Page 44 of Cherry Tree Ranch

“OK, then.” Cash inhales deeply and gives the blanket to me. Then he pulls his clinging shirt over his head.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“We won’t warm up being wet,” he says pragmatically. “You should take yours off too.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Yeah … sure I should.”

He wrings the water out of his shirt and, as he twists, his chest muscles squeeze together in a very distracting way. Water splatters dirt up on to his boots, and I turn my attention down. The long sinewy muscles at his waist taper down into a V. He hangs his shirt on a hook and comes back under the blanket with me. I keep the side of my shoulder from touching his, but I’m close enough to feel his warmth.

I shiver so hard my chest hurts. As crazy as it sounds, maybe I should take off my shirt. I fumble with my top button. My hand is stiff from the cold and I’m holding the blanket with my other hand. I let out a frustrated huff.

“Sure you don’t want to go inside?” Cash asks.

“Yeah, my mom had a hard day health-wise. I’d hate to risk waking her up.”

“I can make a run for my truck,” he says.

My teeth chatter and I shake my head. “No, don’t do that. It’s fine.” I tug at the button again, but it won’t pop through the hole.

“Would you mind holding the blanket up? I’m struggling to do this with one hand.”

“Sure,” he says reaching for my side of the blanket. His knuckles graze my shoulder like a feather and I shiver, this time not from the cold.

My breath is caught in my chest, but I begin unbuttoning.

He doesn’t look down at me. Instead, he closes his eyes and tilts his head up. When I’m at the bottom I try not to bump him with my elbows as I pull one arm out at a time. I throw my shirt over a saddle horn and pull the blanket round my exposed shoulder. I tug too hard and end up pulling Cash my way. We end up too close. His warm naked chest is only inches away from my almost naked chest. The tangible electricity is unnerving.

“Warming up?” he asks.

I’m warming up in more ways than one, if I’m being honest. I tilt my head up. “Yeah. You?”

He nods and his eyes meet mine. We’re so close I think for a moment he might kiss me, but then he clears his throat.

“Dahlia…” he starts, looking deeply into my eyes. “I—”

“Random storm, huh?” I say awkwardly, trying to break the tension.

“Yeah… At least we got the cherries.”

I take a shaky breath out and tell him all about the competition, the gorgeous label Emery created and my mediocre ideas for a pitch. He tells me about the rough stock he’s heard will be at the rodeo and which bronc he hopes to draw.

When we walk under the blanket to check our shirts, I secretly crave their damp touch, hoping to have a few more moments only a breath away from his bare skin. Neither of them are dry but he needs to go so we slip them back on. I wrap the blanket round me again, wishing this didn’t have to end.

The magical sky distracts me as we emerge from the barn. The Milky Way is a river of stars. My fingers long to touch it, to swirl around in it, to be a part of something bigger than myself. Cash stops and gazes up with me.

“It’s beautiful,” he says gently.

“Sure is.”

“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“About life and what it’s all about?” I say, looking at the crescent moon, my favourite.

“Exactly.” He turns and I can only make out the edges of his face because of the porch light. “What do you think it’s all about?”

I sigh. “I think we’re all here to just learn, fall apart, put things back together. You know, the messy stuff of being human. And it’s about finding passion for what we love and sharing it with others. What do you think?”

“My parents would tell you our purpose here is to serve God, but I believe there’s a lot more to it than that. Even though my mom’s Catholic, we have a bunch of Kachina dolls in our house. Do you know what those are?”