Lost Love (Cowboys and Angels #1)(25)

She stared. “That explains your upper arm strength. To be honest, when you said your father grew and sold feed, I had no idea what in the hell you were talking about. At first I thought you said weed.”

I stopped mid swing and stared at her before we both started laughing. “Let’s hope he was delivering at a ranch with lots of young guys to help.”

Corina’s eyes lit up. “Cowboys. Yes, please, and thank you.”

Growing up outside of Chicago, Corina still wasn’t used to all the cowboys, especially in our small town. At College Station she got a taste of it, but there was nothing that screamed real cowboy as much as living in small town Texas. They were everywhere.

Thirty minutes later, a truck honked. I smiled and waved as my father pulled up and parked. Then two other trucks pulled in next to him. I swallowed hard.

Please God no.

Then the fourth truck pulled up and my heart dropped to my stomach. “Oh. No.”

“What’s wrong?” Corina asked.

“He was at the Parker ranch.”

“Parker as in the ex? As in the richest family in this county?”

With a fake chuckle, I replied, “Yes, as in the ex. And expand that to at least ten counties.”

Truck doors starting opening, and they all piled out.

“Holy mother of all creations. Sweet Jesus. I’ve died and gone to cowboy heaven,” Corina purred.

Slowly turning to her, I had to smile. She truly did look like she had died and gone to heaven. “Corina, you’ve got a bit of drool on the side of your mouth there.”

She mindlessly reached up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Cowboys. Look at them all. They’re all…are they all…oh lord.”

Squeezing her on the arm, I said, “Oh stop it. Yes. It’s the Parker boys. Now snap out of it, Corina. They’re just guys.”

Her head snapped over to me. “Are you not seeing what I’m seeing? Because what I see is five guys … five guys in jeans and cowboy hats. No wait! Five drop dead gorgeous guys, in cowboy hats, and cowboy boots.” She glanced back at them then focused on me. “And they’re dirty.”

I laughed. “That they are. Every single one of them.”

Corina swallowed hard. “I meant their clothes are dirty.”

Peeking back over at them, I replied, “Yeah. That too.”

“Oh lord. My heart.”

My father walked up, wearing a shit-eating grin. I knew exactly what he was doing. He’d always loved Steed. Hell, he loved all the Parker boys. I could only imagine the smile on his face when I asked for help, and he was standing in the middle of them all.

“Look who I stumbled upon this morning.”

I lifted my brow. “I see.”

My parents had stopped pressing me long ago about why Steed left town and why we had broken up. I didn’t think I would ever have the courage to tell them. Once my mother found out Steed was back, I could tell her and Daddy had been itching to start up with the questions again. I’d talked about Chloe a few times, but not in great detail. I had thought it would be harder having her in my class, but I found myself drawn more and more to her, and it wasn’t only because she was Steed’s daughter. She had a heart of gold and was one of the sweetest students I’d ever had.

“You asked for help,” my father said with an evil smirk as Mitchell, Tripp, Cord, Trevor, and last but certainly not least, Steed, walked up.

I tried like hell not to let my eyes linger on Steed, but it was hard. His tight black T-shirt showed off how he’d gotten in even better shape than he was at eighteen, and those jeans… I had to fight to make myself breathe. The matching black cowboy hat made his steel blue eyes pop and when my gaze caught his. I quickly glanced away. My heart was beating so fast, and I had a hard time focusing.

Get it together, Paxton.

“So you brought all five of the Parker boys?”

“Boys?” Trevor said with a laugh. “Hell woman, you’ve got yourself a bunch of strong men.”

Corina mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Grabbing her, I pulled her toward the four set of hungry eyes. The only one who wasn’t looking at Corina was Steed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me yet.

“This is my best friend, Corina. We went to A and M together. She teaches first grade here in Oak Springs.”

Mitchell and Tripp pushed each other to get to Corina first. Tripp won.

Taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Corina. The name is Tripp Parker.”

Something slipped from her mouth. A giggle moan? I rolled my eyes, but deep down I was happy to see the guys giving her attention. Corina was beautiful. She had a sweet innocence to her. She almost always wore her blonde hair in a pony, unaware of how beautiful she was. Men tripped over themselves, and she was clueless to all of it. She had dated a couple guys while we were in College Station, and one of them had broken her heart when she caught him cheating.