How to Rope a Loyal Cowboy by Anya Summers

4

Flabbergasted.

There were days a girl just shouldn’t get out of bed. The stories about Noah’s boys were true. All of them. Every tawdry detail that had been gossiped about at the checkout counters in the grocery store.

Morgan’s morning had flown by after she dropped the twins off at preschool.

She went grocery shopping, filling her cart with items Noah had recommended, and adding a few more with ideas for meals swirling in her brain. She had schedules she wanted to make, with charts on the different meals the boys liked versus what they were thrilled about—that way, she could make more of their favorites.

She got the groceries back to the house, with a quick stop at the bait and tackle shop, and stored everything just as it was time to turn around to pick them up from preschool.

She figured she would get them home, feed them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and then work on cleaning up their bedroom. She had picked up a parenting book and a toddler activity book at the store to give her ideas of what to do with the boys each day, along with a planner.

She thought that tonight, once the boys were tucked into bed, she would sit in her bedroom and start to go through the activity book to create a lesson plan of sorts. Then, after she dropped them off tomorrow, she would head to the art supply store for the clay supplies to make their volcano, and get any other items she might want to have on hand for craft projects.

But when they got home, Wade and Zack blew her lovely plans to kingdom come—after they scarfed down lunch like they had never been fed before, of course.

Five minutes.

That was all she had needed, to go to the bathroom and plug in her phone to charge the battery. But it was more than enough time for Wade and Zack to create an epic mess in the playroom, all while managing to get in trouble simultaneously.

Zack stood in the center of the playroom, with a scattered destruction of toys lying around him, screaming at the top of his lungs and pointing at his brother. In those five minutes, the playroom had been demolished.

And Wade, bless the little demon child, had climbed one of the wooden shelves against the wall. It was one of those floor to almost ceiling deals. Morgan prayed the bookshelf was mounted into the wall as she approached. Wade dangled by his fingertips from the top ledge, his little legs flailing helplessly.

“How did you get up there? What were you thinking?” she admonished, shaking her head at the situation.

Riding herd on cats would be easier than handling this pair.

“I don’t know!” Wade cried, his bottom lip trembling. That was a likely story, one Morgan didn’t believe for a minute.

She shot Zack a stern glare. “Sit at the art table, Zack, and don’t move, or you will earn a time out with your brother.”

This set Zack off on a crying binge.

Tomorrow, she not only needed to go the art store, but the drugstore as well and stock up on headache reliever medicine.

But she couldn’t console Zack at the moment. She was too worried that they would end up in the emergency room on her first day on the job. Morgan approached Wade cautiously and said, “Wade, I need you to settle down, buddy. I’m going to get you down, but I need you to trust me. All right?”

He nodded his head and in a small, whimpering voice said, “Uh huh.”

When she stood beneath him, she cursed her height. She came in at just five feet. She had always been one of the shortest in her class. Even if she reached up on her tiptoes, she would only reach his knees, and that was if she was lucky. It meant Wade could still get hurt.

Shooting a glance at Zack to make sure he was still where she had ordered him to be, Morgan gripped one of the shelves above her head and began to climb.

She tested the first shelf, and breathed a sigh of relief when it took her weight. One more, and she would be able to reach Wade. She held her breath as she ascended the next shelf.

“Okay, bud, I’ve got you. You can let go now,” she said with her arm firmly about his waist.

“I want my daddy,” Wade wailed, his face red with tears.

“I know. I do too. But you know what? I promise you that I won’t let you fall. I just need you to trust me and let go.” She wondered if the bookcase would hold if she went up one more level.

It took some prodding on her part, but Wade finally released his death grip on the bookshelf, and clamped onto her for dear life. Morgan descended the same way she had climbed up. But she didn’t breathe easy until her feet touched the floor.

She smiled at Wade. Wiping at his tears, she murmured, “See, I told you I wouldn’t let you fall.” After putting him on the floor, she stared at both boys. “You both are in time out for four minutes. Wade, I want you to sit at the table with your brother. After that, we’re going to clean up the destruction in here.”

She made them sit while she looked on for four minutes. It was a long damn four minutes.

“Okay, before I end your time out, do you two understand why what you did was wrong?”

“Yeah,” Wade replied.

Zack just nodded.

“All right then, explain to me why it was wrong?”

“Because it would make Daddy angry that we climbed it again,” Zack said with a grim tone. Like he knew they would be in trouble again once Noah found out.

“No. What I mean is, the reason your daddy and I don’t want you climbing it is because you could get hurt. The last thing your daddy wants is for you to hurt yourselves. Understand?” Morgan tried to break it down to their level. She wasn’t certain whether she was succeeding.

“Yep.” Wade nodded like he got it. And Zack just followed along with whatever Wade said.

So Wade was the instigator of their naughty ways.

“Okay, now that your time out is over with, let’s put all your toys back in the right spot, where they belong.”

They acted like she was leading them to the gallows instead of asking them to pick up their action figures and toy cars off the ground.

“Cleaning can be loads of fun. In fact, it’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s even better if we do it with a song.”

“A song?” Zack asked.

“Yep. Because as you sing, it turns what we’re doing into a game. I can tell that you two like games. Want to learn the song?”

“Yeah!” Wade and Zack replied, bubbling with excitement at the thought of making it a game.

“Okay, it goes like this: Clean up. Clean up. Everybody, let’s clean up,” she sang.

They didn’t mind if she was singing a bit off key. By singing, they got into the groove. And by the end, they were all singing.

“Clean up. Clean up. Put your things away.”

Straightening up the playroom took a lot longer than it should, even with the song. But the song helped them focus on the task and, by the end, the earlier tears and trouble had melted away as if it had all never happened. Once the fiasco was straightened out, she had them follow her into their bedroom, where they did the same game until all their dirty laundry was in baskets, their beds made, and toys put away.

This way, it would be easier for her to sweep and mop the hardwood floors. The whole place needed a good dusting and airing out. She wanted to rush through and make it happen overnight. But she was finding that she couldn’t leave the boys alone. It made sense now why Noah had cameras installed in the playroom. It was the only way a single parent likely could get anything done.

She brought out her computer into the kitchen, setting it up at the kitchen table so they could watch cartoons and eat a snack while she prepped dinner. This way, she could keep an eye on them while she browned the meat and cooked the lasagna noodles. When she had the lasagna assembled and ready for the oven, she set the timer on her phone after she put it in. She figured for the next forty-five minutes, she would have the boys play on the swing set in the backyard before getting them cleaned up for dinner.

Talk about a baptism by fire today. These two would keep her on her toes every single day. But being busy was good. Then she wouldn’t dwell on the grief and anger she still carried for her father.

Or the fact that this morning, she had wanted to kiss their daddy more than she had wanted anything in a good long while, including this job. There had been interest blazing in his hazel eyes. But she wasn’t certain if it was her or if it was because she was a female, and he was a widower who likely hadn’t gotten any action in a while. Well, at least not with anything more than his hand.

Could a man like Noah Reed be attracted to her? And did she want him to be?