He sliced into his medium rare steak. “Should be. They’re a little ahead of schedule.” He looked out toward the mountains that were already showing signs of the shift in seasons.
“The government needs to get through all the red tape fast or those groups won’t be able to get in. The snow and ice make the roads impassable.” Gabe chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “I’m happy to have a warm body in my bed this winter.”
Church huffed out a laugh. “You’re lucky to have Felicity.”
But the light exchange felt heavier each passing second. Because underneath the harvest and festivities, under the working of the ranch and facility plans, there was Zee.
And he still didn’t know where he stood with her.
Nothing that passed between them was casual. There was too much feeling in it. Desire had gotten tangled up with…more.
Then she opened the package and the ground shifted under both of them.
Since then, she’d grown more reserved. She didn’t reject him or pull away, but it was clear she was holding back while she worked through whatever Matt’s last not-quite-a-message had done to her.
Church understood. Hell, he respected it. But he couldn’t sit in uncertainty forever.
He needed to find Zee and talk to her.
Gabe finished his meal and went in search of Felicity, leaving Church alone with the smoke of grilling food and the company of his own thoughts.
He looked out at the field, toward the spot along the fence he’d begun to think of as “their” spot. He saw Zee, so he pushed away from the table and hurried to her.
If he wanted any chance of holding on to what had started between them, he had to stop pretending his heart wasn’t already in it.
He had to face the truth.
Matt had been his friend. A man under his command. And he’d died.
Whatever happened—whatever they were still uncovering—didn’t change that.
Matt wasn’t here.
Church was.
And if he was going to have what he wanted—Zee—he needed to find her and ask the question he’d been avoiding.
* * * * *
Zee’s feet carried her away from the fall festivities, and she didn’t realize how far she’d walked until the voices faded and all she heard was her footsteps in the grass.
She gazed across the land, drinking in the dark clouds banked in the corner of the sky, threatening to cancel the fall plans again, and the mountaintops were lost in a pale fog that never seemed to wash away no matter how hard the wind blew.
She slowed and then stopped. When she looped her arms over the worn wooden fence, she realized what brought her here. This was her and Church’s spot.
The place where they walked and talked—and she’d been missing him all day.
Just as she thought this, she turned her head and saw him striding toward her. Her body sparked to life as if the muscular line of his body left a mark on hers, a heat she yearned to be close to.
When he reached her, those sexy creases extended from each eye, and the depths warmed her as much as seeing his confident swagger.
“Been looking for you.”
Her insides clutched at his words. “I hoped you would find me.”
A smile appeared in his eyes. He leaned against the fence next to her. Neither spoke. Their silence always had a language of its own, and it soothed her more than anything could.
Only today, she felt an undercurrent in the hum.
