She felt her face go red and turned her back to Wade. She never felt like this! In fact, she’d wondered sometimes if her libido was broken. Every time she’d dated anyone seriously, she’d felt this reluctance when things started to get too physical. She’d figured it came from knowing the consequences of casual sex way too well. But as the years went on and she didn’t change, she’d wondered if maybe she was simply an unromantic person.
But this...it was like the blood in her veins had gotten thicker, warmer, and she was restless. She turned back and stole another peek at him. His lower lip was just a little full. She wanted to kiss it again.
He glanced over, caught her staring and gave her a quick wink. Would he ask her out again soon? Should she ask him out? She wanted to. Well, what she really wanted was to proposition him. But she’d never done anything like that before.
It was disconcerting, how fast things had changed between them. Not too long ago, he’d asked her to dinner and she’d said no. Then he’d asked her out in the parish hall and she’d said no again. But at church, something had started. This need for him grew on her like a vine, attached sticky tendrils to her skin and clung tight. Their one bad date hadn’t taken away this feeling that they were meant to be together. That she needed to be with him.
She snuck another peek. He was placidly laying the folded clothes in piles on the table, arranging them by size, just like they’d planned. Totally oblivious to her thoughts.
He turned, a blue onesie in his hand. “Are you doing okay with all this? I can take over the booth for you if you’d rather not deal with it at all.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll stay, but I really do appreciate your help. When I first found out about that load of baby clothes, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
He came toward her like he was going to give her a hug, but he stopped short. Took her hand in his. “It’s been okay, right? Maybe even a little healing.” He reached over, grabbed a white baby hat with pink strawberries and plopped it on his head, where it sat at a goofy angle. “I bet together we can face down any baby products that come our way.”
She had to smile. She was handling it all way better than she’d ever thought she could. The clothes were actually kind of adorable. But an invitation for a baby shower had arrived this week, from a high school friend who’d moved up to Carson City. She’d popped the RSVP right back in the mail with No checked. So she still had a way to go.
She went back to arranging her table, looking for a safer topic. And a distraction from how much she wanted to kiss him. “What have you been doing this week?”
“Working with my new horse, Jackson. The one Todd brought over?”
“How’s that going?”
“It’s coming along. I didn’t think I could do it, but he lets me lead him around now, and touch him, and he’s not totally terrified of the saddle pad anymore.”
“Hey, that’s progress,” Lori said. “Baby steps.”
“Yup,” Wade said and glanced at her uncertainly. “I guess I’ve been taking a few other baby steps, too. I went to a veterans’ support group.”
“Seriously? That’s amazing!” Her own relief surprised her. Like she’d been holding her breath, wondering if she was going to regret loving him. “I’m so proud of what you’re doing,” she told him. “With the horse and the group.”
He took her hand and pulled her gently toward him. “I want to make you proud.”
She nodded, her words lodging in her throat. His eyes flickered to her mouth, and something in her fluttered in response. He wanted to kiss her. She knew he did. He stepped closer, still holding her hand. “Lori, I’m so honored that you put your faith in me. I’m going to work hard to get better. I promise.”
And her caution was overruled by his words and sweetness and the attraction she’d felt all morning. She was filled with a bone-deep need to be there for him, to be with him. She took a step toward him, stood on tiptoe and brought her mouth to his, not willing to go without the taste of him any longer. One kiss, and she’d savor it slowly. One kiss to tide her over. She pulled back, searching his eyes for his reaction.
She’d cracked his reserve. The intensity she craved was there in his eyes—that laser focus on her that left her system humming with anticipation. He whispered her name as his lips found hers again, as his hands cupped her jaw and he angled his head to take the next kiss deeper.
The heat he brought! It slid over her skin, melted her fears, had her clinging to his shoulders for support, grateful for the arm he slid behind her back to keep her from falling. All the sounds of people setting up the booths around them faded to a background hum. Her whole focus was riveted on the feel of his mouth on hers, the strength of his shoulders under her hands.
The sound of clapping teetered on the edge of her awareness, then broke through the rushing of her blood. It got louder, and Wade pulled back.
“Uh-oh,” he whispered, and she glanced over to see they had an audience. A clapping audience. The dozen or more people who’d been setting up booths around them had all stopped to watch the show.
“It pays to get here early,” someone called, and everyone laughed. Wade grinned and pulled Lori in for one more kiss, accompanied by loud cheers. Lori flushed, embarrassed, wondering if it was possible to melt into the pavement. Other ranch owners didn’t make out in the middle of a booth at the Benson Harvest Festival. She wasn’t exactly conveying the impression of responsible citizen that she’d so hoped to project.
But Wade smiled at her, half shy, half triumphant, and she decided that it didn’t matter. Benson would have to take her or leave her as she was, because no way was she not kissing Wade Hoffman again. She clung to his neck and threw herself into another kiss, a feast of heat and need that filled her up like nothing else.
“Damn,” Wade breathed when she let him go. “Lori, what the hell did I do to deserve that?”
“You taste good,” she said, flushing.
“Right.” He looked kind of dazed.
Someone nearby shouted, “Encore!”
“I keep forgetting about all these people,” he murmured.
She couldn’t even look at them. Because then she’d have to take her eyes away from Wade, and she wasn’t willing to do that yet.
“Do you think we could do a little more of this after the sale?” he asked.
“Yes, definitely,” she assured him. “A lot more.”
Wade nodded, still looking stunned. Then he turned to face their audience. “Show’s over,” he called and gave everyone a cheerful wave.
Lori finally looked around. People were smiling. The crowd was happy for them. And she was happy, too. Because maybe things weren’t perfect with Wade, but these feelings were real. And no matter what happened next, Wade Hoffman had kissed her breathless in the middle of the rummage sale booth.
The sale! She glanced at her watch. “Oh no, we’ve only got fifteen minutes to get this all ready!”
“That was awesome,” he said, giving her a last soft kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”
They worked in silence, unpacking the boxes and laying the clothing out as fast as they could, and leaning the baby furniture along one side of the booth. When they’d finished, they were a little breathless, but they’d made it. People were arriving for the festival and their booth was ready.
After her first few customers, Lori glanced at Wade, hoping this wouldn’t be too much for him. He needed a success after the movie fiasco.
But it was pretty clear, pretty quickly, that she wouldn’t have to worry about Wade having problems. He was too busy talking to all the women. Whether it was curiosity about a member of the dangerous Hoffman family or the fact that a gorgeous man selling baby clothes was irresistible to the female half of the town, Wade was selling the stuff to a line of women ten deep.
Lori would have
been jealous if it hadn’t been so funny. Some of his customers even requested photos with him and their purchases. Seeing the bemused expression on Wade’s face, the mock-pleading glances he sent her way, had her laughing out loud. Watching him be the center of attention, completely accepted by so many locals, had her laughing inside. He was breaking the legacy. He was smiling and joking and making friends and admirers. He looked happy, excited and so different from the broken man under the lamppost. It was relief beyond measure.
“The church should give you a cut of the profits,” she teased him as she brought over a pile of bags the ladies could use to carry their purchases. “We’re going to sell out at this rate.”
“I don’t need to be paid.” He grinned. “I got a kiss out of this gig.”
“A few of them, if I recall.” She threw the words over her shoulder as she passed. She set the pile of bags on the table and went to get more, but he caught her arm.
“I’m having trouble waiting for more.”
His hand on her arm was making her pulse jump. “Just another hour or so and you can have them.”
“Can we go on a date? Spend time together? Just as soon as we’re done here?” He looked down at Snack, who had come out of his bed to beg Lori for one of the dog biscuits she’d brought. “With this guy, too, of course.”
She tried to contain the smile that broke over her face, to keep it from becoming a goofy grin. “Sure. That would be fun. I’ll need to get back here later for cleanup, but we have a few hours. We’d like that, Snackeroo. Right?”
The scruffy dog gave one of his supersonic terrier snorts. Wade started laughing. And laughter looked so good on him, and her new dog was so ridiculous, that Lori started laughing, too. And was still giggling when the line of customers started up again—some of them for her, but most of them for Wade the baby-clothes-selling hunk, who was taking the Benson Harvest Festival by storm.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“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 le
ash 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.
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