Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
KADE
“Are you going to be okay managing everything tonight?” I ask Reenie.
She cocks a brow at me, pinning me with a fierce look. “You know I’ve been running this place long before you got here.”
“Ouch. It sounds like you don’t need me.”
“More like I need you to keep fixing it up so we can bring in more guests and I get to keep my job.”
“All I’m good for, I see.” I laugh.
“Relax, Kade. Everything will be fine. All the guests will be taken care of. Rex has a new menu he’s testing out and they are going to love it.”
I smile at her. “I know. Rex gave me some extras.”
“Trying to woo Presley?”
I ignore her, resisting the urge to flip her off. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Reenie.”
“Not too early!” she calls out after me.
Grabbing the basket of food from my office, I head out to my truck where everything is waiting. Including Presley.
Stubborn girl as always, I couldn’t convince her to let me pick her up. Wanted to come on her own, she said.
Considering this is our first date since in six years, I don’t blame her.
“Hey, Presley.”
“Hey.”
She looks fucking stunning. In a pair of jeans, she’s wearing a simple green sweater, cowboy boots, and has her hair falling in waves around her shoulders.
I drink my fill. Her curves. The small lilt to her smile. The sparkle in her blue eyes.
I missed it. I missed it more than I can admit to myself, even now.
“You ready for dinner?” I hold up the basket.
She nods, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes. But before I forget, Poppy wants you to know she wants to go fishing again.”
I laugh. “I’ll make it happen. Now, hop in.” I open the passenger door of the borrowed truck for the night and get a whiff of her perfume as she settles inside.
It’s the same and different all at the same time. That sweetness to her that I wanted to live inside back when we first started dating. Something that lingered on my sweatshirts long after I left town.
Dropping the food in the backseat, I start the truck and steer it down the old worn dirt road toward the fields.
“Where are we going?” Presley asks. Her hands fiddle in her lap.
Reaching over, I drop a hand on top of them. “Figured a picnic would be a good way to reconnect.”
“No prying eyes, you mean.”
I smile over at her, her blue eyes staring back at me. “You know this town better than I do.”
“They will definitely be all over the two of us going out.”
“Reenie already is,” I say.
The sun is already setting as the mountains come into view once we clear the trees behind us.
“I forgot how much I loved coming out here,” Presley says.
“Not a frequent visitor?”
“Not really…”
Not since I left. It hangs between us. This always used to be our place. Presley would come out and visit me while I was working and we’d ride together. Make out. It was the perfect place for two teenagers.
“Here we are.”
Pulling the truck to a stop by a small copse of trees, I put it in park and hop out to help Presley. She’s already jumping down by the time I get around to her door.
“Can’t let me be a gentleman?” I quirk a brow at her.
“I’m used to doing things on my own.”
I file that away for later, grabbing her hand and leading her around to the truck bed. Popping the tailgate down, I arrange the blankets and pillows before getting the basket of food.
“I hope you’re ready for what Rex made us.” I slide up onto the bed and reach a hand down to help Presley up.
“It smells good.”
She sits cross-legged across from me as I pull everything out.
Zucchini turkey burgers with buffalo sauce. Sweet potato fries. Chocolate torte for dessert. And two beers.
“Rex is working on a new menu. Experimenting more to hopefully bring in new guests.”
Presley grabs a plate and starts dishing out the food. “It seems like you want to bring the ranch back to its glory days.”
I look around at the fields that surround us. “Remember how much we used to love it out here? I want to bring that feeling back. That sense of pride.”
“I think you can do it.”
I pop a sweet potato fry into my mouth and chew, giving myself a minute. “You sound awfully confident.”
She shrugs a shoulder as she takes a bite out of her burger. “If you put your mind to something, you could do it.”
I kick my legs out in front of me, settling into one of the pillows. “I could be a slacker. You don’t know.”
That earns me a laugh. “This coming from the guy who had already earned a dual-enrollment associate’s degree by the time he graduated from high school. I doubt you’ve changed that much.”
“I got my MBA early too.” I laugh.
“See? You haven’t changed a bit. Otherwise I don’t think you’d be here.”
“It’s still weird being here without Verne.”
“If there was anyone he wanted to turn the ranch over to, it was you. He loved you.”
“Now if only I had that confidence in myself. I don’t know the first thing about running a ranch.”
I’ve told her I was staying, and maybe if I keep saying it, I’ll believe it. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nothing in my life has been easy. Why would this be now? This night seems to be going well so far, and I don’t want to ruin the mood by bringing this up.
“This reminds me of our first date,” she says, turning her face to the sky. “Do you remember what you told me?”
I shake my head, not wanting to admit the truth. “No.”
“It’s silly. Never mind.”
Presley waves me off, going back to her dinner.
It’s not silly. Because I remember what I said.
I want to be yours, Presley.
I was young and naive then. Thought that nothing could come between the two of us.
Turns out, I was wrong. Her parents drove the stake between us.
As much as I wish I could hold it over her head and be angry with her, I can’t.
We’ve already lost too much time. I don’t want to lose more by being bitter.
Not when we have a daughter who should be our priority.
Is this a second chance for us? I don’t want to show my hand just yet. Show her how much she stayed with me while I was gone.
“Come here.” I pat my leg and she comes to me, resting her head there. “What do you say we put the past behind us? We both made mistakes, so why not try for a fresh start?”
Presley grasps my hand, playing with my fingers. It sends sparks of electricity shooting through me. Damn. She still affects me. The way she looks at me? It’s hard to ignore. “I like that idea.”
“You do?”
She nods. “But only if you do something for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell me something new about yourself.”
“New?”
“Yes.” She snaps her fingers on her free hand. “I’m sure you’ve done something new since I last saw you.”
“I like soccer now.”
“Soccer? You always liked watching sports,” she says. “Or did you forget about that letter jacket in football I wore in high school?”
“I never actually played though.”
“Hmm.” She eyes me like she isn’t sure whether to accept this as a new fact about me. “I’ll allow this for now.”
“Good. Then tell me something new about you.”
“New?” Presley looks up at me as I run my fingers through her hair. The stars reflect in her eyes. I forgot how beautiful she is this close up.
“New,” I parrot back to her. “If you ask me, I get to ask you.”
“I learned how to ride a bike.”
“Wait, really?”
She smiles, nodding her head at me. “I figured I’d need to learn because Poppy wanted to learn.”
“That’s what it took to get you on a bike?” I shake my head. “After all these years, you never let me help you.”
“What if I fell?”
“You realize that logic doesn’t work because I know you rode horses with me.”
“I trust horses more than my own balance.”
“I think you didn’t want me to teach you,” I goad.
She sits up, rocking back onto her knees. “You taught me a lot of other things, Kade.”
“Like what?”
“Like…” She trails off, teeth sinking into her bottom lip.
Cupping her cheek, I lean closer. “Like what, Pres?”
“Like what it means to be kissed properly.”
“Properly?”
She nods. “A lesson I might need a refresher in.”
“You want me to—”
“Kiss me, Kade,” she interjects.
The best words I’ve heard in a long time. I cup her cheek, watching as her eyes widen. Even in the darkness, I can see the want filling them.
I press my lips to the corner of her mouth. She tastes sweet. Like the chocolate torte we had. I sip. I savor. I suck on her bottom lip before I slip my tongue into her mouth. I enjoy every fucking second of this kiss. It’s different from the kiss at the diner we shared.
It’s slow. The small gasps that leave her mouth stoke the fire inside of me. I relearn everything about her. Presley’s fingers dig into my back, urging me on.
Pulling her over me, I groan as she rocks over my lap. My cock hardens. Damn. He can’t help his reaction to her. I’ve always been like this.
Presley King will always elicit this reaction from me. Lust. Want. Desire. Passion.
Everything.
I pull back, whispering against her kiss-swollen lips. “How much time do we have tonight?”
“Not enough.” She shakes her head. “I have to get home to relieve the babysitter.”
“I wish you could stay longer.”
She drags her nose along mine. “Maybe next time.”
Next time.
I take it back. Those are the best words I’ve heard in a long time. Because it’s the promise of more. More with Presley.
The woman I gave my heart to years ago and never quite got it back.