Page 131 of Dusty Spur Ranch Cowboys

“I noticed,” she says, meeting his eyes. “You’ve asked if I wanted another beer twice, and you keep checking whether I’m warm enough.”

He glances at the fire. “I’d rather ask than assume.”

Red takes a drink. “He worries.”

Emmett shrugs. “Somebody should.”

Arizona’s attention shifts to Red. “And you?”

He rests his forearms on his knees. “I watch.”

She studies him. “I noticed that too.”

He holds her gaze without saying another word. It’s only a couple of seconds, but Red doesn’t waste eye contact any more than he wastes conversation.

Arizona continues to watch him with the same curiosity she’s had since the diner, like she’s trying to work out how a man who speaks so little manages to say exactly enough.

I glance between them. “I think that qualifies as a speech.”

Red looks at me. “Don’t get used to it.”

Arizona smiles into her beer. “I’ll remember it anyway.”

A coyote calls somewhere beyond the pasture while the horses shift in the darkness behind the corrals.

“And me?” I tease.

Arizona turns to face me. “You keep everybody laughing because you hate seeing people carry too much by themselves.”

The words steal every smart answer I’ve got.

Emmett looks at me.

Red does too.

Arizona smiles when she catches me searching for a comeback. “I finally found one you don’t have a joke for.”

I laugh under my breath. “I wasn’t prepared for you paying that much attention.”

“I told you.” She nudges my shoulder with hers. “I watch people.”

The contact lasts a heartbeat longer than either of us needs, and when she eases back, her knee brushes mine beneath the edge of the chair.

Watching her figure us out one by one should be funny.

Instead, it feels a little dangerous.

The fire crackles between us while Emmett studies the label on his beer with far more concentration than it deserves. Red watches the flames, though the corner of his eye keeps drifting our way before he takes another drink.

Arizona glances at each of them, then back at me. “So…”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Arizona

I sit close enough to Willy that keeping my breathing even takes real effort. Behind us, the fire crackles, forgotten while all four of us stare at each other instead.

Is this really happening?