Page 158 of Lost Trust

“Flowers. Candlelight. Slow dancing.” She gives me a pointed look. “Take her somewhere nice besides that dingy old bar in town you boys are so fond of. It may be fun, but it’s not intimate. Romance the girl.”

Something about the way she says it makes me straighten.

“From what her mother says, Marina has never really had much of that.”

That lands harder than I expected.

I think about Marina. How fiercely independent she is. How quick she is to insist she doesn’t need anybody. How carefully she keeps people at arm’s length.

She may not need somebody to rescue her, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve somebody willing to show her she’s worth choosing.

“Thanks,” I say quietly.

I give them both another kiss before heading for the door.

Romance.

Never been my thing.

I’ve spent most of my life thinking flowers were something you bought for funerals.

Marina isn’t some woman I want to impress for one night.

She’s the woman I woke up beside this morning and couldn’t stop thinking about all damn day.

Maybe Grandma’s right.

Maybe it’s time I stopped trying to polish the buckle before the ride even starts.

I should learn how to properly date, and I ought to learn the nuances of this woman in particular.

I know where to start.

I walk past my truck and toward the wood line.

Time to talk to Ginger.

Marina

I hear the horses before I see them.

The steady rhythm of hooves coming up the lane pulls me onto the porch, and the second I see Royce riding toward me, something inside my chest gives a traitorous little flutter.

He looks good.

Jeans sitting low on his hips. Boots planted in the stirrups. A dark button-down with the sleeves shoved to his elbows, exposing those strong forearms I’ve become far too aware of. His hat’s pulled low, shadowing the scar that cuts through his eyebrow and making his eyes look even more dangerous.

But it’s the horse beside him that makes me forget about Royce for a second.

Rowdy.

My mouth falls open. “What are you doing with my horse?”

Royce’s grin spreads slowly. “Rowdy and I decided we wanted to take you on a date.”

I stare at him. “A date?”

“Yep.”