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“I forgot I wasn’t wearing gloves,” she whispered. “All I could see was the steer heading toward Cooper and I didn’t even care.” Her words were quiet, and she looked up into the mirror. My eyes were locked on her.
“Roping like that doesn’t happen from a few summers on a ranch, Nora.” I broke the silence and watched her let her eyes fall.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, Kipp. We don’t have time to get into it. Maybe when all of this is over.” She glanced back up at my reflection and I nodded.
“Go sit on the toilet. I'm going to bandage your hands.”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t have time to worry about them.”
“You’re going to let those people help you for the rest of the day. They don’t look as bad now, anyway. I think you might have gotten lucky.” I smiled as I grabbed the first aid kit.
“I know I got lucky,” she affirmed, her voice stronger than it had been, and when I looked back at her, she was staring at me. Part of me didn’t think she was talking about the calf. She licked her lips and they parted ever so slightly. Her hands in mine, I’d tried to avoid being so close to her, because if I let myself go where I was about to, I didn’t think there would be any going back. Lowering my head, I prayed I didn’t read the signals wrong. She sat up a little straighter and craned her neck and lifted her head until she met my lips.
If the heavens opened and the angels sang, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Kissing Nora was everything I’d imagined. Her soft lips pressed against mine. The lightness of her perfume filled my nose and took me back to wandering the pastures in my youth. Letting her hands go, she stood, and I wrapped my arms around her. She sighed and leaned into me, our tongues sliding against each other, our bodies as close as we could get right now.
“Nora, is everything okay?” A voice called down the hallway.
“Kristin, get your rear end out of this house. Leave those two alone.” That was my mother. We both smiled and laughed quietly.
“I suppose we should finish up here,” Nora said, whispering against my mouth. Instead of pulling away, she pressed her mouth to mine again. We finally pulled apart and I finished putting bandages on her hands. “Should we leave separately, so we don’t look suspicious?”
“I think that would make it look even more suspicious.” I laughed as I reached for the doorknob. I searched her face, looking for regret, but didn’t see any.
“Kipp, I don’t regret one second of what just happened.” She walked over to me and wrapped her arm around mine. “You’re a really good kisser.” She giggled and I couldn’t help but laugh at her.
I hadn’t expected my house to be full of people when we left the bathroom. Nora’s hands had bandages on them, her lips were puffy and the blush on her face was bright red as she walked slightly behind me. “I better get back out there.” I smiled and leaned down to kiss her again. It was just a quick kiss, but she stood on her toes and kissed me back. “See you later,” I said as I grabbed my hat off the stairs and walked outside.
“Is mom okay?” Cooper asked as soon as he saw me.
“From the looks of Kipp, I would think she’s great.” Turning, I stared into the face of our fifth business partner.
“Linc, it’s about time you got here.” We shook hands and headed for the horses.
“Flight was delayed in Minneapolis. I should have been here before lunch. I’m never flying commercial again.” We walked together and Cooper slid his hand into mine. “So, you going to tell me what’s going on here?” He motioned over to Cooper with his head.
I didn’t want to go into detail right now. “We’ll talk later. We’ve got work to do.” I lifted Cooper onto the horse and swung my leg over behind him. “Ready to go, cowboy?”
“Yep,” he said as we trotted off back to work.
“Think you should have taken a nap, little man?”
“No, I'm good. This is the best day I’ve ever had.”
“You say that a lot, Coop. How come you have so many best days?”
“It’s been nothing but best days since we came here, Mr. Kipp. I don’t have to go to daycare, I get to see mom all the time and hang out with you. I know you’re not my dad but I kind of get to pretend you are.” He turned and smiled up at me. “Could you be my dad?” His eyes were so big, and hopeful.
“Well Cooper, if I was your dad I would be so happy. How about we don’t have this discussion right now while we’re working. We can talk about it when things slow down. Until then, we can just keep doing what we’re doing.” I hoped I didn’t crush the kid's heart and he seemed to accept the answer because he smiled and nodded.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
NORA
Trying to avoid all eyes, I walked straight to the sink and started drying dishes. Nobody else was moving. They were all staring at me. “So, what happened in the bathroom?” Kristin whispered as she grabbed a towel and started drying the dishes. I turned to look at her and her smile was so big I thought she was going to vibrate right out the door.
“Nothing. He cleaned up my hands from the rope burns and here I am.” Turning back to the sink full of dishes, I tried not to look at her again.
“Look, my friend, I know the look of two people who were making out.” She bumped me with her hip and opened her eyes wide, hoping I would tell her more.
