“You dress exclusively in black, grey, and navy, and you bought me a pink car.”
I shrug. “You’re introducing me to the rainbow.”
She shakes her head, still smiling, eyes bright.
“I wanted you to have the kind of birthday you deserve. Your family never appreciated you the way they should have,” I say. “They tried to snuff out your light, dull all your color. Erase everything that makes you special. I wanted you to have something that says it loud and proud.”
She stares at me.
The smile is still there but it’s changed into something more complicated.
“Slade,” she whispers.
She crosses to me in three steps and I open my arms for her and she tucks in, same as always, her head against my shoulder. Except this time her hands fist in the back of my ridiculous white fur coat and she holds on.
I press my lips to the top of her head and close my eyes. I breathe in her scent, flowers and marshmallows. Feel her body, warm and soft against mine.
I pull back after a moment to look at her, to make sure she’s okay. Her eyes are shining and her lips are pressed together like she’s trying to hold something in.
“Is it too much?” I ask. The car. The surprise party. The way I’m holding her in my arms.
She knows we’re not just talking about the car anymore too.
“No such thing,” she whispers. “You know me. More is more.”
I don’t decide to move. My hand just finds her jaw, tilting her face up towardmine.
I want to kiss her.
There are no cameras around. No audience, nothing to prove. If I did, I wouldn’t have any excuses to hide behind why I’m kissing her. It wouldn’t be for any particular reason other than I just want to kiss her. Desperately.
Her eyes drop to my mouth and come back up and something in my chest pulls so tight it’s almost painful. It’s desire and it’s something else. Something bigger and warmer and more frightening than desire, something I don’t have a name for and am not sure I want one.
Then comes the sound of hoofbeats.
We both freeze.
Rafe comes around the side of the barn on Cisco, dusty from the collar down, hat pushed back. He takes one look at us, with my hand on Lila’s cheek, the absence of any space between us, and pulls up short.
“Sorry to interrupt.” He looks away immediately as he dismounts. “Didn’t know anyone was out here.”
I drop my hand from Lila’s face. Step back. My voice comes out even somehow. “It’s fine.”
“Nice truck,” he says, dark eyes fixing on the Range Rover.
“Slade got me a birthday present,” Lila says, a little too brightly. Skin still flushed, even in the twilight.
Rafe tips his hat. “Happy birthday, Lila.”
I look out at the dark pasture and breathe.
“Are you coming to the party?” Lila asks him.
“In a minute.” He swings down and starts loosening Cisco’s cinch, giving us his back.
“Josie said she can’t come for Thanksgiving,” I say, mostly to fill the silence. “Her next assignment’s taking her to Hawaii, I guess.” Josie’s a travel nurse and never stays in one place too long. “Dad said she called this morning.”
Rafe’s hands go still on the saddle just for a second. “Good to know,” he says.
