“WHERE TO NEXT?” Wade asked. “My truck to dump all this off?” He’d insisted on carrying all of their festival acquisitions, so he was laden with a new bridle he’d won in a raffle and a poinsettia he’d secured for her by tossing a baseball and breaking an old plate. Plus a vase she’d bought from a local artist for Mandy’s present.
“Sounds good,” Lori said, and they wandered back to his truck, which he’d parked on a side street in the shade of an old pine. She carried Snack, making sure he didn’t get stepped on in the crowds.
Wade wasn’t sure how he felt about the crowds, either. But he was trying to follow the advice that Dan had given him yesterday morning when Wade had mentioned that he was attending the festival. “Let me tell you about crowds,” Dan had said, leaning on his store counter. “Here’s how you do it. You need to stay one step ahead of your instincts. When you catch yourself looking for where a sniper might be hiding, stop, take a breath and look for five good, everyday things that you know are positive. Look at a kid playing. Or look up at the sky, or over at the mountains. Breathe in all those little homelike, comforting things.”
He’d gone to see Dan almost every day this past week. The guy was a little groovy sometimes, but he gave good advice. Wade looked up. The day had turned warm, and the sky overhead was luminous blue. He looked at Lori. She’d braided her hair into pigtails this morning and put a light brown hat on her head. In her jeans and worn brown boots, she looked every inch the cowgirl, even here off the ranch. He took in her deep blue eyes, the smattering of freckles across her nose. The full pink lower lip he wanted to kiss again.
They put their loot in the cab and then wandered back down Main Street. Snack was still nestled against Lori’s chest, and Wade put his arm around them both. It was grounding to touch her, soothing to his overvigilant system. The music got louder as they reached the end of the fair, where a Western swing band was playing. People were dancing in the road. Wade took Lori’s free hand and turned her and the dog in a circle under his arm. “I liked dancing with you the night we organized all those clothes,” he murmured.
She smiled at him, her eyes shining. “Sometimes something small happens and you know you’ll remember it forever,” she said. “That night was like that for me.”
“Want to dance now?”
“I’m not sure what to do with the dog,” she said. “He’s too little to be down there with all those feet.”
“I have an idea.” He put a hand on each of her shoulders. They looked like an awkward couple at a middle school dance, but it worked. He tried to look into Lori’s eyes, but Snack poked his head up between them and regarded him suspiciously.
“No offense to the little guy here, but this isn’t quite what I pictured when I imagined dancing with you again,” he told her.
Lori’s laugh went right to his heart. It was so good to see her happy. “I know I look like a crazy dog lady right now, but he seems scared by the crowds. I probably shouldn’t have brought him.”
He smiled. “Nah, it’s good you did. This way he can see that it’s okay. Hey, he even gets to dance.” He paused, a little embarrassed. “Okay, now I sound like the crazy dog lady. But there’s something about this little guy.”
“I know!” Her eyes sparkled with her enthusiasm. “I’m not totally nuts to have him, right? He’s kind of strange and special. He reels you in.”
He tugged a lock of her hair gently, loving that he got to do this. Got to be like this with her. “It’s cool to see you so sweet on this little stray. You like to be tough, but you’ve got a soft spot after all.”
Lori grimaced. “Well, it took a while for me to get sweet. But he just didn’t give up.”
“You didn’t want him?”
Her cheeks went a faint pink. “He’s not exactly your average ranch dog. But then I realized that he can’t help his size. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s a cattle dog inside. He has big dreams. Am I really going to crush them?”
“He sounds like someone I know. You. Trying to stand up to all the people who want to judge you because you’re a small woman running a big ranch.”
She stared at him in surprise. “I guess I hadn’t made that connection. But yes. Snack deserves the chance to work on the ranch just like one of the big dogs.”
Snack tried to lick his face, but Wade was faster and avoided the long pink tongue.
Lori laughed again, and damn, he loved that sound. He loved her. It wasn’t some big revelation. He’d probably loved her since they were kids. And here he was with her, right in the heart of the town he was determined to make his own. This was the future he wanted. The future he’d dreamed of. And it was here. With her. Laughing and smiling at him.
Someone jostled past Wade, and he started.
Lori stopped dancing. “Are you ready to be away from the crowds for a while?”
“Yeah.” He could feel the edges of his composure starting to fray. That was another piece of advice from Dan. When you feel yourself start to fall apart, take a break. He was ready for that break.
They walked hand in hand off the dance floor and back to his truck. They’d shopped and danced, so it was probably time to feed her now. He was so rusty at this dating thing. “Where to?” he asked.
She set Snack on the ground and moved in front of Wade. Put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. Her lips were so soft, so full, and he let her take the lead for a moment, relishing the feel of her, his heart pounding because she really wanted this. Him. As messed up as he was. When he couldn’t be still any longer, he brought his hands up to cup the back of her neck, pulling her closer, taking charge of the kiss, opening her lips, deepening their connection.
He took his time. Listening to the tiny catches in her breath, reveling in the way she clung to his shoulders as if she was holding on for dear life. He knew what he wanted right now. Her. A bed. And a whole lot of time.
And then Snack got his leash wound around their legs and almost tripped them up. Wade held the terrier still while Lori unwound the leash. When they were free, Lori wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered his thought right back to him. “I want to be with you.”
He froze. It was like that moment right after you threw a grenade. The seconds of silent waiting before all hell broke loose. Except instead of hell, she was offering heaven.
How could this be happening? He couldn’t hide the grin that spread over his face. He took in her inky blue eyes, large in her delicate face, her jaw set in that familiar line that said she’d made up her mind. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she assured him.
“Where?”
“Your house?” she asked, stepping back and scooping up the dog, ready to go. Typical Lori. She didn’t mess around once she was sure.
He pictured his run-down house, his shabby bedroom that he’d made no effort to redecorate because he spent all his time out on the ranch anyway. “It’s not good enough for you.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.” She smiled. “I spend most of my time with cattle. I don’t need anything fancy.”
“My house is far worse than just not fancy. I’ve never fixed it up. Not yet. Could we go to your house?”
“Mandy might come home for lunch to check on her animals. I’d hate to make her feel uncomfortable.”
Wade felt a moment of panic that this thing he wanted, needed, couldn’t believe was really happening, was slipping away. Where could they go? And then he had an idea. “Would somewhere outdoors be okay? If I made it nice?”
She paused, and he took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her gently on the mouth. Just in case she was changing her mind. That thing between them, that spark, ignited straightaway. He felt her breath catch, and she deepened the kiss. “Okay,” she whispered into his lips.
He took her hand and led her silently to the door of his truck. Now that they’d figured out logistics, the reality of it had his heart pounding. The woman he loved wanted to sleep with him. He was torn between doing some ridiculous touchdown dance of triumph and running away in fear. He took a deep breath and felt the anxiety settle. He could do this. He’d done it before when he was only a teenager.
But things were different now. There was so much at stake here because he loved her, because she was there in his every thought, waking to sleeping. Because if she wanted this, then he wanted to make it perfect for her.
They got in the car and he held her hand tightly as they drove, taking it away only when they reached his driveway. Todd had helped him get the old tractor running last week, and he’d borrowed a grading attachment. That plus a massive load of gravel had taken care of most of the potholes.
He glanced over to see if Lori had noticed. She was staring at the drive. “It looks incredible! Such a huge change. And the Keep Out sign is gone!”
Wade shrugged, like it had been no big deal instead of backbreaking. “I decided it was time to make things more welcoming around here.”
She squeezed his hand. “It’s nice.”
Wade pulled the truck up in front of the house, busy making the plans that would make this afternoon worthy of her. He looked down at Snack. “What about this little guy? Do we bring him?”
“I think that’s taking this whole togetherness thing a little far,” Lori answered. “Can he crash out in your living room?”
“Sure. I’ll take him. Will you wait here for me? For about ten minutes?”
“Sure,” Lori said, looking mystified.
“I’ll be back.” He kissed her once, reveling in the softness of her lips, amazed that this was apparently happening.
Wade picked up Snack and his dog bed and carried them both into the kitchen. He set a bowl of water down. The terrier slurped it up. Then the shaggy beast sneezed and shook his entire body in his own personal earthquake. Stepping into his bed, he circled a few times, collapsed into a ball and tucked his nose under his tail. He looked like a sleepy fox. He’d be down for the count in moments.
Wade hurried around the house, gathering up sheets, blankets and pillows. On the way out the back door he saw a tarp he’d just bought, still in its plastic wrapping. Perfect. He added it to his pile and then remembered why they were heading into the woods. He staggered back into the bathroom to scrabble through the medicine cabinet in search of the condoms he’d bought in a hopeful moment on one of his first civilian days.
Then he was tearing back through the kitchen and out the back door, jogging a few yards through the woods to where the creek usually ran. It was dry now, but he headed uphill along its bank, dodging aspen trees as he followed the route he’d taken so many times as a kid when he fled the house looking for peace and quiet.
The clearing was just how he remembered it—alongside the creek under a canopy of aspens, their leaves bright gold on the trees, darker gold where they carpeted the ground below. Wade spread the tarp, the blankets and the pillows. It looked comfortable. A few aspen leaves drifted lazily down and landed on the dark green blanket. It gave the bed a magical look, like it had grown here right out of the woods. Wade caught a couple more leaves that were falling nearby and scattered them on the blanket as well. They should be rose petals, and this should be a gorgeous bed in a beautiful mansion, but he couldn’t offer Lori that. He hoped this would be enough.
He jogged back to the truck to get her. He hadn’t done this in a long time. There’d been a woman he used to see when he was on leave, who worked at a restaurant near the base. But it had been casual for both of them. It hadn’t meant more than a good time, some human contact and a few moments of much-needed oblivion.
This meant everything.
“Hey,” he said, feeling shy covering the last few paces between them. “Your castle is ready, princess.”
Lori smiled and held out her hand regally. “For a castle it’s really well hidden,” she teased.
“For a castle it’s pretty small. And it’s lacking a few of the comforts of home. Like a roof. And walls.”
She laughed. “You have a unique definition of the word castle.”
“It’s got a good view.” He took her hand in his, and they walked quietly around the back of the ranch house and through the woods. He watched her tuck her hair behind her ear and bite her lip. “We don’t have to do anything,” he said. “We can lie around and talk if you want. There’s no pressure.”
He was trying to be chivalrous, determined to do right by her. But it was sheer relief to hear her say, “I want to. This is exactly what I want.”