Page 77 of Welcome Home, Cowboy
Relief barged in between his battling emotions, and he stopped walking for a second. “You’re okay?” he asked on an exhale.
“Better than okay. I am woman, hear me roar.” She laughed lightly. He could hear it in her voice. Today had gone well.
Lucky for her ex.
“I wish you were here. I just want to wrap you up in my arms and never let go.”
“Fine by me. I’m on my way,” she said.
“My place tonight? If you’re too tired I understand, but I’d love to hear that roar in person.”
She laughed again, pulling a smile to his face as he continued walking to his truck. “I need to stop by my place first and freshen up. Then I’m all yours,” she said.
“I like the sound of that.” All his. Julie had clipped ties with the past that had been weighing on her over the last several months. She was moving forward, and hopefully he’d be doing the same on Monday. He would climb into a Huey and refuse to let what had happened in the desert keep him from flying. He had to.
Lawson gave his head a hard shake.
“Lawson?” Julie asked.
“I’m here. I’ll see you tonight. Be careful driving.” He hung up and drove home. As long as he went up in that helicopter next week, everything would be fine. Perfect, actually.
What Griffin had said was true. Love was definitely in the air.
Chapter 22
Julie pulled her overnight bag onto her bed and placed her clothes inside. She didn’t actually plan on wearing any clothes tonight. Not even the black lace lingerie she’d packed. She glanced down at the long-sleeved shirt and jeans that she was wearing, hiding the naughty surprise underneath. She couldn’t wait to see Lawson’s reaction to this. Or his reaction when he found the note she’d hidden strategically on her body. He was a man who wasn’t comfortable talking about his feelings, and that was okay. She wanted him to know how she felt, though. Instead of saying those three little words that had been true for a while, she’d written them on a pink square Post-it note.
With a giddy shrug of her shoulders, she zipped her overnight bag and headed to the front door. Ten minutes later, she rang Lawson’s doorbell. Before she could process the door opening, he’d pulled her into his arms and shut the door behind them, laying her bag on the floor and pressing her against the closed door with his rock-hard body. “Hard” being the key word.
“I think someone missed me,” she teased, letting her hands rest on his shoulders.
“Like a drug,” he said. “If I ever had any interest in drugs.” He kissed her neck. The stubble along his jawline tickled and aroused her.
“Let’s go to the bedroom,” she suggested.
He pulled back and grinned. “Sounds like someone missed me, too. But not so fast, cowgirl. I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
“Um-hmm. I cooked you dinner.” His hands slid down to rest on her waist.
Dinner? She wasn’t hungry for food. She was hungry for him. But there was a proud spark in his eyes. “You didn’t have to do that, Lawson.”
“Yes, I did.” He grabbed her hand now and pulled her toward the kitchen, where she could smell the aroma of something wonderful—something other than Lawson’s cologne. He pulled out a barstool and picked her up under her arms. She laughed lightly as he set her down, then handed her a glass of wine that he had waiting for her on the kitchen counter.
“You relax,” he ordered. The order didn’t rub her wrong the way it had in the past.
Then he slipped a camouflage USMC apron over his neck and winked back at her as she laughed again. Either the wine was going to her head at record speed, or he was. He flipped the steak in the frying pan and grabbed a large wooden spoon to stir a saucer of black beans. Beans wouldn’t exactly go with the romantic evening she had planned, she thought, sipping more wine. As he worked, she let her gaze drop to the fit of his low-riding jeans. They wouldn’t exactly go with what she had planned, either.
Lawson glanced back over his shoulder. “You’re mentally undressing me right now.”
Her mouth fell open and she nearly dropped her wineglass. Shaking her head, she contradicted herself. “Yes, I am.”
“I was thinking after dinner we’d watch one of those old black-and-white movies you like. I picked up a few after I left the grocery store.”
Her heart sank, as did the smile on her face.
He set the wooden spoon down and stepped toward her, kissing her mouth for a long moment. “I suppose we could watch it in bed afterward.”
