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Chapter Eighteen
Kaylee’s pulse raced, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. She hoped he couldn’t feel the tremble in her hands.
They were all alone with no distractions. This was the moment she’d been dreaming of.
But instead of gathering her to him, he pulled her to the edge of the porch. “I want to show you something. You can only see these every once in a while—the sky has to be super clear and all the conditions need to be just right—but they’re visible tonight.” He directed her attention to the sky over the far pasture. “If you thought those fireworks earlier were cool, this will blow your mind.”
She sucked in a breath, thoughts of a kiss pushed aside as she gasped at the display of green and purple lights rippling through the dark sky. “What is that?”
“Those are the Northern Lights. They’re God’s fireworks display.”
“No way. Really? I thought you could only see the aurora borealis in Alaska. And Iceland.”
“You can see it better there, but you can catch glimpses of it occasionally on some perfect nights in Montana too.”
“It seems right that we’d see it tonight then,” she said, squeezing his hand. “Because this is themostperfect night.”
She stood that way with him, just holding his hand, as they watched the massive waves of color and light swell and surge across the sky.
After a while, she turned to him, feeling nervous but still knowing just what she wanted to say. “Thank you, Luke. Everything about this day and night has been amazing. And this”—she tilted her head toward the sky—“has been the perfect ending to one of the best nights of my life. So as much as I don’t want it to end, Idowant it to endexactlylike this. I don’t want anything to change or alter this perfect feeling. So I’m going to give you a hug then go right to bed and replay the whole day and night again in my dreams.”
An easy smile played on his lips as he opened his arms.
She stepped into them and hugged him tight, inhaling the scent of him—the warm woodsy tone of his aftershave mixed with laundry detergent and the faint hint of caramel corn.
“You do have a way with words,” he said against her ear. “And this has been an amazing night for me too.”
She melted into him, memorizing every facet of the feeling of his embrace: the broadness of his chest, the strength of his arms, the tenderness of his head bent close to hers, the warmth of his breath on her neck. The joy and peace inside her that felt like, in his arms, she’d finally found a home.
Taking one more deep breath, she squeezed him again then let him go and hurried inside.
Kaylee woke the next morning to a warm nose nestled in her neck. Disoriented for a minute, she fluttered her eyes and softly uttered Luke’s name. She’d been dreaming of him, of what it would be like to get married and be able to wake up every morning in his embrace.
But Luke’s nose wasn’t wet, and she was pretty sure his breath didn’t smell like dog treats. She opened her eyes and was met with a pair of big brown ones staring at her as if she’d just hung the moon. Or maybe it was more of aI hope you’re going to feed me soonlook. Either way, it was adorable.
“Hello, Gladys,” she cooed, ruffling the neck of her fur baby. “How you doing, girl? Did you sleep well?” She was pretty sure she already knew the answer to that question since the dog was in one of her favorite sleeping spots, curled up on the pillow next to her with her head in the crook of Kaylee’s neck.
The dog answered anyway with an affectionate nibble of her ear.
Sunlight streamed through the window and across the bed as she laughed and sat up. She stretched her arms wide as a light knock sound on the door.
“Come in,” she said, smoothing a hand over her hair.
The door opened a few inches, and Luke poked his head in. “Good morning, sunshine.” He offered her a cheerful grin.
“Good morning, cowboy.” She wasn’t sure where that flirty tone had come from but the smile was all hers.
Cooper nudged his head in next to Luke’s leg then pushed through the space and jumped on the bed, stopping to sniff at Gladys’s ear before giving Kaylee’s cheek a sloppy lick.
She laughed as she wiped the slobber from her face and scratched the dog’s furry ears. Cooper pushed against her hand in doggy bliss. “Now that’s a greeting I don’t get every day.”
Luke grimaced. “I do.”
“Lucky.”
He chuckled as he jerked a thumb behind him. “I’ve just finished my chores, and I wanted to tell ya I’m headed into town to run some errands for the next few hours. I need to stop by the post office and the feed store, and we’re almost out of milk so I was gonna grab a few groceries. And Dean’s been having trouble with a cow and wants me to stop by his place and take a look at her with him. You gonna be okay on your own this morning?”
She nodded. “Of course. I wanted to do some writing this morning anyway. There were so many things that happened last night that I’d love to use in one of my upcoming books.”
