Page 52 of A Cowboy's Trust
The party headed back to High Water, Aiden and Petra taking the video camera with them.
“Tansy and I will be home shortly. There’s something I need to pick up,” Jake told them before taking Tansy’s hand and guiding her toward the back door.
“We’ll see you there,” Aiden returned.
As Tansy and Jake stepped through the back door into the wintry temperatures, he glanced at the door briefly. “Will it lock itself again?” he asked.
No matter how hard she listened, she didn’t hear any judgment in his tone. “Yeah. I didn’t unlock it. Just did a temporary override.”
“Good to know. Come on. You look as if you need a hot drink.”
Curiously, he led her around the corner and straight into Buns and Roses. It was like walking into a hug—a safe place as sweet scents and warm air enveloped them in a welcoming embrace.
Marina waved from behind the counter. Tansy waved back as Jake led her to the prime seating spot in the corner in front of the fake fireplace.
“Hot chocolate or anything else?” he asked.
“A small latte and a chocolate chip cookie, please.” If nothing else, the sugar rush should help her maybe find the words she needed to explain— To explain her life?
Oh boy, this was going to be fun.Not.
Yet when he got back with the treats, Jake didn’t give her time to get any more nervous. He put the food down on the little table in front of them then slipped his fingers into hers and stared into the fire instead of meeting her gaze. “I’ve been having quite the conversation in my head for the last hour. Which is a good thing because it let me get out a whole bunch of the stupid questions that instantly popped to mind. Once I moved past those and started to get to some of the more complicated issues, I realized you may not have explained much before we got into that situation, but you did say one thing really clearly.”
“Prepare to be deafened?” Tansy cursed herself for trying to avoid the serious moment with humor, but as a defense mechanism, it was instinctive.
He tipped his gaze to meet hers. “You wanted me with you. That says you trusted me with a secret part of your past. That’s pretty humbling.”
Tansy took a shaky breath. “So, you still like me?”
Jake outright laughed. “Trust me back. You can’t shake me off by showing me a part of you that’s always been there that I wasn’t aware of yet.”
She nodded, the motion jerking free unevenly. “I don’t like to talk about my childhood. It’s not even really about the things that I learned to do that aren’t normal, like picking locks. It’s about the emotions that go along with them. It hurts less to not look back.”
He dipped his chin slowly. “I get that. You don’t need to tell me the details, but I hope that you keep letting me know more aboutyou. Sometimes those things from our past that are hard— Hell, forgetsometimes. The things in our past that are hard are important parts of what makes us who we are.”
He picked up her latte and put it in her hand.
Tansy took a small sip then leaned back, still curled within his protective circle. “You get gold stars today for handling spontaneity so well.”
His blue eyes flashed with amusement. “Gold stars are nice, but I’d like kisses more.”
Great idea. “I can manage that.”
“Perfect. Also, can you handle a date on Saturday night?”
Interesting. Tansy let her gaze drift over his chest and shoulders. “Am I finally getting the prearranged date with all the trimmings?”
He leaned closer, expression intensely heated. “You’re getting the prearranged date. You need to let me know if we’re a go foranyactivity we want to enjoy.”
Oh, hell yes.
She met his stare with what she hoped was full-on approval. “I would be delighted to be your date. For any andallactivities that might entice us.”
It was a little surreal to be sitting in Buns and Roses—a place where she had so much history—with a man who intrigued her to an incredible degree and was definitely part of the present she had never imagined.
Perhaps even part of her future.
Back at the ranch house, more congratulations were shared with the newlyweds, but pretty much otherwise the day went on in the most ordinary of ways.
