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  “Beer balls?” Ryan asked.

  “It does sound a bit weird,” Zoe replied with a laugh. “They’re meatballs, made with Breedlove beef and spicy pork, then coated with a beer batter and deep-fried.”

  “Sounds delicious,” Dennis said.

  “Ryan?” Adam looked at her.

  A slight hesitation and then, “That’s fine.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Don’t mind her,” Dennis said. “She’s one of those funny eaters...a vegetarian.”

  “Really?” Adam perched his Stetson on a wall hook, then reared back in his chair and observed her. “You don’t eat beef or pork?”

  “Nothing with a face,” Ryan responded.

  “Not chicken, either, or fish?”

  The incredulity in his voice made Ryan laugh out loud. “None of the above.”

  Adam shook his head. “I’m a meat-and-potatoes man to the bone. For me, living that way would be like dying a slow and painful death.” He picked up the restaurant menu, a simple two-sided sheet covered in plastic, and placed it back down with hardly a glance. “We have a couple salads on the menu,” he suggested. “They’re fairly straightforward but I’ve eaten them a time or two. Honestly, they don’t get ordered much. But we wanted a few healthier options along with all the fried stuff. We also have a turkey burger but that won’t help you, either.”

  “No, but it’s okay. I’m not that hungry.”

  “But if you were, your choices would be limited. Honestly, with all the time we spent on the menu we didn’t give vegetarians much consideration. This is a huge meat-eating town, everything with a face.”

  Ryan laughed. This guy was delightful.

  “How long has it been since you’ve eaten meat?” Adam asked.

  “About five years.”

  “Why’d you stop?”

  “Because a screw came loose,” Dennis joked. “Anyone who’d turn down a good burger can’t be right in the head.”

  Adam looked at Dennis but didn’t laugh. Ryan appreciated his nonresponse to her brother’s barb. For as much as she loved Dennis, he could be a bully and often made her uneasy. Hurtful, disparaging comments in the guise of teasing were something she’d endured from him for much of her life.

  “Do you work with your brother?” Adam asked in her silence.

  Ryan glanced at Dennis. His eyes conveyed a message that she couldn’t read. Her answer was noncommittal. “Not really.”

  “She doesn’t butcher cows,” Dennis said. “But she does work for me from time to time, typing and other things that can be done online. She’s really good at stuff like that.”

  What? Updating Dennis’s résumé and typing up a couple reports hardly qualified her as being Dennis’s employee, especially when she did those things for free. Again Ryan assumed this was part of why she’d been brought here. To contradict him outright wouldn’t look good. Dennis wouldn’t like it. Ryan’s mother had taught her a long time ago that Dennis was the golden child and image was everything. Even so, she barely concealed the question from being broadcast on her face.

  “You live here?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Ryan answered.

  Dennis turned to Ryan. “Adam works with his family but he has his own company, too, Breedlove Ranch, where they raise cows for market.

  “You guys hiring?” he asked Adam. “If you have any openings in the office, Ryan here would make a great employee.”

  This time the message in Dennis’s glance was clearly conveyed. Play along.

  Ryan gripped her fingers together beneath the table. Otherwise she could imagine them around her brother’s neck! To say that she worked with Dennis was ludicrous, and that she’d have anything to do with a company that bred animals for food was an outright lie.

  But then Adam looked at her with those bedroom eyes and said, “I’m intrigued. Tell me more.”

  And Ryan felt that appearing to go along with her pushy brother, at least through lunch, couldn’t hurt. She didn’t see herself seriously dating a sexy meat-and-potatoes stallion like Adam. But she could certainly ride him for a night or two.

  Two

  Adam was surprised at how Dennis teased his sister, and didn’t like it at all. He’d been on the receiving end of such treatment. That’s how he and Dennis had become friends. The guy he remembered from high school was one who defended people who were being treated badly. That he’d been rude to his sister bothered Adam, maybe more than it should. He sensed Ryan wasn’t comfortable with the situation, either. So he decided to let the matter go...for now.

  Zoe returned with their drinks and to take their entrée order. Dennis and Adam opted for the house specialty and the most popular menu item—a half pound of Breedlove beef on a toasted bun topped with onion strings, dill pickle slices, and a homemade condiment blend of spicy mustard and creamy aioli.

  Adam looked at Ryan. “Would you like a salad, possibly with smashed potatoes or fries?”

  “What type of oil is used to cook them?” Ryan asked.

  “Good question,” Adam said. “I have no idea.”

  Ryan’s query led to a visit from the chef. Once schooled in the preparation of her limited choices, her order was taken.

  Dennis took a large swig of beer and then set down the bottle. “So, Adam...how’d you go from casinos to cows?”

  Adam shrugged. “Wasn’t planned, although if you’ll remember, I always had a little bit of cowboy in me.”

  Dennis grinned. “That I do recall.”

  “Me and Christian had accompanied my father on a trip to Tokyo, where we’d just opened a second hotel. For dinner our host served us Kobe beef. It was hands down the best bite of meat I’d ever put in my mouth. I asked the host about its origins and basically became obsessed with finding out everything I could about how it was processed. When a family meeting led to a large tract of unused land being up for grabs, I jumped at the chance to come as close as I could to producing that taste in America. It’s been five years in the making, but we’re confident that Breedlove Ranch is about to deliver that product. Not Kobe, of course—that type can only come from the region that bears its name—but the best Wagyu beef ever produced in this country.”

  “Is that what’s served here?” Dennis asked.

  Adam shook his head. “Not yet. We’ve had customers sample the Wagyu, but here we’ll continue to offer the less expensive prime Black Angus.”

  He looked over as Ryan made a face. “Sorry about that.”

  “No problem,” Ryan responded.

  “Tell that to your face,” Adam drawled. “You just scrunched up your nose like you got a whiff of poo.”

  The comment caused Ryan to burst out laughing yet again. From a woman who Adam felt was somewhat guarded, the sound was as carefree as it was unexpected. It was a sound he decided he quite liked. A lot.

  “Where is your meat processed?” Dennis asked.

  Adam glanced at Ryan before answering. “Until now we’ve sold the bulk of cattle wholesale, keeping back a supply for the hotel, a few restaurants and stores in this area, that are processed by a small, family-owned business in Henderson. But we’re four to eight weeks away from completing our own facility.”

  “Having your own processing plant has got to be exciting.”

  “It is,” Adam replied. “Four thousand square feet, state of the art.”

  Adam saw Ryan reach for her purse. “Excuse me,” she said, standing up.

  “Don’t go,” Adam responded. “We can talk shop another time.”

  “No, really. It’s okay. I want to wash my hands.”

  Adam watched her walk away. He was struck by her beauty to be sure—curvy figure, curly hair, skin the color of hot cocoa and he imagined just as sweet. But there was something else about her, an aura of calm assuredness, a peacefulness that somehow calmed him, too. Th
ese days, as he balanced his responsibilities at CANN International with the expanded growth and heightening profile of Breedlove Ranch and the beef it produced, moments of true tranquility were in short supply.

  “I see you,” Dennis said with a smile in his voice. “Checking out my sister.”

  Until then Adam didn’t realize he’d been staring. “I never knew you had a sister. I remember your brother Charles, but not her.”

  “Everyone thought Charles and I were brothers. He’s my cousin.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t know that. We became close rather quickly in high school but you were a senior when we met. It was only that one year.”

  “Makes sense about Ryan,” Dennis replied. “That you never met her. She was several years behind us in school and I don’t think you ever came to my home.”

  “That’s because you guys were always wanting to come over to mine!”

  “Heck, yeah. Who wouldn’t? Swimming pools. Horses. A full basketball court. Dinners made to order from a personal chef. Going to your house was like going to Hollywood! I couldn’t believe people really lived like that. You’re one lucky dude.”

  “I’ll admit to luck in being born a Breedlove. After that, everything was hard work.”

  “I know all about hard work,” Dennis said.

  “At the meatpacking plant, right?” Dennis nodded. “How does Ryan fit into your operation?”

  Adam ignored Dennis’s knowing smile, one that suggested the sister had been brought along to help seal the deal. It was a good move and a smart one, but Adam figured Dennis didn’t have to know that.

  “Like I said, she’s helped out here and there. But she doesn’t live in Bakersfield, hasn’t in a while. She went to school in San Diego and lived there after graduation. Until about three months ago when she moved here.”

  “Why’d she move?”

  Dennis shrugged. “She got a degree in some kind of natural medicine or something. I don’t know much about it. But I know she isn’t working anywhere yet. She probably needs a job.”

  “And you think she’d be comfortable working on a ranch?”

  Ryan returned to the table. “Talking about me?”

  Adam stood but he was too late. Ryan had already pulled out her chair. He waited until she’d sat down before returning to his seat.

  “Dennis thinks you’d be a good fit for my operation. He says your administrative skills are impressive.”

  And if they are half as impressive as the view of your backside as you walked away from the table...

  Adam shut down the inappropriate thought, gave himself a mental chastisement, forgave himself because his thought was the truth, then refocused his attention on Ryan.

  “I handled a few items for him in the past, but that was a long time ago. I’m focused on developing my own business right now.”

  “Which is?”

  “Naturopathy,” Ryan said after a pause.

  “What’s that?” Adam asked as he watched Ryan stiffen as though expecting a verbal blow. Dennis didn’t disappoint.

  “A hobby,” Dennis said.

  “My career,” Ryan countered, a cool breeze skittering over the previously warm and calm demeanor Adam had earlier observed.

  “Lunch is served!” Zoe announced as she arrived at their table, moving a few items before expertly setting down a circular tray. “Both the pickles and onion strings are vegan,” she said to Ryan, having obviously spoken with the chef. “The barbecue sauce is also vegan but the buttermilk ranch contains dairy. Your entrées will be up in about ten minutes. Bon appétit!”

  “These are cool,” Ryan said, using the tongs hooked to the bowl to pull out a wad of thinly cut and battered onion slices. “Onion strings, huh? I’ve had onion rings and a flowering onion but never ones quite like this.”

  “That’s Miguel’s handiwork. He puts a unique spin on any dish he touches.”

  “I like the beer balls,” Dennis said around the food he’d picked up with his fingers and plopped into his mouth. “That big old juicy burger will be even better. Good old cow meat,” he continued, smacking loudly and reaching for another meatball.

  “Older brothers can be a pain in the butt,” he said to Ryan. “I know, I’ve got one, too.”

  Ryan smiled. Adam immediately wanted to think of something else witty to make her smile again.

  “Good to know someone else understands my pain.”

  “He’s not all bad, though,” Adam continued. “Standing up to bullies is how I met your brother.”

  “You mean he wasn’t one of them?”

  Adam laughed. “Not that time.”

  “What happened?” Ryan asked.

  Adam and Dennis exchanged a look.

  Adam thought back to the day as a freshman in high school where he had fought an admirable but losing battle against four students who’d ganged up against him—at first verbally, then physically. Dennis had come to Adam’s defense. The two had quickly regained the upper hand before school administrators rushed into the melee and broke up the fight. It was Adam’s last physical fight. That summer his muscles filled out and he grew six inches. Once his dyslexia was properly diagnosed, his popularity grew along with his confidence. But still, scars remained. There were traces of the disability that lingered to this day.

  “Kids were always teasing me. One day, I found myself in a fight where I was outnumbered,” Adam said. “Your brother jumped in and helped me out. That’s how we became friends.”

  “Interesting,” Ryan said, giving her brother a look that Adam couldn’t quite read.

  “I always appreciated how you took up for me,” Adam finished. “Just like one of my brothers would, had they been there. It showed character, which is very important to me. That along with loyalty, honesty and respect are the principle virtues I look for in people I work with. Which is why I wanted to have lunch with you today, Dennis. You mentioned your sister working for me but actually the opening I’m trying to fill ASAP requires a different skill set. The person we’d hired to manage my processing facility was involved in a serious automobile accident. He’s alive, but his recovery isn’t going to allow for the type of rigor required for that position. Are you interested?”

  Dennis sat back. “Wow, really, Adam? You’re offering me the job of managing your meat-processing operation?”

  “I’m asking if you’re interested. We’d still need to go through the application process, but if everything from there is in order then yes, I’d feel good in you having that job.”

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate it and yes, I’m very interested. I’ve always loved your family’s land. Working on it would be my pleasure.”

  “I might come up to Bakersfield,” Adam said. “Get a look at your operation and see how it compares to ours.”

  “Okay,” Dennis said, after a beat.

  Adam found the hesitation odd but didn’t dwell on it. Now that he’d potentially solved a huge dilemma, a delay that would have put a serious wrench in their scheduled plant launch, he was ready to find out more about Ryan. Whether or not he ended up working with Dennis, he wanted to see more of her. Before parting ways he asked Dennis to send him a proposal, and asked Ryan for her number.

  “Why?” Ryan asked, her expression suggesting she couldn’t think of a reason why he’d need to talk to her.

  Adam smiled slightly, impressed. Most women were all too eager to give him their number. He was appreciative of one who hesitated. “To talk about food,” he replied, “and what types of vegetarian options might work with our current menu.”

  She seemed relieved that his reason was work related. It wasn’t the only one, of course, but it was as good of an excuse as any.

  Three

  Ryan hadn’t been surprised yesterday when Dennis ran off before she could confront him. He hadn’t returned her calls from last night or yesterday
, either. Blindsiding her with a job she’d never heard of in front of the man wanting to hire him was pretty low, even for a brother known for sometimes being underhanded. But honestly, Ryan couldn’t be totally mad. Adam Breedlove was one hot man. She had no intention of working at Breedlove Ranch but she could put in a personal shift or two with the boss. She’d been in the city for three months without dating. One day after the other had been all work, no play. Dennis’s friend could prove a nice lightweight diversion. A little sin in Sin City every now and again.

  The prospect of a rendezvous with the cowboy was totally titillating, but Ryan forced her mind back to where it belonged this Monday morning—on her practice, and building it up. After years of sharing “her hobby” as Dennis had called it with friends, classmates and coworkers, she’d gotten serious about her love for alternative healing and obtained a bachelor’s degree in naturopathy, specializing in plant medicine, biophysics, massage therapy and nutrition. She’d simultaneously pursued and received certificates in energetic healing and emotional frequency technique from the prestigious Institute of Higher Holistic Learning in La Jolla, California. From her childhood until her early-adult years as she came into her own, she’d sought to please others and be what they thought she should be. After learning of her passion, her parents had suggested traditional medicine, had thought she should pursue a nursing degree. But Ryan had finally followed her heart and become submerged in Eastern medicine and alternative forms of healing. Those three years of expedited learning were the best ones of her life. This was also when she’d met her ex, which had added some worst moments to those educational years.

  While attending an expo during her senior year she’d met Brooklyn, a woman named for where she’d been born, who’d moved cross-country to Las Vegas, a place Ryan had doubted she’d ever return to live. But their long conversations on the alternative and holistic landscape evolved into others on working in complementary fields. Their shared interests and similar personalities led to them being best friends, the sister Ryan had always wanted. Brooklyn suggested they open a practice together. Ryan jumped at the chance to have her own business. That’s why she’d moved back to Las Vegas. Not the only one, but the one she felt most comfortable admitting. The other reasons were complicated, both hopeful and painful. There were secrets she hadn’t unearthed and couldn’t share...yet.