by Natalie Dean
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded, taking his arm as they always did lately, and let him lead her outside.
They had parked all the way at the opposite end of the lot. It was nearing the end of summer and the night had cooled off, with a lovely breeze. It was the perfect weather to stroll along casually, looking up at the night sky.
“Hey,” she said, leaning her head against his strong arm. “Want to take a couple laps?”
“Sure. There’s not much traffic. We’ll just make sure to avoid the exit and entrance.”
“Nah, let’s just do the Macarena right in front of them.”
“You know, I might just die of embarrassment if you make me do that,” he said, smiling that crooked, charming smile at her. The one that made her knees weak if she didn’t think carefully about tightening her muscles.
“Well, you’re in luck then because I’ve never actually danced the Macarena before.”
“That’s alright, we can be bad at it together.”
He made her laugh. Goodness, was he good at making her laugh. And she knew it was crazy, but she could really see a future with him, growing together, learning. She liked that he brought a side out of herself that she wasn’t used to. Someone a bit more social, someone a little less tightly wound. Sure, she still terrified half of the workers, but as she had said before, their bloodlines were weak. She had more friends than she had ever had before and that was all because of him.
“You know, nights like this make me dread when winter finally shows up,” Sterling said after a while, gently squeezing her arm.
“You mean when it gets down in the fifties and we laugh at the people up north who are freezing their tushies off?”
“Well, I don’t know about laughing, but I’ll admit there might be some level of schadenfreude.”
“Oooh, ‘schadenfreude’? Someone’s been looking up five-dollar words.”
“It means—”
“I know what it means,” Elizabeth said quickly. “I had access to the internet when a certain play made that word popular. You know, back when I was a teenager and working a fast-food job, lost in the feeling of Weltschmerz.” She didn’t know what inspired her, maybe it was more of that sauciness that Sterling drew out of her. “But you know, being with you is definitely more along the lines of Gemütlichkeit, I think.”
“Wait, I think I know that one, smarty-pants.” Sterling wrinkled his brow.
Goodness if he didn’t look fetching when he was puzzling something out. Then again, when didn’t he look fetching? Sometimes Elizabeth felt like she could stare and stare at his face and never drink her fill. What had he done to her?
“Isn’t it something about being cozy?” he said.
“Close,” she said, her heart filling with warmth.
What a strange reaction to him knowing a bit of trivia. But in the month and the half of their casual dating, she had learned that her heart did whatever it wanted to do, and she was no more able to stop it than most people were able to stop her when she put her mind to something.
She continued, “It’s more than that, though. It’s the feeling of being on a warm, comfy couch, snuggled under a blanket with someone you love. It’s about feeling truly comfortable, safe and protected. It’s a single word that stands for everything that makes you feel good and fuzzy and cherished. Amazing how the Germans just condense it, isn’t it?”
She was all ready to launch into a discussion of Germanic linguistics and their integration with the Latin lexicon when she realized Sterling had stopped in his tracks, the tension of her arm tugging her to a stop. Turning, she saw that he looked rather dumbfounded, seriousness swirling in that gaze of his.
“And I make you feel like that?” he asked.
His voice had dropped low again, like it did whenever they were being romantic, or they were about to kiss. It never failed to make her heart pick up in her chest, and she licked her lips on instinct.
“Well… yeah. You do.”
He pulled her closer to him. She didn’t think she would ever get over how his strong, muscled outline felt near her own feminine form. It made her skin heat, made her want to get closer to him until they were the same person, but she usually was able to shove those temptations down.
Usually, but how he was looking at her just wasn’t fair.
She was so caught up in his expression that she didn’t notice his hand coming up to cup her chin, tilting it to look right up into those startling, handsome eyes of his. “Are you joshing me?”
“No one says joshing anymore,” she said, feeling her eyelids flutter. She was going all foggy-headed and distracted, as she usually did whenever their faces were so close. If only the folks from her major could see her now. Stone-hearted Lizzy enamored with a cowboy who was too handsome for her own good.
“Elizabeth,” he murmured, voice lower, more urgent. “I know you like to play word games, but I need to know, because every day I feel like I’m falling deeper and deeper for you, but I don’t have a clue how you’re doing on your side. Am I making a fool of myself here?”
She knew what he was asking, and yet somehow it had surprised her. She’d said she needed time, a couple more good dates. In her opinion, they’d gone well beyond that, and she had anticipated that the eager man would ask her again. When he hadn’t, she’d thought that maybe he’d thought better of it and wanted more time himself.
But what he was saying made it sound like he was waiting for her to say it was time, and she could only chuckle slightly at their silly misunderstanding.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly, his tone ticking towards humorous. “You are joshing me, ain’t ya?”
“I’m just waiting for you to ask me again.”
That didn’t seem to be the answer he was expecting, and he cocked his head to the side. “Ask you what again…”
“You asked me to go steady, and I said that I needed more time. A couple good dates. Well, we’ve definitely had more of that. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely enjoying your company, so I was just waiting for you to ask me again.”
“So you could say yes?” he said slowly as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
Elizabeth didn’t blame him; she probably could have communicated the whole thing better. Oh well, she could work on that. Because she was beginning to understand that she wasn’t some strange pariah. Not a woman whose brain worked differently than every other human. Sure, she wasn’t exactly normal, or neurotypical, as her mother would have said. But she wasn’t an alien either. Sterling got her, and so did her new friends.
“So, I can say yes,” she affirmed gently.
Sterling took a deep breath, and she could practically feel his heart beating against her. “Elizabeth, I’ve enjoyed dating you, and I’d be right happy if you decided that I might be something along the terms of boyfriend material.”
“Boyfriend material, huh?” she asked, tipping her head back like he did and allowing herself a laugh. “I think you might be a whole boyfriend quilt.”
“Is that a compliment?” he shot right back, his eyes shining as they regarded her.
She didn’t know how there could be starlight reflected in them, considering he was looking down at her, but that was exactly what she saw.
“It is if I say it is.”
“Alright then, I trust you.”
“I trust you too, you’re my boyfriend after all.”
Those words seemed to trigger something in him, his cheeks flushing pink. At that, one of his hands went to her waist, and his head bent down so that his lips could claim hers.
It was the perfect kiss, just like the rest of their kisses were perfect, full of heat and affection and kindness that she wasn’t used to. It made her float, it made her head spin, and it made everything else in the world fall away.
It lasted longer than their normal kisses, one of his palms on her waist and the other still resting warm across her chin. Sometimes she felt like
the way he held her was the only thing that kept her tethered to earth.
But then, like usual, he was the one who broke the kiss with her leaning after him almost dazedly. But unlike usual, she barely had time to blink before he was picking her up and spinning her around.
“Ah! Sterling! You set me down!” she cried through her laughter, looking up at the night sky as the stars twirled and twirled over her head. “I am tall enough already! I do not need to be this high off the ground!”
He spun around a couple more times before setting her down. She nearly collapsed against his chest, breathing raggedly.
“You’re lucky I like you,” she said with chagrin as she caught her breath.
“And don’t I know it,” he said without a lick of sarcasm.
Oh. Her cheeks flushed red at that. How was he able to so unabashedly compliment her like that? Just state that she was important to him without any hesitation? It never failed to make her react. And she treasured every single one of those moments, vowing to herself that she would find some way to make Sterling feel as special as he made her feel.
“Would you like to visit the cats that have taken up in one of the garages? Teddy just told Silas about them. Apparently, there’s a calico with multiple toes and she’s a beauty.”
“He.”
“Huh?”
Elizabeth grinned, feeling so very in love. “All calico cats are females because it’s a recessive trait that’s carried on the X gene.”
“So then… she would be a she, right?”
“Would be, if not for the extra toes. Male calicos are very rare, due to an XXY mutation. They’re sterile, and they have extra toes. They’re incredibly valuable, not that I care about that last part.”
Sterling shook his head, chuckling at her and offering her his arm again. “You always are something, Elizabeth. But please, tell me more cat facts on the drive back home.”
“Are you sure? It’s a pretty long ride. What if I run out?”
Sterling gave her a rueful look. “When pigs fly.”
“Well, maybe, but there’s a lot of work left to be done to figure out that particular genetic sequence.”
“If anyone could do it, it’s you. You’re the smartest woman I’ve ever met.”
Geez. Cheeks practically on fire, Elizabeth hopped up into his truck. She wasn’t used to being outmaneuvered by someone, but clearly Sterling was beating her hand over fist in the casual compliments’ territory.
That’s alright. She had always been an excellent study.
20
Elizabeth
The intercom buzzed and Elizabeth jumped nearly a foot into the air. Yikes! She was going to have to get used to that or she was gonna die very early of an apoplexy.
“Coming!” she called out of habit before remembering that whoever was on the other side wouldn’t be able to hear her. Right, she knew how intercoms worked. She was just excited and exhausted and excited and…
It buzzed again and she jumped just as much the second time. Hurrying over, she pressed the button that let her talk to whoever was at the door.
“Somebody is mighty impatient,” she said, perhaps over-enunciating her words a bit.
“Well, I guess somebody is just excited to see their girlfriend’s new place.”
Elizabeth felt herself flush at that. Silly, she was thirty years old and still getting heart palpitations after six months of being a couple.
It hadn’t been an easy six months, and yet it also had. Winter had come and mostly gone, the pigpens were practically done, and she was kinda-sorta working on upgrading the breeding area for the cows. The “kinda-sorta” part came in because Sterling and his two brothers appeared to be in the middle of a multi-month battle with their father, trying to get him to agree on allocating a significant amount of budget for making the ranch more animal-friendly.
Apparently, the patriarch of the household gave the same blowback that most people gave Elizabeth. The creatures were meant to be eaten; what was the point in spending all that money on their enrichment? That was always the issue when people tended to value money over life. Yes, man was given dominion over animals by God, but that meant caring for and respecting them, especially if they were going to be giving up their lives to sustain others.
Thankfully, that wasn’t a fight she had to take part in, mostly she just had to support Sterling from the side and listen to him vent. Which she was more than happy to do. Sometimes her father would tag in as well, and ever since the winter had waned, the two men had been going on Saturday fishing trips about once a month.
It was so good to see her father socializing again, even though it may have been weird that it was with her boyfriend. Except she didn’t find it weird at all. She felt like if anyone could use a kind and understanding father figure, it was Sterling, and maybe her dad sensed that.
“Well, are you gonna buzz me in or what?”
Elizabeth blinked. It wasn’t like her to drift so much, but after working all weekend to move, she was perhaps a bit distracted. “I pressed the button; didn’t it work?”
“…very obviously not, sweetheart.”
Ugh. It wasn’t fair how he could say a single word such as sweetheart and have her blood rushing in her ears. Swallowing, she shook her head. Later. “Alright, let me try another one.”
She did so, and there was a corresponding loud beep from below.
“There you are. Be up in a jiffy. Second floor you said, right?”
“Righto.”
His voice cut off, and then she heard the outer door buzz again and quick footsteps up the singular flight of stairs to her place.
Another way life had gotten both easier and harder was that after over six months of steady and frankly amazing pay, she’d caught up on all of her bills and then some, paid ahead on her loan and had finally found a new place.
Gone was her tiny, studio apartment that she rented over a bar in a small town an hour and fifty minutes from the city. Instead, she had a lovely one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the city limits that was about three times as big. And—more importantly—allowed cats.
A knock sounded at her door and she practically threw it open, revealing Sterling standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He still looked as handsome as ever, eyes sparkling with excitement as he looked past her.
“So, is there a tour of this place or was I supposed to sign up somewhere?”
“I dunno,” Elizabeth retorted, leaning on the door like she was considering not letting him in. “This place will probably look real crummy compared to your tastes.”
“Nah, if you picked it, I trust your taste. Besides, out of the two of us, who do you think is better at balancing a budget?”
“Fair enough,” she said, laughing at the same time that she blushed. “Alright, this way!”
She excitedly showed him her kitchen, the dining room, then the living room. It was so nice to have separate spaces for all of those things, since previously her whole home had been one room.
Then she went on to the bathroom, which had just about the nicest tub of any home she’d ever had. Sterling didn’t seem to get why that was such a big deal to her, but he nodded and smiled nonetheless and that was enough.
The bedroom was only a quick flash, her pointing out the nice reading nook she had with one of the larger windows and then quickly shutting the door. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed. Not at all. But having the man that she was intensely attracted to and definitely in love with standing in the same space as her bed led to far too much temptation. After all, she was only human. Besides, she’d just gotten her life back on track. There was no reason to derail it by biting into that particular apple, so to speak.
Even if it was the yummiest, prettiest apple that she had ever seen.
“Hey, you alright there?”
Elizabeth nodded, hurrying back to the living room. “So yeah, that’s my new place!” she said, making a broad gesture.
“Well, I wish you would have let
me and my brothers help you move, but it looks mighty nice.”
She shrugged. “You all had a conference you needed to attend, and this was something that I wanted to do on my own. I mean, Dad helped, and I paid some guys for the real heavy lifting, but this was a fun project.”
He shook his head, closing the distance between them to gently rest his hands at her waist. “Only you would think that moving yourself in and decorating entirely on your own was a fun project.”
She shrugged. “Better than it being a trial, right?”
He smiled, bending down to press a kiss to her forehead. It was such a simple thing, and yet it made her feel safe. Secure. Like nothing could touch her as long as she had him at her side.
“I can’t argue with that logic there.”
“Good, because you’d lose.”
He raised his eyebrow but chuckled instead of arguing further. “Once, not even Silas could claim that. But you? I guess you really are one of a kind.”
“Careful,” she said, stepping back and fanning her face. “You know what we said about compliment flooding.”
“It’s not my fault that I just want to point out all the things I like about you.”
She rolled her eyes, because sometimes it was the only defense that she had against the way her heart rushed when he really got going. “You’d think you’d run out eventually.”
“Never.”
Both of her hands went to her cheeks and she shook her head. “Alright, I give in. You’re too smooth for me. Please, have mercy on a poor, flustered soul.”
“I dunno,” he said, dipping his head down to kiss the back of her hands. “I kinda like that I’m the only one who seems to be able to give the terrifying Elizabeth Brown pause.”
“Pfft, you’ve been hanging around your workers too much.”
“The contractors, actually. The workers are mostly sure that you won’t turn them to stone on sight… mostly.”
“Well. I’ll have to make sure to scare them all over again. Can’t have them thinking I’m getting soft just because I’m dating their boss.”