At his words, she found herself holding her breath. What did this mean? She wanted to ask, but she was still so unsure of everything, and she didn’t want to seem clingy, needy, emotional.
“How about we have a truce of sorts? I’ll quit throwing things at you that are ridiculous, and you…” He paused as a grin split his lips. “Well, you forgive me for being an ass?”
“Hmm. I think I can do that if…” Her own lips turned up as she felt real happiness suffused her for the first time in a long while. “If you agree to muck the stalls all day.” There. That was good payback. She hadn’t seen him do it once, and she’d been in the barns a lot over the last month while trying to chase down Tony.
“That’s just cruel. I was going to show you the harvesting equipment today, but if you’d rather I muck barns…” He trailed off and the slick devil knew he had her.
“I was planning on having Joe show me,” she said, but she knew Colt would be more knowledgeable. The guy seemed to know how do to everything.
“Well, in that case, you seem to be all set.” He kicked out his feet and slumped down, pulling his cowboy hat over his eyes and looking as if he were going to take a nap right there on her swing.
“Okay. Fine. I do want you to show me, Colt.” She’d give him his small victory.
“That’s a smart woman. I know all about the equipment,” he said before turning to her and winking. “And I know just how to use it.”
When she blushed at his words, he laughed, slung an arm around her shoulders, and leaned back again. Brielle knew she could either pull away or angle herself just a little closer.
As the birds sang their morning melodies, she decided she’d rather snuggle. If only for this moment, the two of them had a truce, and it was a truce she didn’t feel like breaking. The last month hadn’t been pleasant, but it was now early July, and it looked as if things were finally turning around for her, or at least beginning to.
As she lay comfortably in Colt’s arms, they watched as the sun rose over the mountains, as people began to wake and walk outside, and then it was time to move. Brielle wasn’t ready, but as he stood and then turned to help her up, their fingers linked together for a few moments and she felt peace.
She could leave his arms right now because she had no doubt she’d soon be back in them again.
Chapter Nineteen
Running through the high grass, Brielle couldn’t keep the laughter from spilling from her lips as Colt chased after her. This was one game of cat and mouse in which the mouse desperately wanted to be captured. But she wasn’t about to make it too easy on the cat.
“Give up!”
“Not a chance, Colt.”
She rushed around the back of the barn, and searched for a hiding spot. She wasn’t quick enough. Her breath was knocked from her lungs when Colt caught up to her and lifted her into the air.
“Gotcha!” he said triumphantly before setting her back on her feet and spinning her around. Then the teasing stopped. His head descended and his lips captured hers.
For two entire weeks, they’d spent their days with him showing her how to run the ranch, and then the two of them played games during the evening and long into the night. Sometimes it was playful, sometimes passionate, and sometimes mellow. But, for those fourteen nights, Brielle had slid easily into Colt’s arms without a thought of telling him no.
“It’s time for bed,” he murmured after this latest cat-and-mouse game, and trailed his mouth down the side of her neck.
“I was thinking about watching a movie,” she teased.
He carried her the couple of hundred yards back to the house, all without breaking a sweat. Once inside, he kissed her again, and then walked to the living room couch, and the only movie playing was the one they created… All without lights, camera, or…wait, there was an abundance of action.
The next morning, a rare occasion when Brielle woke before Colt, she gazed down at him while he slept. She’d never actually told Colt he could stay over, but she’d also never told him he couldn’t. He somehow just ended up there in her bed every night without fail.
Yes they made love — a lot of it. But some nights they sat in the living room and played board games or, yes, actually watched a real movie, or talked for hours on end. And then it was time to sleep and he was walking her up the stairs.
Neither of them had defined their relationship. Neither spoke about a future — or even a present, when it came down to it. Brielle was terrified to open herself up to this man any more than she already had, but it seemed much too late even to think about closing herself off.
She’d never actually been in a “relationship.” Yes, there was the guy from college, her first lover, but that had only been a few times, and they were never a real couple. They’d just dated, and because all of her friends had gone on and on about how great sex was, she figured she ought to experience it.
When it still wasn’t spectacular after a few tries, she’d decided that pairing was over and done with. The guy hadn’t been heartbroken. He’d just moved on. Later, there was the man she’d met in Paris. Now that had been better sex, but afterward she’d still felt almost hollow inside. Sure, her body had been satisfied, but nothing like this. What she shared with Colt...it was something she couldn’t put into words.
And so she was in bed with a man in what most would term a relationship, but she had no idea where the two of them stood. It wasn’t as if she’d change her life for him. She wouldn’t stay in Montana after she’d made a success of the ranch, and he was a country boy through and through.
Just thinking about this filled her with panic. She wasn’t ready to put a label on what the two of them had together, but she also wasn’t willing to let him go.
As she glanced at the clock and realized it was nearing nine in the morning, her heart began racing. Her father was scheduled to arrive in less than an hour, and no way in hell did she want him to come in and find Colt.
She couldn’t even explain to herself what the two of them were; how could she explain it to her dad? She’d finally been speaking to her father over the phone, was finally losing some of the resentment she’d been holding on to, and she didn’t want to ruin their fragile new beginning by having him think she was shacking up with a man she’d known such a short time. But the bed was so warm, and she was having a difficult time untangling herself from her lover. Wait. Was that the right word?