Faking a Date with Her Cowboy Boss (EBOOK)

Handsome cowboy Simon Miller has traveled the world, gone to college, and put off going home to Texas for as long as he can. Now he’s back on his family’s billion-dollar ranch. And he remembers why he stayed away.

Time for him to find a bigger purpose, so he doesn’t end up like his father.

Leilani has escaped from Hawaii to the mainland. Only one person in Texas knows her secret… the dark past that haunts her.

She works two jobs, keeps to herself, and is always looking over her shoulder, expecting trouble. Ready to run. Is this how it will be for the rest of her life?

When Simon offers Leilani a job at the ranch, he has no idea what trouble is brewing. Not only for himself, but for Leilani, his family, and his heart.

Simon’s pulse quickens when Leilani is near, unlike it has with any other woman before. But technically, she’s off limits, especially since he’s the one who hired her to work on the ranch.

Can he save her from her past—before he loses her forever?

TROPES
✅ Cowboy Protector
✅ Damsel In Distress
✅ Back Home to Small Town
✅ A Little Romantic Suspense

Author’s Note:

Miller Brothers of Texas is a spin-off series of my best-selling series Brothers of Miller Ranch. Fans have liked the Miller brothers so much I decided we couldn’t give them up just yet! So this new series is all about their cousins in Texas who own a Texan ranching empire. This series will take you on a journey with six handsome brothers who end up helping their father realize there’s more to ranching than just a profit.

Download a Miller Brothers of Texas eBook today and come on this sweet cowboy journey with me!

💘 “Chocolate.”

“Pardon?”

“Could you pass me the chocolate?”

He did so, swallowing hard. He needed to concentrate and get his mind in order. The last thing he wanted to do was make Leilani uncomfortable when she’d already been through so much.

“You ever had a s’more with peanut butter cups?”

“No, I haven’t. Have you?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve tried lots of different sweets with smores. Kit Kats, toffee, cookies n’ cream. They all have pros and cons. Well, cookies n’ cream is mostly cons. You know it’s not actually chocolate? It’s just cream, butter, and sugar, but they started calling it white chocolate to boost its sales way back when and, wouldn’t you know, it worked.”

Simon had never been more interested in chocolate in his whole life. “Huh, just needed some rebranding then, I guess.”

“Yeah, sometimes folks just need to see things in a different light.”

There was something in her tone that made that sentence have weight. Simon couldn’t put his finger on it, but those words sank right down into his heart and stayed there for him to think about later.

“Ah! No! I burned half of mine. You distracted me.”

“Did I?” Simon said, trying to sound charming, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t quite there.

“Yeah! Now it’s all burnt. See?”

She held out her marshmallow to him. It was a dark brown, golden toward the top.


“What are you talking about? That’s practically perfect,” he said.

“Ew, no. I like it golden all around and gooey-melty. Not hard on the outside or that hot.”

“Fine, then I’ll eat it.”

“Will you?”

“Yeah, never want to let food go to waste, after all.”

He couldn’t interpret the look she gave him as she took the chocolate and graham cracker from her lap and carefully pieced together the campfire confection. He expected her to hand it to him, maybe make a quip or two, but instead she held the morsel out to him, the tips of her fingers gingerly compressing the middle.

“Go on,” she said, sounding a bit breathless. “Take a bite.”

He looked from her, to the treat she was offering, and back. In reality, he knew it could probably be a fairly innocuous gesture, but to him it seemed like so much more. Like it had weight. Like once he reached out for that treat, they would be crossing a line that couldn’t be uncrossed.

But Leilani held it steadily, looking at him with half-lidded eyes. After another full beat, he slowly leaned forward and let his mouth close around half of the treat.

He hadn’t meant to, but his lips brushed against her fingers as he did so, ever so slightly. They were cool to the touch and set the skin of his face alight like she’d shocked him. She hadn’t, of course, but suddenly everything was amplified, from the crunch of his teeth through the graham cracker to how the marshmallow coated his tongue in warm sugar.

Their eyes remained locked the entire time, even when he pulled back to chew. He hardly paid attention to what his mouth did, his whole mind locked on Leilani and only Leilani.

And she seemed just as caught up in him. Her eyes roamed his face, settling on his mouth as he chewed. Eventually, when he managed to swallow it down, her gaze traced the path of his tongue as he licked his lips.

They were leaning toward each other, both of them hardly breathing, entirely caught up in what was happening.

Until a giant grasshopper landed on what remained of the sugary treat in Leilani’s hand.

“Ah! Get it off!”

Before Simon could do anything of the sort, Leilani threw the s’more wildly, only for it to smack into Sal’s shoulder.

“Um, did I do something wrong?”

“Sorry!” Leilani said in a panic. “There was a massive bug.”

Simon couldn’t hold it in anymore, they’d gone from a serious, intense moment to slapstick comedy and the transition was too much for him. He pressed his hand to his mouth, trying to hold his chuckling in, but then Leilani made eye contact and they were both laughing.

“Did… did I miss something?” Nova asked from Sal’s lap. “There was a bug and now you two are howling.”

Simon just shook his head, waving away the question as the warm fire soaked through him. He felt content in a way he hadn’t in ages, the ghost of Kai forgotten for just a few moments.

He should have known the moment couldn’t last.