Page 36 of When The Dust Settles

And he kissed me, morning breath and all, and even better, hugged me tight to his heart and buried his face in my hair.

“Sunday around six I need you there when I come in from the stockyard.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“You swear?”

He was worried that away from him I would change my mind about us, and that was a slice of heaven right there because it was me who mattered and that was brand sparkling new.

“Yes, baby, I’ll be there.”

“Oh yeah, that’s good. I will most certainly be your baby.”

“So tell me, where’s your family?” I asked. “I’ve always wanted to know.”

He brushed my hair back from my face; it was already getting to be a habit of his, even in so short a time. “When I told everyone at home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that I was gay, they wasted no time in throwing me off the ranch.”

I drew him into my arms and squeezed him tight, because what words could I offer him that would come close to helping.

“I suspect,” he sighed, cuddling tight, “that if my mother were alive, that would not have been the case, but she passed when I was ten, and that was the last we saw of my father’s heart. I think he buried it with her.”

“Jesus, Maclain, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right. Sheridan Gentry has five other sons to take care of him, so he ain’t missing me.”

“I would,” I blurted out, tipping his head back to kiss him. “Miss you.”

It was scary how ready we both were to belong to another person, to start a relationship. It was like we’d both been waiting for the other to notice that forward, together, was the place we both wanted to go.

“Well, what I’m hoping is that we’ll get to where missing me will never cross your mind because you can’t even imagine letting me go at all.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about us getting there.”

His smile was wicked. “Well, well, now, ain’t we a pair, gettin’ attached so fast.”

Fast was an understatement, so the time apart when Everett picked me up to take me back to the ranch was probably a good thing.

AS EVERETT’S truck sped away, everything I’d thought about just hours before, how we should handle things, how we should keep things under wraps until we made concrete decisions about our future… seemed stupid. I didn’t want to pin Mac down, but I realized in the whirlwind of activity that was my leaving that I hadn’t actually gotten around to asking him what he did or didn’t want. I’d assumed things, and that was never good.

“You forget something?” Zach called over to me as I walked back past where all the men and guests were sitting down to breakfast. I hadn’t been hungry, and since Everett wanted to get back to his family, we had skipped the meal to leave for the Red. But it turned out I wasn’t quite ready to go, and I made Everett stop his truck and trailer so I could get out and run back to Mac, who hadn’t moved from where he was when I left him not ten minutes prior.

He was still standing there, glowering, arms crossed, brows furrowed, a study in irritation with maybe even some anger thrown in for good measure.

Darting over, big smile on my face, I stopped directly in front of him and slipped my hand around the back of his neck, massaging gently. “Hi,” I greeted, as though I wasn’t insane and wasn’t right back after barely being gone.

I had no idea his glower could get any darker. “What’re you doing?”

I slipped my right hand over his hip. “Remember when I was leaving and told you that we should probably keep this to ourselves?”

“I seem to recall that,” he said coolly, his tone as frosty as his gaze.

“Well, I was trying to think about you and how private you are and how maybe you didn’t want everyone knowing your business, but I realized that you could have taken that to mean that I didn’t want everyone to know.”

He grunted, but I saw a glimmer of warmth start to infuse the quicksilver of his eyes. I was definitely seeing some thaw.

“So I came back to tell you, Maclain Gentry,” I said as I eased his head down even as I lifted for his mouth, “that I want everyone to fuckin’ know about us.”

The kiss I gave him was filled with longing, but more importantly, hope. I’m sure it also left no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mac was very much with me. Taking a step back from him, I was very pleased when he followed, not wanting to sever the contact.