He picks my hand up, interlaces our fingers and brings our joined hands up to his mouth.
I think he’s going to kiss my knuckles, but he simply breathes his breath across them to warm me, and it’s athousand times better than a kiss—the way he cares for all the little details, making sure I’m okay.
“That kiss was a little impulsive,” I tease him.
He laughs softly. “Yeah. Unplanned, for sure. Spontaneous. But not out of the blue. I’ve thought of kissing you plenty of times.”
“You have?”
I had wondered since that day—what led to the kiss on his part?
“I had thought of kissing you too,” I admit.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ve had a crush on you for years.”
May as well lay it all out there. He already knows I like him. I won’t tell him how much. But I can admit that my attraction isn’t new.
“Is it so hard for you to believe I’ve had feelings for you for a while too?” he asks.
I look up at him. His gaze is steady, unwavering.
“It’s a little hard to believe, yeah.”
“Well, then I’ve got a job to do convincing you.”
“You’re hired,” I tease.
He laughs again and a tightness in my chest loosens.
“So, I like you. And you like me,” he says, playfully. “And your brother will definitely murder me.”
“If your sister doesn’t murder you first,” I warn.
“There’d definitely be a bounty out on me if word of this gets out.” He sighs. “I don’t know how this works, Carli. I have no intention of backing off—unless you want me to.”
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“Short of moving counties,” he says. “I guess we’re going to have to see how this goes while we keep things off the radar.”
“We have to make sure no one in either of our families finds out,” I say.
“For now,” he says, running his thumb over the back of my hand.
I smile over at him. This is one of the things I love most about Cody—the way he infuses hope and certainty into situations, and does it so effortlessly.
“And ranch life has to come first,” he adds.
“Hogs before snogs,” I say, laughing at my own joke.
“Did you seriously just say that?”
“I couldn’t think of a rhyme for cattle.”
He chuckles softly and then his tone turns more serious. “Our families need us.”
