Ingrate.
The box felt heavy in the pocket of his barn jacket. His fingers were cold as he reassured himself it was there for the dozenth time.Nerves,Cullen? Aren’twe past that stage?He wasn’t some knock-kneed high schooler, and he knew Kit about as well as one person could know another.
In spite of the bond they’d created during their harrowing journey, he wasn’t totally sure how she’d react to hisoffering. There was still that wild and untethered part of her nature that relished the solo path, the solitary journey. He cleared his throat and stifled the nerves.Here we go.
He joined her in the kitchen, where she’d stacked a pile of paperwork.
“I ... got you something.”
She cocked her head at him. “Why? It’s not my birthday.”
He smiled. “Kit Garrido, you don’t have to have a birthday for a gentleman to present you with a token of his esteem.”Annnnddd ... I’ve suddenly become my grandfather.He straightened and took a breath, gave her the box. “I wanted you to have this.”
She opened it, her brow crimping as she pulled out a key. Then she turned those glimmering eyes on him, and the moment had come.
He felt cold. Then hot. He took her hand and guided her outside, around the back, and up the road to the Freightliner tractor parked under the trees. Not yellow—he hadn’t been able to find one—but a luminous white that dazzled the vision.
“It’s an older model than you had. No way yours could be salvaged, but I thought this one would get you back in business until the insurance settles. At that point you’ll have a spare rig, or you can hire another driver, grow your fleet if you want to.”
She blinked—gaped, in fact—staring at the freshly stenciled logo on the side.
Garrido Trucking.
She stood as if she were made of wood, key still dangling from her fingers.
“See if the key works,” he urged, guiding her gently by the shoulder.
She walked, somewhat dazed, to the truck, opened it, climbed up, lithe as Olive the cat. Her shoulders hitched when she laid eyes on her teddy bear strapped carefully in the passenger seat. The toy had been bundled in Tot’s clothing when they’d barely escaped the trailer, saved by the narrowest of margins like all of them had been. Archie had carefully stitched the ear back on for him, since he wisely said Cullen would make a mess of it with his clumsy, fat fingers.
Without a word, she climbed down again, and for a moment she just breathed, staring at her shoes. His stomach tightened. Should he say something? What was she thinking? Feeling?
Her foggy gaze slid to him. “You bought this? For me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “Had a little account I cashed in.” At a steep penalty, but somehow that part didn’t seem to hurt at all. Unless she rejected the whole thing, of course. Then he’d be crushed and financially unwise.Go big or go home,Landry.
“Why?” she demanded. “Why did you get this for me?”
“I know how important your truck was to you, and I...” His throat was sand dry, and he forced a swallow. Three little words. Why did they weigh so much? “I love you.”
There it was, dropped between them like a boulder launched from a volcano. The closer they’d grown since their rescue, neither had dared to use the L-word aloud. Until now.
He was buried in the most profound silence of his life.He could actually hear a pine needle flutter to the ground. Each second stretched his nerves tighter.
She stared at the truck, then back at him, shaking her head. Shaking, not nodding. A bad sign.
“But it’s not a package deal,” he mumbled, realizing he should have handled the conversation completely differently. “The truck, I mean. If you don’t feel the same way about me in the love department, I can deal with it.”Somehow.“The truck’s yours one way or the other. What would I do with a big rig? Horses are plenty, and where would I park it anyway?”
“You bought me a truck. You love me.” It was as if she were reciting something she’d learned at school as a kid.
“Yep. That about covers it.”
He couldn’t handle another extended silence. His nerves were banging like an old screen door. “And there is no way you can tell me we don’t know each other well enough for me to love you because when you spend three days together crammed in an ATV with a stranger’s baby, running from a killer and a volcano, dodging bullets and lava, you learn all you need to know about a person’s character. The month after was icing on the cake.”
She jutted her chin at him, black eyes gleaming. “And what exactly do you know about me, Cullen?” It was a challenge that ignited sparks in his soul because he heard the throb of hope in it.
