“I want to believe you,” she mutters.
“Will it help if I get on my knees and beg for forgiveness?” I drop to my knees in front of her, and stare with the best puppy-dog eyes I can muster up.
“I’m not asking for a grown man to beg for forgiveness.” She shakes her head. “I just think we should keep working on getting to know each other again.”
“Oh, so I shouldn’t propose while I’m already down here?” I jokingly clear my throat. “Blair Hart, would you do me the honor of—”
“Denver.” She grabs me by the upper arms, tugging me to a standing position. No hiding that cute smile on her lips, though. “You’re being ridiculous. Let’s enjoy the summer, then see where we stand.”
“No, you’re right. We shouldn’t steal Aus and Filly’s thunder by getting engaged the day before their wedding.” I wink at her. “Speaking of which, are you bringing a date?”
“Why?Are you?” Her voice goes up an octave.
“Well, that would be pretty fucked up, considering I just slept in your bed and vaguely proposed marriage.” I step into Blair, feeling her relax into me when I cradle her head against my chest. “Be my date for the wedding, and we’ll take it day by day from there, if that’s what you want.Please.I’m very clearly not above begging.”
“Day by day, I can do.”
Blair
“Day by day, I can do.”
Taking it slow…I can try.Even if I’m already in so much deeper than a person should be for an “enjoy the summer, then take it from there” type of relationship.
I exhale, letting him wrap his arms around my shoulders in an embrace that eases years of pent-up tension in my muscles. He said he wants to be here, so I’m doing my best to let him.
Dad’s booming voice cuts through the air like a lightning bolt, sizzling with electricity in the morning air. I instinctively tense, letting Denver grip tighter.
“I need to go see what that was about. Wait here,” I say, attempting to pull away.
Naturally, Denver holds me back with a smile. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, Den—”
“I’m here with you, for everything.”
“It’s probably Mom. She…it hasn’t been great, truthfully.” I fiddle with the front of his shirt, scrunching the soft fabric between my fingers and refusing to meet his eye. “Sometimes she’s really depressed and doesn’t want to be around us. Other times, she’s straight-up mean—to Dad, mostly. But then we get days where the fog seems to have lifted and she’s her normal self. You got lucky with a normalday when we had dinner…but it’s not all cute little memory slipups like when she thought we were still dating, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunate about the moments not always being cute, or unfortunate that she was wrong about us dating?” He runs his thumb over my bottom lip. “Because I know a way to solve the second one.”
I acknowledge his comment with a tighter hug. “I don’t want you to walk out there unprepared. I’m guessing it’s a mean day.”
He kisses my forehead softly. “We can sneak out your window and grab a cinnamon roll at Anette’s for breakfast.”
Seriously tempting. Except I’ll need to be a mediator if Mom’s in the mood to fight with Dad. My shoulders sag, and I glance over at the window.
“Or—and hear me out before you say no—I’ll suss out the situation in the kitchen while you pack a bag of clothes.” He puts a hand up to stop me from saying anything. “Assuming things are good, we leave and go to Anette’s. I can wait around while you see your patients. Colt’s grabbing Jonas again, so you don’t have to—speaking of which, I lined up some work for him on the ranch this summer, so he’s out of Whit’s hairandone less thing for you to worry about all the time.”
“You did?”
“You can’t be babysitting a ten-year-old on top of everything else. Plus, we can always use free labor to muck stalls and shovel shit. Win, win.”
Yeah, I’m a total gonerfor this man.
I kiss him, running my hands down his torso and looping them behind his waist.
His lips press softly to the end of my nose. “Once you’re done with work, we’ll head out to the ranch and spend all weekend together. I already claimed one of the cabins for us.”
“Of course you were cocky enough to assume I’d want to spend the night with you after the wedding.” I give his chest a light shove, letting my hand linger over the spot where the Wells Ranch cattle brand is scarred. “I thought we just agreed to take this slow. Day by day, remember?”
