“Rhett?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not hard to love. Even when you take it out on my blankets. Talk to me, okay?”
“I will. But also…do we really need all these blankets out here?”
Laughing, I sit up and straddle his lap, pulling the blanket with me and covering our heads. “Yes. We can hide out like this when all our friends are here for the housewarming party.”
He kisses me then. Not with the passion that seems to always appear with us, but with a tender longing that makes my heart burst.
“You have the best ideas,” he murmurs.
“This is true. I have another one. Want to hear it?”
“Hit me, beautiful.”
“I think we should get one of those huge hammocks with the screen overtop so we can fuck under the stars without mosquitoes.”
He runs his hands up my back, his fingers dusting my spine. “I thought you didn’t like sex outside?”
“That’s still true, but I really want a hammock, and if I get a hammock, it should have a screen, and then it feels like I’m inside, so it’s not really outside at all.”
“You have this all figured out, don’t you?”
“It makes sense to me.”
Rhett laughs his deep, rumbling laugh I adore, and I smile down at him.
“Don’t change, beautiful. Don’t ever change.”
twenty-four
Rhett
“Damn, I love this rodeo.” Jackson says as he leans against the fence beside me and we watch the tractor drag the sand to prepare for the barrel racers.
“Me too. It’s always been one of my favourites. Feels different being here as a resident of Kissing Ridge, though. I’ve never had a bigger cheer, I don’t think.”
I’ve had my share of fans over the years, but today’s roar when it was my turn to ride was deafening. It filled another crack in my soul I wasn’t aware of. This is my real home. Perhaps where I was always meant to be.
“Ah, yes. The people here love their own. Doesn’t matter that you’ve only lived here for six months. You’re one of us.” Jackson slaps my shoulder with a warm smile.
“Thank you. I feel like it, too. I’m in love with this town.”
“And a certain barista, too, I hope?” Jackson laughs, and I glance around. Diamond said he had a surprise for me and disappeared over an hour ago.
“Oh yeah. He’s the one, and I’ll be the first to admit that I never thought I could love someone again. He’s…” I catch myselfbefore gushing over Diamond to Jackson. Jackson understands probably more than anyone, since his partner is in the romance business, but I don’t want to make it weird. “I haven’t seen him for a while. After my ride, he said he had something to take care of, and he’d be back before the rodeo ended.”
“Knowing Diamond, he’s got some over-the-top creation baking for you and went back to finish it.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Although I don’t think so. But he can be…unexpected in all the best ways, so I shouldn’t rule that out. I fell in love with him when I specifically said I wouldn’t. He could show up parachuting from the sky, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
The barrel racing starts, and Jackson stays with me as we watch. He fills me in on who’s the daughter of whom and the championships they’ve won. Jackson is a walking rodeo encyclopedia. He lives for it all, and I like that about him. He’s not just here for his event. He’s here for the rodeo. All of it in every way he can.
“Folks, we have something special for you tonight.” The announcer says, and we both pause our conversation to listen. “It’s been several years since barrel racing for men has appeared at the Kissing Ridge rodeo. That event stays to the south of us mostly, and we rarely get interest in entries until this year.”
