Chapter Eighteen #2
“About to collect on what you owe me,” he answered, and started a series of hot, steamy kisses on his way to the front of the truck.
When he put her on the passenger seat, she was panting so hard that she could hardly breathe. The date was already the best one she had ever had.
And it’s the third one, the voice in her head reminded her.
Tina knew what that meant in any generation.
She was willing, but maybe Walker needed to go slow.
The idea of going to sleep in his arms and waking up beside him put a new picture in her mind—one of him tangled up in cotton sheets with his dark hair still damp with sweat after making scorching-hot love for half the night.
He whistled all the way around the front of the truck, slid in behind the steering wheel, and drove down a path that couldn’t be called a road. “In case you are wondering . . .”
She held up a palm. “I trust you.”
“I’m glad. We’re headed to a place where the old folks come for some of their ceremonies a couple of times a year. There is half a dozen camping setups with water and electricity, so you won’t be living totally in the bush.”
“Gracie won’t have a thing on me,” Tina said. “And, Walker, I’m not a porcelain doll or a princess. I would rough it if it meant a weekend alone with you.”
“In my dreams, you’ve always been my beautiful Irish princess,” he said. “And before you even ask, that is not a pickup line.”
She hoped that he couldn’t see the pictures in her head as well as he could read her mind. “Thank you, but it must be true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
“Don’t kid yourself, lady,” Walker chuckled. “When you walk into a room, every eye is on you.”
“You are making me feel special,” she said, “and I love every minute of it.”
“Get used to it, because I intend to do it every day.”
“Even when we don’t agree on something?” she asked.
“Arguing might make us angry with each other, but it won’t change the way I’ve felt about you since I was a teenager,” he declared.
“I like that,” she whispered and then pointed straight ahead at a hut made of what looked like mud and grass with a thatched roof, a few hookups for campers, and a couple of crude firepits. “Is that where we are going? I thought it would be farther away than this.”
Walker drove to the middle place and pulled the truck forward until the trailer was under the metal awning. “We’ll park in this one since this is the third date.”
“You are a romantic at heart, Walker Cosay,” Tina said with a laugh as she got out of the truck. “What do we do first?”
“Hook up to the utilities. I forgot to tell you that there’s no air-conditioning, but the nights get pretty cool out here.”
She turned around slowly and took in the whole desolate area. “I’m surprised that there’s not beer bottles and trash scattered everywhere. Evidently, the teenage party group hasn’t found this place.”
He lay on his back and scooted up under the trailer. “They’d have to get through Trade Days and then find this path. It’s the best-kept secret in New Mexico.”
“How often can we come?”
“Until you get tired or bored of it,” he answered and pulled himself out. “There, we are ready for the rest of today and tonight. Now we’ll gather sticks and wood to make a fire so we can cook supper.”
Tina would have much rather gotten a peek at the inside of the trailer, maybe even spent the afternoon cuddled up with Walker in the bed. After all, this was the third date. But if they needed sticks, then hopefully the recent tornado had dropped a few around the area.
“Be careful when you pick up something,” Walker warned as he slipped her hand into his. “Scorpions and snakes love the desert.”
“Are you trying to scare me?” Tina asked.
“Maybe, but I’ll protect you.” He led her around to the back of his truck, flipped back the cover, and grinned. “I believe we’ve found enough sticks and wood right here for the fire.”
“Are those from the Tomorrow Tree?” she asked.
He dropped her hand and gathered an armful of wood. “Yep, and the bottle of Jameson is in that box right there. I figure this is a special night. We are burning away the past and toasting to a bright future.”
“Since I don’t have to scream and faint when I see a bug or a snake, can I see the inside of the trailer after the fire gets started?”
“Of course. Oak burns slow, and all we have to do is heat up our supper.”
Fifteen minutes later he swung the door open to the trailer and picked her up for the second time and carried her over the threshold. “I know what this means, so if you ever think of breaking up with me, remember that you’ll have to divorce me.”
“Walker Cosay, are you proposing to me?”
He set her down and looked into her eyes. “No, darlin’. When I do that, you won’t have to ask. You will know exactly what is going on. Today I’m asking if we are dating exclusively.”
Tina blocked out the rest of the world and got lost for several moments in his crystal-clear blue eyes. “If you are willing to date an Irish princess, then she would walk on hot coals to be with you.”
“And we can tell Cleo and Mae when we go home?” he asked without blinking.
“From the rooftop if you want to, but I have a question. How many other women have you carried inside this trailer?” she asked, then remembered Cleo’s advice about not asking a question that you really didn’t want to know the answer to.
He took a step back and put a hand over his heart. “I’m hurt that you would think I would treat you like any other woman in my past.”
She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him on both cheeks and then brushed a sweet kiss across his lips. “I don’t need to know the whole list of women, but tonight is special and should belong to us.”
“Yes, it is, and I will never lie to you.”
She braced herself for the answer that would no doubt include Yolanda.
“There have never been any other women in this trailer, and I’ve never brought one home to meet Grandmother. Besides all that, she would never let me use this thing for anyone other than you. Like I said before, she thinks you are the good luck charm that will tame this red fox.”
“Red fox?”
He drew her even closer to his chest. “That could be your spirit animal. Maybe that’s why grandmother likes you. The red hair would make you a vixen.”
“I like vixen better than princess,” she whispered, before his lips closed on hers.