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Porter moved over to the La-Z-Boy and roped Cadence along. He pulled her back into the wide seat, where she found herself practically sitting on his lap. The dog followed, of course. Porter grunted under the extra weight. Cadence wriggled around to find more room on the seat, but her hips kept getting in the way. Porter didn’t seem to mind a bit.
Funches peered at Cadence over a cushion he was overturning. “How did you get stuck with this guy?”
“Right?” she joked. “The problem is that I can’t go anywhere on my own. My car is broken down at Porter’s place with a flat. He couldn’t get the spare out of the trunk so we’re stuck together.”Quite literally at the hip.
“What?” Funches straightened, his cheeks quivering in indignation. “You couldn’t dig out that spare, Porter? I don’t believe that for a second. Look at that guilty look. The guy just wanted to have you to himself.”
“Well.” Porter’s eyes danced on hers. She recognized that devilish look. “Sheisgood luck.”
Cadence tried to defend him under Funches’s scowls. “It was my fault. The spare probably hasn’t been touched for more than twenty years. It was rusted in there.”
“Hmm, maybe I should come over and help.” Funches said. “I’ll bring my guns.” He flexed his white arms to show a considerable amount of muscle for an old man.
Porter laughed. “Put those away before you hurt yourself.” He sat back, then jerked before reaching under him to pull out the remote. He put up the volume so that the sounds of racecars echoed through the den.
Funches confiscated the remote from Porter and turned up the volume even more, so that the racecars felt like they were ripping through the wall. Funches shouted through the noise. “Look at Vanilla go. If you think that Henderson is going to beat him, you’re eating bear for dinner with a side of tripe.”
Porter made a face. “It’s not going to happen. We’ll be feasting on steak tonight.” His beautiful eyes rested on Cadence. “I grill a pretty mean steak.”
Her mouth watered at the thought. She let them talk smack while she tried to make heads or tails of the race. She’d downed about three cans of Fresca as the afternoon wore on. It was clear that both of their favorites were having a rough time of it. Finally, she chose Henry Gomez as her winner. They upped the stakes after that.
“If Gomez loses,” Funches said, “then you have to take out the trash tonight.”
“No, I have a better idea,” Porter said. “She has to go back to the waterfall with me.”
She couldn’t help the smile taking over her cheeks at the thought. That place was gorgeous. “And if you lose, you have to go to the waterfall withme.”
Funches let out a groan. “And if I win, you both have to take me along and clean my feet.”
Ewww! Porter turned back to the screen. “That’s it—anyone can win but Vanilla now.”
Cadence sat back against him. Now that she had a stake in the race, she began to enjoy it more as they cheered for their favorites and accused the other players of cheating. Funches kept them supplied with a running supply of Fresca and chips. No wonder Porter didn’t miss their NASCAR nights. She was really enjoying this dip that Funches had made. Gomez was running behind in the last few races, and Porter’s favorite was catching up.
“See,” Porter said. “I knew it.” He squeezed her around the waist. “I have my good luck charm.”
“Wait! How is that supposed to work,” Cadence complained. She’d never understood how Lacy could claim that either. “If I’m such good luck, why is my guy losing?”
“Your guy’s winning,” Porter reminded her. She caught his eyes, and once again detected that gleam of admiration that sent delicious shivers through her. He was going to kiss her soon. There was no mistaking the way he was leaning, his tender touch on hers, the way his breath hitched.
“We need to start planning our date at the waterfall,” he whispered into her ear. “Are you going to wear that baggy T-shirt again?”
“That one that swallowed me whole? There was more T-shirt than me.”
“Ilikedyou in that.”
Funches let out a groan and stretched. “You two are killing me! Go check on my peach cobbler, will you? It’ll be burnt to a crisp about now… just how I like it.”
Chuckling, Porter stretched to his feet and almost slammed his head against the ceiling. He reached out to help her out of the chair. They crept up the creaking steps to the kitchen. Mutt still followed along to keep an eye on them.
The black dog must consider himself their chaperone, because he’d gotten in their way the whole time they were downstairs in that time warp. Cadence noticed the darkening sky. They must’ve been wrapped up on that La-Z-Boy for hours.
Porter plucked up the forgotten blanket from the couch upstairs where she’d dropped it when Mutt first jumped out at them. He folded it under his arm. The warm air sizzled over her skin as they pushed outside. She was grateful to catch a little fresh air, but also missing the feel of Porter’s arm against hers. He must be feeling the same way, because he caught her fingers up in his, rubbing his thumb over her wrist.
Wow. He sure knew how to show a girl a good time!
They wandered outside over the pine-covered grounds. A meadow stretched out before them. Surrounding that was a thick forest. This property was the best of all worlds. The sun was setting into the hazy mountains in the distance. The last of its orange rays filtered through the lacey branches of musky pines and gentle maples. The last of the birds’ warbling tunes were disappearing into the cadences of crickets. The fireflies added to the brilliant concert with their strange mating dance.
Everything about Harvest Ranch, so far, felt magical.
