And maybe for me too.
* * *
It takesa little longer than it should to come down from all of that, but Tanner and I finally put ourselves together and find some old newspaper to wipe the cum from the garage floor. We quickly set up a blow-up Star of David in Mrs. Abrams’ front yard, a festive cling menorah on her glass door, and dreidel-shaped lights along her front roof line.
I’m a little suspicious of the smile she gives us when she serves us slices of her olive-oil cake—which tastes way better than it sounds, by the way—like maybe she knows what we got up to in her garage.
Either way, she doesn’t seem angry, so that’s a good thing.
I’m honestly a little pouty when I have to drop him off at his car.
“You have no idea how hard it is to go into work right now,” I say, gesturing toward my below-the-belt situation.
“So…you might want to do this again?” he asks, a funny mix of hopeful and confident.
His freckles are still a little smeary, but it looks good on him, and his smile is…wow. Yeah.
“Junior?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want to do this again?”
I snap out of my reverie. “Oh, I’m already picturing it, darlin’.”
He chuckles, rubbing his hand along my thigh. “My uncle is going to be out of town this weekend, so…”
“Huh. Considering I have to beintown this weekend for the volunteer work, I should maybe…stay the night?”
His ears go red. “Uh, yeah. Guess so.”
I check for people, then grab his shirt, pulling him into a deep, probing kiss.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”
Biting his lip, he lets himself out of the truck, and I watch as he walks back to his car. The juxtaposition of his punky saunter across the parking lot with the fussy, specific way he holds his keys as he unlocks his door floors me. Fierce and sweet.
I don’t know how I got a magical being like Tanner to pay attention to me, but I’ll be damned if I let him out of my grasp now.
* * *
As much asI’ve enjoyed some very specific parts of this day, the day itself has gone on for far too long. I’ve just moved the cattle from the front to the middle paddock and am riding back toward the main house. Since Wyatt doesn’t live on the ranch anymore, I get to ride Tiberius most days, and damn, I love this horse.
Right about now, I especially love that he’s fast. We reach the stallion barn quickly, and I’m able to take care of and feed him in short order. I shut the door on his stall as Warwick and Sparrow walk in.
“Hey, Sparrow, haven’t seen you in a while,” I call out. Sparrow used to work here and now lives on the ranch behind us with his horse training business.
“Yeah, Wick called me in. One of the rescues is being a pain in the ass and Wick couldn’t handle it.”
Sparrow’s on the quiet side, so it’s especially funny when he gives Wick a hard time.
Warwick narrows his eyes. “You know, maybe I was just trying to help support a friend’s business. I can take my business elsewhere if you’d like.”
“Whatever. You love me.”
“I do, but now I’m concerned that our young friend here looks constipated. Junior, why are you all snarled up like this?” Wick asks, shouldering me.
The thing about Wick is that he’s a good-looking man, the sort of handsome you see on cowboy romance covers. But when he opens his mouth, it’s pretty much ruined.
