Page 23 of The Cowboy’s Forever Promise

“You love taking pictures.”

“Oh, yes. Ever since my dad gave me my first camera, I’ve been hooked. The instant you capture the light, the contrast, the image frozen in time—it gives me a real kick. Even now, after all this time.”

“So what do you photograph?”

“Landscapes, mostly. But today I’ve added George to my portfolio,” he chuckled.

She was curious to have a look inside the darkroom, but she was here to try and declutter his house. “Your room?”

“Further down,” he motioned with his hand.

Turning, she moved to the last room down the corridor and stepped inside.

Clothes, shoes, and socks were lying everywhere. Cluttered and chaotic.

“So, what do you think?” Carson asked.

She turned to face him in disbelief. “How can you live like this?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“You have such a beautiful house,” she said. “Some people may dream about having a house like this one day and look at how you treat it. At the moment you’re treating it like a house. A place where you sleep and eat, but it’s not a home. Do you even like this place?”

“Of course,” he said. “I designed it and helped to build it.”

“So it gives you joy?”

He touched her braid. “Probably not as much joy as I get when touching you, but yeah, it gives me joy.”

Ignoring his remark about touching her, she marched back to the living room and put her notebook back in her bag. This place seriously needed to be decluttered and organized. She would never be able to sleep tonight if she didn’t offer to help. “Well,” she said, crossing her arms. “I can only help you if I know you’ll keep this place neat and tidy once I’m gone.”

His smile slipped. “I don’t want to think about you leaving.”

“My life is back in Seattle,” she said.

“Do you know why I didn’t come to lunch today although I rarely miss Arlene’s cooking?”

Turning away, she shrugged. “Can’t say I noticed.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Can you look at me and repeat that?”

Irritated with the whole situation, she turned to face him. “I …” she began before she groaned out loud. “Okay, that’s not true.”

“The reason why I didn’t go was one, I thought Willow would probably not try her sly remarks on you if I wasn’t there and two, because I had to decide whether kissing you is still a good idea knowing you’re leaving soon.”

“There’s nothing to decide. We both know it’s not a good idea,” she said but for the life of her she couldn’t look away from his eyes. One brown and one blue. “I don’t know why it doesn’t bother me,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Your eyes. There should always be order, I believe. I usually avoid things that don’t match or that are out of sync for whatever reason. But with you …”

He pulled her closer. “I like the sound of that.”

Her hands landed on his chest. Solid. Muscled. Warm. He smelled nice. Sighing, she spread her hands out over his shirt. “It would be so easy to throw caution to the wind and jump into your arms, but we’re not strangers in a bar anymore. Whatever this is, it can’t go anywhere, you know that, don’t you?”