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Piper laughed. “You always make me feel so appreciated. I’m so glad I rank just above nothing else to do.”
“You know you also rank above castrating cattle, so don’t act like you’re at the bottom of my priority list.”
Taking a small throw pillow from her wicker swing, Piper launched it across the porch, hitting him in the chest. The swift move made her back ache, but it was worth it.
“You’ve got such a smart mouth.” She laughed.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way,” he murmured.
Still smiling, she eased back onto the swing and enjoyed the soft evening breeze. “No, I wouldn’t.”
For a moment Piper let the tranquility of the evening wash over her. The crickets chirping in the distance, the starry night, the warm breeze blowing across her porch. She loved having a swing out here to just sit in and reflect at the end of the day.
True, her home might still be in disrepair, but it was coming along and she was going to be able to be proud of herself when all was said and done. And the A/C was going in tomorrow afternoon. Thank you, God. Because if she had to keep seeing Ryan strip out of his shirt, mop his forehead with the garment and have his pecs flex beneath beads of sweat, she may very well die from want and lust.
“Do you remember when we’d ride our bikes past here?” Ryan asked, breaking the silence.
Piper glanced out to the sidewalk that stretched between the road and her yard. She could practically see the younger versions of the two of them peddling by. His bike had been blue and black and hers had been red with a horn. She’d loved riding up behind him and squeaking that loud thing. He’d jump every time. The trick never got old.
“I do remember,” she said with a smile. “I believe I told you one day this house would be mine.”
“Even back then you saw the potential in this place. I never knew why you loved it so much.”
Piper shrugged, toeing off the porch again. “I always thought it looked cozy, homey. I wanted a house that I could feel loved in and this one always had toys in the yard and a mom or dad swinging up here. It just seemed like the life I wanted.”
“And now?” Ryan asked. “What life are you looking for now?”
Across the porch, her eyes met his. “I wouldn’t mind that life now. Though with my crazy work schedule and my time off spent here, I’m not sure the dating scene is going to happen for me for a while.”
“You work too hard.”
“That’s because some of us aren’t high and mighty celebrities making money from the rodeo circuit.”
Ryan tossed the pillow back at her. “I’m not a celebrity, Red. I’m just a man who’s opening a school on my ranch. I’m ready for the simple life.”
Piper hugged the pillow to her chest. “You may be ready for the simple life, but I know you. You’re laid-back and easygoing, but you have that reckless, adventurous streak in you from your rodeo days. If they called and asked you to come back, don’t act like you wouldn’t jump at the chance.”
“I want a life like my parents had.” His words instantly took her back to their childhood. “I want the love they shared before her death, before my father let guilt eat him alive. I know love exists. I saw it firsthand and it would’ve lasted forever.”
Piper swallowed the lump in her throat. Ryan’s mother had been killed in a car accident when his father had been driving. Piper had never seen a more distraught, broken man in all her life. The guilt, the depression, all had taken a toll on him and he’d ended up dying of a massive heart attack when Ryan was a senior in high school.
Piper knew that was another reason Ryan had been so hell-bent on getting out of town. He was running from the painful memories. And he’d buried himself in the circuit until that was all he knew, all he lived for.
“Are you sure you’re not getting the itch to travel again?” she asked. “You’ve been home six months. That’s a record for you. What about when the holidays are over? Will you be bored?”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m too busy here to be bored. I’ve retired for good.”
Yeah, her father had, too. Twice. And all these years later that scar tissue on her heart was still deep.
“I’m not him, Piper.”
She glanced up as Ryan shifted to sit on the edge of the chaise. “Whatever you think the similarities are between me and your father, my loyalty to you isn’t one of them.”
“It’s just hard to get past how similar you two are.”
