KISSING CHELSEA MIGHT not have been the wisest course of action. Finn no longer cared about breakfast. He wanted to haul her back upstairs. But he couldn’t forget the moment when he’d glanced down and discovered that she was fast asleep. When she was awake, she was a force to be reckoned with, a woman with a sharp wit and a smart mouth.
But with her eyes closed and her mouth curved in a soft smile, she’d looked...vulnerable. She didn’t need a man to protect her. He’d never make the mistake of assuming that. She was totally in charge of herself and would resent someone who suggested otherwise. He wouldn’t back off, but there was nothing wrong with slowing down, just a little.
So after Yvonne served the food, they ate a leisurely breakfast. They had things to discuss, after all, concerning Thunder Mountain Academy—Gabe’s potential classes in training a cutting horse, Alex and Tyler’s suggestions, and Lily as a potential guest lecturer on equine rescue efforts.
When they’d finished eating, they lingered over coffee. Now that they’d become lovers, it was a totally different experience from the old days when they’d met in the coffee shop to go over business issues. Without the constant level of sexual frustration that had made all their Seattle discussions edgy and vaguely uncomfortable, they could relax and just be with each other.
“It’s so good to know the end is in sight and, one way or another, we’ll have the money by the deadline,” Finn said.
“No kidding. I’m glad it won’t be like that nail-biter we had with yours.”
“That was intense.” They’d hovered over her computer in the same coffee shop where they’d met and reached the goal a few minutes before midnight. Then they’d gone out for drinks.
She smiled. “That might be the only time I allowed myself to drink too much when I was around you.”
“Same here.” He met her gaze. “I almost asked you to come home with me.”
“I almost asked you to come home with me. But I was afraid you’d say no.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I might have. I don’t know. I was pretty happy that night and we’d had several rounds. I might have said yes.”
“And then regretted it in the morning?”
He hesitated as he considered the question. “At this point, I can’t imagine ever regretting being with you, but, yeah, it’s possible. Honestly, Chels, I don’t know why you haven’t written me off.”
“I tried, especially when you married Alison. I worked really hard to find someone who’d take my mind off you.”
“I know.” Even now his chest tightened when he remembered those agonizing months of his marriage and Chelsea dating other guys.
“No, you don’t. You didn’t even notice.”
“How could I not notice? You brought that first dude, the one with the pretentious beard, into O’Roarke’s.”
“He did not have a pretentious beard.”
“Oh, come on. Trimmed to a little point? Give me an effing break.”
“Okay.” She seemed to be trying to keep from laughing. “It was pretentious. And scratchy.”
“I don’t want to hear about that part. All I know is you cuddled in a booth with him for an hour and forty-five minutes.”
“You timed us?”
“Damn straight. Watched the whole sickening performance from the kitchen and every minute was torture. Don’t tell me you didn’t bring him in on purpose so you could wave him in front of my nose.”
“Of course I did! But you never said anything so I thought you hadn’t seen us and it was a wasted effort. And don’t talk to me about torture. You were married.”
“Dear God.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Well, we won’t be going through that kind of nonsense anymore. I’d say our cards are finally on the table.”
“But the game’s not over.”
“Yes it is.” He reached for her hand. “No more games. I love being with you and wish I could be more like you so that I could neatly compartmentalize my life. I don’t know that I can.”
She gave his hand a squeeze. “I believe you can, but that doesn’t matter. You have to believe it.”
“I wish I could.” Looking into her eyes was a pleasure, one he’d denied himself for years. He hadn’t dared let his attention rest there, but now he took every opportunity to bask in the warmth of her gaze. “I’m glad we’re going to Thunder Mountain. It seems really important for you to see it.”
“I can’t wait, Finn. I’ve been hearing about the ranch ever since we met and I know how much it means to you. I wouldn’t miss going there for anything, especially now that we know Rosie and Herb will be able to keep it.”
“I’d like to leave first thing in the morning, if that’s okay. We can grab breakfast here, but then take off.”
“Works for me. Are you willing to drive again?”
“I thought I would. Then you can look at the scenery. You didn’t do much of that on the drive from the airport.”
“Actually, I could use those hours to work.”
“Oh.” He shifted his thinking. “Are you getting behind? Here I’ve been raving on about taking time away from my job and you’ve had to do that, too.”
“No worries. It’s just that right before we left I picked up a new client. He knows I had this trip, but he’d like to have a proposal for his new PR campaign ASAP. He’s on a tight deadline and if I can come through, he could be a good source of income for future campaigns.”
Her comment provided a much-needed reality check. “Then definitely I’ll drive and you can work. I should have asked you before if you had your own stuff to do instead of assuming you were going to be fancy-free once the presentation was over.” He released her hand and pulled out his phone. “We don’t have to leave for Lily and Regan’s until a little before one, so you’d have some time now if you need it.”
She shook her head. “It’s a beautiful day. I’d rather take a walk through town. Shoshone’s so different from what I’m used to and I’d like to check it out. Who knows when we’ll be back?”
“Sounds great to me, but I don’t want to interfere with whatever you need to do.”
“I promise you won’t. I wanted to make this trip, both to help out and to be with you. I’ll do some work tomorrow, and maybe a little bit while we’re at Thunder Mountain. It’ll be fine.”
Once again, she seemed so comfortable with switching back and forth between work and play, so certain nothing would fall between the cracks. He envied the hell out of that. “Then I’ll get my hat. Need anything from upstairs?”
“Just you.”
Damn, but that sounded nice. “Be right back.”
“I’ll wait for you on the front porch.”
“Okay.” He whistled a catchy little tune as he made a quick trip upstairs. They’d danced to it the night before, although he couldn’t remember the lyrics. He hadn’t whistled in years...five, to be exact.
What an uptight bastard he’d become. Now that the tension was ebbing away, he’d like it to stay gone. But would it? He knew himself, and once he was back in Seattle, he’d probably have the same compulsion to monitor everything 24/7. Although this trip had given him some breathing room, the fear of failure still lurked in his heart.
After fetching his hat, he went out onto the front porch and found Chelsea sitting in a white wicker chair looking as mellow as he felt. She had a project demanding her attention, but she was putting it aside to spend time with him. He didn’t take that lightly.
“You look settled in,” he said. “Would you rather stay on the porch and watch the world go by?”
“I’m not sure a lot of the world will go by on this little corner.” She stood. “Let’s go explore.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He held out his hand and she linked her fingers through his without hesitation. Walking along the sidewalk holding hands seemed so natural, yet they’d never done it before.
He’d kept any touching to a minimum with Chelsea. Oddly enough, she’d done the same, although she was a hugger with people she knew and liked. He decided to mention it. “I just realized that until this weekend, you’ve never hugged me.”
“That’s right.”
“So it was intentional, then. Did you think I’d push you away?”
“I wasn’t sure what you’d do, but I decided not to risk it, considering the heat we seemed to generate when we were close to each other. I figured a hug could go one of two ways. Either you’d reject it because it was too intense, or we’d end up in the nearest coat closet tearing at each other’s clothes.”
“Option B is the most likely. I touched you as little as possible because I didn’t trust myself. I was worried about that on this trip.” He laughed. “Guess we know how that turned out.”
“Blame it on the dancing.”
“Or I could drop to my knees in gratitude because of the dancing, and the cold walk home, and finding myself in the room next to yours with no other guests in the house.”
“So you don’t think you’ll regret what’s happened?”
“I’d be a fool if I did.” He hesitated. “How about you?”
“To steal your comment, I’d be a fool if I did.”
“No matter what?”
She squeezed his hand. “No matter what. Obviously you believe we won’t have the same dynamic in Seattle, and you could be right.”
“I probably am. I’ve known myself a long time.”
“True, but we won’t find out until we get there. At least we won’t have that other thing, that weird Frankenship where we couldn’t admit we were in lust.”
“‘Frankenship’?”
“Sort of a friendship, but with strong sexual overtones that made us act like zombies around each other. A Frankenship. It’s a term I made up.”
He grinned. “Perfect description. I’m glad we killed it.”
“Actually, you killed it. I was headed into my room to sleep alone Friday night until you admitted you were crazy for me.”
“But then I was ready to give up for lack of condoms. I say killing our Frankenship was a combined effort. And now it’s dead.” He took a deep breath. “And I’ve never felt more alive.”
“Good sex can have that effect.”
“It’s not only the sex, although that’s a huge part of why I’m feeling so good. It’s—I hate to say this—it’s being away from O’Roarke’s.”
“But weren’t you gone for almost a week in June?”
“Yeah, but I was worried sick about Rosie, and then when her condition seemed to be less dire than we’d all thought, we found out that they were about to lose the ranch. Now Rosie’s in good health and we have a way to save the ranch.” He looked over at her. “But mostly it’s the sex.”
She laughed. “Thought so. Well, we’ve walked the length of Main Street.”
“So we have.”
“Now what?”
He paused to look around. “I got so carried away with what we were talking about I didn’t pay attention. Sure is quiet.”
“Sure is. Except for the diner, everything’s closed up tight. A lot different from Seattle on a Sunday morning.”
“That’s for certain.” He glanced back at the area they’d already covered. While engrossed in their conversation, he’d walked past the general store where they’d bought the condoms, a post office, a hair salon and an ice cream parlor, all closed.
Spirits and Spurs stood at the far end on the opposite side of the street. Beside it was a feed store, and he pointed to a life-size plastic horse on its roof. “You won’t see anything like that in Seattle.”
“Probably not.” She glanced at the building next to it. “No one-story banks, either. But judging from the brick they used, it was probably put up about the same time as the building you renovated for O’Roarke’s. In fact, there’s mostly brick construction along this street, except for Spirits and Spurs.”
“Which might be the oldest structure in town.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” She gazed across the road where six pickups were angle-parked in front of the diner. “I’d love to support the local economy, but I’m stuffed from breakfast.”
“Me, too. We could go there for dinner.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Josie wondered if we’d meet her and Jack for dinner at Spirits and Spurs.”
He pictured dancing with Chelsea again and the idea filled him with pleasure. “Sure, that would be great.”
“She’s really serious about a microbrewery and wants to start ordering equipment. She’d love your advice.”
“I’d be happy to talk to her about it, but that might not be so easy if there’s a band.”
“No band tonight.”
“Oh.”
She chuckled. “You should see your face. Do you want to dance? Maybe they have a jukebox or a sound system.”
“I never thought I’d look forward to dancing, but the minute you mentioned Spirits and Spurs, that was my first thought. I do like it way better than I expected to, and besides, it’s a great excuse to hold you.”
“Then we’ll see if they have music available. Ready to walk back?”
“Guess so.” He surveyed the street again. “Let’s cross over and walk down the other side.”
“Watch out for traffic.” Then she laughed. “Kidding.”
“It really is a sleepy little town.” Other than the pickups in front of the diner, the street was deserted. “I wonder if Josie can make a go of a microbrewery in a place this small.”
“If that’s all she had to work with, probably not, but she’s planning to draw from surrounding areas, and specifically Jackson. Tyler and Alex have all kinds of promotional ideas once Josie gets going.”
“And it’ll have the Chance name attached. That should help.” He decided the joy of holding hands was underestimated. Feeling that connection while walking with Chelsea was turning into one of his favorite things.
“I don’t think she intends to trade on the Chance name. The Spirits and Spurs is her baby, not Jack’s, and I get the impression she wants the microbrewery to be her project, too.”
“But wouldn’t the Chance name boost sales? They’re so well known around here.”
“It might, and naturally some people will know she’s married to a Chance, but she doesn’t want to emphasize that. The important hook will be the historic saloon, ghost drinkers in the bar and all of that. This family is terrific, but she doesn’t want to be totally defined by her association with it.”
Finn had a tough time imagining being overwhelmed by family or rejecting a great marketing tool like the Chance name. “I don’t really get it, but my buddy Cade might. He was freaked out when he suddenly discovered he was a Chance cousin and instead of having no relatives he had a boatload. But I was a little jealous of the guy.”
“Having been here for a few days, I can see how the Chances could be intimidating. We’re dealing with a dynasty here, and Josie wants something that she made all by herself. I can understand that.”
“Yeah, maybe. I only had one relative, and that didn’t feel like enough.”
“But he focused all his attention on you. I had a friend who was an only child and I thought that was great. No competition.”
“I guess that’s true.” He felt an unexpected tug of nostalgia. “We did stuff, just the two of us. Simple things like going fishing and camping, sometimes renting movies if it was bargain day. I need to remember that.”
She glanced at him. “He sounds like a nice man.”
“He was.” He didn’t say anything for a while. “I’m kind of hard on him, but he was a nice man. He knew I was lonely. He used to say that he’d love to adopt a sister or a brother for me, but he couldn’t afford it.”
“That’s touching.”
“It is now. At the time I was mad because I didn’t have anybody to play with.”
She squeezed his hand. “I get that. Beth and I have had our knock-down, drag-out fights, but I’m glad she’s there. If I ever have kids, I’d like to have two.”
“Do you want some, then?”
“I do, assuming I find the right person. How about you?”
He sighed. “Honestly, I don’t see myself having any.”
“How can you be so sure?” Her words had an uncharacteristic edge to them, as if she might be tired of hearing him say things like that.
“I’m just being realistic, Chels.”
She sighed. “I know. Sorry. God knows people shouldn’t have children unless they really want them.”
“Or feel they can give them the time they’ll need.”
“Right.”
“You’d make a wonderful mother, though.”
She glanced at him. “Thank you. I think I would, too.”