Page 37 of Major Love

I wait until she’s returned her attention to making the cocoa and then I slip a ten from my wallet, tucking it behind a vase.

She gives me a side-eye glance, almost catching me hide the money, but I give her an easy-going smile and smoothly move in beside her. She holds my gaze for a long moment and I smirk down at her as I recap the milk.

Then we’re laughing again because being together makes us feel like a pair of high-schoolers, and I settle my palm beside her mug as she bites shyly into her smile.

“Anyway, Haven told me that we’re about to get some crazy snow. And when I said that I didn’t believe her, she was like, ‘okay, just wait until you see how much is already in the mountains’. So, we drove to the closest Nature Trail with Tucker and…” Sunday gives me a wide-eyed look. “Thesnow?” she says, before shaking her head. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Then she points her spoon toward me and gestures to the pan of milk on the stove.

“Do you want a cup?” she asks.

I breathe out a laugh. “To drink or to wear?”

“Hey!” she gasps. Then she mumbles, “No cocoa for you.”

I give her a playful grin and she gently nudges my boot with the toe of hers.

But then I glance out of the front door, wincing at how much work I have to do today.

“Wish I could stay,” I tell her honestly. “But I’ve got a couple things I need to check on.”

One of which is for Sunday’s brother, and I’m still a little unnerved by Beckett telling me that Sunday almost found out about it.

She nods solemnly, hiding her smile. “More elk to save,” she says teasingly.

My dimples flex as I laugh. “Something like that,” I admit, before glancing down at her.

I let my eyes roam over her pyjama set, my shoulders swelling at how intimate this feels.

And when she catches me checking her out, I jerk my chin toward her boots and rumble, “They look good on you.”

“Thanks,” she says softly. “I actually want to find a place to saddle up while I’m in town. I’m just not sure if there’ll be anywhere open what with it being the winter season and all.”

Surprise lifts my brow. “You ride?” I ask.

A smile touches her lips as she glances up at me. “Sowell.”

I breathe out a laugh, my muscles flexing at her innuendo. I mean, maybe she didn’t mean it like that but, you know, a guy can dream.

“A friend of mine has a ranch, right on the outskirts of town,” I tell her. “So, if you want some company while you ride…” I rub my palm down my stubble. “We could do it together.”

For a long moment she doesn’t respond, her eyes unblinking as they carefully search mine.

And I’m not sure what she’s looking for, but I can tell the second that she finds it.

A small dimple pops in her cheek as she bites into her tiny smile.

“They let people visit their ranch?” she asks in the softest voice I’ve ever heard, and I swallow thickly because I think that that’s her way of saying yes.

End of the Road Ranch is right on the edge of Phoenix Falls, and I helped Hardy Hanson build it over a decade ago when I was home from deployment. He’s got a lot of land and usually the only visitors are ranch-hands, but I know for a fact that he’ll do me this favour and let me bring Sunday down to ride.

I tuck my thumb into one of my belt-loops. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Canyouride?” she asks.

I look her over. “Wanna find out?”

And in the next second she’s shoving her elbow into my gut, laughing breathlessly as I grin down at her gorgeous flushed cheeks.

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