Page 71 of Jocelyn
When my feet touched the pavement, he didn’t release his hold. Instead he entwined our fingers, weaving them together in a beautiful pattern. We crossed the street then paused at the edge of the sidewalk as we both looked down at our shoes.
“Ever feel the sand between your toes?” I eyed the leather-bound steel-toes peeking out beneath the hem of his jeans.
“Haven’t you heard? Cowboys sleep in their boots.”
I slipped my pumps off. “That must get uncomfortable.”
“And messy,” he teased. He took my shoes and rethreaded our fingers together.
The sand shifted beneath my feet as we walked, contrasting with the steady hold Malachi had on my hand.
The sounds of the ocean filled the silence between us. The quiet didn’t grow into an uncomfortable divide but held within its breath a peace and calm. I’d wondered what being with Malachi again would be like—either uncertain reticence or bold declarations. Neither was true. Instead, he was a pillar of inaudible confidence. Even without words, I somehow knew where I stood with him: Cherished close to his heart.
“There are…” He cleared his throat. “There are probably things we should discuss.” His gaze flicked down to me. Softened. “Things I need to say. Or that you need to hear.”
We stopped walking, and I put myself in front of him. The breeze picked up, making my curls dance over my shoulders.
Malachi’s mouth opened. Closed. “Jocelyn, I…” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
His gaze bore into mine. Though his tongue didn’t cooperate in forming whatever words he was trying to say, I could see them written in his eyes. Hear them in my heart.
I pushed up onto my toes, wrapped my free hand around the back of his neck, and pulled his head down so his lips met mine.
Words were not the only way to communicate.
I breathed him in and gave him my own breath as well. Gently my mouth tested his, a brush of skin against skin. The small, barely-a-kiss contact reminded me of when we’d first met. The hesitancy between us. Improbability that anything would grow between a city girl and a country boy.
But thingshadgrown between us since then, and our kiss followed—flaming to life like oxygen to a fire. Instead of a trickle, we poured our feelings into each other. He didn’t tell me how much I’d come to mean to him. No. He made mefeelit with his kiss. And that was so much better than any declaration could be.
When I felt as if I would drown in the confessions of his heart, he gave my lips one last peck—as if in punctuation—then lifted his head.
My hand slipped from the back of his neck to his shoulder, and I leaned into his strength to help me keep upright. “That was…”
He waited a beat, but I couldn’t find the right word to end the sentence.
“Don’t tell me you’ve gone speechless too.” His lips hooked in a grin.
I toyed with the short hair at the nape of his neck. “Hmm. Maybe we should try that nonverbal communication again.”
His eyes flashed. “Now that’s a conversation I wouldn’t mind repeating.”
His lips met mine, unhurried and sweet. This time his kiss wasn’t so much a declaration as a promise.
One I knew deep in my heart would last a lifetime.
Epilogue
Two months later…
“Imissed my boys.” Scout pressed against my thigh, his weight threatening to make me lose my balance. Domino nickered, sticking his head over his stall door and rubbing his nose against my middle, breath fluttering in and out. He could smell the treat I’d brought him hidden in my pocket. I scratched Scout behind his ear and reached up to do the same to Domino.
“First time I’ve ever been jealous of the animals.”
I thrilled at the masculine voice behind me and threw a saucy smirk over my shoulder. “Want a scratch behind your ear too?”
Malachi sauntered over and placed his hands around my hips. His chest warmed my back, and I pushed into my heels to shift my weight, leaning into him. His head dipped, and his nose grazed the curve of my neck, nuzzling.
“I hope you missedallyour boys,” he growled into the plane below my jaw.
