though he had ranch hands to help him now, he still pitched in and did his share. “Do you usually help?”
    “Normally, I do all the driving, and occasionally help with the loading.” She shrugged.
    Even that movement she made was so natural and sexy.
    Cooper’s breath caught and his groin tightened. “Who will drive if you don’t?”
    “I will.” Dillon raised his hand.
    “The hell you will. We’ll take turns.” Colton nodded toward Cooper. “Gonna join us?”
    “No way. You guys will kill him.” Emma’s mouth twitched, a smile tugging on the corners.
    Just the hint of her smile had Cooper agreeing to something he hadn’t intended. “I’ll help, if Emma’s needed to drive.”
    “Are you sure?” Emma’s gaze ran the length of him, obviously lacking confidence that he could do the work.
    His pride smarting, Cooper squared his shoulders. “Absolutely. Being outdoors will feel good since I spend so much time behind a desk.” He didn’t, really. Trading stock was so much easier with the mobile applications available, and he did more than trade. Cooper spent more time out on his ranch, when he was home. The rest of the time he traveled—researching companies and investing in those that had good people and a product he could stand behind. 
    He hadn’t hauled hay in a while, but he worked out daily and rode horses as often as possible. How hard would it be to get back into the swing of tossing bales onto a trailer? And working would delay him from being alone with Emma and having to come up with something to say to fill those awkward silences that came with strangers.
     
    For the first hour, Emma wanted to laugh at how her brothers put Cooper through his paces. They left him the heaviest bales and cracked crude jokes, perfectly playing the part of obnoxious country rednecks. She hadn’t expected Cooper, a man who traded stock for a living, to last four minutes, much less four hours under the wilting heat and back-breaking work. But he’d hung in with the others, working just as hard and long. When he’d pulled off his shirt and Emma almost ran over a hay bale, she realized she might be in trouble. He wasn’t at all what she’d wanted Leslie to send.
    For a man who made his living behind a desk, he didn’t have an ounce of flab and his chest was solid, tanned and positively drool-worthy.
    Damn. If he didn’t watch it, he’d earn a nod from her brothers and that wasn’t the point of this whole exercise. Emma wanted this guy to run scared and for her brothers to rule him out as husband material. By the time they headed back to the barn, the men were all on first-name basis. Cooper laughed and joked right along with her brothers. She had to admit, she admired the man—for sticking it out, and for a lot of other things she’d been working hard for the past three hours to forget—pecs, arms, abs…
    Out on the range, Emma wished she’d had reception on her cell phone. She’d have called Leslie and chewed her out for sabotaging her efforts to get her brothers off her back. Instead, she’d sat, stewing in her juices behind the steering wheel as she pulled into the barnyard.
    When she climbed out of the truck and faced Cooper, who still had his shirt off, she forced herself to look away. “Thanks,” she said.
    “Yeah, thanks. We got that done a lot faster with your help.” Ace pounded Cooper’s back.
    “Didn’t think a stock trader had it in him, but you proved me wrong.” Dillon slapped his cowboy hat against his dusty leg. “You’re all right in my books.”
    Colton nodded. “Yup, you got a keeper there, Emma.”
    “Don’t screw it up.” Brand gave Emma a hug.
    “Geez, Brand, you stink.” Emma pushed him away, realizing she would