Текст книги "Near and Far"

Автор книги: Nicole Williams

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

Garth beamed over at me. “I win.”

My smile fell. “Bite me.”

Garth bit the air in my direction. “All hail the victor.”

I elbowed him in the stomach as I pushed through the door. I’d had enough Garth for the month. Garth had won our stupid, infantile game, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to win whatever bet he had going with Jesse. I was making that a top priority.

The foyer was empty and quiet when we took our first step inside, but it wasn’t by the time we took the second. A chorus of She’s here echoed through the house. Clementine and Hyacinth skidded in from the living room, followed by Lily and Neil. Rose rushed in from the kitchen, a beater in her hand and flour dusting her face.

I braced myself as the two youngest Walkers tackled me. I might have been bigger than them, but they were five times as strong as me individually. When they came at me together, it felt like they were at least a hundred times stronger.

Garth backed away slowly like the squealing and tackle hugs were making him uncomfortable. In a prior life, the one I’d lived less than a year ago, they would have made me so uncomfortable I would have been permanently scarred. I couldn’t get enough of them now. I think I was making up for lost time.

“Quick, girls. Steal her away before Jesse gets back,” Rose instructed. She managed to get an arm around me and slip in a squeeze. “When he gets here, he’ll lock you away and we won’t see you for a while. I didn’t realize I’d raised such a selfish man.” Flashing me a wink, Rose inclined her head toward the kitchen.

I was familiar with what came next. Even though the bus from Seattle arrived late, at least late for people who got up at four in the morning, Rose always had a warm plate of dinner waiting for me. While I gorged myself on a home-cooked meal, the rest of the family would gather around the kitchen table with a plate or bowl of whatever that night’s dessert was, and we’d catch up until more yawns than words circled the table. Neil was always the first to “hit the hay” as he called it. Clementine and Hyacinth were close seconds, and I felt the only reason Lily and Rose finally headed to their bedrooms was so that Jesse and I could have some time alone.

Reunion night had become a time-honored tradition.

“How’s school?” Rose asked as she pulled a Saran-covered plate from the microwave.

“Great. I just had a huge show and pretty much sold every piece.”

Garth must have followed us because I heard him clear his throat loudly. I shot him a warning glare. He responded with a wink.

“Jesse told us about that. It sounded like it was quite the event, and he said the pieces you had on display were absolutely amazing.” Rose set the steaming plate of enchiladas in front of my chair at the ginormous dining table. Yes, they’d designated me a seat. I knew they didn’t think much of the gesture, but it had left me bleary-eyed when I’d found out.

“It was pretty awesome.” I had to remove each Walker girl’s death grip from my waist to sit down. They all clamored into their seats around me.

“I wish we could have seen it. I haven’t been to Seattle since . . . well, since so long I can’t even remember.” Rose sat across from me and gave me one of those warm smiles I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to.

“We’ll take the whole family over and make sure we hit the next one,” Neil said. He approached the table with a plate of Rice Crispy treats in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. When Neil wasn’t working, he almost always had a cup of coffee in one hand. “What do you think, girls? You up for a trip to the big city next time Rowen has a big, fancy art show?”

Three heads bobbed eagerly.

“It’s settled then. I hope you won’t mind sharing your apartment with six more people, Rowen.” Neil shot me a wink as he took his seat.

“Neil . . .” Rose settled a hand on her hip, giving him a look. “I know you’re not a big fan of them and spend as little time in them as you can, but big cities have really great things known as hotels. Maybe we could rent a couple of rooms. Maybe we could go crazy and rent a couple of five star ones.”

“Five star?” Neil’s forehead lined.

“Never mind. The girls and I will handle all that.”

“Has anyone heard from Jesse yet?” I knew it was an abrupt turn in the conversation. I’d tried to repress the question, but not knowing the details of the emergency Jesse was somehow involved in was making me uneasy. Everything must have been mostly okay or the Walkers wouldn’t have been going about their business as usual, but I doubted I’d be able to eat a bite of dinner if I didn’t find out what was going on.

“They should be pulling up any minute now. I got a call from Jo earlier saying they were coming home,” Rose answered.

I sighed. He was on his way. Jesse would be there soon. Emergency situation had passed. “What happened?”

“Jo can’t chew gum and walk at the same time,” Garth muttered. He was sitting down at the other end of the table.

Rose gave him a look that I think was meant to be intimidating, but it was more filled with maternal amusement. “Sprained ankle, it sounds like. We were worried something had broken, so a minor sprain was a relief.”

“Who’s Jo? Jo as in Josie?” I’d gotten to know all of the ranch hands, and Jo wasn’t one of them.

“No, not Josie. Someone I just brought on to help me and the girls out,” Rose answered.

“Wow. Go, Jo. I need to meet this guy who’s up to the challenge of keeping up with the four Walker women.” That was when I heard a familiar sound. A rumbling, sputtering noise accompanied by the sound of crunching gravel. Only one truck in the world could make that pathetic of a sound and still manage to get me all worked up.

“You can definitely meet Jo, but I think you’re going to be disappointed if you’re looking to meet a guy,” Rose replied.

I stopped chewing. “Jo’s not a guy?”

“No. Jo is definitely not a guy,” Garth said. I wasn’t looking at him, but I didn’t need to be to know what smile was on Garth’s face.

“We call her Jo, but her name’s Jolene. She’s only been with us for a few weeks, so that’s why you haven’t had a chance to meet her yet.”

“And that’s who Jesse took to the emergency room tonight?”

Lily nodded. “She was out delivering the guys’ dinner when she tripped into a gopher hole or something like that.”

“And Jesse was the only one around to take her to the emergency room?”

“No, but he was the only one around who was brave enough to drive Old Bessie through the fields and into town.”

I set my fork down on my plate. “Jo was driving Old Bessie?”

“She drives it all the time when she takes out the guys’ meals.” Lily gave me a confused look like she couldn’t understand why I seemed so surprised.

“She drives Old Bessie,” I repeated, more to myself than anyone else. I don’t know why that was so upsetting. Maybe because I thought Jesse and I were the only people brave enough to drive it, or maybe because—from the way Garth’s had voice had basically made love to Jo’s name—I didn’t like the idea of some goddess in cowgirl boots driving my boyfriend’s truck.

“She also was Miss Montana last year. Just in case you were wondering, or hoping, she fell from the ugly tree”—Garth was eating up my discomfort—“she didn’t. Not even close.”

I wished innocent eyes and ears weren’t close by, keeping me from saying and doing the things I wanted to.

“She’s also a gymnast. Flexible. Super flexible.” Garth clasped his hands on the table and leaned in. “And she has a thing for cowboys. Blond, strapping, smiling-idiot variety cowboys . . . so you girls already have something in common.”

Those enchiladas were not looking so appetizing anymore. Other than throwing them at Garth’s smug face, I didn’t have much use for them. I was at the point between considering and acting out on my enchilada-tossing fantasy when I heard a pair of footsteps coming up the front steps. One set sounded sure, the other set . . . hobbled.

“Sounds like that’s all the Rowen hoarding we’ll get tonight.” Rose stood from her chair. I shot out of mine. We made like a caravan and headed for the front door. That time, Garth wasn’t taking up the rear; he was leading the stampede.

Opportunistic bastard.

I barely had a second to suck in a breath and roll back my shoulders before Clementine threw open the door. “Jesse!” She screeched her standard brother-worship greeting. It didn’t matter if she’d gone days or seconds without seeing him. Her greeting always held the same level of enthusiasm.

Jesse had just scaled the top step and was slowly making his way through the door. He wasn’t alone. A chick who I assumed was Jo had one arm draped over his shoulders as she hobbled pathetically beside him. I’d sprained my ankle a few times before and never once had a sprain constituted clinging to a person that way. The way she clutched his shoulder and looked at him with those big doe eyes of hers made my claws come out. When she giggled as they wove through the front door, my claws were ready for some serious slashing.

“See what I mean? That is definitely not a man,” Garth whispered to me, nudging me in the ribs.

“Oh, go and have relations with your left hand,” I snapped quietly enough the girls wouldn’t hear me.

“I’d rather have relations with her”—Garth lifted his chin toward Jo—“but something tells me she’d rather have relations with a different cowboy. Heads up, Rowen. That goes for your and Jesse’s affairs.” With one last nudge, Garth wove through the Walkers toward Jesse and Jo.

As soon as they were in the foyer, Jesse’s eyes searched for me. They locked on me almost immediately, and his smile moved into place. The one that chased away any and every doubt and insecurity I had festering inside of me.

Garth moved up beside Jo to relieve Jesse, and before Garth’s arm had wrapped around Jo’s waist, Jesse was lunging toward me. I had time to give Garth an appreciative smile and notice the look of disappointment on Jo’s face. The chick really did have a thing for my boyfriend. Not good.

But then all was good again. Jesse’s arms wound around me before lifting me. “I’m so sorry I missed you earlier. It killed me not being there to pick you up.”

I’d forgive a million times over when he hugged me that way. “Being trapped inside a moving vehicle with Garth Black almost killed me too.”

Jesse chuckled into the bend of my neck, gave me one more squeeze, then set me back down. “It won’t happen again.”

“Let’s hope not. Let’s hope you can’t sprain the same ankle twice.” I moved just far enough to the side to lock eyes with a certain someone who seemed unable to pry hers from a certain part of Jesse that made me every shade of territorial.

I knew every last female who wasn’t related to him checked out Jesse’s backside when he passed by—hell, I’d probably been the worst offender—but that girl . . . well, for some reason, her checking out Jesse’s backside got under my skin more than the rest.

Jesse and I didn’t do territorial. Or at least, we hadn’t. It looked like I would be the one to break that rule.

“Oh, hi. You must be the Rowen this guy can’t shut up about.” Jo circled her finger Jesse’s direction.

“I must be.” I stepped out from behind Jesse and angled myself in front of him. Yeah, because my hundred and twenty pounds could protect him from whatever I suddenly felt he needed protecting from. “I don’t know who you are, though. Jesse hasn’t mentioned you.”

Garth let out a low, “Meeeooow,” and tried to hide his smile.

If my arms were long enough, I would have bitch-slapped that smirk off his face.

“Oh, my gosh. Where are my manners?” When she hobbled my way, I noticed she wasn’t clinging to Garth like she had Jesse. In fact, she was barely using him at all. Much to Garth’s dismay. “I’m Jolene. It’s great to finally meet you.” The miraculously cured girl stopped in front of me and smiled, and dammit if it didn’t look like a genuine one. If it was one of the syrupy fake ones begging to form on my own face, it would have been easier to hate her guts. That smile, along with the biggest pair of brown eyes I’d ever seen, made gut-hating hard to attain. When her gaze flicked to Jesse and that smile grew, it became a little easier again.

What I really wanted to do was wave, grab Jesse, and do things to him all night that would make me blush in the morning. Because the Walkers were staring at me with growing concern and Garth was practically holding his breath for a girl-e-girl cat fight, I forced a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Jesse tells me you’re going to school in Seattle?” As soon as I nodded, she added, “At a community college, right?”

That was true, and I wasn’t ashamed I was attending a community college while I stowed away money for a four-year school, but the way Miss High Horse had said it . . . well, it certainly sounded like she meant it as a jab. Or was I way off?

“That’s an affirmative.” I teetered back and forth on my heels and toes, a sure sign I was getting worked up. “I also work at a nutty doughnut shop where I make minimum wage, and I ride a bike older than me since I don’t own a car. Oh, and almost my entire outfit came from a thrift store.” There. If she was throwing a jab with the community college comment, I’d just glazed over a few other hot topics.

“Are you kidding me? That outfit is from a thrift store? No way. I never find anything good or in my size.”

Since her size was rail thin with jumbo tits, I figured she had a tough time finding stuff in her size anywhere.

“And wait . . . is that . . .” She zoomed in on my denim bag.

“Yep. It is.” I patted it possessively. “Rose made it for me out of a pair of Jesse’s old jeans.”

And she started eye-molesting my bag. “I thought that looked like a familiar sight.”

I exhaled slowly. A familiar sight was visiting the same vacation place every year; the way Jolene was mind-fucking Jesse’s ass was something else entirely. “So you’re working here? Helping out Rose and the girls?” I felt another twinge of possessiveness. “No community college for you then, eh?”

“I just got back from almost a year-long Peace Corps mission, and since I’ve got a few months before I head out on my next one and I had plenty of time on my hands, Rose asked if I’d help out.” Jolene smiled at Rose, who was watching us just like everyone else in the room was: with guarded interest. “I’m thrilled to be working at one of the most renowned ranches in the state.”

Two words. Kiss. Up.

Then something else registered. “Did you just say Peace Corps? As in you’re a member?”

Her smile turned my way, and she bobbed her head. “For the past year.”

Yeah. I was going to hell. “Is that like a lifelong career sort of thing?” I’d graduated with a couple of kids heading off to join the Peace Corps. They were rich kids who thought they were above the material, capitalist, American mentality, but really, they just wanted to piss off their parents. Both of them were back in Portland and working a Starbucks drive-through a month later.

“Well, it can be. I’m just planning on doing it for a couple of years. I wanted to give something back before I did something selfish and committed to seven years of school.”

Neil had drifted back into the kitchen, probably because the Rice Crispy treats were calling his name, and Clementine followed. Everyone else was still staggered around the foyer, letting Jolene and I own the conversation.

“Do most people go to school for seven years?” Of course, the pessimistic critic inside of me picked that one thing to run with. Not the unselfish, Peace Corps part.

“The ones who want to become doctors do.”

Her smile was rubbing me the wrong way. Big time. It might have been real, but I was about to really remove it if she didn’t dim it a few hundred volts. Peace Corps. Future M. D. Gorgeous to the tenth degree. A kiss up to the hundredth. Oh yeah, and she was so hot for my boyfriend I could feel her ovaries pulsing. What Jesse Walker saw in me over someone who redefined perfect, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time fleshing it out.

Jesse said, “It’s been a long day for all of us. I’d say it’s about time to wrap it up.” My god, that man had impeccable timing.

I’d been in front of him for close to five minutes and we had yet to kiss. That was unacceptable. Sure, his family was staggered around the room, but we’d never let that stop us. We toned it down to a PG level when they were around, but the whole reason I’d failed to kiss the man who made ovaries pulse near and far was because I’d let some real-life Sleeping Beauty lookalike mess with my head. No more messin’. Wait, scratch that. No more messin’ unless it included messin’ around with Jesse Walker.

“And by wrap it up, you mean it’s time for us to wrap it up.” Rose circled her fingers to include everyone in the foyer except for Jesse and me.

Jesse’s dimple formed as he gave his mom a sheepish look. “Maybe?”

“Oh, fine. I suppose you’ve earned a quiet night with Rowen to yourself, but tomorrow I won’t give up so easily.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Jesse’s hands formed over my shoulders, and he guided me to the front door. Someone was a little eager and unconcerned about showing it.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, lowering my voice in a bad attempt to mimic Jesse. I managed to give Hyacinth and Lily quick hugs before Jesse sped me through the door. “I’ve got presents for all of you. Let’s have a girls’ get-together tomorrow. No boys allowed.” I elbowed Jesse’s ribs lightly. He groaned like it was anything but. “Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Lily replied, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Especially the no boys allowed part,” Hyacinth added, giving Jesse an accusing look.

“Oo, that sounds like fun. I can’t wait,” Jolene squee’d, clapping her hands.

I suppose I should have clarified the girls’ get-together rules, like thou shalt not covet the other girls’ boyfriends. I wondered if I could get that stamped onto a shirt I could wear around a certain someone.

“You kids be good now. I’d hate to win a bet this easily.” Garth winked as we passed him and Jolene.

“You’re not winning another thing tonight, Black. Get that through your dark skull and darker head now.”

Rose was following the girls into the kitchen when Jesse whacked Garth in the stomach. “Go cuss already. You know you’re about to die from keeping-it-all-inside poisoning.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. Tonight’s the first night of the past two weeks I’m actually tickled pink we made that little bet.”

“Tickled pink? What the hell, Black? What has happened to you?” I asked.

Jesse moved his mouth outside my ear. “See? It’s already happening. Talking in little girl words is the first sign he’s about to keel over from poisoning.” Jesse wrapped his arms around my waist and continued for the door. “Come on, Black. Just get it out. It will all be over soon, and I promise, I won’t gloat in my win. Too much.”

Garth made a crude motion with his hand. Jolene cringed and moved away as he continued pumping his fist in front of his crotch. “Take notes, Walker. That’s the only action you’re going to be getting for a while.”

“And that’s our cue to leave.” Jesse guided me the rest of the way onto the porch.

“Good night, Jesse! Thanks so much for taking such good care of me.” Nails on a chalkboard—that’s exactly what Jolene’s words sounded like to me. “See you at breakfast.”

“Night, night, Jolene. Keep that ankle elevated. You wouldn’t want to spend the summer with one nasty cankle,” I replied before Jesse had a chance. “It was really great to meet you.” I knew my sarcasm wasn’t lost on Jesse or Garth, but neither of them let on that my farewell was anything but genuine.

“So great to meet you too, Rowen. Have a nice night.” When a hobbling cast sounded like it was moving our way, I hurried to shut the door.

“Oh, I plan to.” Making sure the door was closed—firmly—I wrapped my arms around Jesse’s waist.

“Plan to what?” He tilted his hat back and leaned in. The look in his eyes made my stomach bottom out.

“Have a nice night. Have the nicest kind of night a girl could have with a guy like you.”

“I like where this is going.”

“You better. Because we’re not going far.” I shoved Jesse until the backs of his legs ran into one of the porch swings. Yep, that would do. It would have to because my need for the man had burst free. Keeping it bottled when he was within arm’s reach was a chore, and it was utterly impossible when we were alone and he graced me with that look. I was straddling his lap before he’d fully collapsed into the swing.

“I really like where you’re going with this.”

Grinning at him, I slid off his hat and wove my fingers into his hair. “I missed you.”

His eyes closed as I massaged his scalp. “Good.”

“Good? You’re glad I missed you so bad I almost skipped class for a few days to hop on a bus just so I could see you for a couple hours before I had to turn around and get back to reality?”

“Yeah, I am glad.”

That was the first time Jesse had admitted to being glad about me being uncomfortable. I had to be missing something. “Why?”

His eyes opened and locked onto mine. “Because, Rowen. Because the day you don’t miss me is the day we’re doomed.”

Jesse’s words never failed to amaze me. He saw everything a bit differently than everyone else . . . but what he saw was so right. “In that case I missed, missed, missed, missed, missed you.” Leaning in, I kissed the tip of his nose.

“And I’ve never been happier to know that you missed, missed, missed me.”

“You missed a couple misses in there.”

Jesse’s smile spread. “So I’m forgiven for not picking you up tonight at the very place we met?”

A Greyhound station smack in the middle of Montana. The place we’d met. It might not have been ideal for most romances, but it was our place, and that trumped everything else. “That depends,” I said before skimming my lips up his jaw.

He shuddered. “Depends on what?”

“On how persuasive you can be?” My mouth moved to the other side of his jaw.

“Oh, I can be persuasive.” His voice was rougher. Rough enough I knew what he wanted to do, which made it that much harder to keep restraining myself.

When my mouth was just outside his ear, I kissed his earlobe. “Show, don’t tell.”

Jesse’s hands formed over my hips as he shifted me into a more suitable position. “Showing.”

His head turned, his mouth searching for mine. When he found it, the weeks of separation and torture of anticipation poured out in one kiss. Jesse expressed his love through his touch, as opposed to the boys before him who had merely used “love” as a justification to touch. When Jesse’s mouth moved with mine, I sensed exactly how he felt about me. It didn’t matter how many times I’d kissed him; I never got used to the magnitude of it. I knew it was something a person never could get used to, so I did my best to enjoy it and be in the moment.

My fingers curled into his shirt and pulled it free of his jeans. His hands slid up my legs, past the hem of my dress. We were on the porch swing, one wall separating us from whoever was still in the kitchen, but getting caught seemed less irresponsible than stopping the ride we were on. I might have actually died from the disappointment if Jesse’s hand had lowered and his lips stopped. So I pressed on, my lips unyielding against his. Just as I was tugging his shirt over his head, the front door swung open.

The figure stepping out onto the porch was enough to freeze us in place. The porch lights flickered back on, and a grin as wide and maniacal as the Joker’s formed on Garth’s face. Shutting the door first, he ambled our way. “Looks like I was about two minutes early to walking in on you losing our bet, Walker.”

I, like the frozen idiot I was, kept Jesse’s shirt three-quarters of the way up his back. Jesse’s hands slid down my legs, out of the “danger zone,” and they paused just above my knees. “Get out of here, Black. Go find someone else to harass. I’m busy.”

“Oh, I can see just how busy you are.” Garth winked at me for a grand total of fifty thousand times. “Carry on. I can wait until morning to be declared the winner.”

He was swaggering his way down the stairs when Jesse called out, “Come on. You and I both know there’s no way you’ve gone two weeks without cussing. It’s impossible for you, Garth.”

“Is it?” Garth paused and cocked a brow. “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you and how it’s a physical impossibility for you to carry out your end of the bet. Especially now that your precious, hot-for-you Rowen is here.” Garth took another long look at Jesse’s and my position, smiled, and headed for his truck. Jesse was mid-groan when Garth whistled. “Might I suggest ice? A large bag of it. Apply directly to the groin area, and that might help with the level of blue your balls are going to get if you consider stopping your johnson mid-game.”

The pieces fell into place about Jesse’s bet when Garth’s truck fired to life. By the time he’d peeled down the driveway, I’d directed as stern a look as I could manage at Jesse. “You made a bet with Garth Black that you could go longer without sex than he could without cussing?”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe?” I screeched. “Maybe? What kind of an answer is that, Jesse Walker?”

Half of Jesse’s face wrinkled. “It seemed safer than an outright yes.”

I let out a long sigh. Not only was I beyond irritated at Garth, but I was still so wound tight with want for Jesse, my thighs were practically trembling around his lap. Yeah, our position wasn’t doing anything to calm my hormones hitting hyperdrive. “What in the world possessed you to make that kind of depraved bet with him?”

“I told him one night I bet he couldn’t go without cussing for a day, and he turned around and said he bet I couldn’t go without sex for a day.” Jesse lifted one shoulder. “That was two weeks ago. I knew the sex part was a non-issue . . . until you got here. Never once did I think Garth Black could go a solid two weeks without dropping a profanity along the way.”

Fantastic. I wasn’t going to get laid by my positively lay-worthy boyfriend because two boys had behaved like idiots.

When I moved to shift off of him, he stalled my efforts. When my lap crashed down on his, heat jolted up into my stomach. “What Garth Black doesn’t know . . . he doesn’t know.” Jesse’s hand formed around my face, and he brought me closer. “Just like I have no clue if he’s been whipping off profanities when he’s alone, he won’t know how unlucky or lucky I’m getting when I am.”

When Jesse’s lips settled over mine, mine took a while to unfreeze. Once they did, I came so close to tossing my resolve right over my shoulder. When his fingers wove into my hair, giving it the slightest tug as his tongue moved into my mouth, I nearly forgot my name, let alone the resolve blossoming somewhere inside. The resolve that had everything to do with not wanting Garth Black to win. Jesse’s other hand was skimming past the hem of my dress when I found the strength to pull back. That feat alone should have earned me the gold in willpower.

If a young cowboy could have looked more disappointed, I hadn’t seen it.

“This isn’t about me not wanting you this way, that way, and every way until you made me scream your name at least five different times like I hoped we’d be spending the night,” I said. Okay, that look of disappointment just went a few notches higher. “This is about not letting that smirking, swaggering, infuriating Garth Black win.”

“Let him win. I don’t care.” Jesse tried to pull me back to him. Tried being the operative word. “However, I do care about this. Us. What you were about to do to me five different times tonight apparently.”

I gave myself the satisfaction of a small smile. Although I didn’t love frustrating Jesse, I did love knowing I had power over him. It was the same power he had over me.

“Good night, Jesse.” I planted a quick kiss on his cheek before moving off of the swing. We were at a stalemate. No amount of arguing from him would change my mind, and it was obvious no amount of argument from me would change his.

“Really?” His hand reached for mine, and he looked like he couldn’t believe the night had taken such a drastic turn.

“Really.” I looked him in the eye so he could see how serious I was. Let that be a lesson: Don’t make bets with Garth Black having anything to do with Jesse’s and my sex life.

He held my hand and gaze for a few more seconds, likely hoping I would change my mind. When that proved wishful thinking, he pulled me back down to him and scooted to the end of the swing. “Come here. Just because we can’t, or you won’t allow, us to continue what we were doing doesn’t mean we have to retreat to opposite ends of the house.” He patted the space beside him. “I don’t want to waste our time together spending it apart. We spend too much time like that already.”

Truer words had never been said. “You sure have a way with words, Walker. If I wasn’t fully committed to not letting you lose this bet with Garth, you’d be getting so lucky right now.”

He groaned so loudly the ranch hands in the bunk house probably heard it. “Not the thing to say to a guy who’s holding on by a thread.”

I curled into a ball on the swing and dropped my head on his lap. Best pillow ever.

We were quiet for a while, just the occasional creak of the swing as Jesse rocked us and the distant echo of the cattle. I was at my favorite place in the whole world, beside my favorite person in the universe . . . I felt a rare form of contentment in moments like those. Like there was nothing more I could want. Like death could come knocking on my door and I’d cross into the hereafter knowing I’d lived a full life.

Feeling those kinds of things for one person was different, and intense, and even a bit scary at times, but no matter what, I knew it was one thing above all: special. So much that I’d lump it into the category of sacred.

Jesse Walker was sacred to me.

“I love you, Rowen.” So much silence had passed that his words came over me like a tsunami.

I tangled my fingers with his and smiled in my half-asleep state. “I love you, too, Jesse.” I nudged his leg with my shoulder. “But you’re still not getting laid tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” He chuckled softly and gave my fingers a squeeze. “But this isn’t exactly a poor substitute.”