Page 88 of Mountain Rescue
“Let me put her down, then you can maul her,” he said when Nichole tried to hug Rachel. He lowered her to a chaise longue so she could stretch her legs out. She glanced up at him and smiled her special smile meant just for him, and damn if his heart didn’t do a somersault. That had to be love. He’d had girlfriends off and on through the years and not a one of them made his heart bounce around with a special smile. Actually, he couldn’t think of a single one who had a special smile just for him. He could see himself married to her.
Whoa there, Manning. Don’t get ahead of yourself.He had some things he needed to settle before he took that step. He was still on medical leave with the Navy and needed to deal with that because he wasn’t staying in. Then there was his future...or lack of one. Although he could afford to be a beach bum, probably for the rest of his existence, he needed a purpose. Before he could even think of getting married, he had to get his life in order. But—and this he was sure about—he didn’t want her to be the one who got away.
Back to that special smile, her mouth deserved a kiss. And yeah, he was grabbing for any excuse to kiss her. He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, and when she sighed, his heart tumbled again. It was time to retreat.
Jack hadn’t come out with him, and that was a good excuse to leave. “I’m going to go find Jack and let you two have some girl time.”
They were already talking a mile a minute by the time he walked inside. He found Jack in the kitchen making hamburger patties. “Need some help?”
“Grab us a beer from the fridge, then you can slice the onions and tomatoes.”
“These some of Peyton’s beers?” He really liked the ones he’d tried already.
“Yeah. I invited them over tonight, but they already had plans. Some kind of business dinner Peyton couldn’t get out of. Deke and Heather passed on coming. Deke thinks she might have that baby tonight, so they wanted to stay close to home.”
Dallas twisted the caps off the bottles, then put one on the counter next to Jack.
“Thanks. Now that you’ve spent time here, what do you think of Asheville?”
“I like it. The mountains are different from home. More trees and greener.”
“Think you’d like living here?”
And there it was. The question he’d been expecting. “Maybe.” He wasn’t ready to commit, but unlike when he’d first had his suspicions about Jack’s reason for inviting him here, then asking for input on equine therapy, he had an open mind.
Asheville was growing on him, and he’d been reading up on equine therapy. The more he learned about it, the more the idea settled in his mind that it was something he’d like and would get great satisfaction from. It sure beat being one of Phoenix’s hired hands. But damn, Montana. He was a Montana boy, born and bred, and he’d never considered before now that Montana wouldn’t be his home until the day he died.
Then there was his family. They expected him to come back to the ranch when his military days were over. His mother would not be at all happy if her baby boy permanently moved two thousand miles away. He had some thinking to do.
Jack washed his hands. “I don’t think by now it will come as a surprise that I’m offering you a job.”
“No surprise, but I need some time to think about it.”
“Fair enough. How’s Rachel doing?”
“Her jaw hurts and her feet are a mess, but other than that, surprisingly good.” A lot of people, men included, would be traumatized by what she’d gone through, but she was a trooper. “Deke said the FBI showed up and took possession of Hargrove. The feds want him for illegal arms dealing, along with murder and some other things.”
“Hope the bastard rots in prison.” Jack glanced at him. “I guess Rachel will be leaving soon?”
“In a few days.”
“That okay with you?”
He shrugged. “Don’t have much choice in the matter. She lives in LA, and filming on her next movie starts soon.” He finished slicing the onions, then started on the tomatoes. Being guys, they didn’t talk about feelings, but Jack was one of his best friends, and maybe it would help get his head straight to talk about what was going on in his mind where Rachel was concerned. “Want to hear something weird?”
“Hit me up.” Jack slid the tray of burgers into the refrigerator.
“After...” This wasn’t easy to talk about, even with his best friend. “I can’t stand for anyone to touch me now. Not sure why, other than there isn’t a place on my body those bastards didn’t hurt, so I don’t like hands on me anymore. Feels like bugs are crawling under my skin when someone touches me. Except for Rachel. From day one, it didn’t bother me for her to touch me. Oh, and for reasons I don’t even want to try to figure out, I didn’t cringe when Dirty Mary touched me.”
Jack laughed. “You ask me, that there’s the weird part. Dirty Mary, huh?”
“Yeah. Go figure.” Finished with slicing the tomatoes, he added them and the onions to a platter that already had lettuce on it.
“I assume the girls are catching up on everything that’s happened. Let’s leave them be for a while. Grab your beer.”
Dallas followed Jack to the living room. Jack sat in a chair and stretched out his legs. “Why do you suppose you can tolerate Rachel touching you when you can’t handle it from anyone else?”
“I don’t know.” Dallas took a seat on the sofa, set his beer on a coaster, leaned his elbows on his knees, and stared down at the floor. He could shut this conversation down right now, or go all in. Decision made, he said, “How did you know you were in love with Nichole?”
