“I’m sorry you’ve felt that way,” I squeezed his arm. “I’m glad you get to do some work. Just be careful, please.”
“I will,” he kissed me. “I actually feel really good. I think I’ve needed the physical activity, and heaven knows there’s plenty of that around here in spades. Maybe when you’re feeling better, you can come out with me.”
“I don’t have to repair fences, do I?” I held my hands up. “These are made for drawing and clicking a mouse, Finn. Not fence work.”
“Don’t forget snapping pens,” he winked, taking one of them and kissing it. “Strong hands. Perfect for holding wire tight for me.”
“You’re the worst,” I laughed before kissing his lips. We finished our meal and walked to the house to say goodnight before returning to our room. If this was what vacations were supposed to feel like, I’d definitely been missing out.
Chapter 31
That look in his eyes means he’ll never get over his first love
Alex
I woke to the morning sun streaming through our bedroom window, painting everything warm and soft. Finn moved quietly around the room, already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel shirt tied around his waist. My body felt fully human again for the first time in two days and my brain wasn’t wrapped in an awful cotton fog.
“Morning,” I stretched, sitting up against the pillows. He turned toward me and smiled widely.
“Hey there,” he kissed me lightly and sat on the edge of the bed, coffee cup in hand. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. Actually better,” I flexed my feet under the covers, testing.
“Up for breakfast at the house?”
“Stars, yes.” The idea of being around people and conversation again sounded lovely. “I’m going a little stir crazy in here.”
Finn’s face lit up with what looked like relief. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Shower first?” I was desperate to feel clean.
“Whatever you need, darlin’. I’ll run down and get you a coffee. They make cold brew in the restaurant.”
I showered quickly and dressed in a navy tank and black mom jeans that I rolled to above my ankles before pulling my hair back. Finn returned and grabbed his baseball cap while I slipped on a soft tan corduroy shirt and pulled on my Vans.
“You look like you belong here,” his eyes grew hungry as he handed me my coffee. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I blushed, letting him take my hand and lead me out of the room and toward the main house.
After breakfast, where Belle shared her detailed plans for her next art project and Jack asked approximately seventy questions about my job, Finn and I walked back toward the lodge.
“Feel like seeing more of the property?” Finn asked, hands in his pockets. “I could give you a tour.”
“I would love that,” I couldn’t stop watching him. He’d pulled his ballcap on after we left breakfast, and I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of the sight.
Finn’s truck was parked near the lodge, and he opened the passenger door for me. The moment I climbed in, Maggie appeared from nowhere and jumped in after me, settling herself on the passenger side and forcing me to scoot toward the middle. I caught Finn’s amused smile as he closed my door.
“She’s got her own agenda,” I grinned, scratching behind Maggie’s ears as he climbed in and started the truck.
“Always has,” he put the truck in gear and we rolled down the gravel drive. “She’s decided you’re her person for now and she takes that responsibility very seriously.”
We drove past the main house, where I could see workers moving livestock in the distance, then around the barns and equipment sheds. Finn pointed out the different operations, hay fields, grazing areas, the vegetable garden that supplied the lodge restaurant. The scale of it was incredible, thousands of acres spreading toward mountains that looked like something out of a landscape painting, all those layered blues and purples in the distance, the way the morning light caught the Tetons and made them glow white at the edges.
“There’s the old homestead,” Finn pointed to a small log cabin nestled in a grove of aspens. “My great-great-grandfather built it when he first claimed this land.”
“It’s beautiful.” The weathered logs had turned silver-gray, and the aspens framing the structure and the mountains rising behindit all created a picturesque composition.
We followed a dirt road that led away from the main ranch, climbing slightly through scrub brush and scattered pines. Maggie panted happily, her head completely out the open window.
