"You know what I mean," I said. "You're, like, looking me over and stuff."
I was smiling and looking shy, and he was leaning back and staring at me in an unabashed way.
"You're still doing it," I said, after a pause. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm not telling you that," he said, grinning at me.
"You have to. If you don't, I'll assume the worst."
"Well, don't do that," he said simply. "What I'm thinking isn't bad. It's just skipping ahead too far, that's all."
"Then I might assume the wrong thing."
"That's okay," he said. "We assume the wrong things all the time."
"Just tell me what you're thinking," I said. I made a face at him. It was a playful look of defiance, and I was clearly flirting with him. By this point, I had forgotten all about Candace. Iwas standing next to her, but I was looking at Henry, and my attention was focused on him.
"I told you it was too far ahead in the future."
"Is it about me?" I said.
He gave me a grin that caused a warm, liquid feeling to happen in my body. "Yes, it's about you."
"And it's good?"
"It's good," he said. His smile was full of mischief, and his voice was low and sticky. The whole moment was sticky. The tension was thick, and our stares were so loaded that I didn't even know what either of us was feeling anymore.
"How are we going to spend time together these next few months?" he asked.
I shrugged. "This seems like a good spot to catch up. We can hear if anyone's coming, and it'd be believable that you're in here, showing me the horses."
"Yeah, because what else would we be doing in here?" he asked.
"Exactly."
He opened his mouth and then bit his bottom lip like he was going to say something and he changed his mind. I wanted him to say it. He was looking at me like he wanted to reach out and touch me, and I wanted him to go ahead and do it.
"What?" I said, taking a small step closer to him. There was about three feet of space between us. Two now. He reached out and put his hand on my arm, and I came even closer.
"Come here," he said.
I stepped closer still, and he pulled me to him, holding me near with a light touch. His big arms were around me now, and he brought me in, touching my chest to his. I felt like I might burst with anticipation. I glanced up at him, and he pulled back far enough to focus on my face. He held me and looked at me, and I felt like he was really seeing me. I had Henry's affection, Icould tell by the way he held me. This man didn't hold onto just any woman. He liked me. He was choosing to like me, and that was a huge compliment coming from him.
I glanced at the stall door. "We'd hear if anyone was coming," I said as a statement, even though I was asking him.
"Yes. We would."
"This is a great place to meet, then. I'm not going to come into her stall without you. I trust her, but I thought about it, and you were right the first time. I shouldn’t have been in here on my own."
"That makes me feel better, even though I do trust you."
"I hope we can find time to run into each other in here without anyone noticing. Not even Josh."
"I'm telling Josh," he said. "I have to tell him because I'm giving you a key. He's cool. He won't tell anyone—not even my parents."
Part of me felt a slight stab of some kind of hurt that he wouldn't want to tell his parents. But I knew we weren't telling anyone. I tried not to skip a beat when he said it.
"Not that I wouldn't want them to know," he said, reading my mind. I glanced up at him. "You have to understand… they'd freak. I live on a ranch where my chances of meeting an eligible woman are low. Plus, I've never shown interest."
