Untouched Read Free

don’t.”
    “If I checked your browser history I would.”
    “Nuh-uh.” No one touched her computer but her, but even so, she didn’t leave certain things lying around on it. Secret shame was secret.
    “Witty comeback,” he said. “Witty indeed. Why don’t you go talk to someone? Meet a guy.”
    “Right. Meet a guy. Cole would be interrogating him before a full greeting exited my mouth.”
    Cade shrugged. “You take the good with the bad.”
    “You’re both mostly bad,” she said, not meaning it at all.
    Amber rolled her eyes. “Have fun,” she said to Lark. “And catch up with us later maybe? You can help me haul his drunken ass to his room.”
    “I say we leave him on the lawn.”
    “Fair enough,” Amber said, turning and following Cade down to the table laden with drinks.
    Lark bent back down and took her phone from her bag, trying not to think too much about her brother and his comments. Look what “living” had gotten him. And anyway, a hangover was hardly her definition of living.
    She didn’t have to drink herself into a stupor to feel like she’d reached the heights.
    She opened up her mail app and saw another one from Longhorn HR. She opened up the message.
    The money offer had doubled, and the length of the contract was for six weeks, with the possibility of extension. And attached was the contract, to be returned as soon as possible.
    She knew exactly what her answer was.
    She fired off a quick reply and the promise to fax the signed contract over that night.
    There. It wasn’t much. It was a local contract, and she would still be able to live at home while she fulfilled it. But it was something. A decision made on her own. A step toward meaningful independence.
    She put her phone back in her bag and stood up, taking a deep breath. Then she headed over toward where the bride and groom were standing, by the cake.
    She was going to offer her congratulations and sincerest well wishes. She wasn’t feeling quite so left behind anymore.

Chapter Two
    Quinn Parker was mean when he was pissed. Okay, he was mean most of the time, but especially when he was pissed.
    And he was currently pretty pissed.
    “You don’t have anything?” Quinn asked Sam, his right-hand man and basically the only person who could put up with his shit.
    “Nothing concrete. It’s pretty tough to prove you didn’t do something, Quinn, barring a confession from someone else.”
    “Beat a confession out of someone else.”
    “Who?”
    “I don’t know.” Quinn rested his elbows on the granite countertop and stared across the bar at the empty living area. The cabin was almost completely done now. Though “cabin” seemed like a misleading word for the place.
    Five thousand square feet. Huge kitchen, a dining room big enough to seat twenty. A living room made for the same number. And a section of private living space for himself.
    The rest of the grounds had a kitchen that stood alone, along with outdoor dining. Classrooms. And cabins that were much more like actual cabins. Small and rustic. Just right for boys who needed to get their heads on straight.
    His new role as philanthropist didn’t sit too well with him. Especially because a few local news outlets were wanting to do a piece on the ranch, and that was the last thing Quinn wanted.
    Because if they started looking at his present, they’d look into his past too. And that was a minefield. It would start with his family background and move on to his arrest record, straight down to being barred from the Rodeo Association.
    No way in hell was he issuing an invitation for someone to open that Pandora’s box.
    But he could just keep hanging up on reporters. The important thing was the ranch. And messing with Cade Mitchell’s head.
    “I was thinking Cade was the guy we might nail, in truth.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, really. I don’t know. You think he’s as injured as he said he was?”
    “He got trampled pretty good. I saw the video.”
    “Yeah, he got the