Page 69
“Well,” I breathe out as we move to our vehicles, glad when Maven ushers Ben inside. “That went well.”
“Yeah. I mean, I could’ve done without you staring at me the entire time, but I guess it went okay,” Juliet says.
I grin. “Where else am I supposed to look if you’re talking? You should be grateful I didn’t ask you out in front of them.”
She turns to face me as she reaches the SUV. “You wouldn’t have dared.”
I keep walking to my truck, pulling on a pair of yellow, deerskin gloves I’d tucked into my back pocket earlier. “Actually, I would’ve dared. And you’d only have yourself to blame.”
She steps away from the SUV to better see me, our vehicles side-by-side. “How do you figure that?”
I move to the haybales Mr. Walker left at the side of the drive for me. I figured I’d save the Walkers a trip from their weekly deliveries to Horseshoe Holler by picking up a few myself.
“If you weren’t so gosh darn cute,” I say, grunting as I pick up one of the bales, “I wouldn’t feel the need to ask you out so often.” I motion to the closed tailgate. “Would you mind getting that?”
“You’re impossible,” she mutters, opening the back of the truck.
Her eyes linger on my forearms as I hold the bale with the two strings tied around it, then I use my knee to heave the bundle up and onto the truck.
“That’s a good thing, right?” I ask.
Her focus pulls up from my torso, and I realize the haybale folded up the bottom to reveal more of my skin above my gold belt buckle—the one I won on my last ride.
“What’s a good thing?” she asks, distracted.
“Being impossible.”
“No, that’s a bad thing.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
I retrieve another haybale, her gaze trailing across my shoulders this time. “It sure seems like you like it when I’m impossible,” I say. “It gives you more attention.”
Once again, I heave the bale up with my knee. She folds her arms, the key fob dangling from her fingers. “What gives you the impression that I like your attention, cowboy?”
I lift the final bale. “Only the things I’ve noticed. The way your eyes light up when you see me.” I toss the hay into the back, then close the tailgate. “The way your smile grows every time I ask you out.” I turn to face her, resting an elbow on the back of the truck. “The way your blush deepens when I look at you.”
I dip my chin, narrowing my gaze just a degree from beneath my hat to stare into those sapphire eyes shimmering in the brightness of the morning sun.
“You’re right,” she says. “I don’t mind your attention. But that’s because I know how it’s going to end.”
“With us dating?”
“No, with you hightailing it back to Horseshoe Holler.”
“Hightailing it? Is that a cowboy joke?”
“If the boot fits.”
I grin, but there’s something I need to clarify. “I’m not going to hightail it anywhere, Juliet. Not unless you’re on the horse with me.”
Her eyes are warm at first, but slowly, they take on the same weary look she’d worn at the hospital. “I just...don’t believe you.”
She takes a step away, and my hope slips through my fingers. “Why?”
Her shoulders stoop slightly forward. “Because we’ve been here before, Archer. I believe you when you say you don’t want to hurt me. But the thing is, I’ve already been hurt.” She looks away, shaking her head. “For years, I felt insignificant and unseen. It’s not your fault. I was way too young. But that doesn’t change the fact that when I got older, I still got hurt. You still didn’t think I was worth seeing.”
