Tracy took a breath knowing this was her last chance to bail. She glanced out the window at the ground. It was right there. If she did this with Cash, the ground would be— “How high can this helicopter fly?”
“Max is 22,500 feet. We don’t fly that high around the ranches.”
“How fast can it go?”
“Up to a hundred and forty miles per hour. Cruising speed is a hundred twenty.”
Tracy nodded again. “Okay.” It was now or never. “Let’s party in the sky.”
Cash smiled, and the helicopter’s skids left the ground. Farther and farther straight up into the air. Tracy said a prayer while holding her breath. She gripped her hands in her lap and looked down. Written atop the roof of the Percherons’ stables in huge black letters was Triple C Ranch-West. The lagoon-like swimming pool quickly became a blue puddle and the floating flamingo a pink dot. The helicopter turned high in the sky, leaving the safety of the house, bed-and-breakfast, and stables in their wake. Quickly losing sight of the ranch, Tracy looked forward to avoid seeing how high above the ground they were.
Cloudless blue sky. Endless green pastures. Majestic rolling hills. Cooper ranch land.
“Next up is Chase’s cattle ranch entrance, cowboys’ bunkhouse, and stables for their horses,” Cash said through the headset.
Tracy was seeing it all from a vantage point she could never have imagined. As Cash narrated, he pointed out Martyman and Rachel’s house close to Mean Pete andKaty’s. Next, she saw Triple C Ranch-Central written in the same black lettering on the roof of the stables she knew housed the family’s horses and those ridden in the equine therapy. To the rear of the main house was the four-car garage and big red barn. Coop’s log cabin was nearby, situated close to Bob and Teresa’s house, just as she remembered from the ground.
Through the sky they flew, like Colorado’s state bird. She had written about the lark bunting in a couple of articles for the magazine. The bird always arrives in Colorado in April, spends the summer, and flies south in September. These summer days with Cash were priceless and few. And they wereflyingby. Where would they be, come September? It occurred to Tracy her hands were no longer bone-knuckle white. Her breathing had gone from being held and gulped to normal. She glanced at Cash for the first time since the skids had left the ground.
“Wow, Cash,” she breathed, shaking her head in the wonder of it all.
Cash looked at her and grinned. “Yeah, I know. “I’m glad you’re up here with me.”
“Me too.” Tracy’s eyes stung with tears of happiness. “Thank you, Cash.” Each beat of her heart echoed her love for this man.
“Anytime,” he said. “Look up ahead, on the horizon.”
Tracy faced forward again and glimpsed the distant edge of Triple C-East where they had left Dude with Sam, Jeff, and the other wranglers. Dude had ridden with Cash to drop her off at Triple C-West. But he’d jumped right back into the truck with Cash and returned home with him. Tracy knew Dude loved each and every minute of being on Cash’s ranch as much as she did. When they returned to their apartment in the Springs, the German shepherd would surely miss the wide-open spaces, horses, cattle, even the chickens, and certainly the companionable affection from the friends they’d made. How would they ever survive without Cash Cooper?
“I see Dude with Sam and Jeff outside the bunkhouse,” Tracy said and pointed.
“Yup.”
They waved and saw Sam and Jeff wave back. On the roof of Cash’s stables, she also noted Triple C Ranch-East written in the now familiar bold black letters. They flew over it, the café, the five cabins, the four-car garage, and the main house with its hot tub on the balcony. Cash flew above the empty adjacent field, then with a wide loop turning them back around to the west he began the descent. Above the exact spot where he had landed on the Fourth of July, Cash expertly lowered the helicopter. When the skids touched the ground, Tracy’s smile was so big she thought it might split her face. Cash flipped switches, the motor ceased, and the blades overhead whirred to a stop. He took off his headset and Tracy followed suit.
“Cash,” Tracy whispered. She tried to hug him, but her seat belt held her in place.
“Tracy,” Cash mimicked and chuckled as she unbuckled her seat belt.
“Let’s make love right now, right here in the?—”
“Cockpit?”
Tracy looked between and behind her seat and Cash’s and finished, “In the three passenger back seats. Cowgirl style!”
He inclined his head in thought and said, “No, but that would be a first.”
“Never say never,” she flirted.
Cash grinned and unbuckled his seat belt. He exited the helicopter and came around to her side, helping her out. So happy, so confident, and so in love, she flung her arms around his neck. Cash kissed her, lifting her feet off the ground and swinging her in a half circle. Putting her feet back on the ground, he grabbed her hand, and they made their way across the quiet backyard, which was currently devoid of wranglers and guests.
“Wanna go getmydog, spitfire?” Cash teased, nearing his truck.
Tracy laughed. “Yes, I’m sure he misses you.”
“Yet another wayyou take me to heaven,” Cash said, his voice husky.
Near the hot tub, Cash lay face down on a couple of extra wide beach towels tossed over the thick cushion of a chaise lounge for two. Tiki torches flickered in the corners of the balcony and candles glowed on tables. Soothing new-age music and soft lamplight filtered out through the open French doors of the master bedroom. Moon and stars danced overhead as Tracy’s hands waltzed across his back. Naked and straddling his thighs, she’d started out by pressing her fingers into his lower back and slowly working her way up both sides of his spine to his neck. Then, down his neck and out to his shoulders, along his arms and ribs, she spread her magic.
