Love In The Wild West

You can read Love In The Wild West free below.

Blurb:

An interracial, cowboy romance story. City banker Lila’s 30th birthday present was something she had been looking forward to all year: A tranquil ranch vacation with wide-open spaces, animals, and picturesque landscapes. However, her excitement turns to disappointment when the ranch is unexpectedly transformed into a luxury hotel.

After voicing her concerns to cowboy billionaire owner, Kurt, they work together to revive the ranch to the idyllic place it once was. And a deep connection unexpectedly blossoms, leading Lila into a whirlwind romance! For Kurt, Lila is the woman of his dreams…

But all good things must end eventually, and Lila of course has a job to go back to. Now, faced with a heart-wrenching decision, will Lila choose to leave her newfound love behind? Or will she sacrifice everything to be with the man who has captured her heart? Discover now in this Western romance novel by Gabrielle Monae.

Chapter 1

Day in and day out, it was the same old grind for Lila. She would wake up at seven in the morning, shower, have breakfast, get dressed in one of the six monochrome pantsuits that she had in her possession and take the bus to a bank where she worked as a teller.

It was a job that she did not particularly enjoy, but her enjoyment of the work was irrelevant. She needed to survive, she needed a paycheck so that she could pay rent and buy food and keep the lights on, and this was the easiest job that would allow her to do that.

Still, she could not help but feel bored by the routine of it all. She had been working this job for four years, and she was going to turn twenty seven soon. All that Lila could think of was the impending three-O, the age that would change the rest of her life. Nothing really stays the same after one turns thirty, which is to say that a major shift occurs after which no other change can occur. If your life is static at thirty, it is going to remain so for the rest of your life and this was primarily what Lila was concerned about.

As she worked at the cash counter of the bank, she started to feel the weight of the hours that she was going to have to spend at this place weigh down on her. She looked at the clock and saw that it was half past two. Her lunch break had ended thirty minutes ago, and she was already starting to feel like the day would never end.

She sighed and decided to count sheep until another customer came in. She looked up and smiled, saying, “How can I help you today, sir?”

“I would like to open a bank account,” said the man. He was an elderly gentleman with cotton candy white hair, and the kind of look that is reserved for people who are very old and are able to keep quite backwards notions because of the fact that their age is so advanced.

“Sir I am sorry, but I do not do that,” said Lila. “You are going to have to go to one of the desks you see on the right side of the bank.”

“You are not going to open a bank account for me?” asked the man, his brow furrowing into a frown.

“No sir that is not what I said,” said Lila, weary of the conversation that she was about to have. “I am simply saying that opening bank accounts is not my job. I am a bank teller, which means that I deposit money into accounts, provide change and accept payment for bills. I do not have the authority to open a bank account for you. For that you are going to have to go to one of the desks on the right. They will be able to open a bank account for you.”

“If you do not want to open a bank account for me just say so,” said the man, looking positively miffed. “You are just lazy, that is it. You do not want to have to work. You got a job but that job requires you to work and you just want to sit around and be lazy all day. You want to be paid for doing nothing. All you people are like that.”

“Excuse me?” said Lila, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly do you mean by ‘you people’?”

“You know exactly what I mean,” said the elderly man. “People of your… persuasion.”

Lila was incensed. She was black, and it was pretty obvious that this man was referring to her race when he said that people like her were always lazy. She had faced such racism before, but that did not make it any easier. She was frustrated at this man, and had this happened out on the street or anywhere else she would have given him a real piece of her mind. However, she could not do that at this point. She was going to have to swallow her rage and let the man walk all over her, because that is just what people are supposed to do when their work involves talking to people and serving them.

Lila forced herself to smile. “Sir,” she said once again, politely but very firmly. “I do not think you understand. I am not refusing you service, I am simply pointing you in the direction of people that can actually provide you with this service. You see, opening bank accounts is not my job, it is the job of the people sitting at the desks. If you like, I can take you to someone who can open a bank account for you.”

The man looked annoyed, and Lila knew exactly why he was feeling this way. He was probably just some frustrated old man who had wanted to get a rise out of somebody today. Lila had dealt with a lot of customers like this before. He was disappointed that Lila had not reacted to his racist statements, and that was a small victory for Lila.

Her smile changed, becoming a little more vindictive, as she said, “I will just take you to somebody that can help you open a bank account for yourself. Alright sir? I am sorry for any inconvenience that was caused.”

Lila took the elderly gentleman to someone that would be able to open up a bank account for him and then returned to her desk with a sigh. She looked to her colleague, Matthew, and smiled.

“That sure was something,” he said with a wry smile. “What was that all about anyway?”

“I have no clue, really,” said Lila. “He was going on and on about how I was refusing him service. He was being pretty racist as well. I had to control myself but oh well, that is what you have to do when your job involves kissing everyone’s ass.”

“You said it sister,” said Matthew. “I wish I could get away from this job somehow. I do not even want to get promoted, I just want to leave. How are we supposed to be happy just sitting here and doing little tasks for people and getting paid crappy wages for it?”

“It’s not natural,” said Lila, nodding her head. “We should not be made to feel like this is how life is supposed to be lived, you know? We should be out in nature. God, I wish I could just go and live at a ranch somewhere. I wish I could just disappear one day and never come back and get work as a ranch hand.”

“A ranch?” said Matthew, swiveling his chair to face Lila and saying, “Is that something you’ve always wanted to do? It sure sounds like it.”