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But it wasn’t the coffee shop.
His gaze drifted over the trees, the trails, the shrubs, and the occasional critter than skittered along the path. This had been his dream—but more than that, he’d wanted a place to call his own. One day Bo would have children. And his children would take over the ranch. Then their children and so on. There wasn’t any room for Daniel to put down roots.
He turned away, emotions getting the better of him. There was no one he could tell that secret to—no one who would understand the choices he’d made for himself over the years. He had one chance to make a life for himself and that was with his little shop. And in order to do that, he had to be the best.
How was he supposed to get to that point if he was so focused on dragging Megan down on top of trying to avoid her strikes? If Rocky Ridge were a bigger town, he might have had a chance.
Heck, if Megan had set up shop on the other side of town, perhaps that would have worked due to people being generally lazy and going to the closest location.
He glanced up at Megan, surprised to find her watching him, studying him. No doubt she was planning her next mode of attack. He couldn’t think about that at the moment. He had more important issues right now—namely what he needed to do about how hard he’d hit his head.
Daniel closed his eyes briefly, allowing himself to become centered. No more games. They had to agree to that if they didn’t want to completely destroy one another.
Thunder clapped and he jumped, glancing upward.
Megan did the same then her gaze darted toward him. “That came in fast.”
“It’s the mountains. Sometimes the storm gets stuck rather than moving past them.”
Lightning flashed followed immediately by another roll of thunder and Megan jumped. Her skin paled and her head whipped around, probably in search of somewhere to wait out the storm. There was only one place close enough for them to get to and the rain would come any second.
Daniel gestured toward Diamond. “Get on.”
“What? No, I can’t.”
“Why not?” he demanded. “We’re about to get dumped on. Don’t you want to get somewhere safe?” He motioned with frustration toward the trees. “I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to stay out of the line of fire. If that lightning comes down the way it usually does, there’s a chance it will hit one of the trees—then rain would be the least of our problems.”
She hesitated but only for a moment. With a short nod, she climbed into the saddle. It took three awkward attempts, but he was finally able to mount the horse behind her and they took off.
CHAPTEREIGHT
“Where are we going?”Megan’s voice whipped away in the wind. She might not have been the best with directions, but she understood enough to know they weren’t riding toward the house. They were headed in the direction that she’d been coming from.
Daniel’s voice came right beside her ear, sending goosebumps rippling across her skin. “There’s a cabin on the outskirts of the property right next to a state forest. We use it for hunting sometimes.”
She tried not to focus too much on the way his arm had slipped around her securely. If he were to fall due to his injury, she would go with him. But that wasn’t even the most intrusive thing that flooded her mind. It was actually sorta nice to be held this way.
She’d never been a big fan of horses or riding. Being a city girl had done that to her. But the way things were going, she might actually change her mind. The horse wasn’t white. Daniel wasn’t her knight in shining armor, but in an alternate reality she could pretend that something romantic might have occurred between the two of them.
More thunder and lightning overhead had her shrinking back into Daniel’s chest. Large, fat raindrops pelted them from all sides and Daniel pushed the horse to ride faster. She wasn’t sure how far the cabin was but if they needed to go there instead of head back home, it had to be closer than she realized.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, a small cabin came into view. The sky had darkened enough to make it feel like time had sped up and they were heading into the night even though it wasn’t even lunch time yet. The strange darkness that surrounded them was likely due to the cloud coverage along with the tall trees that surrounded the clearing they came into.
“Are you sure this is the place you want to wait out the storm? You said the lightning could hit the trees. We’re surrounded by them now.”
“It’s better to find shelter even if there are trees around. We should be fine here.” Daniel pulled the horse to a stop and she danced restlessly even as Daniel climbed down from the saddle. He held up both hands toward her, indicating he’d help her down, but she shook her head.
“No thanks. I don’t need you losing your balance. Just keep the horse steady, will you?” She swung her leg over the horse and hopped to the dirt, kicking up dust with her landing. The ground was littered with round wet drops as the rain grew heavier. It stung her hands and her face, making her wish she had a hat like the one Daniel wore.
He jutted his chin toward the cabin. “Come on. Let’s get inside before we’re washed away.”
It was strange, being at the mercy of the one person she believed hated her. Daniel was all business as they hurried toward the cabin. He tied the horse up to a post before removing her saddle then charging up the steps to the front door.
It was locked.
Megan bit back a smile as he mumbled a curse and spun around, searching for something. When he found what he was looking for, he hurried down the steps, tipped over a large rock then retrieved a key.
She watched him with interest. First, he unlocked the door. Then he located the lights. After that, he found a place for the saddle and set to work starting a fire in the hearth. Only then did she feel the chill sweep through her. Autumn had arrived and the fall rain outside was colder than she’d anticipated. Not only that, but she’d worked up a sweat with her run and now all she wanted was a nice hot shower.
