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“You taste good,” she said, flushing.

“Right.” He looked kind of dazed.

Someone nearby shouted, “Encore!”

“I keep forgetting about all these people,” he murmured.

She couldn't even look at them. Because then she'd have to take her eyes away from Wade, and she wasn't willing to do that yet.

“Do you think we could do a little more of this after the sale?” he asked.

“Yes, definitely,” she assured him. “A lot more.”

Wade nodded, still looking stunned. Then he turned to face their audience. “Show's over,” he called and gave everyone a cheerful wave.

Lori finally looked around. People were smiling. The crowd was happy for them. And she was happy, too. Because maybe things weren't perfect with Wade, but these feelings were real. And no matter what happened next, Wade Hoffman had kissed her breathless in the middle of the rummage sale booth.

The sale!
She glanced at her watch. “Oh no, we've only got fifteen minutes to get this all ready!”

“That was awesome,” he said, giving her a last soft kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

They worked in silence, unpacking the boxes and laying the clothing out as fast as they could, and leaning the baby furniture along one side of the booth. When they'd finished, they were a little breathless, but they'd made it. People were arriving for the festival and their booth was ready.

After her first few customers, Lori glanced at Wade, hoping this wouldn't be too much for him. He needed a success after the movie fiasco.

But it was pretty clear, pretty quickly, that she wouldn't have to worry about Wade having problems. He was too busy talking to all the women. Whether it was curiosity about a member of the dangerous Hoffman family or the fact that a gorgeous man selling baby clothes was irresistible to the female half of the town, Wade was selling the stuff to a line of women ten deep.

Lori would have been jealous if it hadn't been so funny. Some of his customers even requested photos with him and their purchases. Seeing the bemused expression on Wade's face, the mock-pleading glances he sent her way, had her laughing out loud. Watching him be the center of attention, completely accepted by so many locals, had her laughing inside. He was breaking the legacy. He was smiling and joking and making friends and admirers. He looked happy, excited and so different from the broken man under the lamppost. It was relief beyond measure.

“The church should give you a cut of the profits,” she teased him as she brought over a pile of bags the ladies could use to carry their purchases. “We're going to sell out at this rate.”

“I don't need to be paid.” He grinned. “I got a kiss out of this gig.”

“A few of them, if I recall.” She threw the words over her shoulder as she passed. She set the pile of bags on the table and went to get more, but he caught her arm.

“I'm having trouble waiting for more.”

His hand on her arm was making her pulse jump. “Just another hour or so and you can have them.”

“Can we go on a date? Spend time together? Just as soon as we're done here?” He looked down at Snack, who had come out of his bed to beg Lori for one of the dog biscuits she'd brought. “With this guy, too, of course.”

She tried to contain the smile that broke over her face, to keep it from becoming a goofy grin. “Sure. That would be fun. I'll need to get back here later for cleanup, but we have a few hours. We'd like that, Snackeroo. Right?”

The scruffy dog gave one of his supersonic terrier snorts. Wade started laughing. And laughter looked so good on him, and her new dog was so ridiculous, that Lori started laughing, too. And was still giggling when the line of customers started up again—some of them for her, but most of them for Wade the baby-clothes-selling hunk, who was taking the Benson Harvest Festival by storm.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“W
HERE
TO
NEXT
?” Wade asked. “My truck to dump all this off?” He'd insisted on carrying all of their festival acquisitions, so he was laden with a new bridle he'd won in a raffle and a poinsettia he'd secured for her by tossing a baseball and breaking an old plate. Plus a vase she'd bought from a local artist for Mandy's present.

“Sounds good,” Lori said, and they wandered back to his truck, which he'd parked on a side street in the shade of an old pine. She carried Snack, making sure he didn't get stepped on in the crowds.

Wade wasn't sure how he felt about the crowds, either. But he was trying to follow the advice that Dan had given him yesterday morning when Wade had mentioned that he was attending the festival. “Let me tell you about crowds,” Dan had said, leaning on his store counter. “Here's how you do it. You need to stay one step ahead of your instincts. When you catch yourself looking for where a sniper might be hiding, stop, take a breath and look for five good, everyday things that you know are positive. Look at a kid playing. Or look up at the sky, or over at the mountains. Breathe in all those little homelike, comforting things.”

He'd gone to see Dan almost every day this past week. The guy was a little groovy sometimes, but he gave good advice. Wade looked up. The day had turned warm, and the sky overhead was luminous blue. He looked at Lori. She'd braided her hair into pigtails this morning and put a light brown hat on her head. In her jeans and worn brown boots, she looked every inch the cowgirl, even here off the ranch. He took in her deep blue eyes, the smattering of freckles across her nose. The full pink lower lip he wanted to kiss again.

They put their loot in the cab and then wandered back down Main Street. Snack was still nestled against Lori's chest, and Wade put his arm around them both. It was grounding to touch her, soothing to his overvigilant system. The music got louder as they reached the end of the fair, where a Western swing band was playing. People were dancing in the road. Wade took Lori's free hand and turned her and the dog in a circle under his arm. “I liked dancing with you the night we organized all those clothes,” he murmured.

She smiled at him, her eyes shining. “Sometimes something small happens and you know you'll remember it forever,” she said. “That night was like that for me.”

“Want to dance now?”

“I'm not sure what to do with the dog,” she said. “He's too little to be down there with all those feet.”

“I have an idea.” He put a hand on each of her shoulders. They looked like an awkward couple at a middle school dance, but it worked. He tried to look into Lori's eyes, but Snack poked his head up between them and regarded him suspiciously.

“No offense to the little guy here, but this isn't quite what I pictured when I imagined dancing with you again,” he told her.

Lori's laugh went right to his heart. It was so good to see her happy. “I know I look like a crazy dog lady right now, but he seems scared by the crowds. I probably shouldn't have brought him.”

He smiled. “Nah, it's good you did. This way he can see that it's okay. Hey, he even gets to dance.” He paused, a little embarrassed. “Okay, now
I
sound like the crazy dog lady. But there's something about this little guy.”

“I know!” Her eyes sparkled with her enthusiasm. “I'm not totally nuts to have him, right? He's kind of strange and special. He reels you in.”

He tugged a lock of her hair gently, loving that he got to do this. Got to be like this with her. “It's cool to see you so sweet on this little stray. You like to be tough, but you've got a soft spot after all.”

Lori grimaced. “Well, it took a while for me to get sweet. But he just didn't give up.”

“You didn't want him?”

Her cheeks went a faint pink. “He's not exactly your average ranch dog. But then I realized that he can't help his size. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's a cattle dog inside. He has big dreams. Am I really going to crush them?”

“He sounds like someone I know. You. Trying to stand up to all the people who want to judge you because you're a small woman running a big ranch.”

She stared at him in surprise. “I guess I hadn't made that connection. But yes. Snack deserves the chance to work on the ranch just like one of the big dogs.”

Snack tried to lick his face, but Wade was faster and avoided the long pink tongue.

Lori laughed again, and damn, he loved that sound. He loved
her
. It wasn't some big revelation. He'd probably loved her since they were kids. And here he was with her, right in the heart of the town he was determined to make his own.
This
was the future he wanted. The future he'd dreamed of. And it was here. With her. Laughing and smiling at him.

Someone jostled past Wade, and he started.

Lori stopped dancing. “Are you ready to be away from the crowds for a while?”

“Yeah.” He could feel the edges of his composure starting to fray. That was another piece of advice from Dan.
When you feel yourself start to fall apart, take a break.
He was ready for that break.

They walked hand in hand off the dance floor and back to his truck. They'd shopped and danced, so it was probably time to feed her now. He was so rusty at this dating thing. “Where to?” he asked.

She set Snack on the ground and moved in front of Wade. Put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. Her lips were so soft, so full, and he let her take the lead for a moment, relishing the feel of her, his heart pounding because she really wanted this. Him. As messed up as he was. When he couldn't be still any longer, he brought his hands up to cup the back of her neck, pulling her closer, taking charge of the kiss, opening her lips, deepening their connection.

He took his time. Listening to the tiny catches in her breath, reveling in the way she clung to his shoulders as if she was holding on for dear life. He knew what he wanted right now. Her. A bed. And a whole lot of time.

And then Snack got his leash wound around their legs and almost tripped them up. Wade held the terrier still while Lori unwound the leash. When they were free, Lori wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered his thought right back to him. “I want to be with you.”

He froze. It was like that moment right after you threw a grenade. The seconds of silent waiting before all hell broke loose. Except instead of hell, she was offering heaven.

How could this be happening? He couldn't hide the grin that spread over his face. He took in her inky blue eyes, large in her delicate face, her jaw set in that familiar line that said she'd made up her mind. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” she assured him.

“Where?”

“Your house?” she asked, stepping back and scooping up the dog, ready to go. Typical Lori. She didn't mess around once she was sure.

He pictured his run-down house, his shabby bedroom that he'd made no effort to redecorate because he spent all his time out on the ranch anyway. “It's not good enough for you.”

“I'm sure it's fine.” She smiled. “I spend most of my time with cattle. I don't need anything fancy.”

“My house is far worse than just not fancy. I've never fixed it up. Not yet. Could we go to your house?”

“Mandy might come home for lunch to check on her animals. I'd hate to make her feel uncomfortable.”

Wade felt a moment of panic that this thing he wanted, needed, couldn't believe was really happening, was slipping away.
Where could they go?
And then he had an idea. “Would somewhere outdoors be okay? If I made it nice?”

She paused, and he took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her gently on the mouth. Just in case she was changing her mind. That thing between them, that spark, ignited straightaway. He felt her breath catch, and she deepened the kiss. “Okay,” she whispered into his lips.

He took her hand and led her silently to the door of his truck. Now that they'd figured out logistics, the reality of it had his heart pounding. The woman he loved wanted to sleep with him. He was torn between doing some ridiculous touchdown dance of triumph and running away in fear. He took a deep breath and felt the anxiety settle. He could do this. He'd done it before when he was only a teenager.

But things were different now. There was so much at stake here because he loved her, because she was there in his every thought, waking to sleeping. Because if she wanted this, then he wanted to make it perfect for her.

They got in the car and he held her hand tightly as they drove, taking it away only when they reached his driveway. Todd had helped him get the old tractor running last week, and he'd borrowed a grading attachment. That plus a massive load of gravel had taken care of most of the potholes.

He glanced over to see if Lori had noticed. She was staring at the drive. “It looks incredible! Such a huge change. And the Keep Out sign is gone!”

Wade shrugged, like it had been no big deal instead of backbreaking. “I decided it was time to make things more welcoming around here.”

She squeezed his hand. “It's nice.”

Wade pulled the truck up in front of the house, busy making the plans that would make this afternoon worthy of her. He looked down at Snack. “What about this little guy? Do we bring him?”

“I think that's taking this whole togetherness thing a little far,” Lori answered. “Can he crash out in your living room?”

“Sure. I'll take him. Will you wait here for me? For about ten minutes?”

“Sure,” Lori said, looking mystified.

“I'll be back.” He kissed her once, reveling in the softness of her lips, amazed that this was apparently happening.

Wade picked up Snack and his dog bed and carried them both into the kitchen. He set a bowl of water down. The terrier slurped it up. Then the shaggy beast sneezed and shook his entire body in his own personal earthquake. Stepping into his bed, he circled a few times, collapsed into a ball and tucked his nose under his tail. He looked like a sleepy fox. He'd be down for the count in moments.

Wade hurried around the house, gathering up sheets, blankets and pillows. On the way out the back door he saw a tarp he'd just bought, still in its plastic wrapping. Perfect. He added it to his pile and then remembered
why
they were heading into the woods. He staggered back into the bathroom to scrabble through the medicine cabinet in search of the condoms he'd bought in a hopeful moment on one of his first civilian days.

Then he was tearing back through the kitchen and out the back door, jogging a few yards through the woods to where the creek usually ran. It was dry now, but he headed uphill along its bank, dodging aspen trees as he followed the route he'd taken so many times as a kid when he fled the house looking for peace and quiet.

The clearing was just how he remembered it—alongside the creek under a canopy of aspens, their leaves bright gold on the trees, darker gold where they carpeted the ground below. Wade spread the tarp, the blankets and the pillows. It looked comfortable. A few aspen leaves drifted lazily down and landed on the dark green blanket. It gave the bed a magical look, like it had grown here right out of the woods. Wade caught a couple more leaves that were falling nearby and scattered them on the blanket as well. They should be rose petals, and this should be a gorgeous bed in a beautiful mansion, but he couldn't offer Lori that. He hoped this would be enough.

He jogged back to the truck to get her. He hadn't done this in a long time. There'd been a woman he used to see when he was on leave, who worked at a restaurant near the base. But it had been casual for both of them. It hadn't meant more than a good time, some human contact and a few moments of much-needed oblivion.

This meant everything.

“Hey,” he said, feeling shy covering the last few paces between them. “Your castle is ready, princess.”

Lori smiled and held out her hand regally. “For a castle it's really well hidden,” she teased.

“For a castle it's pretty small. And it's lacking a few of the comforts of home. Like a roof. And walls.”

She laughed. “You have a unique definition of the word
castle
.”

“It's got a good view.” He took her hand in his, and they walked quietly around the back of the ranch house and through the woods. He watched her tuck her hair behind her ear and bite her lip. “We don't have to do anything,” he said. “We can lie around and talk if you want. There's no pressure.”

He was trying to be chivalrous, determined to do right by her. But it was sheer relief to hear her say, “I want to. This is exactly what I want.”