“In that case.” She put her hand in his and let him steady her while she got to her feet. They moved out onto the dance floor as plenty of other people did, and Dawson’s private bubble burst. Of course he wasn’t here with Caroline alone. Of course he couldn’t kiss her the way he wanted to on the dance floor. Of course he’d have to mind his manners.
Especially when he saw Link and Misty step onto the floor ahead of them. Dawson hadn’t been out with his friends and Caroline yet, though he, Finn, Alex, and Link had talked about it.
He reminded himself that Caroline knew the cowboys in this town, and she’d chosen to go out with him. It helped that all of his closest friends were married or engaged, but he pushed that thought away as he took her into his arms.
They moved effortlessly, and being with her even in the silence was so easy. Dawson had labored to talk toother women in the past, but not Caroline. She was the one who broke the silence between them with, “So what are your nieces doing tonight? Shiloh really didn’t have anything going on with JJ? April is keeping her nose clean?”
“I think they had a party,” he said. “At someone’s house in town. I guess they decided going to the school dance was lame. Shiloh was driving them, and Zona lectured her for a solid twenty minutes about driving home late at night, in the dark.” He smiled just thinking about his sister-in-law. “And, um, Zona and Duke would like to get together with us again, on a more, uh,formalI think was the word Zona used, basis. Dinner together or something.”
“Sure,” Caroline said easily. “I liked your family, Dawson.”
“Miracles do still happen,” he joked.
Caroline giggled into his shoulder, and he took the opportunity to knead her closer. “My friends and I go out sometimes too,” he said. “Finn’s married, and he and Edith have a baby on the way. Alex and Nicki are married too, and Link and Misty are engaged. Since we’re to implied dates and all that, I’m wondering if group dates count.”
“Yes,” she said simply.
“So you’ll go to Link’s wedding with me?”
“Yes, I love weddings.”
“Do you?” Dawson pulled back enough to look ather. “Seems like they’d be on the same level as Valentine’s Day.”
“My wedding was the one thing I liked about my marriage,” she said. “They’re such happy occasions. They hold so much hope. They’re like a window to the future. I like that.”
“All right,” he drawled. The song ended, and another started. This one was definitely a twirling, spinning dance, and he stepped back again.
“I can do this,” Caroline said. “It’s been a while since I’ve danced this way, though, so consider yourself warned.”
“I’ve been warned,” he said, grinning. “My little nephew says, ‘I have to beware you, Uncle Dawson.’” He chuckled. “That reminded me of him.”
Caroline smiled too, shooting joy out into the barn. “All right, then, baby.I have to beware youthat I haven’t danced this way in a while. I could fall down or kick you or step all over your feet.”
“All risks I’m willing to take,” he said, taking both of her hands in his. He waited for the next beat, and then he started the first steps of the swinging dance. They laughed, and he spun her away in a slow cadence, bringing her back after only one twirl instead of the two or three other women did.
And when that song melted back into something slow and beautiful, he tucked her against his chest andlet himself fall and fall and fall toward being in love with Caroline.
It was a scary thing, falling, and Dawson had never done it with a woman before. He loved other things, of course. Ruffin, Rocks, and Nugget. All of his hens and roosters. His parents. His brothers. Duke’s family.
He loved the wide Texas sky, and the town of Three Rivers, and being a cowboy.
And he loved dancing with Caroline, in the perfect place, on the perfect night—and he couldn’t help but wonder: was she the perfect woman for him?
And if so, would it really take her twelve months and a road trip to realize it?
“I have another follow-up question about your twelve-month rule,” he murmured. “But I can ask it another time. Will you just remind me to ask you?”
“Sure, baby,” she said almost sleepily, and then she let him cradle her in his arms exactly the way he wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Caroline shuffled paperwork around her desk, the day still two hours from being over and her headache throbbing behind her eyes. She’d been reading about a new law for the Wildlife Division that would go into effect on July first, and she then had to prepare materials for all the surrounding farms, ranches, and anyone who had honeybees in a four-hundred mile radius.
Everyone in Amarillo, all the way to the Oklahoma border, throughout Three Rivers, of course, and throughout dozens of other small towns in her region. She’d done projects like this before, and they started out messy.
She’d gotten a new yellow legal pad to take notes, and she had a blue pen—her preferred writing utensil when absorbing a lot of information she needed to distilldown into bullet points—words and lines all over several pages.
When she caught herself staring at a black screen on her computer, with no idea how much time had gone by since she’d last been aware, she stood up. Her screen saver took fifteen minutes to come on, and she wondered who in the office had seen her staring at literally nothing.
