“Yes.”
He kissed her earlobe, rendering her weak and breathless. “Darren, you have to wait.”
“I’m impatient,” he whispered, his mouth migrating along her throat to her collarbone. “I don’t think I can wait.”
“You can.”
“How are you so sure?” His breath mingled with hers, and if she’d had her eyes open she was sure she’d find his face only inches from hers.
“Because.” She opened her eyes to his blinding good looks. “We’re going to ride through the forest after dinner.”
His eyebrows went up and his eyes widened, searching hers. “We are?”
“I believe that was the fantasy you described to me last week.” She smiled. “You said you wanted to hold my hand while we rode out somewhere private. And then you wanted to kiss me.”
“Did I say that? Are you sure I didn’t say I wanted to kiss you in a spare bedroom at the Bybee’s? Dreams change, you know.”
“Farrah?” Corey called from downstairs. “Everything okay?”
Darren smiled wolfishly, his mouth dropping to her temple, then her eyelids, then her nose.
“Darren,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to come out to Steeple Ridge,” he said. “We can ride here if you want. Jim will let us borrow his horses.”
She shook her head as Corey called for her again. “Steeple Ridge. Tonight.” He kissed her right cheek, then her left. “She’s going to come up here, you know.”
Darren pulled away just as the sound of footsteps came closer. “Steeple Ridge. Tonight.” He moved away from her and said, “Mornin’ Corey,” before bending to swipe his cowboy hat from where it had fallen to the floor.
Farrah was left weak, hardly able to stand from the magical way he’d kissed her. And he hadn’t even hit his target. Farrah shook her head at Corey, her hand lighting against the last place he’d kissed—the corner of her mouth—and a smile pulling against her resolve.
She moved to follow him into the hall and down the steps, but Corey blocked her way. “Farrah.” She wrung her hands and she wore doe eyes. “I need you to be careful with him.”
“Careful?”
“That man is in love with you, and he has been for months and months.” Corey took a step closer and swallowed, her nerves clearly present but not preventing her from speaking. “When you broke up with him in May, it about killed him. I won’t watch him suffer like that again.”
That man is in love with you.
Farrah couldn’t hear anything else. He’d said he’d fallen in love with her once. Could he still be in love with her now? Was that even possible after all she’d done, all she’d put him through?
Of course, she’d hoped for a second chance, and he’d been so willing to give it to her. But she hadn’t expected him to fall in love with her so quickly.
“I won’t hurt him,” she promised Corey, who nodded, her bottom lip trembling the slightest bit. She backed out of the way, and Farrah stepped past her and hurried down to the botanical boutique.
That man is in love with you.
And for the first time in the last twelve years, Farrah felt like maybe, just maybe, she was lovable.
That evening,she took great care with her clothes, her jewelry, her makeup. She wanted everything to be perfect, romantic, for her second first kiss with Darren.
Her blouse billowed in the autumn wind, and she ran back inside to grab a jacket before leaving for the farm. She’d worn tight jeans and a pair of cowgirl boots she’d bought that veryafternoon. She’d thrown away everything from her horseback riding life, an action she now regretted.
She pulled in at Steeple Ridge to find Darren sitting on the front porch, his hands between his knees. He’d obviously showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes too. She breathed in the spicy, sandalwoodsy scent of his cologne and skin before saying, “Hey, cowboy,” in her best Southern drawl.
He grinned at her, that smile she’d craved every day since they’d broken up. “Hey, yourself. New boots?”
“Yep.”
