Chapter Five
Naomi was still smiling when they turned back toward the horses, but underneath it she was acutely aware of how close he was walking beside her. Close enough that their arms brushed once and neither of them moved away.
She wanted him to kiss her.
She was fairly certain that wasn’t taking it slow, but she wanted it anyway.
She kept stealing glances at his profile, the strong jaw, the way his hat sat on his head, shading his face, the easy way he moved even on foot, and she thought that if he turned and looked at her right now she might just close the distance herself and deal with the consequences later.
He didn’t turn.
He gathered Vulcan’s reins and checked the cinch. She did the same with Jewel, and the moment, if there had been one, passed quietly without either of them acknowledging it.
She put her foot in the stirrup and mounted.
He swung up onto Vulcan and looked over at her.
“Ready to see the rest of it?”
She looked at him sitting there in the morning sun, easy and unhurried, completely unaware of what was going on in her head.
Or maybe not completely unaware.
“Ready,” she said. “How many hands is Vulcan?”
“Seventeen. He’s a tall horse.”
“He’d have to be.” She looked up at Ethan in the saddle. “You’re so tall. Your brothers too.”
“We’re all six-five. Get it from our parents. Dad is six-six, Mom is five-eleven.”
“I’d feel like a little bug standing next to all of you.” She smiled. “Your parents are wonderful, by the way. I met them at the reception. Lovely people.”
“Yes, they are.” He said it simply, it without needing to elaborate.
She fell in behind him as the trail narrowed, keeping her eyes on his broad back and the way he sat in the saddle, relaxed and straight all at once. She made herself look out across the pasture instead.
That was when she noticed the small building tucked against the tree line.
“What’s that?” She pointed.
He glanced over his shoulder. “Fishing cabin. My dad built it years ago when all this land was still his. I’ve stayed there a few times when a storm came up faster than I could ride back.” He turned back to the trail. “There are a couple of covered stalls behind it too.”
“Does it have a bathroom?”
He looked back at her. “Yes.”
“Can we stop?” She made a face. “I had too much coffee this morning.”
He chuckled. “Sure.”
He tied Vulcan to the rail outside, and she did the same with Jewel. He pushed the cabin door open and stepped back to let her in.
She stopped just inside and looked around.
It was small but solid, one main room with a stone fireplace, a worn leather sofa, a small kitchen along one wall. Fishing rods lined up neat against the far wall, a tackle box on the shelf above them. A braided rug on the floor, faded but clean.
It smelled like wood smoke, pine, and old leather.
She loved it immediately.
“Bathroom’s through there.” He nodded toward a door.
“Thank you.” She crossed the room and disappeared inside.
When she came back out she stopped in the middle of the room and turned slowly, taking it all in properly this time.
“I love this place.” She looked at the fireplace, the fishing rods, the worn sofa. “It feels like the rest of the world doesn’t exist out here.”
“That’s the idea.” His voice was quiet.
She turned to look at him, and they were closer than she’d realized, the cabin being what it was.
She didn’t step back.
Neither did he.
Naomi looked up at his face and watched as his eyes dropped to her lips, then back into her eyes.
“Is there a bedroom?” she asked, then gasped when she realized what she’d said as Ethan’s eyebrow rose. “Uh, I just meant, do you sleep on the sofa or is there a bed? God, I’ll just shut up now.”
He looked at her for a long moment, something dancing in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before.
“There’s a bedroom.” He nodded toward a door she hadn’t noticed to the left of the fireplace. “Small. Just a bed and a dresser.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “Nothing exciting.”
“Right.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at the fireplace. “Good. That’s good.”
He was quiet for a beat. “Naomi.”
She looked up at him.
“Stop apologizing for saying what’s on your mind.”
She stared at him. “That is not what was on my mind.”
“Wasn’t it?”
She opened her mouth, closed it.
He smiled then, slow, and warm, and it did absolutely nothing to help her situation.
“We should get back on the trail,” he said, and turned toward the door.
She stood there for a second, then followed him out into the sunshine, grateful for the fresh air.
Taking it slow, she reminded herself.
Extremely, painfully slow.
****
Ethan reached for the doorknob, but she was standing close enough that he caught the scent of her perfume and forgot what he was doing.
He looked down at her. She looked up at him.
He lowered his head slowly, giving her every chance to step back. She didn’t move.
He pressed his lips to hers.
Her mouth opened under his and he stopped thinking about taking it slow. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. When she moaned softly he deepened the kiss, his hand moving to the back of her neck, tilting her face up to his.
She tasted like coffee and something sweeter underneath, and he was in serious trouble.
He didn’t know how long they stood there in the doorway of the cabin before he finally lifted his head. She looked up at him, her lips slightly parted, her eyes dark.
She took his breath away.
“Well,” she said softly.
“Yeah.” He let out a slow breath. “Well.”
She searched his face for a moment. “So much for taking it slow.”
“We’re still standing up.” He looked down at her. “That counts for something.”
She laughed, and he felt it move through him.
He stepped back, pulled the cabin door shut, and they stood in the cool morning air for a moment, the horses watching them from the rail with complete indifference.
“We should finish the ride,” he said.
“We should.” She didn’t move immediately.
Neither did he.
Then she turned, walked to Jewel, and untied the reins. He watched her mount up with the same quiet ease she did everything, and he stood there another second longer before he walked to Vulcan.
He swung up into the saddle, and they turned back toward the trail.
He was smiling and he didn’t bother trying to stop it this time.
They rode back mostly in silence, but it was a different kind of silence than the one on the way out. Easier. Like something that had been wound tight had finally been allowed to loosen.
He took her back the way they’d come, along the creek and through the long meadow, and she rode beside him the whole way, no longer trailing behind.
When the barn came into view she glanced over at him.
“Thank you for showing me the property.”
“You needed to know your way around.”
“Is that the only reason you took me?”
He looked at her. “No.”
She smiled and looked back toward the barn.
They rode in through the back gate, and he stepped down from Vulcan and took Naomi’s reins while she dismounted. Their hands touched briefly when she took them back and neither of them made anything of it.
Rowdy was in the barn when they led the horses in, moving quietly through the aisle, not a man who made more noise than necessary. He glanced up at them both and gave a single nod before going back to what he was doing.
Ethan led Vulcan along the aisle to cool him. He could hear Naomi doing the same with Jewel in the opposite direction, humming something low under her breath that she probably didn’t know she was doing.
He smiled to himself and kept walking.
He finished with Vulcan and latched the stall, and she was just coming out of Jewel’s when he turned around. She had a piece of hay caught in her hair and didn’t know it.
He reached out and pulled it free without thinking. She went still.
“Sorry,” he said, stepping back.
“Don’t be.” Her voice was quiet.
They stood there for a second in the dim of the barn, Rowdy moving somewhere at the far end, the horses settled around them.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” he said.
She looked at him. “Here, or—”
“In town. Somewhere that isn’t the ranch.”
Something moved across her face, warm and unhurried. “Alright.”
“Seven?”
“Seven.” She headed for the barn door. At the threshold she looked back at him over her shoulder. “Don’t wear the suit.”
He laughed, and she smiled and walked out into the sun.
He stood there for a moment listening to her footsteps fade away.
Rowdy appeared at his elbow. “You need anything else today, boss?”
“No.” Ethan picked up Vulcan’s bridle and hung it on the hook. “Go home, Rowdy.”
Rowdy nodded and left without another word.
Ethan stood alone in the quiet barn for a moment, then strode out into the afternoon sun and crossed the yard toward the house.
Seven o’clock. He had hours to fill.
He pulled out his phone as he pushed through the back door and called his mother. She picked up on the second ring as she always did.
“I won’t make dinner tonight, Mom.”
“Oh?” Her voice was perfectly neutral which meant she had questions she was choosing not to ask yet.
“Something came up.”
“I see.” Another pause. “Should I save you a plate?”
“No, I’m good.” He hung his hat on the peg. “Tell Dad I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Of course.” He could hear the smile in her voice, and he chose to ignore it. “Have a nice evening, Ethan.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
He hung up and stood in the kitchen looking at the clock.
Hours.
He went to find something useful to do with them.
****
At five minutes to seven Naomi checked her reflection one last time and told herself to stop fussing.
She’d changed three times. The blue sundress she’d worn to the reception felt like too much of a repeat, so she’d settled on dark jeans, a white blouse that sat off the shoulder just slightly, and her good cowboy boots. Simple. She wasn’t trying too hard.
She was absolutely trying.
A knock at the door.
She took a breath and opened it.