WHILE CHELSEA WORKED on her laptop, Finn had plenty of time to think. He really didn’t want to be apart from her every night they stayed at Thunder Mountain Ranch. When he considered his strong negative reaction to that potential separation he finally admitted that he was falling for her. Or, more likely, had fallen.
If so, he wouldn’t magically get over her when they went back to Seattle. He’d want to be with her then, too. Maybe it wouldn’t work out because he’d return to his usual anal mode, but maybe he’d changed.
By the time they stopped for lunch in Thermopolis, he’d decided what to do. But he had to run it past Chelsea first. Come to think of it, this conversation could turn out to be pretty damned important. Depending on how she reacted, he’d get a better sense of how she felt about him.
They ordered a couple of burgers and some fries at a cozy little diner that she’d found using TripAdvisor on her phone. The diner would have been right at home in Shoshone, or in Sheridan, for that matter. He was glad she was charmed by small Western towns and downhome eateries, but he wasn’t surprised. Her enthusiasm for life in general had endeared her to him from the first day they’d met.
They sipped coffee while they waited for their food. Now that the moment was here, he had a slight case of nerves. He decided not to leap right into the heart of the matter. “How’s the project coming along?”
“Good.” She nodded. “I wasn’t sure whether I’d be focused enough to get anything done, but I made some progress. I think he’ll like what I’ve come up with.”
“Why wouldn’t you be focused?”
“Oh, you know. Wondering how things will work out at Thunder Mountain.”
Perfect opening. “I have a solution for how to handle our sleeping arrangements, but before I call Rosie, I need your okay.”
She blinked. “Call Rosie?”
“I don’t like the thought of sneaking around to have sex.”
“Neither do I, but I thought we had no choice.”
He thumbed back his hat and sighed. “That’s because I was thinking like a seventeen-year-old boy instead of a man. I’d like to call Rosie and explain that we’re used to sleeping in the same room and we both think it would be fun to stay in the cabin. But there’s no bathroom in it. The bathhouse is a short walk away. And it has four bunks, not one bed.”
She grinned. “Sounds just like summer camp.”
“I know it’s a little primitive, but my plan is to push the mattresses together on the floor. I won’t kid you, though. It won’t be nearly as comfy as the guest bed in the house.”
“But you’ll be there, which more than makes up for the lack of an innerspring.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He reached across the table and took her hand. “So you’d be okay with me announcing that to Rosie?”
“There’s a lot to like about your plan, but I thought you said Rosie was a matchmaker. Won’t she expect us to have made some kind of commitment? We don’t want to mislead her.”
His chest tightened. “I don’t plan to mislead her.”
“So you’ll explain that this is temporary? You said she might not like that, either.”
“Look, I don’t know where this thing with us will end up.” He captured her hand between both of his. “But I don’t want to stop seeing you when we get back to Seattle.”
She went very still and her eyes widened. “You don’t?”
“No.” He took a shaky breath. “But I might still be the anal control freak I was when I left. I think I might be changing, learning, but it’s hard to know when we’re in a completely different environment.”
“You want...” She swallowed. “You want to do a test run when we get back? Is that what you’re suggesting?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He stroked her palm with his thumb. “But if you’re not willing to try that, I completely understand. You’ve seen me at my worst and if you—”
“I’m willing to try that.” Her voice was breathy and her eyes still reflected shock. “I just never expected you to say this. What...how would we...?”
“I thought maybe...this is just an idea, now, but I thought that you’d let me stay with you for a little while. See how it goes. I’d keep my place just in case, but I’d pay my share of the food and help with utilities. And you could throw me out anytime you wanted to.”
“Oh, Finn.” She trembled. “It’s a big step.”
“You don’t want to.” His heart ached. “I don’t blame you. It was just a possibility. We can forget I mentioned it. We could just date. I could live with that. I just don’t want everything to go back to the way it was. I want to be with you. Dating would be better than nothing.”
“It would be stupid. I don’t want to date you. I want to be with you every night. That’s what this whole thing with Rosie is about. I hate the thought of sleeping in the house while you’re in the cabin.”
“So...” He was confused. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that it’s a big step, but if you’re game, I’m game.”
His stomach bottomed out. “Chels, are you sure?”
“I’m sure that I want to try. You’re right that it might not work, but if we just assume that, then we have nothing. I’d rather try and go through hell if it doesn’t work than miss out on a chance at heaven if it does.”
“I feel like dragging you out of that chair and kissing you until your toes curl.”
Fire flashed in her brown eyes. “Better not start something you can’t finish.”
He groaned. “I didn’t figure this out very well. I need to call Rosie and we should eat. Then we have to make tracks if we’re going to get there by dinnertime. That’s when she’s expecting us and I’m sure she’ll cook something special.”
“So we postpone our make-out session. Think about this. By calling Rosie, you’re setting us up to spend the night together. Short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. You’re a business owner. I’m sure you know all about that.”
“I’ve never had to sacrifice kissing you.”
She gazed at him. “Yes, you have. You’ve been sacrificing that for five years.”
“Good point. That’s why I have so much catching up to do.”
“Go make your phone call. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Okay.” He squeezed her hand and released it. “If the order comes, start eating. Don’t wait for me.”
“Should we ask them to fix it to go? Then we could leave that much sooner.”
He glanced at the time on his phone. “No, we should be fine. Let’s stay and enjoy the meal.” He smiled at her. “Be right back.”
* * *
CHELSEA WATCHED HIM head through the door and then she was able to see him through the restaurant’s front window as he paced back and forth while he made his call. He still had that cowboy saunter going on, and she noticed more than one woman take a second look as they passed by. Too late, ladies! He just said he wants to move in with me.
She still couldn’t believe it. After years of frustration, she would get the chance she’d yearned for—to see if they could be a couple. And not just here, where he felt removed from the pressure cooker of his business. He was willing to risk putting it all on the line.
He hadn’t mentioned love, but knowing Finn, he wouldn’t toss that word into the mix until he thought they had a decent shot at making it together. No point in telling someone you love them and then having to swear off that person for the rest of your life. She felt the same way, although the emotion rolling through her had to be connected to that four-letter word. Either that or she was coming down with the flu.
Right after their food arrived, he came back in wearing a puzzled expression. She’d expected a smile. “Did you talk to her?”
“I did.” He put his napkin in his lap. “And she made me promise to relay the message that she’s superexcited to meet you.”
“Same here. But what about the cabin thing?” Her burger was huge, so she cut it in two before starting to eat. “How did she react to that?” She took a juicy bite.
“Knowing Rosie, I think she’s messing with me. I explained the situation, which made her very happy that I’m involved with someone, especially someone she can get to know. She never met Alison.” He picked up his entire burger, but then, he had the hands for it. “She and Herb had planned to fly up to see us but we were fighting all the time and I told them not to come.” He took a healthy bite.
“I guess I’d better be on my best behavior, then.”
He swallowed his bite. “Your behavior is always your best, even when you’re being snarky.”
“I’m going to start getting that way if you don’t tell me what she said about the cabin. Are we sleeping together or not?”
“I’m pretty sure we are, but she said the Brotherhood cabin—that’s what we call the one all three of us stayed in—wasn’t a good idea and she had a better one.”
“She’s not giving us a guest room in the house, after all, is she?”
“I doubt it.” He put down his burger and grabbed a fry. “I raved on about how much you would love staying in a real log cabin, that it would be a whole new experience for you.”
“No, it won’t.”
“You’ve stayed in one before?”
“Sure, at summer camp. That’s why I made that remark when you mentioned bunks and a bathhouse that’s a short walk away.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t know that.” He looked a little disappointed as he went back to eating his burger.
She found that adorable. “But I’ve never stayed in a log cabin with you, so what you told her is true. It will be a whole new experience. And for the record, I loved summer camp, so walking outside to the bathhouse will bring back good memories.”
“That’s assuming we stay in one of the cabins. I’m not sure what Rosie’s up to. All she said was that I’d be pleased.”
“She sounds like a pip.”
“None of us were a match for her. Herb’s pretty easygoing and we could fool him sometimes with our shenanigans. Not Rosie. If she didn’t call us on something we’d done, it was only because it was small potatoes and she didn’t feel the need to deal with it.”
Chelsea started on the second half of her burger. “You’ve called it the Brotherhood cabin twice now. Does each cabin have a name, like we did at camp?”
“No, just that one. Cade, Damon and I were the first three boys Rosie and Herb took in, and we called ourselves the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood. They started out using guest rooms for the boys, but eventually they built cabins. The three of us got the first one.”
“Rank has its privileges.”
“Oh, yeah, we lorded it over the others.” He ate another fry. “We’d been through a blood brother ceremony and they hadn’t, so we were special. It’s a wonder any of them still speak to us.”
“A ceremony? Really?”
“Actually, I wasn’t invited. I was the third boy brought out to the ranch. Cade and Damon had been there for months and were buddies by then. They kind of ignored me.”
“Aw.”
“It’s okay. I was odd man out. Kids are like that.” He took another bite of his burger.
“I know, but you’d just lost your grandfather and now nobody wanted to be your friend.”
He shrugged as if it hadn’t mattered. She knew it had, but if he wanted to pretend otherwise, fine with her.
“To be fair,” he said, “I was big on rules, which doesn’t tend to make a kid popular.”
“Anal, even then.”
“Probably worse. Anyway, they snuck out of the house at midnight and I followed them. You weren’t supposed to leave the house after lights-out. I hadn’t decided whether to tell on them or not, but I scared the hell out of them walking up to their little campfire. When I realized what they were doing, I wanted in.”
“And they let you.”
“They probably didn’t want to, but Cade gave me this look as if he knew it would hurt my feelings if they didn’t. So I made a cut in my hand and pressed it against their cuts and we said a pledge Cade had written up. Thirteen-year-olds can be so melodramatic.”
“I love this story. I’m so glad you told me before we got there.” She hesitated. “Should I let on that I know?”
“Sure. It wasn’t exactly a secret, like I said. Apparently Rosie knew we’d gone out there and listened to make certain we came back okay. We all wore bandages the next day, so I’m sure she figured out the whole thing.”
“Do you remember where you had that little ceremony?”
“Absolutely. We all do.” He munched on another fry, but he still hadn’t finished his burger, as if he’d rather talk than eat. “We’ve joked about putting a plaque in the ground to commemorate it. I’d already planned to take you on a tour of the significant places on the ranch, and that’s one of them.”
“I’m so excited to go there now.”
“Me, too, especially if the sleeping quarters turn out okay.” He glanced at the time on his phone. “Speaking of that, we should head out.”
“But you haven’t finished your lunch.”
“No worries. It’s been fun telling you about that stuff. I’ll get our waitress to box up the rest and I’ll eat on the road while you get some more work done.”
“Um, right.”
“You’re planning to work again, aren’t you?” He caught the eye of the woman who’d been serving them.
“That was my original idea, but—”
“And it’s a good one.” He glanced up as the waitress came over. “Ma’am, we have to leave. I wonder if you could please box this up for me and bring the bill?”
“You’ve got it.” She winked at him.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“Anytime.” She smiled at him as she whisked away his plate.
He’d made another conquest but didn’t seem to notice as he kept talking to Chelsea. “I have so much I want to show you when we get there, so the more you can do on the road, the better.”
“True.” Maybe she shouldn’t admit how excited she was about his plan to move in with her. All through lunch the prospect had hovered in the back of her mind, demanding attention. She needed to think about practical things like making room in her closets and dresser drawers. Maybe she’d buy bath sheets because her towels weren’t big enough for him.
But mostly she wanted to sit and contemplate the joy of taking a Sunday morning stroll to Pike Place Market for coffee and croissants, or cuddling on her sofa on a blustery winter’s night watching TV—assuming they made it to winter, of course. They liked some of the same shows. She knew that from five years of animated conversation.
So much to think about and so much to anticipate. She doubted that she’d be able to concentrate on work now that he’d dropped his bombshell. But if she told him all that, she might spook him, and that was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.
“You’re right,” she said. “Using the rest of the trip to work on my client’s project makes perfect sense.”
“See, that’s what I admire about you. You work when you need to work and you play when you want to play.”
“Thank you.” Okay, she’d definitely better work this afternoon if he was taking her as a role model. Now wouldn’t be the time to stare out the car window daydreaming about the future.
“I’ve been paying attention to how you manage it. If I can learn to unplug instead of constantly thinking about work, you might not toss me out on my ass the first week.”
“I won’t toss you out the first week, no matter what. We should give ourselves time to adjust.”
“You say that now, but you haven’t lived with me when I’m in work mode. I made Alison miserable. I might make you miserable.”
“No, you won’t, because I understand what it’s like to have responsibility for the entire operation. I’m not sure she did.” She was determined not to rag on his ex, but drawing a few comparisons wouldn’t hurt.
“I’ve thought about that. Her job was nothing like mine and she didn’t get it. But I took the whole work thing to extremes, too.”
“Sometimes you have to. I burned the midnight oil to finish Saturday’s presentation. If you’d been around then, you wouldn’t have been able to get my attention.” She wasn’t positive about that but it sounded good. “When you’re self-employed, sometimes you put in long hours and other times you give yourself time off.”
“But I’ve never let myself take time off.”
She smiled. “I know. We can work on that.” And she had all kinds of ideas about how to coax him to relax and let go for a while. She could hardly wait to put them into practice. She’d been dreading the end of this trip and now...now it could be the beginning of something very wonderful.