When You Love a Rancher - Elle Christensen Page 0,2

It wasn’t just the things, though; Stone was there for me from the first moment he learned I existed. He gave no fucks about what his parents wanted, and we built a solid relationship. He was the only reason I’d kept my last name when I was old enough to change it.

Standing in front of Maddie’s door, I took a deep breath. I’d always been able to tell Stone anything, with one exception. I didn’t know why I’d kept Maddie a secret from everyone but my mother. At least, that’s what I told myself. Sometimes, I admitted that she was just too special, and I didn’t want to share her with anyone—even my brother. But as I thought about what I planned to do next, I also knew I’d seen this coming from the day we met. And if it didn’t go well, I wouldn’t have to talk about it with anyone because no one would know.

It had taken me four years to finally go after what I really wanted in life. And what I wanted more than anything was Maddie. I’d spent years being her shoulder to cry on as she dated one asshole after another. She was such a free spirit, yet she chose to date boys who tried to fit her in their perfect box or just treated her like shit in general.

Despite being her best friend and knowing everything about each other, I didn’t know what damn issue she was dealing with that drew her to these punks. Why she couldn’t see that the perfect man for her was the one holding her in his arms every time she cried…who the fuck knows. But I was tired of this shit, and it needed to change before I lost my ever-loving mind.

We’d officially graduated today, and I was supposed to head to Dallas in the morning to start veterinary school. I wanted her to go with me, but I hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask. Now, I was out of time. And I’d waited so long that she’d finally chosen a decent-ish boyfriend for a change. Not that he was any better for her than her other string of bad choices, but at least he had a job, a degree, and treated her with respect. Mr. Boring was still all fucking wrong for her. I just needed to convince her of that fact.

Finally, I stopped stalling like a coward and twisted the knob to open her front door and walked inside. “Maddie?” I called out to her when I didn’t see her in the front room or kitchen. The apartments had come furnished, but without her stuff, like mine, it now looked barren.

“Yeah! One sec!”

I looked around and chuckled at the neatly labeled and stacked boxes lined up along the living room wall. Maddie was a bit of a neat freak, and it drove her a little nuts that I was so laid-back about it. I wasn’t a slob, but there were times when I’d come home to a cleaned and organized apartment because she was tired of looking at my “chaos.” I’d never admit it out loud, but I was a little bit messier because it was so fucking adorable when she got riled up.

My feet started moving toward the boxes, and a wicked smile spread across my face as I plotted which boxes to mess up.

“Don’t you dare, Kyle Kensington!”

I froze in place, one foot suspended over the ground and one hand hovering over a box. Then I twisted my head and grinned, blinking innocently. “What? I was just admiring your organization.”

Maddie was standing at the entrance to the hall and giving me the evil eye. “Sure, you were.” She folded her arms under her full breasts, which pushed them up and out like they were being offered to me on a platter. I swallowed hard as I shifted back to a stable standing position and tucked my hands into my pockets. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Although she had a nicely rounded ass to go with her mouthwatering tits, she was tall and lean.

Her long, red hair was hanging in a mass of wild curls down her back. She was wearing a loose cotton T-shirt that said, “Ranchers Do It Better.” Her long legs were poured into tight dark jeans, and she paired them with pink cowboy boots. She loved to wear pink and tell anyone who would listen that it was a complete myth that redheads shouldn’t wear pink because it was her