CHAPTER NINETEEN
“You were right. The chow mein was amazing.” Luna set her chopsticks down and took a long swallow of water. “There’s a place near where I went to college that was pretty good but not as good as that.”
“What school did you go to?” He dug his chopsticks into the white box, scraped around, lifted out the last piece of shrimp and popped it into his mouth.
“Stanford.” She forced her gaze away from his mouth and set her glass on the table. “I double-majored in computer science and electrical engineering.”
He stopped mid-chew and looked at her.
“Wow, impressive.” He finished chewing and swallowed the shrimp. “But I’m not surprised.” He pointed the tip of the chopsticks in her direction. “I’ve seen firsthand how brilliant you are.”
“Thanks.” Her cheeks heated at his sincere compliment. “I was in their honors co-op program, which allowed me to work for OSI while I earned my degree.” That was something she typically didn’t share with anyone.
Double-majoring in two difficult specialties had been a big part of why Tyler had become such a dick to her. That and the fact that Caleb made no secret of how much he disliked him from the first moment he met him.
Boone’s response was a stark contrast. He wasn’t threatened by her accomplishments. On the contrary, he was proud of them. That was the difference between a selfish boy and a well-adjusted, confident man.
“Great way to gain a lot of practical, real-world experience, too.” He set the empty box down.
“Tyler, that’s the guy I dated in college, was a business major.
He used to say petty stuff like, ‘Engineers work for people like me.’” He’d had a sort of passive-aggressive resentment toward her—getting mad and pouting whenever she wouldn’t go to some silly party with people she didn’t know because she had to study for an exam.
At first, she’d let it get to her, and it had left her doubting some of her life choices.
Should she chill out a bit on studying and just enjoy the experience?
Eventually, she looked around at the men she worked with at OSI, honorable, loyal men who would die protecting someone they cared about.
Men like Boone. Then she contrasted that against Tyler, who was lazy, selfish, lacked ambition, and was riddled with insecurities.
“Sounds like a douchebag,” Boone said.
“Yeah, he was.” She’d put up with too much from him. “The nail in his coffin was when he started talking shit about Caleb, of all people.” He’d called him a gym rat and said he would be a pussy without his dog. “He even accused him of having a weird interest in me.”
“What the fuck?” Boone looked like he wanted to find Tyler and beat the shit out of him.
“Right? I couldn’t believe it when he said that.” To this day, it still pissed her off to think about it. “Caleb literally saved my life, and that asshat had the balls to trash-talk him and insinuate his interest in me was driven by anything more than brotherly concern.”
“What did you do?” Boone dug some noodles from one of the boxes and put them in his mouth.
“I snapped and used some of the moves Mason taught me. I punched him in the nose, kneed him in the balls, then turned and walked away.” She picked up a piece of rice that had dropped on the table and flicked it into one of the empty boxes.
“Last time I saw him, he was writhing around on the ground in the fetal position, holding his junk.” The sound of him squealing had been glorious, and she’d never felt more satisfaction than she had in that moment.
Boone threw his head back on a laugh.
“My first trip home after that happened, Caleb and Dawn reminded me that I was miles ahead of Tyler in so many ways.” She had already been applying her talents in a field far more interesting and worthwhile than “dipshit Tyler”—Caleb’s name for him—could’ve ever achieved.
“You’re amazing.” He reached out, wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, and gave her a quick kiss. “The guy’s lucky you dealt with him and not Caleb.”
Her brother-in-law would’ve knocked him out and tossed his body in a dumpster.
“What about you? Did you go to college or join the military right away?” She crossed her arms on the table.
“I went straight into the Air Force after high school. But, as a favor to my folks, I applied to a few schools, even got accepted to all of them, but the idea of sitting in a classroom all day just didn’t appeal to me.
So, two days after graduation, I walked into the recruiter’s office and signed on the dotted line.
And look at me now, working for an outstanding organization, doing a job I love.
” He cupped the side of her face and stroked his thumb across her cheek. “A job that brought you into my life.”
She smiled, leaned forward and kissed him.
As usual, lightning shot through her, hitting every nerve and sending her belly flip-flopping.
She raked her fingers through his hair and held them there.
Admitting she loved him to herself was scary enough, but admitting it to Boone—terrifying.
She wanted to declare her feelings for him but was nervous.
How would he react? Would it scare him off?
Instead, she tried putting all of her love for him into her kiss.
Luna didn’t have tons of experience with kissing guys.
Tyler had been selfish and sloppy, and it had felt like kissing a wet fish.
Enoch only kissed her twice, and both times he’d kept his mouth tightly closed.
In hindsight, she realized he’d only done that much to coax her to go with him to The Farm.
He’d known his boss had other plans for her, making her off-limits.
With Boone, there was no hesitance, no worries about disappointing him or doing it wrong. Kissing him felt natural, as instinctual as breathing. And the intensity of what she felt when his lips were on hers was indescribable.
He slowly ended the kiss but kept his hand on her cheek.
“If I don’t stop kissing you, there’s a very good chance I will lay you out on this table, strip you naked, and have my way with you. And if that happens, we’ll miss out on that ride.” He gave her a long, possessive kiss and stood. “If you’re done eating, I’ll put the rest in the fridge.”
“Yeah,” her voice squeaked as the carnal visual flashed through her mind, and it took her a few seconds to shake it. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yeah, I’m done.”
She closed the container of chow mein, handed it to him, and he started gathering up all of the boxes.
“Here, let me help.” She pushed back from the table, headed to the sink to grab a washcloth, and wiped off the table.
“Since our bellies are full, we’ll keep the ride nice and easy.” Boone put the leftovers in the fridge and tossed everything else in the garbage can under the sink.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to learn how to put a saddle on.” When they arrived at his place, she’d gone directly into the barn, grabbed a couple of carrots, and walked over to the pasture fence.
As soon as Sassy and Patience spotted the carrots in her hands, they tossed their heads and neighed, then trotted over to see her. She gave them their treats and promised to come see them after dinner.
Boone told her she was spoiling them, but he was smiling when he said it and hadn’t asked her to stop, so she took that as permission to keep doing it.
They walked out the back door, and she held his hand on the way over to the pasture gate. He released her to swing the gate open, and she slid the scrunchie from around her wrist and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail.
“Come on, ladies.” He clicked his tongue, turned, and walked toward the corral in that easy way of his.
Patience and Sassy followed them and entered the enclosure.
“Let me grab their saddles.” Boone headed toward the barn.
She hurried after him. “If it’s not too much of a pain, I’d like to help.”
“That’s probably a good idea, since my hope is that you’ll be out here more often.” He kissed her on the forehead—one of her favorite things ever. “Okay, this is the tack room.”
He flipped on the overhead light, and she followed him deep into the barn.
They stopped at a door next to Sassy’s stall, and he swung it open with a loud creak.
The rich smell of leather blended with the sweet scent of fresh hay from the stalls, and a surprising sense of contentment washed over her.
She recognized two saddles with pads that were perched atop something that looked like the sawhorses Michaleen used in his woodworking shop.
These appeared to be custom-made to fit each saddle.
A variety of leather straps and metal things she couldn’t identify hung from pegs on the walls.
In one corner of the room there was a wide, metal utility sink built into a cabinet.
The shelves above it held all kinds of tins, bottles, buffing pads, and brushes of varying shapes and sizes.
Boone gave her a brief tour, telling her what everything was, the purpose they served, and why they were needed.
“I may need you to remind me what things are.” This was way outside her base of knowledge. But she didn’t want to be a pain in the butt, so she made a mental note to research the heck out of all things horses and ranching.
“No problem. Okay, first things first.” He grabbed two oval-shaped brushes from the shelf and handed one to her. “We need to give them a quick brush-down before we put their saddles on them.”
“Is that something that should be done before every ride?” One day, she wanted to be able to do this on her own.