“I mean,of courseI’ve been hugged. Just not in a long time. Sometimes a person just needs to be touched.”
“Why?”
“Because hugs feel good.”
“Not that. Why haven’t youbeenhugged?”
She starts to pull away, but I hold on firmly, keeping her hand in mine.
“My parents aren’t warm and fuzzy. Chelsea definitely isn’t a toucher.” She shrugs those shoulders again. She’s back in my hoodie, and I was right. She looks fucking adorable in it. “It’s okay.”
It’s not fucking okay.
But instead of saying that, I grab the keys to the side-by-side that’s sitting by the four-wheeler and lead her outside.
“You have all kinds of fun toys,” she says as she gets in the passenger seat.
“We’re on a ranch. We either get around on one of these, or on a horse.”
“You have horses?”
She doesn’t know anything about this place.
“Yeah, about a dozen of them. Ryker and Willow have a bunch of chickens. We have cattle that we sell for the beef.”
“Did we eat one of your cows this morning?”
“Of course.” I wink at her as I pull away from the house. “The eggs are from here too. Those are the Bitterroot Mountains.”
“They already have snow,” she says, admiring them. “When will it snow down here?”
“Could be anytime, but it won’t stick until December. Then, we won’t see grass again until April at the earliest.”
“Ilovesnow,” she says with a happy sigh. “I like being cold. I hate summer.”
“Youhatesummer?”
“Okay, that’s a strong word, but I’m not one of those girls who loves to lay out and get skin cancer and get hot or stung by bees. I don’t like to sweat.”
“You jog every day.”
“That’s different. When I jog, I’m sweating because I was productive. In the summer, it’s just sweat. I don’t like it.”
“You always used to go to Mexico with Chelsea in the summer,” I remind her. “We went at least three times.”
“Chelsealikes hot weather. Not me.”
“Then why did you go?”
When she doesn’t answer for a minute, I glance in her direction. “Because I never tell her no.”
“Never?”
“Even when I definitely should. Anyway, I prefer the cold, because then you can get cozy inside. Are you still able to train people in the winter?”
“I train people all year round,” I confirm. “Whether it’s forty below or a hundred and ten, we’re training.”
“Put me down for a balmy seventy degrees. Otherwise, I’ll tap out.”
