Page 35 of Rawhide and Ransom

“Oh, wow!” He enclosed her in his arms and gathered her close, hugging her tight enough to raise her to her tiptoes. The moment was too potent to do anything but hold her. She felt so delicate and breakable. She smelled good, too. He turned his face against the side of her neck to breathe her in.

A summer breeze wafted over them, stirring wisps of her hair and blowing them against his temple and forehead. He could feel her fingers in his hair, warmly pressed against the back of his neck.

“You sure this is okay?” Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.

“Yep.” He lowered her to her feet, rubbing his hands in circles across her back. Being in her arms was more than okay. It was perfect.

“I’m not trying to make you as crazy as I am.” She sounded so unsure of herself that he cuddled her even closer.

“Bring on the craziness, babe. I’m ready.”

She gave a shaky laugh. It was a beautiful sound. Like music. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He knew what she meant, but he wanted to hear her say it in her own words.

“For being you and being here for me.” She fisted a hand in his hair and gave it a gentle tug. “And being here for Miley.” She let out a long, slow breath. “For very quickly becoming someone who’s very special to us.”

“You’re welcome.” Though she didn’t know it yet, she was that and more to him — every last one of his biggest dreams come true. She checked off the entire list of things he wanted in a relationship. She was intelligent, down to earth, and real. She was beauty in motion. She wasthe onehe’d been waiting so long for.

His cell phone buzzed in his back pocket with an incoming call he was in no hurry to pick up. He let it buzz until it went to voicemail, but it started buzzing again almost immediately.

Annalee gave a muffled chuckle. “Are you gonna get that?”

“Do I have to?” he grumbled.

“No, but you should.” She kept her arms twined around his neck. “Not that I’m near ready to let you go.”

Man, but she was making him smile from the inside out. He managed to keep an arm slung around her while digging his phone out of his pocket. Johnny’s name was on the caller ID. He punched the accept button with his thumb and raised the phone to his ear. “Yo!”

Johnny snorted out a laugh. “You sound awfully happy. What’s up?”

“You called me,” Hawk shot back with a grin. “You’re supposed to tellmewhat’s up!”

“You’re smiling, aren’t you?” Suspicion edged his friend’s voice.

“Whatever you called for, spill,” Hawk growled, losing patience.

“Alright, alright! That’s more like the Hawk I know.” Johnny sobered and launched into the reason for his call. “Were you aware that Chayton Dakota had a stepbrother?”

His shoulders tensed. “Yes, I was aware that Chayton Dakota had a stepbrother.” He spoke against the top of her head, answering Johnny’s question with a full sentence to keep her in the loop about what they were discussing.

Johnny snorted. “You with somebody?”

“Hang on a sec.” He hit the mute button. “Mind if I put you on speakerphone?”

“That’s fine.” Annalee lowered her hands from his shoulders to his upper arms.

He was just glad she wasn’t pulling away altogether. He hit the unmute button and started talking. “To answer your question, yes. I’ve got Annalee with me, and she’d like to weigh in on this.”

“Cool.” Johnny sounded like he was grinning. “Hey, Annalee! I’m Johnny Cuba, the private investigator assigned to your case.”

“Hi, Johnny!” The cautious hope in her voice made Hawk want to keep holding her and never let go.

“Not sure why I put up with a friend like him,” he continued in a long-suffering voice.

She laughed like he intended her to. “I think I know why.” She met Hawk’s gaze warmly. “He’s a pretty handy guy to have around.”

“You shouldn’t say stuff like that out loud,” Johnny warned on a dire note. “It’ll give him a big head.”

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