Ash stopped and spun back to face her. “We canwalk. It’s only a mile back to the…” His expression fell, and Willow’s shoulders sagged.
Willow sighed. “Should we go tell Mom and Dad we need a lift home?”
“Or…” Ash replied.
Five minutes later, their guitars rested in the bed of Eli’s truck, and Ash was giving her a piggyback ride down the dimly lit street.
“This is insane,” she told him. “You can’t carry me for a mile.”
“Do you plan on kissing me again when we get back?” he asked.
She laughed and then planted one right on his cheek. “I plan on doinglotsof things to you when we get back,” she teased. “If that’s okay with you.”
He picked up the pace, almost breaking into a jog.
“Whoa there, wild stallion,” she cried. “If you fall and put usbothout of commission, the only thing I’m going to be doing to you is calling 911.”
Ash slowed to a more respectable pace.
“Fine,” he relented. “But maybe you should tell me some of those things you plan on doing to me…just to make sure I can handle it.”
“Hmm,” she began. “Before or after I throw you down on the bed and take your pants off?”
Ash swore. “You know what?” he added. “I think I’m better off being surprised. Otherwise I’m not going to be able to walk very well for the rest ofthe way.”
“Fair enough,” Willow replied. “If the whole point is togethome before I properly thank you for carrying me there, I should probably let you concentrate.”
He paused, resituated her on his hips, and then said. “Can we maybe not talk atall? Even words like ‘properly thank’ get my imagination going, and then things start happening below the belt, andthenthe whole walking thing becomes much more difficult than it has any right to be.”
“Sorry,” she replied, then kissed him gently on the side of his neck.
“Willow,” he pleaded, and she laughed.
“Sorry again! Lips sealed and promising to refrain from all kissing activities…until we get home.”
He thanked her, and she enjoyed the quiet sounds of summer as Meadow Valley’s town center gave way to the quiet country road that led to the ranch.
Crickets chirped, frogs croaked in a nearby pond, and Ash wascarryingher home.
“Are you okay?” she asked after a few more minutes. “I can probably walk the rest of the way.”
“No way,” he told her. “Besides, I can see the light outside the guesthouse already.”
Willow squinted, sure he was lying just to make her feel better. But there it was. A beacon callingthem home.
Ash must have heard the call too because his pace quickened as the Murphy property grew near.
Willow grinned. She couldn’t wait to get there either.
Chapter 24
Ash sank back against Willow’s warm embrace, steam rising from the bubbles as water sloshed over the side of the tub.
“Careful there, cowboy. You can’t hop into a bathtub like you’re hopping on the back of a horse.”
He leaned his head on her shoulder and looked up at her, a grin spreading across his face. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “But if patience and grace is what you’re looking for, then you should think twice before you get naked, cover yourself in bubbles, and ask me to lay between your legs.”
She laughed and grabbed the soft bath sponge from the side of the tub, soaked it in the water, and then gently scrubbed it up and down his chest.
