Page 34 of The Cowboy's Christmas
He wanted to touch her again, but didn’t. Instead, he waited.
She frowned as she worked through what she wanted to say. “I don’t have a standard by which to measure what just happened. Matt and I married young. I don’t have a lot of…”
Experience.
He silently filled in the blank, before saying, “No need to measure anything. It was just a kiss.”
She reached up to pull the elastic out of her hair, which spilled over her shoulders in a wavy mass, then gave him a darkish look. “I also have no idea how to bring things back to normal after something like this happens, short of jetting out of here.”
He smiled at her candid admission. “No need to jet. Or overthink.” Although it was totally possible that he’d be doing some thinking once he was alone.
She held his gaze as if debating whether to believe him. “I excel at overthinking.”
“Don’t. We’re good.”
She shifted her gaze back to the concrete floor. Her color was high, but she seemed okay other than that.
“Guess I’ll head back to the house and…wow.” She met his eyes again, a bemused frown pulling her eyebrows together.
“Do you want me to keep working here?” The question had to be asked. They needed him, but Savannah had to make that choice rather than feeling forced into having him here.
She looked up, a matter-of-fact expression on her face. “Like you said, it was only a kiss. Right?”
“Right.” No way was he going to tell her that it had felt like a whole lot more.
“Then yes. I’d like it if you would come back.”
*
“He kissed you.”Sara frowned at the camera, obviously surprised at her sister’s blurted confession. Savannah was still dealing with a level of surprise herself.
“It was mutual.” She started to pull the elastic out of her hair, then stopped when she caught her sister’s gaze following the motion, and instead settled her hand in her lap.
“Okay,” Sara said, using her we’ll-figure-this-out voice. “These things happen. I mean two attractive people—he is attractive?”
“Hot as hell. He’s a Harding brother.”
“We might have to get into that secret brother thing when I have more time.”
Sara had a scheduled video call that night, and Savannah had waited until her turn, after Deke had shepherded the girls out of the room, to seek sisterly advice. Truly, they didn’t have much time, but she’d wanted to talk face-to-face. Then they could start the email barrage if necessary.
“I’ll email you what I know. What I’m trying to figure out is what to do now—or rather, tomorrow. Attraction I can deal with.” She’d done an excellent job of convincing herself of that, only to rachet up the stakes in a way she had not seen coming. “Acting on it…not so much. I don’t have the tools to deal with it. I don’t knowwhatI’m doing. Think about it. How long has it been since I was single?” As opposed to widowed. She knew she didn’t have to hone the point with her sister.
She’d started dating Matt when she was sixteen. They’d been together for six years, four dating, two engaged, before they’d married. So that meant, basically, she’d never really been single in the true sense of the word.
“I understand that.” Sara bit her lip. “What would happen if you let nature take its course?”
It wasn’t hard to come up with a list of scenarios if she were to do that, since she’d been making the list since leaving Quinn standing in the garage next to the tractor. This unexpected kiss marked a new chapter for her, and she hadn’t been ready to turn the page. There were so many fears to face. Too many things she was uncertain of. Too many ways to set herself up to suffer another loss and she was not going there.
“Nix that,” Sara said dryly. “I know how your mind works. He’s leaving soon?”
“As soon as his truck gets fixed.”
“Yeah, Deke’s accident is something else you need to explain in an email—in detail, mind you. But,” she paused before bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand, “if this man is leaving, then maybe he’s the perfect guy to, I don’t know…help you along?”
Sara made a face at her last words, silently apologizing for them being the best she could come up with when describing the journey from living with grief to simply living.
The thought of Quinn “helping her along” sent warmth spiraling through Savannah’s midsection. “You mean use him?”
