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He shifted beside her, taking a step to stand almost fully behind her now. He encompassed her in his arms, and they breathed in together. “You’re wearing something nice tonight, right?” he murmured, his mouth right against her ear. She shivered in his arms as she nodded.
“Because we’re goin’ somewhere nice, Jill.”
Oh, he was pulling out her name again. And using that soft, sexy voice? He definitely wasn’t playing fair.
She wanted to turn in his arms and kiss him. In her mind, it seemed like an easy move to make, but she didn’t do it. Her heart pounded in her chest, and the seconds ticked by.
Slate finally pressed his lips to her neck, just below her ear, and Jill naturally leaned her head back so he could have better access. “We better get goin’,” he said. “I promised Ginger and Luke I’d be on-site by seven.”
Surely they hadn’t been standing there that long, but as he dropped his arms and Jill looked at her phone, it was already six-forty-five. She sighed, because she’d missed another opportunity to kiss him.
He glanced at her. “Thank you for this,” he said, taking both sets of reins in his hand. He started walking with the horses, adding, “Will you grab the cinnamon rolls?”
She bent down to get them, and when she straightened and started toward him, he turned suddenly and came back toward her. He wore something in his eyes she hadn’t seen before, and he haphazardly tossed the reins toward the post.
“Just a second.” He took the cinnamon rolls from her and put them back on the ground. “Jill, you’re amazing,” he said. “No one’s ever done something like this for my birthday.”
“It was a sunrise,” she said.
He gathered her into his arms. “It is so much more than that.” He swept his cowboy hat off his head and lowered his mouth toward hers. Her eyes drifted closed as her heartbeat turned to hummingbird wings. He paused, seeking permission, and Jill closed the distance between them.
She acted a little too quickly, though, and she hadn’t anticipated that he was already so close. She sort of mashed her mouth against his, but she adjusted quickly. He took the kiss from awkward to sweet to passionate with each new stroke of his lips against hers, and Jill’s heart grew wings and started to fly.
Kissing Slate was far better than anything she’d ever imagined and vastly superior to any other man she’d ever kissed.
“Thank you,” he murmured, removing his lips from hers for the breath of time it took to speak the words. He kissed her again. “Thank you.” And again. “Thank you.” And again.
Jill threaded her fingers through his hair and hoped he knew that she’d do all of this and more for him, because he meant a lot to her. Now, she just needed to figure out how to tell him that and make sure he knew she didn’t want him to leave Hope Eternal Ranch when the construction work ran out.
