She didn’t have to have him. She’d believed she needed Aiden to keep her safe. She didn’t think Cody was going to keep her life from falling apart. In fact, he might put what she wanted to build in danger.
She wanted him anyway.
He took her hand and led her through the dim lobby, away from her room.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“There’s a place I want to show you.”
It was dark, so she had no idea what he was going to show her in all this darkness. She hoped his naked body. Well, she’d hoped to see his naked body in the light, but she’d take this.
With both hands.
He led her into the parking lot, and she shivered as the night air brushed against her skin. Brought back the memory of how he’d kissed her against the barn last night.
He opened up the passenger door, and she got in. He closed it, and she sat there alone for a moment, one breath, two, her heart pounding hard in her ears.
But she wasn’t indecisive. Not at all.
This was happening.
Cody got in and started the truck, and she wondered if there was anyone lingering on the property who might see them.
It didn’t really matter.
The only thing that really mattered was Cody.
And when he began to drive away from the hotel, he put his hand on her thigh, and she felt like she was eighteen, not thirty-two. She felt excited and like she was driving toward something unknown, something that wasn’t going to be permanent or make anything better. Wasn’t going to heal her or fix her, or anything quite so profound.
But it was a moment. And she couldn’t remember the last time she had ever lived for the moment.
As his truck rumbled along the dirt road, they hit potholes, and she bounced in the seat. A jackrabbit bounded out from the brush on the side of the road and ran in front of their truck, in the path of the high beams, before leaping off into the bush again.
“What –”
Another rabbit appeared, and another.
“Like dolphins,” he said.
“What?” she asked, laughing.
“I don’t know. I’m not really seagoing myself, but I’ve heard that dolphins like to swim alongside ships. Sometimes those jackrabbits like to pop out and bound down the road in front of my truck. No clue why.”
“What other animals are around here?”
“Bears. Mountain lions. Raccoons, possums. Pronghorn antelope. Mountain goat.”
“Antelope?”
“Yep. They’re kind of a dusky orange color, with white patches. Thick black horns that stand straight up on their head and curve back just a little bit at the tip.”
“Are they… big?”
“Smaller than a deer. They move in a herd.”
“Oh.… I didn’t know.”
“Then there are the Mustangs. The herd here is the Painted Ridge Herd. There are about fifty of them left.”
