Page 111 of A Rancher's Vow
Confusion returned to his face. “Tee?”
She swallowed hard then hurried ahead. “Being your girlfriend. I like it. I don’t want to go back to just friends. And I’m not only talking about the sex.”
She squeezed her eyes tight. She couldn’t bear to see him try to find a kind way to turn her down.
Concern laced his voice as he stroked his palms up her arms. “What’s wrong? Why are you looking like that?”
She opened one eye a sliver, fighting for courage. “I don’t want to hear you tell me that it’s been fun but it’s over.”
The noise that escaped him was part cry and part laugh. He snatched her up and held her so tightly his heartbeat pulsed against her torso. “We’re not just friends,” he told her firmly. “Fuck that noise.”
Relief swamped her, and she buried her face in his neck. Fighting back tears of fear and hope.
Dustin stroked her back and made reassuring sounds “I’m sorry you were worried. I should have said something sooner.” He shook his head. “Somewhere between us germ proofing each other and now, I lost the ability to be straight up and say what I think. So fucking stupid.”
She snorted. “Not really. It’s hard. I mean, I feel as if people might know what they want to say but actually saying it has got to one of the toughest things in the world.”
Determined expression back in place, Dustin led her to the bench under the tower maple in the center of the yard. They sat, and he held her hands, staring at their linked fingers. “Last night, when Suz said how you could go home now, my gut said you alreadywerehome.”
Which was how she felt inside. Panic began to fade.
“It’s like in your Grandma Lily’s story.” Dustin curled his arm tighter around her as if trying to mesh them together.
“The lights?” She glanced at the solar lights all around the cemetery. There really were a lot of them after all these years.
“No, although it is nice to finally have solved the mystery of who put them up. Everyone in Heart Falls has been wondering.”
“It’s been fun to keep it a secret.” Guilt struck for a moment. “Although, I’m not really doing it for others—if that doesn’t sound really selfish.”
“I get it,” Dustin insisted. “Consider it a side benefit. They’re very pretty, and people appreciate the cheeriness.” He cupped her face, turning her toward him. “I was thinking about how in your grandma’s story, each small moment seemed insignificant by itself. But they added up, over and over, until they were as bright as a starry night.”
She waited.
“That's like you and me. We’ve been friends for a while, but these past weeks have been full of bright moments. It feels as ifhereis simply where we were meant to be. We never had to take a ninety degree turn in the road, we never had to up and announcehey, we should date.”
“But we are saying that. Yes? We should date?”
He laughed. “Yes. Definitely, yes.”
“I want to be with you.” She said it as plain and simply as possible.
The brightness in his eyes was nearly blinding. “I think I’m in love with you.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Oh, wow.”
Before she could say anything else, he leaned in and kissed her. Sweet and soft and heartachingly tender. Her heart pounded and everything inside was singing with hope.
They pulled apart far enough Dustin cupped her face in his palm. “That’s for you, because you were brave enough to tell me the truth even when you weren’t sure what I’d say. Because you were brave enough to make this stubborn cowboy want to do better.”
She met his gaze straight on. “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, as well.”
His grin flashed this time. “Convenient. Practical.”
Charity snickered. “Magical.”
“That too.”
He lifted her into his lap and held her close, chin resting on her curls. A moment of peace in the middle of the storm.
