"Guess we're leavin'," I say to a puzzled-looking Mags and an unreadable Charlie before following Austin outside.
"Don't ask 'cause I ain't tellin'," he says as soon as I get into the passenger seat.
"OK..."
"I'm serious, Tobes,"
I turn to find him white-knuckling the steering wheel. “I said OK, Austin. Just sayin’, whateverthatwas back there, Mags isnotdumb.”
He sighs. “No, she’s not. She wasn’t back then either.”
“Gonna tell me about it?”
“I said, don’t ask.”
My lips twitch. “Yeah, but if youtellme, then that’s not me askin’, now is it?
“Smartass,” he replies, his scowl finally cracking just a little bit. “Wanna skip goin’ home and go to the Cow?”
“Thought you’d never ask, brother. Let’s go.”
15
TOBY
Having read all of Aster's romance books since we found out about the Mountain's Call, I'd like to think I know a bit about how love stories should play out. All of them except my own apparently because this slow-burn idea of minesucks.
Every morning I see Dee walk into the ranch house with her beautifully sleep-mussed expression and pour the cowboy brew down her throat like it's the very essence she needs to survive. It makes me wanna pull her into my arms and kiss her breathless untilI'mthe only thing she wants and needs.It’ll happen, Tobes. It has to.
It's so strange to see my future laid out in front of me but not be able to just reach out and grab it. I know I could just tell her everything and come clean with her at any time, but I want her to want me for me, not because of the Call. To want it without knowing it's her destiny.
Austin thinks I'm an idiot for waiting, Landry and Star are pleasantly surprised at my patience and self-control–but wish I could be a bit happier about it–and Rhett has told me he has myback and that 'your journey is yours and yours alone.' Only you know what's right for you.” Red just wants to make sure I don’t screw up and send Dee running back to Montana.
The thing is, I may seem fine on the outside, but inside I'm crawling out of my skin. I promised Austin I'd tell all by Christmas, but what I haven't told him is just how hard it is not to blurt it out every time I see her.
"Good mornin'."
"The mountain brought you to the ranch to be my soulmate."
Not exactly a normal breakfast conversation, is it?
"You up for a bit of an adventure today, Dee?" Rhett asks with a suspiciously happy tilt to his voice. Something twists inside of me because I have a feeling he's about to set me up and have fun while doing it..
Her brows lift. “Sure.”
"Toby's volunteered to go up the mountain to do some maintenance work on that big oak tree between the peaks.”I did? Since when?I shoot my big brother a questioning stare which of course he ignores. “Since you've never been up to the summit, I was thinkin' you might want to tag along and help him out?"
Dee tilts her head with a small smile. "Sounds like fun. Toby told me the view was good up there, so I'd love the chance to see it. That's if it's OK with you, of course,” she asks me.
I want to strangle my brother and high-five him at the same time. As much as it's going to be torture to be alone with Dee today, it's also going to make the day so much better because I'll be spending it alone with her.See the problem here? I don'tknow what I want when I can't have her in the way I want to have her...
Do I give her space or do I try to charm and impress her so that she can't help but throw herself at me? OK, that last one is just wishful thinking on my part because she's gorgeous and distracting and everything I could ever want in a woman wrapped up in a perfect-for-me package.
Getting a look inside her head and her heart and knowing where she's at might help quell my overactive brain. It might put me at ease rather than being on edge all the damn time. Then again, it’s my fault. I’m the one who wants her to know her own heart before finding out that fate is at play.I’ve just gotta hope it works out in the end… and soon!
"Tobes?" Dee asks, snapping me from my thoughts.
"I did say it'd take your breath away, didn't I? Time I put my money where my mouth is and prove it."
