Page 33 of All for You

She grins wickedly. “What, you don’t believe Sam ‘Cupid’ Cooper shot an arrow through two feuding lovers’ hats, pinning them to a tree until they made up?”

“About as much as I believe in the tooth fairy.”

Rachel’s laughter fades. She retakes her seat across from me at the table. “Yeah, well, some of us aren’t exactly prime catching material.”

The bitterness in her voice creates an ache in my chest ache. “Hey now. You’re...” I trail off, not sure how to finish that sentence without sounding like a horny, lovesick fool. How can I tell her she’s everything I never knew I wanted? How her strength and vulnerability, her sass and sweetness, wormed their way into my heart?

She raises an eyebrow. “I’m what?”

“You’re something else, Rachel. Smart as a whip and twice as sharp.”

A faint blush colors her cheeks. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she mumbles, then quickly charges on. “So, I guess the real story is that he saved the town. He was a hero.”

“Yes, he used his sharpshooting skills to fend off a band of rustlers. The townsfolk initially named a small creek that ran through town at the time after him. Eventually, as the town grew and the creek dried up, they gave the town his name.”

“Well, I think it’s cute. The first story, I mean. Anyway, what about you? What do you do for fun when you’re not playing cowboy?”

I swivel in my chair and stretch my legs out. “Ah, you know. The usual. Roping steers, wrestling bears, saving damsels in distress.”

Rachel snorts. “Right.”

“If you must know, I’m partial to a good Western. Give me John Wayne and a bowl of popcorn, and I’m set for the night.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Westerns? Really? All that macho posturing and guns? Sort of cliché, isn’t it?”

“Hey now, there’s more to it than that. It’s about honor, justice, and standing up for what’s right. Just like Sam Cooper did.”

“I suppose,” she says softly, her expression thoughtful.

“Yeah, well... I like it. There’s nothing like being out on the range, just you and your horse. The wind in your face, the open sky above. It’s freedom, pure and simple.”

“That sounds nice. Peaceful.”

Watching her, I realize how much I want to share that peace with her. To show her the beauty of the land I love, to see it through her eyes. “It is,” I agree.

“I’ve never even been on a horse before,” she confesses.

“Never?” I ask, incredulous.

“Some of us are more familiar with bus stops than stables.”

“Fair enough. Just means I get to teach you. If you want, that is.”

Her eyes shine with excitement. “I’d like that.”

The thought of Rachel on my ranch, learning to ride, makes me feel a slice of happy, but I tamp it down, reminding myself not to get ahead of things. “Well, the offer stands. Anytime you want to trade in your apron for a pair of chaps, just say the word.”

Rachel giggles. “A girl might get ideas.”

I meet her gaze head on, feeling the air between us crackle. “Maybe that’s the point.”

Since we’re on a conversational streak here, I push my luck. “So, how did a city girl like you end up in this little slice of nowhere?”

“Oh, you know, the usual. Just a girl who can never live up to her mother’s standards, grows up, gets a job in a big glass tower in down-town New York, falls for the wrong guy and decides to leave town and start over. She hopped in her car one day and drove until she decided to stop.”

This woman has been through hell and back, and she’s writing it off as a road trip. My chest aches with anger at the asshole who hurt her and her mother who didn’t love her unconditionally.

“Come on now, it couldn’t have been all that bad,” I say.

---