Page 58 of Home Hearts Hooves

“Tennant.”

“Right, David Tennant. Oh, and for the record. I don’t mind black and white. Gramps’s television was about as old as he was, until he moved to Savannah. The weekend he left, Nial and I bought a big screen for the living room. We hardly watch it, but every time we do, we have a chuckle about the one that we grew up with.”

“Ours was the same. I watched the old episodes of Doctor Who with Dad when I was a kid. It was pretty much the only show he’d put on the television, so we all watched, Mom, too. I think that’s the one thing she will miss the least,” I say and suddenly the air in the room feels thick like mud. I’ll never watch Dr Who with Dad ever again. It’s stupid to be sad over watching a television show, but my eyes are starting to sting, and I turn to fiddle with the computer to bring up the streaming website.

“It’s okay to miss him,” Dean says, suddenly right behind me. He’s standing so close, the heat from his chest radiates between us, and when he places his large hand on my shoulder, I almost sink back into his touch. Almost. “I still miss my parents, too.”

“Will I ever be past it?”

“No.”

I suck in a breath, the ache only growing.

“But that’s okay,” he continues, softly squeezing my shoulder. “It hurts because the memories of them are like footsteps on our heart, stomping harder with every beat, reminding us of how much we loved them.”

I turn, sniffing back the tears that threaten to fall. Not that I think he’d care if I did cry. Dean surprises me more every day I spend with him. The years of ranch life haven’t hardened him at all. He’s still that sweet kid I knew growing up, the same kind guy who sat with me while my heart broke over Isabel and I thought my sky was falling in.

He holds my stare, his thumb brushing softly over my collarbone. It sends a shiver through me, but I don’t pull away. I can’t. I’m lost in his piercing stare. Then his gaze moves to my lips. A hope rises in me, and my pulse quickens. Is he going to kiss me? Fuck I hope he does.

His woody sweet scent envelops me in a warm haze I can almost taste. Maybe I should kiss him. Show him I’m open to something, even though I told him I needed to just be friends for now. It was silly. I can see what this could be with Dean and still build my relationship with Poppy. Why did I tell him I needed to only be friends?

“Dean, I, umm,” I start, and he licks his lips, his gaze moving from my stare to my mouth and back.

With every tick of the clock, it becomes clear he’s not going to make the first move here, and I can’t even be mad because he’s doing exactly what I asked him to. But I want those lips on mine. I need them.

I count down in my head, determined to do it. To kiss him. Three. Two.

Before I can do anything, Cuddles pops his head up from the sash and licks Dean right on the mouth.

Well fuck. A pygmy goat just stole my kiss.

Chapter nineteen

DEAN

IF YOU NEVER ASK YOU’LL NEVER KNOW

Ican’tstopthinkingabout that almost kiss with Preston yesterday. The man is sending me so many mixed signals. Like yesterday, licking those irresistibly perfect lips, holding my gaze, almost like he was testing me to see if I would kiss him. I reckon I would have, too, if Cuddles hadn’t chosen that moment to wake up. It’s a bit hard to get back in the same mood after you get licked on the mouth by a dwarf goat, so we sat on the small sofa he’s got in one of the exam rooms out the back and watched the Dr Who episode on the clinic laptop, and then I drove home.

“You’re quiet this morning,” Nial says from across the table.

“Just thinking.”

“Careful, don’t hurt yourself,” he chuckles.

“If you manage, I’m sure I’ll do just fine, little bro.”

“Woah, there must be something serious going on in that head of yours if you’re pulling out the little bro. Come on, I’ve got a few minutes before I have to get out there. What’s up?”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“So you weren’t thinking about the Doc?”

Fucking intuitive brothers.

“Might have been, but it doesn’t matter.”

“Why doesn’t it?”

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