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“Ahh, one of the empty-headed nitwits?”
“Who’s now married to one of Hank’s foremen. I don’t think she’s pining too hard for me.”
“Sounds like Grandma is,” Zoe said, arching a brow.
“What can I say? I’m appealing to women of all ages.”
She came to a stop and put her fists on her hips. Chewy took the opportunity to lie down and rest.
“What are we doing here, Colt?” she asked, her heart beating wildly in her chest. They’d been dancing around each other for a couple of months. And she knew if things continued the way they were going she was going to have to make some decisions.
“We’re enjoying the morning together, taking in the beauty that can only be found in this particular place. It’s not too complicated. Doesn’t have to be.”
“I know you think that, but it is complicated,” she said, frustration tinging her voice. And she was surprised that her voice broke slightly.
He watched her carefully, and if he touched her she thought she’d break down and cry on the spot. He sighed and said, “I love you, Zoe. I know you don’t believe that, and that’s okay. For now. There’s no pressure from me for anything other than what you’re comfortable with. And you definitely shouldn’t feel pressure from my family or busybodies around town. You go at the speed you can go. No one is asking for anything more.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” she said, scrubbing her hands over her face. “There are things I need to tell you.”
“I know that,” he said evenly. “All I need you to know is that I love you. I know you haven’t had a lot of that in your life, and you probably don’t even recognize it for what it is. But you will. And at some point all that pent-up desire inside you that has you so confused is going to come to the surface and you’re going to kiss the socks off of me. But as you mentioned, I have a reputation in this town and I don’t want you to think I’m easy, so if you kiss me I’m going to have to tell people we’re officially a couple.”
Some of the tightness went out of her chest. He had the ability to put her at ease and calm her fears like no one ever had. Things weren’t as they should be, but maybe she could figure out a way to start down that path.
She wasn’t sure why she did it, but she took a step forward. And then another step. There was something exhilarating about the wariness in his eyes. And then the awareness as he realized what she was going to do.
“Zoe,” he warned.
She took another step forward until their bodies were only a breath apart. And then she tilted her mouth up to his and kissed the underside of his chin. Then his jaw. And the sound of his indrawn breath was like music to her ears. She looked up into his eyes and saw the blaze of desire banked within their dark depths, and she realized what tight control he’d had over himself these last months.
He stayed completely still, letting her be the aggressor as he’d told her he would. He’d said it would have to be her that came to him. So she put her hands on his chest and lifted herself onto her toes, and her mouth met his.
This wasn’t a kiss like their last had been—soft and sweet and gentle. This was a kiss that held all the desire and love and friendship that had flared between them, what had started as an ember and flamed into something more.
Her fingers flexed into his hard chest and she whimpered at the feel of his lips against hers. She didn’t know how long it lasted, where they were, or if anyone was watching. She just knew it was the two of them, and she’d never felt so whole.
She pulled back, breaking the kiss, and realized they were both breathing hard. She didn’t let go of him, afraid her knees would collapse beneath her. He leaned his forehead against hers in a gesture so sweet it almost brought tears to her eyes.
Chapter Twelve
Zoe’s mind was in complete chaos.
She and Colt hadn’t had much conversation since they’d left the church. Her insides were jelly, and her introverted self just wanted to huddle away in her condo and not see another living soul for at least a month. She’d felt like a zoo animal on display, which wasn’t all that dissimilar to when she had to go on a book tour and be in large crowds of people. She put on a smile and shook hands and somehow gave intelligible responses to questions, all the while shaking on the inside and wishing she was at home in her pajamas.
She was still in that dazed stupor of not knowing what was coming next, and Chewy must have had the same thought because he rested his head on her shoulder from the back seat as they crested over the hill and onto O’Hara land.
White rail fences lined the road and pastures for as far as the eye could see. There were horses grazing in one pasture and cattle in another. She’d grown up with parents who had influence and she’d taken horseback riding lessons as a child, along with every other kind of lesson that could keep her out of her parents’ hair. Her mother had fallen madly in love with the riding instructor until he’d cast her aside for a younger woman, and that had been the end of her time at the stables.
A big white farmhouse sat at the end of the long drive with a big front porch that had black rocking chairs and ferns that hung from the eaves. As they got closer she could see that additions had been made onto the house from the same river stone as so many other places in Laurel Valley.
There was another big red barn with a metal roof close to the house and in the middle of the two was a structure made of glass where there was a pool and hot tub.
“You grew up here?” Zoe asked, watching the dogs chase kids through the yard and around to the back of the house.
“Oh yeah,” Colt said. “Pretty amazing, huh? Every kid’s dream.”
“It’s incredible,” she said.
“And more work than you can imagine,” he said. “My dad and uncle run the ranch together, but all of us kids learned how to do everything from mucking out stalls to bidding on fillies at auction. And of all of us kids only my cousin Levi has the heart to keep the legacy alive for another generation.”
