Page 35 of New in Town

“Grey? Are you there?”

“Yes. Hi, Maddie,” he says, at a loss for words.

“Hi.” Her voice is so sweet he wants to vow that he’ll never go chasing danger in the mountains again. What was she doing to him?

“I’m sorry I worried you,” he murmurs.

“You’re worth worrying about,” she whispers.

He throws his head back against the rocking chair he’s seated in on his front porch. Why didn’t he go straight to see her in person when he got off the mountain? Why wasn’t he going over right now?

“When can I see you again?” he asks, sending up a prayer that she tells him to come to town right now.

“You must be exhausted from the night-watch. Do you think you’ll want to this weekend? Or do you want to just rest? If you—”

“Maddie,” he cuts in. Is she rambling? “Yes, I want to see you this weekend. Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

* * *

Parking at Maddie’s bakery apartment, he notices that she is already outside, awaiting his arrival. In denim cut off shorts and a tiny little cropped tank, she is bending over to brush off the tip of her cowgirl boots. At the sight of her, his brain goes blank.

He had planned on making it up to her door to get her, unlike last time. But he can’t stop staring. She straightens and sees his truck, a brilliant smile stretching across her face.

Eager to greet her, he gets out and moves around the truck. Leaning against the passenger side door, he can admit that he’d happily spend all his time admiring Maddie. She flits towards him, boots clicking rhythmically down the path until she settles into his arms.

“Hey you,” she whispers, her hands coming up around his neck.

“Hi, sweetheart.” He leans forwards to press a kiss to her lips, stiffening with a realization. Kissing her was not a greeting that fit into the rules they’d outlined. Was the first kiss a one-time thing?Damn, this is getting so confusing, he thinks, taking note of how his palms suddenly feel clammy.

“So… where are we going?” she asks, unwrapping her arms from him. He’s made this weird by kissing her, that is why she is pulling back. He is sure of it.

“I um, I was thinking the rodeo.”

Maddie stills, her smile faltering into something more akin to a grimace—something he’s never seen grace her perfect lips. This wasn’t right. If his kiss made things uncomfortable, the rodeo idea was completely rattling her.

“We don’t need to go there. I’mhappyto not go, actually. Let’s do whatever you want. Anything at all.” He feels himself growing frantic, unsure how he caused her mood to shift so fast. His heart is racing, threatening to beat out of his chest.

“No, no it’s nothing. Let’s go to the rodeo,” Maddie exclaims, the cheer in her voice ringing hollow. She attempts to reach around him and open the truck door, but he’s still leaning against it, making it impassable.

“Talk to me, Maddie.”

She looks down at her boots and shrugs. “My dad. He was…” She pauses and purses her lips. “Well, he was a rodeo guy from here. His letter talked about the Sterling Round-Up. I know I mentioned that before. But…”

He takes her hands in his and pulls her closer. He’s known plenty of guys married to an eight second ride. Was her dad one of them?

“He came into town for a competition series and my mom fell hard. Then he was gone before she knew she was pregnant. She called him when she found out about me. And to Henry’s credit, he did come back. At first, he tried to be a dad. He was there. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”

She leans into Grey as he envelopes her in an embrace. A mixture of emotions pulsates through him, and he tries to focus only on the feeling of her once again in his arms. He was relieved that she doesn’t seem upset with him.

In fact, he was thrilled she is looking to him for comfort. But then there is the way his heart breaks for her, having had to experience being abandoned by a parent. He understands that firsthand. What he doesn’t understand is how someone could know Maddie and be okay hurting her.

“It’s safe to say that my mom preached a very anti-rodeo mindset as I grew up. Anti-cowboy, actually,” she mumbles against his chest.

“That must have been hard as a kid, even now.” He brushes a hand down her hair, ignoring the prick of worry that comes with theanti-cowboycomment. “How about we do something else tonight?”

Maddie lifts her head, her warm brown eyes studying his face. “I want to go. With you,” she says, a small smile dancing on her lips. The tension in his shoulders loosens. Maybe he hadn’t ruined the night after all.

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