She stood in the hallway wearing a little black dress that hugged every soft curve like it’d been designed just for her. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders, brushing the tops of her breasts. The berry tint on her lips was enough to make his pulse trip.
She shifted her feet, directing his attention to the high heels with delicate straps buckled around each sexy ankle. “Too much?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Her brow lifted. “Too fancy?”
“No.”
Her lips bowed upward in a smile that threaded all the way to the core of his heart. “You don’t even know the restaurant.”
He closed the space between them, dragging his gaze over the body he intended to worship again before the night was over and then up to her eyes. Trusting, hazy blue, rimmed with thick lashes.
“You look incredible. You walk into Prairie Ember like that, and I’m going to spend the whole night wondering how the hell a woman like you ended up on a date with me.”
Her breath hitched, the delicate sound tightening every muscle in his body.
“You’re not giving yourself enough credit. You’re pretty damn hot yourself.” She reached up, settling a palm on his chest.
Their gazes clung for a long beat, that electric current zapping to life.
He backed away half a step. “If I don’t put some distance between us, dinner is not happening.”
She issued that raspy laugh he adored.
He offered his hand. “Ready?”
She took it, her fingers wrapped around his palm like they’d been doing it for years. And suddenly, that family born in his mind was grown up, and he saw his hand locked around Felicity’s, wrinkled with age and life and years of love.
Hell. His eyes were misting over.
He led her out of the house and opened the door of the truck for her. He glanced over at her, capturing the moment in his mind the same way he had when they drove here. Her bare shoulders catching the fading gold of the sunset and her eyes backlit by…more.
He didn’t want to break the spell.
She blinked up at him with that soft smile. They drove back to the ranch in an easy silence that seeped into his bones and made everything feel possible. She kept smoothing her dress over her knees and glancing out the window as if the whole world looked different to her too.
At the ranch, he pulled in beside the row of Black Heart Security trucks. She slipped out of the vehicle.
“I’m going to pop in and say hi to Honor. You get changed…and then we’ll go.”
He nodded. “I’ll be quick.”
She stepped toward the porch in those sexy shoes he wanted thrown over his shoulders as he pounded her to the edge of bliss and back.
She tossed him a look over her shoulder. Just a small one, but full of new heat.
Gabe watched the door swing shut behind her before turning toward the security office. The evening breeze rolled off the mountains, cool against his overheated skin, the fresh pine just enough to keep his head straight.
He entered Carson’s office to find his boss standing by the desk, papers spread out. He glanced up at Gabe’s approach.
“You look like a man on a mission.” Carson smirked.
Gabe rubbed the back of his neck. “I need a jacket.”
Amusement deepened the brackets around Carson’s mouth. “A jacket?”
He exhaled. No way around it. “Felicity is wearing a little black dress, and I’m not taking her to Prairie Ember looking like a drifter who wandered off the mountain.”
