“Myself.”
“Stop it. When you look at yourself, what do you see? Is it your mom? Your grandmother? Your dad or some version that has little bits of them but is mostly you?” she suggested.
He was quiet beside her, and she stepped up next to him, realizing she might be pushing him way too far out of his comfort zone.
“I see a little bit of my mom in the way my eyes are and the shape of my nose. I see my dad in the freckles across my cheeks and Ryan in this tiny scar on the bottom of my jaw that I got when I tried to save him from a tree in the backyard,” Ava said.
Chay took a long, deep breath. “I’m older now than my dad ever was. I have his hair, though, and his eyes. My jaw, I guess,comes from him, too. In fact I look a lot like him. On the outside I’m all Benally.”
“And on the inside?”
“Grandmother, probably, and my mom. There are times when I shut down and retreat up here. I don’t socialize at the station or even go out with friends.”
“That’s fair. My parents are both loud people, and there are times when I have to be alone.”
“Yeah, that’s good. But for me, I think about leaving like she did. I remember how she said there was no privacy on the rez. That’s what she called this place. It always was a place to escape from.”
Ava stepped around in front of him. “This place is your home. You can’t convince me you think of leaving.”
Trying to be nonchalant, he started to shrug, but then he shook his head. “I don’t. The time I spent in Salt Lake was enough for me. I missed the Navajo Nation.”
“One way you’re different from her. This place feels like home,” Ava pointed out.
“It does. The only one I’ve ever known.”
“Dark Canyon is like that for me. College was nice, and I really wanted to stretch my wings and show the world I was independent. But coming back here, I realized I didn’t need to be out of Dark Canyon to do it.”
“I’m glad. So what do you see?” he asked.
“I already told you.”
“No, when you look at me,” he said.
“Oh,” she said softly. Suddenly she wasn’t bossy, and the shyness that she’d never really acknowledged she had flexed its wings. “Well, I see your strength and these laugh lines around your eyes that let me know there is more to you than the stern expression you give when you are trying to get information.”
“Stern? That’s my serious don’t-mess-with-me look.”
“Oh, it makes me want to mess with you,” she said.
“Yeah. How?” he asked.
She twined her arms around his neck, going up on her tiptoes and whispering what she wanted to do with him. Just thinking about it made her hot. He cupped her butt and lifted her off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his waist and brought her mouth down on his. Taking the kiss that she hadn’t realized she’d been missing for what felt like a lifetime.
This was where she was meant to be.
That scared her, because independence had been the hallmark of these last few years. Living on her own despite the shadow of Daniel Wayne. But with Chay she knew she could be her own woman and be with him. There was nothing she wanted more than that.
Nothing except his body moving over hers in front of the fireplace while the snow fell around them.
Chapter 17
Sleeping in Chay’s arms was at once the most comforting and the most tempting thing she’d done in a long time. Gracie cooed and Chay went to get her, bringing her back to his bed after changing her.
“You two stay warm while I get the heat on and a fire going. There was something on the weather forecast about a blizzard…I thought we had a few more days before it was going to hit.”
Snuggling Gracie closer to her, Ava reached for her phone. “Oh, there is a severe weather warning for our area. I need to check in on my parents and with work.”
“Go ahead. You good to stay here?” he asked, putting on his uniform as he was talking to her.
