He soon joined her in the driver’s seat and smiled at her.“What did you think about that adventure?”
She laughed.“I loved seeing the moose.I have to say that it’s the first time I’ve been a cougar in the snow, and I really enjoyed it.But being chased by a moose?What a fantastic memory.”
He smiled.“I’m glad you weren’t terrified.”
“Momentarily.He was big and running fast.I figured that we might have outrun the moose.I know that, as a human, if you hide behind a tree, they don’t see you, and the threat is gone to them, so they’ll usually just stop.But for us, climbing the tree was perfect.We could have outrun him too, but if he followed us to the truck, then what?We would stop to get into the truck and would have been in danger.He could have struck us.So waiting in the tree was the right thing to do.”
“I agree.I can’t believe I took you on a fun-filled cougar run and we had to get out of the way of a raging bull.”
She laughed.“We’ll remember it forever.”She didn’t mean as in she was mating him, but just as a life experience.
“For sure.”He drove her to Mrs.Fitz’s home and parked.
Lacy leaned over the console and kissed him.“Thanks for a delightful dinner and run as cougars.It was just perfect, and I had the best time ever.”
Rory kissed her back, rubbing her shoulders with his hands in a soothing massage.“Do you want to have dinner at the Sizzling Slice tomorrow night?”
She laughed.“And a cougar run afterward?”
“I’ll take you out to the ranch.We can run up into the rocky hills if we have trouble.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
Then he walked her to the house, pulled her into a hug, and kissed her again.She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeper.Yeah, being with Rory felt just right.
She was already thinking about going further with him, which was probably crazy, but she hadn’t had intimate relations with her ex in six months.With Rory, she just wanted to go further.But he lived in a bunkhouse, and she was staying with Mrs.Fitz, so it seemed privacy would be impossible.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”Rory rubbed her arms and then kissed her forehead in a really tender way.
She smiled.“Sounds great.”
The day after that was the Christmas dance so she needed to figure out what to wear for it.When she entered the house, Mrs.Fitz was reading a book on the couch and drinking hot cocoa.“Did you have a good time?”
“We encountered a moose and ended up in a tree.”Lacy laughed.“I’ve never seen one for real.Boy, was he huge.But yeah, we had a great time.We’re going out to dinner tomorrow night.”She had to tell Mrs.Fitz so she wouldn’t expect to have dinner with her.
“And the dance.”
“I’m going with Rory.”
“Oh, wonderful.”
Lacy wanted to know if Mrs.Fitz was going too, but she didn’t want to make her feel bad if she didn’t have anyone to go with and wasn’t attending because of it.
“Would you like some hot cocoa?”
“No thanks.It’s late.I’m going to take a shower and head to bed.”They had to get up so early to start preparing breakfast dishes at the coffee shop that Lacy was tired.
“Okay.See you in the morning.”
All Lacy could think about was enjoying her time with Rory tomorrow at dinner and looking forward to another fun-filled run.
Florence was soglad Lacy was having such a good time with Rory.He was a great guy—the same with the other ranch hands.Lacy needed someone in her life to prove to her that good men existed in the world, not like her ex-boyfriend.
Florence had just about fallen asleep when she heard a knock on the front door.
She frowned, threw on some clothes, and grabbed her gun from her bedside table.She called Dan next as she headed down the stairs.“I’ve got an unexpected visitor.I’m going to check it out, taking my gun, but I just wanted to let you know in case I have trouble.”
“I’m on my way.If it’s Lacy’s ex-boyfriend, don’t open the door.”
