“We’re going very slowly,” she pointed out.
And it was true that the tractor was putzing along. But still…
He shook his head. “Someone could still fall off and then the wagon or the tractor could run them over.”
“It’s not going to back up,” she said. “We’ll make sure we have a route mapped out, and we’ll have plenty of adults onboard to watch the kids.”
She was determined. He could hear it in her voice. So, knowing he was going to lose, he sighed. His breath stirred her hair, and she shivered despite the warmth of the day.
Or maybe he was just hot from running after the wagon. Or from holding her.
“Let’s look into maybe getting higher sides on the wagon, so that nobody can fall off, and a gate on the back,” he suggested.
“Okay,” she said. “That makes sense.”
At least he was talking sense because he sure didn’t feel like he was thinking it right now. Because all he could think about was her and how close he held her and how much he wanted to kiss her.
And that would not be sensible at all.
* * *
Trish wanted tobe annoyed that Brett kept jumping in to rescue her. She wanted to be independent. She wanted to be able to handle everything on her own. But he’d looked so worried about her when he’d run after the wagon. And the way he’d vaulted onto it and then wrapped his arms around her had her melting into a gooey mess.
Nobody had ever acted this way with her. Not even Nolan Stokes. He’d sought her out to warn her about the Lemmons for some reason as if he’d been concerned they were conning her dad. He hadn’t even known her dad.
After Frank Dempsey had felt her mother had conned him, there was no way he ever would have let anyone else do that. And while her dad had certainly loved Trish, he hadn’t rushed to her rescue like this. Maybe if he had actually come to her wedding she wouldn’t have married the man he hadn’t approved of. He had been right that Harold Trent had love-bombed her in the beginning to win her over. He hadn’t really wanted any of the same things in life that she had. He’d just lied and told her that he had.
Whereas Brett was doing the opposite. He said he didn’t want the same things, like the petting zoo and the camps and now the hayrides, but he kept helping her anyway. The only thing they really agreed on was that getting married was too risky and not worth the pain.
Her heart was beating fast like his as he held her. And she felt more like she was falling now than when the wagon had first lurched into motion. But she wasn’t falling off the wagon.
Brett’s strong arms wrapped around her were making sure of that. She couldn’t remember anyone ever holding her like this, so close but yet so carefully, too. Like he didn’t want to hurt her.
If only she could trust that…
If only she could trust anyone…
Most of all herself.
But she was trusting herself. She had so many hopes and dreams and plans. And she had no intention of letting anyone derail them again.
Not even Brett Lemmon.
Though he hadn’t really tried to stop her from doing anything. He just wanted her to be safer when she did it. She let herself relax against him and enjoy the ride. And when the tractor finally lurched to a stop, she turned her head and skimmed her lips across his square jaw. The stubble on it tickled her lips, and she smiled.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?” he asked. “Overreacting?”
“For caring,” she said.
He tensed.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I know you’re just being a good partner…” But she wasn’t thinking of the partnership they had in the ranch. She thought instead of the partnership that Elise and Liam had, and that Sadie and Lem had: a marriage. “Uh, partnership in the Four Corners,” she said. “That’s what I meant…”
He nodded. And his gaze, with his dark eyes so very intense, dropped to her lips. Then he leaned forward and kissed her back.
She forgot about everything except the sensation of his mouth on hers. She could have kept on kissing him forever if someone hadn’t suddenly cleared their throat, causing them to jerk apart.
