Page 83 of The One Who Saw Her: Boone

The goat headbutted her mid-sentence, nearly knocking her sideways.

Boone released an unguarded laugh and stepped closer, hands shoved into his pockets, close enough that she caught the scent of him. Sun-warmed skin, a trace of soap, something underneath that was just undeniably him. Her chest did its usual idiotic thing.

"I'm sorry about last night," he said, and the laughter was gone. His voice dropped to something quieter. "About how I said what I said. The words—yeah, I meant them. But not the delivery. You didn't deserve that."

"Is that really how you feel or are you apologizing because Lady Rea made you?"

"Both," he said, closing the gap between them. "I love how passionate you are about things, Vivi. The way you throw yourself into the world—into people and ideas, into every corner of a place you were never supposed to stay. I wish I had that fire."

She let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. "Well, if you had my passion and I had your structure, we'd be the perfect person."

He tilted his head, that grin turning wicked. "Nah. A perfect person would be boring. Now, the perfect team? That’s something I could work with."

Her stomach did that ridiculous twisting thing, and she almost leaned forward just to see what he'd do.

"Team, huh?" She let her voice drop slightly. "You really think this team could handle a little chaos?"

His eyes darkened—that specific, devastating shift she'd catalogued more times than she'd admitted.

"Chaos? I think we could handle a hell of a lot more than that," he said, taking a seat on the grass beside her and folding his long legs to mirror her pose, which was both absurd and unbearably endearing. "I might even say I'd like a little chaos with you."

She swallowed hard. All her flirty confidence dissolved into something warmer and more frightening.

Bleat. Bleat. Bleat.

"The goat approves," she whispered.

"Goats or not," he said, letting his hand hover just near hers—close enough to feel without touching. "I think this glow-up exercise just got a lot more interesting."

For a moment the wind moved through the field, the sun dipped low, and the soft sounds of the ranch settled around them, and the world shrank down to exactly this—the two of them and the kind of crazy that made her pulse race instead of panic.

His hand brushed her cheek, just enough to send a spark crawling all the way down to her core.

"There's a rodeo in Springville this weekend," he said. "Thought maybe you'd like to come with me."

"The rodeo?" she asked, trying to keep the warmth out of her voice and failing completely.

"Thought I'd bring you into my world a little. Horses, bulls, dust and a hell of a lot of adrenaline." His mouth curved. "And all the romance you can handle."

She felt that flutter, that involuntary oh of realizing he wanted her there. Not just here, not just in his orbit by accident and rental agreement. There. In the thing that mattered most to him.

"Is this a date?"

"Well, I'm not asking you to go with me for a colonoscopy," he repeated her comment from the other day, and she laughed loud and real and didn't try to stop it.

"I guess I deserved that."

"You also deserved flowers for me being a dick last night," he said, eyes settling on hers with a steadiness that always made her feel like the only person in the world. "But my Nan once told me flowers die and Chanel bags last forever."

Vivi shook her head, smiling. "You don't take me for a Chanel kind of girl, do you?"

"Nope." His voice was certain and warm. "Memories last longer than flowers or handbags. So I figured a memory at the rodeo where we’re laughing, screaming at bulls, and getting into a little mayhem would be more our speed. Fun, messy, and completely unforgettable."

She bit her lip. A memory shared with him in the place he felt the most seen. She could feel the beginning of something real, the careful way he was letting her in, and the butterflies in her stomach were doing backflips.

"I'll go," she said. "I'll make a memory with you."

"So, you, me, and the rodeo?” he asked, tilting his head. "Think you can handle the rodeo champ that is Boone Callahan?"