“Did that make the dunking booth fun?”
“Not really. Everyone expects me to dunk him so I play along. I’d give my life for Adam. He’d do the same for me.”
Her throat tightened. She and Cole had a bond like that, but her career choice kept her from seeing him much. “I never thought about it before, but I’d give my life for Cole and he would for me.”
“He must be a stand-up guy.”
“The best.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“Yep.”
“I just wondered since you don’t?—”
“They did their duty by us. We had food, clothes, a roof over our heads. But they weren’t happy about it.”
“What makes you say that?”
She shrugged. “They’ve always acted like we’re this burden they’ve had to put up with. When we were little, Cole and I decided they’d been forced to take us because our real parents had been close relatives who’d died in a tragic accident.”
“Logical.”
“Cole wouldn’t ask but when I was eleven I finally did. Mom showed me the birth certificates. We’re theirs. So then I asked her if we’d been unplanned. She made a face and said pretty much.”
“Ouch.” He took a breath. “I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“Like I said, my family is nothing like yours. Which is why we need to really consider what we’re doing with this… this thing that’s brewing between us. Your family is being incredibly nice to me. I’m not going to repay that generosity by sneaking over to your casita in the middle of the night.”
He met that with a snort of laughter.
“It’s not funny, damn it!”
“It is, querida. You wouldn’t say it if you hadn’t already pictured yourself doing it. You don’t even know how far you’d have to sneak. It’s a big ranch.”
Her face heated. He was right. That scenario had been running through her mind the entire time he’d been describing the ranch’s layout. They wouldn’t build those houses miles from each other, would they? Walking distance made more sense.
“FYI, it’s about three?—"
“Miles? Yikes. No way.”
“Minutes.”
“Oh.” Her skin tingled. “So what? I’m not doing it.” From the corner of her eye she caught his smile and the irresistible dimple that turned her inside out. “And no fair calling me querida.”
“No fair coming to Mustang Valley looking even more beautiful than you did five years ago.” His voice softened. “I couldn’t resist you then. How am I supposed to do it now?”
Those words, cloaked in the velvet tones she remembered all too well, sent shivers of arousal through her eager body. She could fight those urges now because she had her horse to think of.
But tonight, when Fudge had been treated and placed in a cozy stall, her horse wouldn’t need her attention. And paradise would be only three minutes away.
Chapter Nine
Jordan fell silent after that. Could be a result of the heavier traffic they encountered as they drew closer to Missoula. But Luis figured she was chewing on his last comment, trying to frame a response and coming up empty.
He couldn’t say when he’d gone all in. Might have been when he’d climbed into her truck and buckled up. After their first night together at the motel where they’d each booked a room, she’d cancelled hers and moved in with him.
He'd refused to let her pay half, so she’d insisted on driving them back and forth from the motel to the ranch where the clinic was held. Now he understood why that had mattered so much to her.
