I pull up to AnnaRose’s hotel with two red roses in hand, one for each year I wasted not having her by my side. As I jump out of my truck, my breath catches at the vision in wispy pink and white floral fabric and a pair of tan leather boots exiting the lobby. She’s got on a summer dress, the sleeves pulled down to the sides of her shoulders. The skirt is layered and hits right above her knee—feminine and country girl next door through and through. Her auburn hair is down and falls in long waves over her bare shoulders.
“Wow.” Words have never been my strong point.
She stops and clasps her hands in front of her, her gaze traveling the length of my body. While her posture is demure, her gaze is heated, and it inflames my body with need and desire for her. “Wow, yourself.”
I slide my hand down the buttons of my shirt, smoothing the fabric against my chest. “I clean up all right, when I think about it.”
Grinning, she shakes her head. “Where are we going?”
I hand her the two roses and take her hand in mine, turning us toward my truck. We walk across the asphalt hand in hand, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world. “I want to show you something.”
We have another hour and a half of daylight at this time of year, and the sky to the east holds on to a beautiful dusk hue, which is the direction we’re heading. After getting her in the passenger seat, she slides to the middle, making my heart beat a little faster in my chest. I climb in beside her and point the truck down a single lane highway before I grab her hand again, interlacing our fingers and resting them on the sliver of bench between us.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” She asks after a few miles have passed.
“Picnic at a place I really want to share with you.”
“Okay.” She stares out the window and I’m wondering how to broach the last two years, but more importantly, what she sees for her future.
“Do you like your job?” I ask casually enough.
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “I get to travel around and meet cool people. I enjoy working with clients like Max, because it’s a lot of coordination, but then the installation and site visit is usually over in one to two days, so I get the excitement of traveling without being gone for weeks at a time. When I support a road show, that’s a different story, because like chasing a rodeo, they can go on for weeks upon weeks.”
“Where are you living when you go home? Back in Texas?”
She bites her lip. “Yeah, I’m still living at home. My parents said it made little sense for me to get a place if I was only going to be there part time, and I guess I agreed.”
“Still got Moonlight?” I ask, remembering her beautiful champagne quarter horse. He was her favorite, although if memory serves, her parents own near a dozen horses of varied championship stock.
“Oh yeah, he’ll always be my baby. I feel guilty not being home to ride him more, and of course, without the competition, he’s not getting nearly the workout he used to. We use him for training, though, so it’s not all bad.”
“Do you miss competing? Why’d you retire?”
She sighs and glances at our joined hands. “Sometimes I miss it, but it wasn’t fun anymore. Something changed—” she taps the side of her head with her free hand “—in my head. I started tensing up, and I was afraid I was going to hurt myself or Moonlight, so I quit.”
With her admission, I know it’s my fault. Perhaps it was seeing me go down, or the time she spent with me at the hospital while I was in a coma, but her changed psyche is my fault, and now I’m even more pissed at myself for not calling. I thought I was doing her a favor by staying away, but all I’d really done is waste two years of our lives where we could have been falling in love, getting married, and starting a family.
We drive up a dirt path to a small lake bordering a two-hundred acre property I’ve had my eye on for the last six months. I’ve been in contact with the owner multiple times, and he really wants me to buy it, not only because he knows who I am, but because of what I want to do with the property. The current owner is Ransom Olsen, the guy I ranch hand for from time to time. You could say he’s adopted me and kept my not-so-secret identity close to the vest.
Rolling to a stop, I glance over at AnnaRose and watch as her eyes dance across the property. It’s the perfect time of day, and the easement onto the property is east of the lake, so we have a perfect view of a setting sun bouncing off the still water. I jump out of the truck and wait for her to slide across into the driver’s seat, before I place my hands around her waist and lift her out. I hesitate for a moment as her feet touch the ground, holding her as close to my body as possible without pressing up against her.
I want her as badly as I ever did, but it wouldn’t be right to make a move just yet. Not until I’ve apologized for all the mistakes I made. Once again I interlace my fingers with hers and we walk to the back of my truck. I lower the tailgate and help her up. I brought multiple blankets with me and packed a picnic basket full of finger foods the two of us can nibble on as we talk and clear the air. We settle next to each other, side by side, as I attempt to recreate a portion of our second date.
Clearing my throat, I turn toward her and grab her free hand, cupping it between my own. “I’m sorry, AnnaRose. I know saying the words doesn’t mean shit right now, but I’m so damn sorry I wasn’t there for you. I should have been. I should’ve called or come by and checked on you. I didn’t think my accident would affect you, but I can see now that it did.”
She brings her eyes up from our linked hands. “I’ve seen lots of injuries, but with you… well, I’ve never been more scared in my entire life.”
“Because you were falling in love with me.” I state, going out on a limb by declaring the feelings I know we both had and we’re going to share with each other that night.
She nods. “Because I was falling in love with you.”
I pull a thin gold band out of my shirt pocket. “I’d planned to give you this that night.”
“A promise ring?” She bites her lip.
“With our travel schedules, we never knew when our paths were going to cross. It could’ve been weeks between dates. At that point in my career I was willing to do that, but I wanted to make a commitment to you I would always be true. I wanted to be sure the world knew that you were my girl, my one and only.”
I take her hand and slide the ring onto her finger. “I’m not traveling anymore, and I want to settle down on this spot right here. I want to build a home with acres for horses and cattle and whatever else wants to live a happy life with me. I’ve been holding off on purchasing this land, but one look at you this morning and I knew this was the place, this was the time, and you were the one I’ve been waiting to build a home with.”
Her lips part as she brings up watery eyes. “What are you saying?”
Wow. This is coming out faster than I mean it to, but when you know, you know. And I knew the moment I saw her this morning, just as I knew it the first time I saw her two years ago—I’ve been waiting for her to start my life. “Big picture, I’m asking you to marry me, AnnaRose. But tonight, I’m asking you to consider a relationship with me, starting with a few dates, and maybe—”
I tuck two fingers under her chin and lean forward. “A kiss.”
“Yes,” she breathes, and I’m not sure exactly what she’s agreed to, but I’m starting with the kiss.
I claim her lips and they are the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted. She opens for me and I slip my tongue inside, and she meets me with an enthusiastic fervor that reminds me there is nothing timid about my woman. Not when she’s riding, and I’m betting not in any other yet to be explored arena either. There isn’t anything tentative or foreign to our touch, and the last two years melt away as if they never happened. I lean back on the blankets, my hands cupping her head, and pull her on top of me. We’re transported back to the past, back to the end of our second date, making out under the stars in the back of my truck, the smell of sown fields and fresh hay wafting in the air.
She brings her knee up between my legs, heat from her core radiating against my thigh. I’m trying to keep my hands above her waist, trying to be a gentleman, but she’s making it difficult with the way she undulates on top of me.
Tentatively, I run my fingers against her bare skin, starting at her knee and stopping mid thigh.
She breaks free from our kiss. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re killing me right now. Last time we did this you were wearing jeans, which made it a lot safer to cop a feel without pushing it too far.”
“Do you think I wore a dress tonight by accident?” She slides my hand up under her skirt and throws me a wicked smile. “I had to go buy this after I left the Last Stand this afternoon. I don’t normally travel with dresses in my suitcase.”
“Sweet Jesus.” I groan, feeling nothing but smooth flesh under my palm until I’m high on her thigh. I’m not sure what kind of drawers she has on, but there’s barely any fabric impeding my exploration, and my body is strung tight in anticipation of peeling them off of her later.
“Don’t stop.” She breathes into my ear as she nibbles on my earlobe.
At her command, I slip my fingers underneath the silky threads and find her hot, wet, and ready for me. She mewls as I push inside her—one finger and then two—I pump with the base of my palm pressed firmly against her, providing the right amount of friction against her clit. She rides my hand beautifully, like I knew she would, all while sucking on my tongue and moaning into my mouth as her climax builds and she crests over the edge.