Page 53 of Tied Up In Tinsel
“Where are you headed after this?” I asked, keeping my eyes fixed on the flames as if they might hold me steady. I didn’t dare glance his way, not when my chest felt tight with nerves.
He turned slightly, and I felt the weight of his attention even without looking. “After I leave Snowberry Peak?”
“Yeah,” I said, my voice softer than I intended. “Any great and epic plans? Any fun clowning you’ve got lined up?”
That earned a low chuckle. Brooks shifted so he was leaning against the couch, turned fully toward me now. I could feel his gaze skimming the side of my face, hot and steady, like he could cut straight through me with those whiskey-colored eyes.
“Did you just say fun clowning?”
A smirk tugged at my lips as I stared down into my glass, pretending to study the wine. My eyes flicked up briefly to meet his. “Yup.”
He shook his head, grinning faintly. “No, no fun clowning. But…I was thinking maybe about heading down south.”
My brows pinched. “What’s down there?”
Brooks shrugged, casual in his words, though his eyes didn’t waver from mine. “Nothing specific. Just…a change of scenery.”
I looked away quickly, unable to hold the weight of that gaze. The warmth between us shifted, cracked like the firewood on the hearth. Something tight and unspoken twisted in my chest.
“Annie.”
My name fell from his mouth with that steady gentleness he always seemed to carry. His voice wasn’t demanding, but it nudged at me, urging me to let down the wall I’d just pulled up. He’d sensed the change, the unease I’d brought into the room.
“What?”
“Look at me.”
“No.”
Brooks chuckled, low and warm, the sound tugging at my chest.
“You sound just like Ruby,” he teased. “She said the same thing when I went to talk to her in her room.”
I managed a smile, faint but real. “Like mother, like daughter, that way too, I guess.”
His brow arched. “What does that mean?”
I exhaled slowly, tilting my head back against the couch, letting the firelight play across my vision as I rolled my neck.Then, finally, I looked at him. I met the gaze I’d been avoiding all night, and it pinned me in place.
I was going to miss Brooks.
I wanted time to slow down, to stretch this moment out until it wrapped around me like the blanket of warmth from the fire. I liked the way he made me feel—steady and seen. I liked the way he treated my daughter, as if she were his own. Brooks Bennett was the kind of man you didn’t just let slip through your fingers. Would it be selfish of me to ask him not to go south? To not return to the rodeo world waiting for him?
What if I told him?
The thought burned through me like wildfire.
What if I admitted that I didn’t want him to leave? That I wanted him here, with us?
Fuck it.
“I don’t want to say goodbye,” I whispered, the words leaving me before I could second-guess them.
Brooks didn’t flinch. His expression stayed steady, his posture solid as if rooted to the couch. Then, slowly, he leaned in, closing the space between us. His hand came up to cradle my jaw, calloused but gentle, and his thumb dragged across my cheek in a tender sweep that made my breath catch. His eyes searched mine with a depth that made me feel completely laid bare.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Ruby,” he murmured. “Just because I’m not here doesn’t mean I’m gone. I’ll come back whenever you need me, Red.”
The nickname curled through me like warmth, melting me from the inside out. My lips curved, a shaky chuckle slipping free.
