“I don’t know about that,” Brendon said. “He might’ve jump-started it, but I think you’d have done it all on your own if he hadn’t been there.”
Cheyenne smiled at him and his chest swelled. He couldn’t see her eyes, but he could tell his statement had pleased her.
“My turn again. Do you prefer baths or showers?” she asked.
“Showers. Especially when they include you.” That was an easy one, so he figured he’d give her an easy one, too. “Do you like scary movies?”
“Love them,” she said. “I’m not all that into the gory ones, but I love a good adrenaline rush.”
He was actually surprised by her response.
“My turn again. What’s your favorite thing about Coyote Ridge?”
Brendon smiled, keeping his eyes forward. He wanted to tell her that right this minute, she was his favorite thing about his hometown. Bearing in mind she was probably looking for something a little more in-depth, he figured he’d skip that reply for now. “Everyone knows everyone,” he explained. “That doesn’t mean growin’ up here was all that easy. There was no gettin’ away with anything because my folks always found out. But, in the same regard, it’s good to not be just a faceless, nameless passerby.”
“That makes sense. I can definitely tell the difference when I’m here versus big cities. I like the solitude it provides, too. Sorry, didn’t mean to answer.”
“I’m glad you did,” he told her. Hell, he would be content just listening to her talk for the rest of the afternoon. Since that wasn’t an option, he tossed out another question. “If you had to change careers, what would you do?”
“Oh, wow. That’s a tough one,” Cheyenne said as she leaned forward and patted her horse’s cheek. “Maybe I’d own a ranch, get me a few horses, a couple of cows. Maybe some pigs.”
Brendon laughed. He could actually picture her taking care of animals. But he could also imagine she’d have a handful of kids running around, making her beam proudly.
“Next. Do you like to hunt?”
“Who doesn’t?” Brendon answered with a chuckle. “I go as often as possible. When we were younger, Pops would take us deer huntin’ all the time.”
“Gramps used to take me huntin’ when I was younger. Dove season was a big deal for him. He wasn’t much into deer huntin’ though.”
Brendon decided that Twenty-One Questions was his new favorite game. He wasn’t sure he’d have had such a hard time with women if he’d come up with it on his own. The fact that he was learning so much about Cheyenne—things he wouldn’t think to ask out of the blue—made him all the more eager to spend time with her.
And it was one hell of a way to waste away an afternoon with a beautiful woman.
CHEYENNE COULDN’T BELIEVE how well the afternoon was going.
As much as she wanted to think that everything between her and Brendon was going to be hunky-dory going forward—forever and ever, amen—she knew that wasn’t likely going to be the case. After all they’d been through thus far, she still wondered whether or not their current state was temporary. Like a fog that had descended over them, leaving them with the illusion of something steady, less precarious than their regular interactions. Although she really was beginning to hope for something significantly more than that.
That wasn’t to say that she was going to look for the negative in the situation, because she certainly had no intention of doing that, but there were still doubts that lingered.
Yesterday had been perfect. Better than perfect, actually. But yesterday had been punctuated by some incredible sex. Today … this right here, right now … this was a test. For both of them. So far, she’d like to think they had both passed. This game they were playing … well, these questions were easy to answer, as was talking to Brendon in general. She liked him. A lot. And from what she could tell, he liked her as well.
But there were other questions, other things that neither of them knew about one another that were substantially more difficult for them to share. She had secrets, he had secrets … That’s how the story went.
“How much do you remember about ridin’?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
“It’s like ridin’ a bike,” she told him. “You never forget how.” Not quite, but she’d gotten comfortable on the sweet gelding Brendon had picked out for her.
“Think you can run her?” he questioned.
Cheyenne instinctively tightened her thighs against the horse’s flanks. “I think I can. You up for it?” She enjoyed taunting him, got a kick out of the gleam of retribution in his eyes. “Aren’t scared to lose to a girl?”