He shook with her, and the familiar scorching hot tingles started at her fingertips and traveled all the way to her toenails.
“I’m Miles Chapman. What do you like to do?”
“Open the drapes in my penthouse apartment and watch the sunset every evening that I can. I love to read romance novels and have a soft spot in my heart for kids, puppies, kittens, and happily-ever-after endings,” she said. “What about you?”
“I love sunsets, but I’d rather fix fences or work cattle than read romance novels, and until right now, I never believed in those sappy happily-ever-after stories,” he answered.
“We’ll have to work on that,” Holly said with a smile. “I believe you owe me a ride around your ranch. Can I show up tomorrow night at seven?”
“Why not right now?” he asked.
“Because I need to sleep on all this,” she told him. “I don’t want to rush into anything, Bub— Miles …” she said. “But weboth need to think about everything. Maybe you won’t like Holly McLean as much as you did Lula Ann.”
“I understand, but honey, I fell for a woman, not a name. We are both more alike than we thought, and I can sure enough see myself having a real relationship with you.” He opened his arms.
Not walking into them was the hardest thing she’d ever done, but she had to have a night to digest everything that had happened.
“I’d love to hug you, but …” She tiptoed and kissed him with nothing but their lips touching. Even that much sent tingles all the way down her spine to her toenails. “Goodnight, Miles.” It seemed to be an anticlimactic end to all the worry and soul-searching she had done during the past weeks, but she felt totally at peace.
“Goodnight, Holly. Will you text me when you get home, so I know you are safe?”
No one, other than her parents, had ever asked her to do that. “I’ll do one better. I’ll FaceTime you, but not until I get a shower. I feel like I’ve rolled around in a tub of sweat.”
“I can handle that. I feel like I’m dreaming,” he said.
“So do I, but we both need a night to think about whether we really want to tell Lula Ann and Bubba goodbye and get to know Holly and Miles,” she told him.
She tried to make a mental list of pros and cons about starting a committed relationship with Miles. The pros quickly outweighed the cons, so she asked herself whether she should listen to her heart or her head. Should she give him a chance to prove that she wouldn’t be wasting her time? He sounded so sincere when he said he could see himself in a relationship with her.
The little devil on her shoulder whispered that if it all fell apart, she could get hurt. But the angel on the other shoulderreminded her that if it lasted until and through eternity, Miles could beherhappily-ever-after.
Elijah and the rest of the crew did very little on Sunday. Mainly feeding the cattle, if necessary, laundry and trying to catch up on the sleep they missed the night before. Some of them, including Miles, whined about not having three meals on the table, but Stella used that day to go to church, to shop for food, do her own washing, and sit in a lawn chair under a shade tree and read a book.
“Guess we’re getting into the swing of things fairly well,” Elijah said that afternoon when he made his way to his favorite porch rocker. “Want to talk about last evening? Have you called her today?”
What Lula Ann—Holly—said as she drove away the previous evening haunted Miles’s dreams that night, and his thoughts all day on Sunday. Did he really want to put Bubba Jones to rest, and what would be different when he dated Holly?
“No, but we talked last night when she got home. I can’t believe that she’s the daughter of the owner of one of the biggest oil companies in Texas,” Miles said.
“She probably couldn’t believe that you were a rich rancher, Bubba!” He grinned. “You think y’all will like each other when she ain’t Lula Ann?”
“I hope so,” Miles answered. “I never believed in love at first sight before now.”
“Maybe it was lust at first sight, and you just need a while to get it out of your system,” Elijah teased.
“Been there and done that,” Miles said. “This doesn’t feel like it.”
“Then, boy, you got your work cut out for you.”
“Don’t I know it,” Miles agreed.
Holly had her fist raised to knock on the ranch house door when it swung open and startled her. She was glad that she had dressed in jeans and a chambray shirt over a tank top when she saw that Miles was basically wearing the same.
“I was watching for you,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you would even come.”
“Me, either, but we kind of left things unfinished,” she told him.
“Come on in. Can I get you a beer or sweet tea, or a glass of wine?”
