Chapter 37
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
Cash picked up his plate, stood, and reached for Lark’s.
“Let me put these in the sink, and I’ll go get the gifts.
” He’d used the past few days of separation from Lark to do the shopping he needed, and he’d set up a little station on the desk in the hotel suite to make the ornament for Daddy and Faith.
He put the dishes in the sink and continued outside while Lark cleared the rest of the table. Cash could see his life with her right in front of his eyes, and such fondness filled him that he couldn’t contain it.
“You can’t tell her you love her,” he whispered to himself once he’d made it to the basket of gifts he’d brought. Cash knew they needed more time together, but he sure felt like he loved Lark.
Taking her on a couple of proper dates had only solidified his feelings for her, and spending time with her felt so easy, so natural, so comfortable.
She’d been making him spam-and-eggs sandwiches, for crying out loud.
Little things like that only endeared Lark to him even further, and his pulse boomed at him as he used the laundry hamper to nudge closed the door.
He went back into the house, knowing they were still playing pretend a little bit. Still, Cash didn’t mind, because the conversations with Lark felt real, and being with her felt right.
He carried the basket of presents into the living room, where Lark sat on the couch right next to the Christmas tree. A few presents sat underneath it, wrapped in shiny blue and white paper.
“You brought a whole laundry hamper?”
“This has my family’s gifts too.” He set down the hamper and flipped the lid. “But this one is for Sweetie.” He plucked out the top gift and handed it to her. “And this one’s for you. And this one. And this one.”
When she had all four bags, Cash closed the lid and sat down on the couch beside her. “Open them.” He grinned at her, and Lark smiled back at him with a bright light in her eyes.
She set two of the bags aside and dove into the first one, which Cash had managed to put red paper into. She pulled it out and sent him a coy look that heated his blood. “What is this and when did you find time to shop?”
“I’m a master at online endeavors,” he said.
“And you had it sent to an apartment you’ve lived in for three days?”
“It’s been four,” he said. “Today’s number five, in fact.”
Lark shook her head, her smile not diminishing by an ounce. She looked down and pulled out the little Christmas dress Cash had bought for Sweetie. “What is this?” She pulled in a breath and held it up. “It’s the cutest thing in the world.”
Happiness beamed out of her, and she called for Sweetie to come get dressed. She proudly put the dress on the little Yorkie, then turned to Cash as Sweetie curled into her side on the couch. “She’s adorable. Thank you.” She leaned toward him and kissed him, and Cash nodded to the bag.
“There’s more.”
She reached in again and took out the new hat, gloves, and scarf set he’d purchased for her. “Cash, this is so soft.”
“It’s rated for thirty below,” he said, taking the pale pink hat from her. “I noticed your other stuff was maybe for Idaho weather, and well, you’re not in Idaho anymore.”
“That I am not.” Lark smiled at him, and Cash reached out and tucked the hat onto her head, sliding one hand around to the back of her neck and bringing her closer to him. “You’re so cute in hats.”
“I thought you liked my hair,” Lark whispered.
“I like it all,” Cash whispered back. He pulled her closer and kissed her, wanting to stay there and do nothing but that. Minding his manners, he pulled away.
“Merry Christmas, Songbird,” he said, and then he sat back and nodded to the next bag, this one red with several nutcrackers and soldiers along the bottom.
Lark picked it up and pulled the white-and-gold glitter paper out of the top. “You’re better at wrapping than you think,” she said.
“They’re bags.” He shook his head. “I know what some of my strengths are, and wrapping presents is not one of them.”
“Did you just bring bags for the littles?” Lark asked.
“No,” he said. “I brought rolls of wrapping paper for that, because they like to rip it off.”
She gave him a look filled with meaning, and Cash wasn’t sure what it meant. “What?” he asked.
“I think you’re very thoughtful when it comes to your half-siblings,” Lark said, and she reached into the bag and pulled out the box he’d put there. She tilted it to get a closer look at the mug.
Cash watched for her reaction. Her face brightened, and she started to giggle. “This is great.” She opened the top of the box and pulled the mug from its protective wrapping. “My heart belongs to a cowboy.”
Cash knew that winter gear and mugs were lame gifts, but Lark leaned over and grabbed onto a fistful of his button-down shirt and pulled him closer.
“You know, it kind of does.” She kissed him like she really would be willing to give him her heart. Such a prospect made him feel bold and strong, but he pulled away and nodded to the last bag.
“I hope that one’s not lame. I know these other two are real generic.”
“They’re great,” Lark said. “I’ve never had a hat with a plastic lining in it to make it waterproof.” She reached up and touched it, a bit of a crinkle coming from it. “I love it.” She picked up the third bag, which bore gold and silver stripes and a gold piece of tissue paper sticking out the top.
“For the record, that bag came with the item,” he said.
“Yes, I know these bags.” Lark looked at him. “This is jewelry, Cash.”
“Yeah,” he said.
Lark hesitated, which caused Cash to frown. “I’m not down on both knees. Just open it.”
“Is that what you’re going to do?” she said. “Both knees, not just one?”
He blinked at her. “Well, yeah. I mean, I’ve never proposed to anybody, but I imagine when I do, I’ll be down on both knees.”
Lark nodded, and he tracked the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Then she pulled the gold paper out and the snowy white ring box that followed.
It actually wasn’t a ring box, but a few inches bigger. She opened it and pulled in a breath at the sight of the diamond tennis bracelet. “Cash.” His name came out in a whoosh of air. “This is incredible.”
She lifted the bracelet off the white velvet, and Cash said, “If you look against the white, you’ll be able to see they come in fancy colors.
Since your birthday is in April, and your birthstone is actually a diamond, I picked out different colors.
There’s yellow, blue, pink, white, and even a couple black ones. ”
Lark held up the diamond tennis bracelet, her expression shocked and her eyes sparkling as bright as stars. “Cash, this is too nice.”
“Is it?” he asked. “I thought it would look real nice on your wrist when I’m holding your hand at church.”
“I won’t have any other opportunity to wear it,” she said.
“Sure, you will.” He took the bracelet from her. “Which hand? Left or right?”
“Left,” she said, which made sense, as she was right-handed. She held out her hand, and Cash lovingly placed the bracelet around her wrist.
“Yeah, this looks nice.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss against her wrist bone and then the back of her hand. “Maybe we’ll go to Jackson Hole to an art gallery or a play,” he whispered, turning her hand over and placing a kiss on the inside of her wrist and then her palm.
“Or I’ll take you to New York City to see the symphony, or we’ll have a real fancy ribbon cutting ceremony when Boston and I finally open Cousins Creek Ranch.”
He looked at her, his vulnerability streaming through him, and it had to be blatantly obvious to her.
“I love this,” she said. “And I love all those things you just said.”
She ducked her head. “My gifts are going to be really lame now.” She scooted down a few inches and bent to pick up the blue-and-white wrapped gifts. The background was almost an electric blue with white snowmen on one and stripes on another.
She handed them to him almost roughly and said, “Remember, I don’t have as much money as you.”
“It’s not about the money,” he said.
She just gave him a stern look, and Cash decided not to argue with her about this. He ripped half the paper off the first gift, his anticipation building.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, when the picture on the box came into view. “I wanted this knife.” He grinned over to Lark and then tore into the box. “This is the best pocketknife you can buy. It has, like, seventeen tools that can do anything.”
“I thought you might want it around the ranch,” Lark said.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be great. Thank you so much.” He put his arm around her and squeezed her tight.
He moved to the next gift. The weight of it in his lap made his mind spin through what the paper might be hiding.
He lifted it and shook it in a show which Lark did not seem to appreciate.
She rolled her eyes, which only made him laugh, as he didn’t like being in the spotlight unwrapping these gifts.
He’d much rather be the one giving them.
Still, he pulled off the paper and found tissue-wrapped chocolate bars. “What are these, hm?”
They all seemed to be the same size and shape, and he pulled off the white paper on the top one. “Dubai chocolate. Yes!” He lifted the brick of four and shook it in triumph. “I’m gonna have the best movie-watching nights with these.”
Lark laughed and shook her head. “Dubai chocolate is like buying gold. That stuff is so expensive.”
“I know,” Cash said. “But it’s so good, right?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
He had two more gifts to go, and he opened the third one, which was roughly the size of a shoe box. In fact, when he got the paper off, it was a shoe box from the Boot Barn in Coral Canyon.
“What have we got here?” he asked, because the box had not been heavy enough to actually contain a pair of cowboy boots. He’d never had someone buy him a pair of those anyway, not even his own father.
He opened the lid and nestled among at least a half-dozen wadded-up pieces of tissue paper sat a gift card for the Boot Barn.