He kisses me again. Like he wants to shut me up and stop us from talking about anything too deep. When he pulls away, his brows knit in thought, and I smooth them with a fingertip.
“I should go if you’re thinking so hard about it. Thank you for the most amazing day. I hope we can do it again sometime.” I wiggle my eyebrows. “All of it.”
“Yeah. Thank you.” He clears his throat. “Do you want to leave Cherry here? I don’t mind bringing her back to you tomorrow when it’s dry.”
That’s my cue to find some dry clothes and get out of here before he overthinks even more.
“Actually, I board her about twenty minutes from town. Hunter has offered me a stall here plenty of times, but…” I steal another quick kiss. “Could you lend me some dry clothes?”
“Oh. Sorry.” He stands and walks to his dresser, opening a few drawers to find things. He’s completely bare-assed, and I admire the view. The man is fucking fine and clearly not ready for my level of awesomeness yet.
But I can wait.
He passes me a shirt, sleep pants and boxers. “I don’t know if you want to go commando, but there’s underwear, just in case.”
I toss them back at him and pull on the too-big pants, drawing the strings extra tight so they stay up. “Nah. Then, when I return your pants, you can know my naked ass was in them.”
He rolls his eyes, but he likes it. Once dressed in his clothes and Rhett in dry clothes of his own, we head back outside. In thebarn, I say goodbye to Cherry and promise her I’ll see her again soon.
Cherry and Wilbur are already canoodling over the stall doors, and it’s far too cute to see my horse smitten with Rhett’s. More signs of karma or some shit like that.
“I’ll take care of her tonight. Any day, really, while she’s here. Then you don’t need to worry about that. I know you work early in the morning…”
Oh, I know he’ll look after Cherry. Like he took care of Tater today and even me. He has a good heart, but I have to ask, “Who takes care of you, Rhett?”
He stares at me so long—those dark lashes and deep eyes are still so beautiful when he’s at war inside—I think he won’t answer. But he does, and he breaks my heart with a single statement.
“Nobody but me. It’s easier that way.” He picks up my bag with the leftovers of our picnic and steers me towards my Jeep.
“Go home, darlin’. I’ll see you soon.”
Rhett opens the door to my Jeep, leaving me no choice but to climb inside. He hands me my bag, closes the door gently, and steps away.
The rain has stopped, but the grey of the storm still covers the sky. Rhett calls Tater, and she runs through the yard, splashing through puddles without a care, and I laugh in the Jeep as he scoops her up and shakes his head. He tries to scold her, but he’s smiling at her as he carries her muddy body next to him.
He waves before going back inside. With a heavy sigh, I turn my Jeep around in the yard and head for home.
It was a good day. I can’t deny that.
But I’m unsure if he’ll let us have another one despite what he said.
What is he hiding that he won’t let someone in?
“Why is your horse still at Hunter’s?”
Levi corners me in the back at The Thirsty Cow as I lift a tray of brownies from the oven. I’d told him I was going on a ride with Rhett and nothing since. That probably makes me a bad friend, but I needed time to process what happened without having Levi grill me.
“Because he’s offered me a space there plenty of times and I’ve said no.”
“But…” He motions for me to continue and reaches for a brownie I’ve just cut and placed on a cooling rack.
“You’ll burn your face off, Levi.”
“Worth it.” He bites into the brownie, shaking it around in his mouth as he makes noises about it being hot.
“I’m sure your tongue appreciates losing a layer.”
“You’re procrastinating. Tell me about Rhett, the broody bronc rider. Did you get sexy?” He waggles his eyebrows, and I roll my eyes in response.
