“I bet we see plenty of bugs and spiders too. Spiders are so cool.”
Cerise shuddered. The only good spider was a dead spider, but she wouldn’t say that to Finn. The last thing she wanted to do was upset the boy again.
“I take it spiders aren’t your favorite bug?” Clearly Brodie had seen her shiver of revulsion at the mention of spiders.
“Umm, no, definitely not.”
Brodie chuckled. “I promise I’ll keep you safe from the eight-legged creatures.”
“You’re making a lot of promises there, Mr. Spelling, I hope you can keep them.”
Brodie tipped his hat in the classic cowboy move. “I always do, ma’am.” He finished with a wink.
She rolled her eyes. “That’s enough of the ma’am, thank you very much.”
Cerise had a feeling that today was going to be wonderful and when she got home, she was going to be farther down the road of falling for Brodie Spelling than would be wise at this point in her life.
Brodie listenedas Jaidon explained the unique features of the red-tail hawk that was perched on the heavy glove that covered his hand. Beside him Finn was leaning forward, his attention fully on the bird. On Brodie’s other side sat Cerise, her hand still entwined with his. He couldn’t deny how good it felt to be connected to her like this. His thumb brushed across her soft skin and every time he did it, he noticed the hairs on her arm stood to attention. She was so responsive to a simple sweep of his thumb, what would her response be if he kissed her all over? Massaged her breasts. Would she sigh or moan out her desire?
His body responded to his wanton thoughts and he shifted, cursing himself for thinking those things when she was right beside him. Not to mention Finn as well.
A loud shrill rent the air, causing them all to jump. It sounded like they were about to be attacked by some velociraptors. Brodie looked up hoping not to see any prehistoric creatures zooming in on them.
“That got your attention, didn’t it?” Jaidon commented, laughing. “The red-tailed’s shrill is often used in movies and TV shows to depict the sound a raptor makes. But I can assure you there are no dinosaurs in the park.” He paused as the small crowd chuckled. “Not that I’m aware of,” he finished with a wink which caused everyone to laugh louder.
“He better be joking,” muttered Cerise.
“As I said earlier, Sparkles, I’ll keep you safe.”
“How about me, Brodie? Will you keep me safe?” Finn asked, his faced turned to him, innocence and hope shining in the little boy’s eyes.
An emotion he couldn’t quite identify pinged in the region of his heart. “Definitely, buddy, I’ll keep you safe too.”
“Good.” He seemed satisfied with Brodie’s response and turned his attention back to Jaidon who was encouraging the bird to spread its wings so everyone could see its wingspan.
“Truly a majestic bird, isn’t it?” Cerise asked, leaning more into him than before. And damn if another wave of emotion, this time only stronger than his reaction to Finn’s look of trust, didn’t ping in his chest.
Again, he welcomed it and the level of intensity of the emotion toward Cerise didn’t scare him at all.
An hour later they were seated at one of the picnic tables, an amazing spread of food in front of him. He’d asked Jean to put together a picnic lunch for him, Cerise and Finn. He hadn’t planned on eating with Jaidon, but his wife and their daughter, Louise, arrived so they joined them after Jaidon extended an invitation.
Brodie couldn’t help noticing that Jaidon always touched Bridget. Either an arm around her shoulder, a brush of his fingers across her hand or a quick peck on the cheek. Each time he touched her, his wife smiled and leaned a little into him, all the while keeping an eye on their daughter. Finn had taken to the little girl immediately, which was surprising, considering the age difference.
“Mitch tells me you’ve only been working at the ranch for a couple of months, but that you’re also a volunteer firefighter for Hunt.”
Brodie swallowed his mouthful of chicken salad before answering. “Yep. I really love working on the ranch. Getting up on a horse every day and riding around the land. I was aparamedic before I found out that I preferred being a cowboy, so I like that being on the Hunt VFD keeps my medical skills on point.”
While he was talking he noticed that Bridget tensed with each word he spoke. Damn, he should’ve remembered what this place would remind her of, not to mention the fact he was part of the department that had saved her life. Then again, it wasn’t like he’d brought the subject up. Her husband had.
“A paramedic, huh? What made you decide to go down that road?” Jaidon asked, seemingly not concerned with how tense his wife seemed to be getting.
Brodie took a deep breath. This was going to be tricky, answering the question without giving away who he was and what he’d done prior to arriving in San Antonio. When the truth came out about his past, he wanted to be the one to tell Cerise, not have it come up in a conversation like this and have it totally blindside her. “A little bit of this and that. But I’m more than happy with what I’m doing now.”
“Do you think you’ll want your own ranch one day?” Cerise asked.
The thought had crossed his mind, and he certainly had the means to be able to buy one if he wanted to. Or buy some land and start his own, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted all the stress that came with running his own ranch. But that was today. Next year he may decide he was ready for the challenge. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve only been doing this for a short while. I have a lot more to learn before I decide to go down that road.”
The four adults continued to eat their lunch leisurely. Finn had wolfed down his food and was now joking around with Louise, eliciting cute giggles from her.
