At first, she’d let it get to her, and it had left her doubting some of her life choices. Should she chill out a bit on studying and just enjoy the experience? Eventually, she looked around at the men she worked with at OSI, honorable, loyal men who would die protecting someone they cared about. Men like Boone. Then she contrasted that against Tyler, who was lazy, selfish, lacked ambition, and was riddled with insecurities.
“Sounds like a douchebag,” Boone said.
“Yeah, he was.” She’d put up with too much from him. “The nail in his coffin was when he started talking shit about Caleb, of all people.” He’d called him a gym rat and said he would be a pussy without his dog. “He even accused him of having a weird interest in me.”
“What the fuck?” Boone looked like he wanted to find Tyler and beat the shit out of him.
“Right? I couldn’t believe it when he said that.” To this day, it still pissed her off to think about it. “Caleb literally saved my life, and that asshat had the balls to trash-talk him and insinuate his interest in me was driven by anything more than brotherly concern.”
“What did you do?” Boone dug some noodles from one of the boxes and put them in his mouth.
“I snapped and used some of the moves Mason taught me. I punched him in the nose, kneed him in the balls, then turned and walked away.” She picked up a piece of rice that had dropped on the table and flicked it into one of the empty boxes. “Last time I saw him, he was writhing around on the ground in the fetal position, holding his junk.” The sound of him squealing had been glorious, and she’d never felt more satisfaction than she had in that moment.
Boone threw his head back on a laugh.
“My first trip home after that happened, Caleb and Dawn reminded me that I was miles ahead of Tyler in so many ways.” She had already been applying her talents in a field far more interesting and worthwhile than “dipshit Tyler”—Caleb’s name for him—could’ve ever achieved.
“You’re amazing.” He reached out, wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, and gave her a quick kiss. “The guy’s lucky you dealt with him and not Caleb.”
Her brother-in-law would’ve knocked him out and tossed his body in a dumpster.
“What about you? Did you go to college or join the military right away?” She crossed her arms on the table.
“I went straight into the Air Force after high school. But, as a favor to my folks, I applied to a few schools, even got accepted to all of them, but the idea of sitting in a classroom all day just didn’t appeal to me. So, two days after graduation, I walked into the recruiter’s office and signed on the dotted line. And look at me now, working for an outstanding organization, doing a job I love.” He cupped the side of her face and stroked his thumb across her cheek. “A job that brought you into my life.”
She smiled, leaned forward and kissed him. As usual, lightning shot through her, hitting every nerve and sending her belly flip-flopping. She raked her fingers through his hair and held them there. Admitting she loved him to herself was scary enough, but admitting it to Boone—terrifying. She wanted to declare her feelings for him but was nervous. How would he react? Would it scare him off?
Instead, she tried putting all of her love for him into her kiss.
Luna didn’t have tons of experience with kissing guys. Tyler had been selfish and sloppy, and it had felt like kissing a wet fish. Enoch only kissed her twice, and both times he’d kept his mouth tightly closed. In hindsight, she realized he’d only done that much to coax her to go with him to The Farm. He’d known his boss had other plans for her, making her off-limits.
With Boone, there was no hesitance, no worries about disappointing him or doing it wrong. Kissing him felt natural, as instinctual as breathing. And the intensity of what she felt when his lips were on hers was indescribable.
He slowly ended the kiss but kept his hand on her cheek.
“If I don’t stop kissing you, there’s a very good chance I will lay you out on this table, strip you naked, and have my way withyou. And if that happens, we’ll miss out on that ride.” He gave her a long, possessive kiss and stood. “If you’re done eating, I’ll put the rest in the fridge.”
“Yeah,” her voice squeaked as the carnal visual flashed through her mind, and it took her a few seconds to shake it. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yeah, I’m done.”
She closed the container of chow mein, handed it to him, and he started gathering up all of the boxes.
“Here, let me help.” She pushed back from the table, headed to the sink to grab a washcloth, and wiped off the table.
“Since our bellies are full, we’ll keep the ride nice and easy.” Boone put the leftovers in the fridge and tossed everything else in the garbage can under the sink.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to learn how to put a saddle on.” When they arrived at his place, she’d gone directly into the barn, grabbed a couple of carrots, and walked over to the pasture fence.
As soon as Sassy and Patience spotted the carrots in her hands, they tossed their heads and neighed, then trotted over to see her. She gave them their treats and promised to come see them after dinner.
Boone told her she was spoiling them, but he was smiling when he said it and hadn’t asked her to stop, so she took that as permission to keep doing it.
They walked out the back door, and she held his hand on the way over to the pasture gate. He released her to swing the gate open, and she slid the scrunchie from around her wrist and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail.
“Come on, ladies.” He clicked his tongue, turned, and walked toward the corral in that easy way of his.
Patience and Sassy followed them and entered the enclosure.
“Let me grab their saddles.” Boone headed toward the barn.
