‘Say it, Montrose.It’s not gonna break you.You know I’ve always got your back.’As if carrying her on his back in the dark for hours didn’t already tell her that.
She inhaled a big breath, winced and said, ‘I love you, Logan Porter.’
He sniffed, keeping that straight face.‘See?Not so hard.’
She raised a brow.‘Are you going to say it back?
‘Nah.At the risk of breaking those written house rules, currently occupying prime real estate on my fridge door, I’m waiting to see what it gets me first.Back rubs.The offer to iron my uniforms.Maybe access to your fancy shampoo.Oh, and just so you know, food is my love language.Just not chocolate—apparently my life is on the line if I eat any of the chocolate stashed in my own fridge.What was that?Rule number four or five?’
‘Porter—’ She stepped forward, her warm palms gripped the sides of his face, to drag him down and collide with her lips.Those perfectly plump pillows of heavenly pleasure kissed him so deeply he was a goner.
If he had to die from lack of oxygen, he was floating straight into heaven with that kiss.For there was no other woman on the planet who could or should kiss him like this.It was positively illegal.
He had to wrap his arms around her, hold her tight to his chest—forgetting the sunburn because his lips were blazing their own heated trail to kiss her deeper.
He exhaled against her mouth, his hand resting gently on her hip, as if grounding them both, yet he couldn’t quite believe he had the right to hold her this way.
His voice came low and raw with everything he couldn’t hold back—including the most important truth.‘I love you too, Montrose.’
And he saw in the way she looked at him, there was no need for anymore words or questions when he already had the answer.There were no doubts.No second-guesses.Just that kind of certainty that settled deep in his chest, right where his soul knew it was true.She loved him back.
She glanced around them as if worried they’d get caught, only for her eyesto land on the corridor to the police cells.
‘Not gonna happen, Montrose.There are rules in this station, you know.And I’m too sore to let you play animal on me.But you can rub some ointment on my sunburn.’
‘I’ve got a better idea.’She plucked up the car keys from the tray.‘I’m taking you to the hospital.Boss’s orders.’
He blinked.‘What?No victory cuddle first?’
‘You’re bleeding and sunburnt.’
‘How about we skip all that and you give me another kiss?’
‘This is the no-kissing zone, remember?There are rules, you know.’That smile—the one she used to save for her horse, for everything else but him—it was his now.Deadset, if it didn’t light up her eyes and knock him sideways.
‘To hell with the rules.’He grabbed her gently, and kissed her like they had nowhere else to be.Like it was their first kiss, as the start of something beautiful, along with a whole new set of relationship and house rules to make and break…
Their way.
Forty-one
A fresh breeze rolled through the valley, like the country was clearing the last of its ghosts, as the sun sat low on a fresh new day at Dixby Downs.
Porter leaned against a metal rail, watching the mob of wild stock eye him back like they knew something he didn’t.Which wasn’t too hard, in this case.
The Stock Squad had a plan—portable yards were up, food and water were laid out—to wrap up the last of the overseer’s mess by mustering in the stragglers.
How that all worked?Didn’t matter to him much.Not when Porter was still here.Sun on his back, dust under his boots, enjoying a glorious day outdoors in the country.That was enough.
He’d happily play tourist for once and leave the rest to the experts to play cowboy.Retrieving stolen livestock was technically part of their job, and there was a whole lot of fancy ponies hidden in the mix that would take weeks for the Stock Squad to sort out.Today they were mustering the last of them.
Sawyer might be gone, but Red was still wearing the mask of a decent stock agent.Even though they all knew better now, without proof it was business as usual.
But Finn hadn’t let it go.Regularly checking in on Lydia—never when Red was around.Porter had seen the troopy parked behind the stockyards to know Finn was helping to steady an uneasy woman caught in something deep.And a man like Finn didn’t let things slide—and neither would Lydia, not when it came to the integrity of those stockyards.
As for young Brodie, he was always watching from the yards, promising to protect Lydia, and the lad was a lot sharper than most gave him credit for.
But they were all waiting, biding their time, watching for Red’s next mistake, hoping it might finally lead them to the big boss behind it all.Who was no doubt licking their wounds, especially now the Stock Squad were effectively shutting down their little way station here at Dixby Downs.
