Marc got what he’d wanted for years, but it’s enough to tear apart his friendship with Casey. Marc tries to avoid Casey, but that’s not always possible. A series of incidents puts both of their jobs on the line and Marc and Casey have to decide whether or not the resulting consequences are worth continuing their feud. Or can they put the past behind them and learn to work together as the team they used to be?

Excerpt

“Earth to Marc, come in Marc.” Rick made a show of waving his hand in front of Marc’s face. He waited until he had Marc’s attention.“Did you hear anything I said?”

“Sorry.” Marc glanced at him, but the lure of Casey Morgan was too strong to ignore. He returned his gaze to linger on the blond that had walked through the doors of the bar a moment earlier. “I was distracted.” Half of the bar separated them, but he knew from experience that the chances of avoiding a confrontation were slim to nil.

“Obviously.” Their companion, and coworker, Jason snickered.

“What is it with you and him?” Rick’s gaze danced between the two men. “You two can’t be in the same room together without going for the jugular.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Marc didn’t want to get into it and was desperate to stop the barrage of questions before they could start. “You concentrate on yourself and let me handle my own problems.”

Marc tracked Casey’s progress through the bar until he sat at a table with two of the hired hands from the Del Rio Ranch. As the foreman for the Del Rio Ranch, Casey was the direct counterpart of Marc’s position of the Circle R. The owners of the two ranches were close friends, and up until the previous year, so were Casey and Marc. It was amazing how one thing could cause friends to become bitter enemies, and it was nothing more than a misunderstanding.

“We lost him again.” Jason needed to wipe the smirk off his face.

“Knock it off.” Marc forced his attention away from Casey and back to Rick and Jason. “What were you asking?”

“Never mind.” Rick shook his head. “Since we have tomorrow off it can wait until Monday. No sense in talking ranch work if we don’t have to.”

“Sounds good to me.” Jason finished off the beer in front of him.

Marc swallowed the last of his own drink and headed towards the bar for the next round. Despite being the sole bar in town, it wasn’t busy and within a couple of minutes he was turning to head back to his table with three fresh beers. As he turned he felt his shoulder brush against a newcomer and turned to apologize, and found himself face to face with Casey. Had he realized Casey had the same idea he would have stayed in his seat and let one of the other two go.