Her smile starts out fragile, her eyes glittering, the same green and blue of the dragonflies all around us. But then it grows in sweet, sexy confidence. “I’d like to come here all summer long, too.”
Because she’s staying.
Because she knows she’s mine.
“Maybe the dragonflies come here for the same reason,” she murmurs.
So, so sweet. I think they come here because the canyon has the perfect conditions for mating. But for a traumatized girl who isn’t ready for all that, it’s also perfect for a sweet family first date.
The canyon, like me, can be different things at different times.
One day in the future, I’ll bring Hope here just the two of us, and I’ll get down on one knee. Maybe she’ll wear a sundress for me and I’ll show her, after she agrees to be my wife, that my kisses are truly endless, and we, too, can enjoy the mating conditions in this secret refuge.
She glances up at Bellamy. “Do you want to get down and explore?”
“Can I put my feet in the water?”
“It’s cold,” I warn them.
“We’re from the coast, Cowboy,” Hope says as she helps Bellamy down. “We know cold water.”
And when they take off their boots and socks and wade in, shrieking and laughing, I’m hit by another wave ofthis is everythingfeelings. This joy, this precious happiness, is what I’m going to protect.
“You don’t want to come in?” Hope asks as they climb out of the shallow pool.
I take Bellamy from her and dry her feet on my t-shirt. “I was just enjoying watching you freeze your toes off.”
“It’s brisk, but lovely.”
“I’m more of a geothermal hot springs kind of guy.”
“Ooh, Ilovea hot spring.”
“Then that can be our second date.” I turn Bellamy around so Hope can put her socks and boots back on, then I set her down and we watch together as she tromps off to inspect the marble slabs.
Hope watches her nervously, but lets her roam.
“Is it hard to not hover?”
“So hard,” she confesses. “But she’s really enjoying her freedom on the ranch. And this seems pretty safe?”
“I wouldn’t have brought you here if it wasn’t.”
She visibly relaxes at that promise. I climb onto a flat slab and pat the stone next to me. “Can we watch Bellamy from here?”
“Yep.” She joins me, stretching out her legs in front of her. Then she glances sideways at me. “Tell me something most people don’t know about you.”
Easy. “I wanted to be a veterinarian once upon a time.”
“What happened?”
“The reality of how much school cost really hit me in my last year of high school. And the army was good for Ridge. He was making good money already. So I enlisted instead. Figured the army would pay for school later. And then I grew up and realized I could just buy horses and land and didn’t need to pay for school.”
“You don’t regret it?”
“No. I like what we’re building on the ranch. I know I’m going to be learning from the school of life forever.” I nudge her fingers with mine. “How about you? You ever think about going to school?”
“I don’t know how I’d juggle it with kids.”
