Page 50 of Christmas with the Cowboy
She rolled over on her side again, sliding her hand under her head. “What do you suggest?”
Her tone was matter of fact, but tinged with caution.
“No expectations.”
She waited, and then her eyes narrowed slightly. “That’s it?”
“Most disappointments in life come from unmet expectations.” He rolled onto his side so that they were chest to chest. “Let’s not have any.”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
He answered by pulling her back into his arms, holding her against him. He did not want to let her go, and that worried him. “I think that if we accept that the attraction has never died, we’ll be better off for it.”
“So,” she said slowly, “you don’t want to start something…regular?”
He dipped his chin to look at her. “For now, let’s accept that this happened. Let’s accept that it might happen again if all parties are willing and able, but let’s not expect anything.” He kissed her nose. “Let’s relax.”
“I don’t know if I can relax. You”—she tapped her finger on his lower lip—“put me on edge.”
“As it should be.” He gave her a wicked smile, and she slid her hand down his leg. He felt himself stir and realized that if he was going to get home at a decent time, he needed to go now. Lex was perfectly fine on the ranch, and she and his mom had planned to read a bunch of letters from Scotland that evening, but he couldn’t stay much longer.
“Go,” she said, as if reading his thoughts. “I don’t want your family to be worried about you.”
He got out of bed, sitting on the edge as he reached for his jeans. He paused before shoving his legs into them. “Are we good?”
“I think,” she said slowly, “that we’re in a better place than when you stopped by.”
“You do?” He wasn’t fully convinced.
“I didn’t see my evening ending this way, but it did and there’s no going back. So…no expectations.”
He nodded and pulled the denim over his legs, somehow managing to get his boxers up at the same time.
“Here’s the thing, Trenn. I’d like to have expectations. They’re important to me, but I have Lex to think about and if we start something and it—”
She touched his lips. “We’re good. Moment out of time. Itch scratched. All that.”
“Itch scratched?”
She met his scowl with an innocent look and he fought a smile. A moment later, she got out of bed and pulled on the satin kimono that hung on the corner post of the headboard. “Reed Keller. This was an unexpected pleasure. It may happen again. It may not.” She gave him a wry smile. “No expectations.”
He ran a hand over his hair, ruffling it. “We never did figure out what to do about Jay.”
“Are you kidding? I’m giving him a glowing recommendation. If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t be as relaxed as we are now.”
“You might want to rethink that.”
“I’m going to talk to my dad,” she said. “See if I can do anything for the guy.”
“Just stay clear of him. I don’t totally trust him.”
She tied the kimono around her. “Consider it done.”
Chapter Eleven
“The colt knockedGrandpa down yesterday.”
Reed broke the egg he was in the process of turning. “He didn’t get hurt, did he?”
