Chapter 3 #2
"I imagine you have." Ruby glanced at me, then back to Lilah.
"People who do the work usually find their footing.
Even when the ground's unfamiliar." She patted the table.
"I'll leave you to it. Dawson, tell Slade I've got those permit forms he asked about.
He can pick them up tomorrow at the merc. "
Ashley called out that her order was ready. Ruby gave us one last smile before turning, collecting her takeout, and sweeping back out into the cold.
Lilah let out a slow exhale. "She's something."
"She's the reason this town still exists." I set my mug down. "She's the mayor's wife, runs the mercantile, and keeps track of everyone's business whether they want her to or not."
"When does she sleep?"
"I’m not sure she does."
Lilah smiled like I'd just shared a secret and damn if my heart didn't warm all the way through. I picked up my menu and stared at it without seeing a word.
I needed to stop whatever the hell I was doing before it got away from me. No good would come from trying to start something with Lilah. I was too old, too cranky, and too damn set in my ways.
Ashley stopped by and took our order. Silence filled the space between us as soon as she walked away. I wasn't good at small talk. Seemed like a waste of time and a waste of breath, but I was curious about what had brought Lilah to Mustang Mountain.
"Are you ready to tell me about that horse you lost?" I asked.
Lilah’s fingers tightened around her mug. "Calla. She's tied up in a contract dispute."
"I figured that much."
She met my gaze and the hurt buried deep in the depths of her brown eyes made me sorry I'd asked.
"I've been working with her for six years. Built the whole partnership from scratch… trust, timing, all of it." Her jaw tightened and she looked down at her hands. "The promoter who hired me claimed usage rights extended to ownership clauses buried in the contract."
"And you walked away?"
"I refused to ride under those terms. Their set up isn't safe, they've got outdated equipment, and they're willing to cut corners." She shrugged. "So I left. Calla stayed."
My hands curled into fists under the table. She deserved better than that. So did the horse. "Are you fighting it?"
"I've got a lawyer, but it's expensive and slow." Her voice stayed level, but I could tell how much losing that horse had cost her. "I'm not na?ve about how contracts work. I just didn't think someone would twist language so far."
I studied her face. She wasn't making excuses. Just accepting the hard truth of someone who'd made a choice and lived with the cost. Some folks lived their entire lives without learning how to do that.
"Ownership's complicated," I said. "Especially when someone's willing to use the law as a weapon."
"Yeah." She picked up her coffee. "It is."
“How about you? How did you end up running the ranch?”
I didn’t like talking about myself, so I kept my answer short. “Cancer took my mom and my dad passed a few months later from a broken heart. I’d been on the circuit riding broncs and came home to take over the ranch.”
Lilah reached out and set her hand on mine. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.” I reached for my coffee to break the contact. A man could only take so much, and I’d been fighting my attraction to the curvy ray of sunshine since I first set eyes on her. “It’s a good life.”
“Sounds lonely,” Lilah said.
I glanced up and met her gaze for a fraction of a second. Heat sparked in my chest that had nowhere to go. Thank fuck Ashley showed up with our food.
“Let me know if y’all need anything else.” Ashley topped off our coffee, then moved on to the table next to us. The café hummed with quiet conversations, the clink of silverware, and the hiss of the grill.
Lilah shifted in her seat, favoring her right side again as she picked up her sandwich.
"You need ice when we get back."
"Probably."
"Not probably. Definitely."
Her mouth quirked. "Are you always this bossy, boss?"
"Only when people are being stubborn."
"Then I'm in trouble."
I almost smiled before catching myself. I'd already let my guard down too much around her.
We finished lunch without saying much else. When Ashley brought the check, I grabbed it before Lilah could.
She cocked her head and stared me down. "I can pay for my own food."
"I know. But I asked you here and told you I was buying you lunch."
"You didn't ask me anything. You told me I was coming." She set her elbows on the table and leaned forward like she wanted to arm wrestle over the check.
I pulled a few bills out of my wallet and slid them under the edge of my plate. "Same thing."
Lilah rolled her eyes but didn't argue.
She also didn’t argue when I held her coat out for her so she could shrug it on.
Outside, the cold just about knocked the wind out of us.
Lilah pulled her jacket tighter, her breath fogging in the air.
She moved toward the truck, slower than before, and this time when I offered my hand at the passenger door, she took it.
Her fingers were cold. The woman needed a good pair of winter gloves if she planned on sticking around for a while. My head tried to tell me that would be a bad idea… her sticking around. But my heart seemed to like the idea way too much.
I didn't let go once she got settled in the front seat. Neither did she.
We stood there in the frozen parking lot, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes.
"Dawson."
"Yeah?"
"You're staring."
"I know."
Her breath hitched. Not from pain, but from something else. Something we both seemed to feel but didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
So I leaned in. I didn’t think about it, just moved.
Our mouths met halfway.
The kiss was quick, intense, and absolutely mutual. Her lips were soft against mine, her hand tightening in my grip. Sparks ignited in my chest, spread through my limbs, and made me forget the cold and the town and everything except the woman pressed against me.
Then I pulled back. Half a beat too late to call it an accident.
Lilah's eyes were wide, her breathing unsteady. "That wasn't—"
"I know."
"I don't usually—"
"Neither do I."
We stood there, still close, neither of us moving. This wasn't part of the plan. And it seemed like neither of us wanted to pretend it hadn't happened.