“Don’t get arrested on my account. I know he won’t abuse Quincy. He’ll probably give him away as a gift to his next girlfriend. He always thought the dog was an expensive accessory. Something to show off his wealth. Quincy cost over six thousand dollars. Stealing him would be a felony. You just keep that in mind.”
Zane rumbled, “That’s more than a cow costs!”
“Yeah. It sure is.”
Our laughter faded into comfortable quiet.
“What happened with Tina?” I asked.
He considered the question without any apparent discomfort. “We ended fine. Still friendly enough when we cross paths.” He was quiet for a moment. “She always said I held too much of myself back.”
I looked at him. “Did you?”
“Yeah,” he said it without hesitation. “I wasn’t in love with her.”
The honesty of it settled in the air between us.
“Have you ever been in love?” I felt my face go warm as I realized what I’d asked, but I held his gaze.
His eyes moved to mine and stayed there, deep and unhurried, and the look in them made my pulse climb.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “But she moved away. She had bigger plans than this little town.”
The air went out of me slowly.
I stared at him and felt something enormous and aching open up in the middle of my chest. “That woman must have been a fool,” I said, and my voice came out softer than I intended.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a slow, wide grin that I felt all the way down to my toes. “Maybe she was,” he rumbled quietly. “But there’s still time for her to wise up.”
He held my eyes for one long, charged moment, and I felt a kiss hanging there between us.
Was it possible?
Could he be talking aboutme?
But right then, a tiny drop of rain landed on my shoulder.
I ignored it, hoping it was a stray drop from the sky and not a sign that we were about to be rained out.
All I wanted was for this perfect day with Zane to last forever.
Then another drop fell. This time on his cheek. I watched Zane wipe it away, his eyes still trained on mine, hunger and hope and fear all mingled together in a swirling stack of emotion.
But mother nature had other ideas. The skies opened up, gentle rain falling down on us.
We glanced up. The blue sky and white clouds had been replaced, everything muted to a light gray tone.
“Oh, no,” I murmured.
But when our eyes met again, Zane didn’t look upset. That same warmth I’d seen looking back at me all day long was still there on his face.
He stood and held out his hand to help me up. “Let’s head to the barn before we get soaked.”
It was closer than the house. I glanced over at it, and a moment later Zane’s rough hand slid into mine, and then we were running and laughing like teenagers.
By the time we made it, we were thoroughly wet and caught up in a swirl of excitement.
He led me inside, leaving the doors open so we could watch the rain come down.
