“Anything on horseback. I love the days where it’s Betty and me—and Jonas—out checking on the herd or cruising the fence line.”
“I still can’t believe you have Jonas riding a horse…working on a ranch, in general.” I gesture around the room. “It’s a struggle to get him to help me with the most basic chores around here. He’s going to be lost when he goes back to school in a few weeks.”
“He can always come out on weekends. I’m gonna miss having my sidekick. I’ll have to open gates for myself. Tried teaching Betty, but she just squeezes her chunky ass through the rails and leaves me behind.”
“Speaking of Betty…where is she?”
His bottom lip juts out and he looks around. “Bett—”
My fingers rap against his ankle and I shush him. “No shouting. Jonas is asleep.”
“It’s like ten o’clock…are we sure he’s okay? Should we check on him?” Colt twists to look toward the stairs.
“I checked on him right before you got here,” I reassure him with a smile. “He was up puking most of the night. He needs this sleep.”
“Okay.” He doesn’t seem convinced. “But I should locate Betty, in case she’s up to something.”
Giving my feet a tender squeeze, like a warm hug, he moves them off his lap, and we both pull ourselves from the well-worn cushions. The house is small, and we’d know if there was a thirty-pound dog anywhere on the open concept main floor, so Colt and I tread softly up the stairs.
Finding Jonas’s door ajar, I gingerly step toward it and poke my head inside. The room’s filled with the sound of gentle snores from both the kid and the dog. Jonas is on his side, blankets kicked off—making me a tad worried he has a fever—and his arm is slung around Betty’s furry barrel chest.
“Found her,” I whisper, turning to find Colt.
Without warning, he steps in behind me to see what I’m seeing. He’s a furnace, heating my entire body with his, and his hand falls to my waist with the sear of a branding iron.
“They lookreallycomfy.” His breath twists through my hair and fans over my cheek.
When I glance back at him, the breadth of space between our lips creates a warm glow inside me. It’s intimate and comforting, as if we’re two concerned parents checking in on our sleeping boy, whispering things likelook how cute he looks when he’s sleepingorcan you believe he’s all ours?
I’ve spent more than my fair share of time watching Jonas sleep, always carrying a melancholic heaviness that, on a particularly lonely night, turns to deep-seated resentment. It’s never felt like this.Serene.But even if I allow myself to imagine a future with Colt, we won’t ever get these moments with our own baby.
“Let’s leave them for a bit,” I say.
Taking no more than half a step back, I find myself firmly pressed against Colt.
And his hand is still on my waist.
When I spin, his fingers dance around my torso. When I stop, he bunches a fistful of shirt fabric, holding me in place. Our faces are so close, I’m convinced he’s going to kiss me.
More frightening than that, I know I’ll let him.
My heart and my lips and my vagina screamyes.A resounding fuckingyes. Thirty exclamation points,yes. But my brain tips the scales with the tiniestno.
And when Colt clocks my negligible headshake, he winces, dropping me from his clutches with such haste it seems he never wanted to touch me in the first place.
To my surprise, his callused hands move to grab either side of my head, instead. Whether it’s the intense pressure of his fingers on my skull, or the speed with which he dropped me only to pick me up again, or I’ve caught Jonas’s sickness, I’m not sure. But my vision blurs and the ground figuratively lurches beneath me.
Colt’s lips press to my forehead in a kiss so forceful, my skull would crash into the wall if it weren’t for his fingers wrapped around the back of it.
He steps back with a frustrated huff, leaving me stupefied, with flushed cheeks and a racing heart.
“I should head out. Told Mom I’d hit up some thrift stores with her today. You uh…if you need anything else, let me know.” He reaches for Jonas’s doorknob.
I hesitate, then say, “If you want to leave Betty here while you’re out, you can.” I do my best to sound casual, like I’m only thinking of Jonas, and not looking for a reason for him to come back.
His hand falls to his side. “I think they’d both like that.”
“Looks like I might have to get Jonas a dog.”
