“You could have fooled me, with all of your growling and complaining the last few weeks.” I hadn’t minded most of it, but if he knew that, he would probably just take it as encouragement to complain more.
His mouth twitched, but he didn’t smile. “You have no idea how hard it is to be around you all the time.”
“And here I thought you’d gotten used to me.”
“That’s just it. I am used to you.” He turned to me, and the tenderness in his eyes made my breath catch for all the hope it ushered in. “Every day, you show up in your tiny little car, and you work harder than anybody else I know. Every day, you do a thankless job for no good reason. Every day, you sass me like your life depends on it.”
I lit up at his teasing. “I do know how to get to you, don’t I?”
Softer, he said, “Every day, I have to fight the urge to pull you to me and hold on tight.”
That admission curled through me, growing and expanding until I became nothing but pleasure. I wanted to both savor the moment and rush right into the next.
“Why do you have to fight it?” I breathed.
He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, as if maybe he didn’t know the reason himself. I leaned forward, careful not to press hard against him, until my face hovered just a breath away from his.
He stayed as still as stone while I drew nearer. I hesitated, knowing if I kissed him, he might tell me it was a mistake all over again. But not kissing him seemed the kind of thing only a superwoman could have done, and I didn’t have that kind of strength.
Our kiss was so slow and gentle, we hardly moved. He groaned a little against my mouth, but he didn’t stop kissing me. Ty put so much sweet emotion in the kiss, my senses overloaded on it—all I knew was his taste, his touch, his scent. He was everything I wanted.
Love spun through me like leaves on the wind. I was falling in love with Ty, and I couldn’t stop it now if I tried. And I wouldn’t try. That much I knew. I would jump in with both feet if it meant the chance of being with him.
He groaned again, but with a note of pain in it this time. I broke the kiss and drew away. Lines etched the corners of his eyes and the set of his mouth, his breathing ragged from the combination of the kiss and his aching lungs.
“June,” he breathed.
Just my name, but I heard the reprimand in his tone, a prelude to another attempt to talk me out of everything I wanted. Everything I needed.
“For the love of God, if you mention your brother again, I will punch you in the chest.”
That provoked a smile, but it faded again almost as quickly as it had come. “This isn’t your life. You’re leaving in three days.”
The reminder shot ice water through my veins, and not just because of these newfound feelings for Ty. This visit had showed me everything I loved about Magnolia Ridge, everything I missed when I was gone. My family, my friends, a community that had each other’s backs. My snug little apartment in Austin seemed a sad replacement for the true home I had here.
“What if I didn’t leave?”
The idea of Marilyn’s offer had barely taken hold, but newwhat ifsfollowed the first, a series of possibilities I hadn’t let myself truly consider before. What if I stayed? What if I set up shop in Fine & Dandy? What if I reclaimed the home I left so long ago?
Hope and surprise flashed through his eyes, but he shut them down again. “You would regret it. The career and life you want are in Austin. You don’t want to be stuck in Magnolia Ridge with a bunch of ranchers.”
“I like ranchers. One in particular very, very much.”
Tenderness and disbelief seemed to battle in his eyes, and I willed his tenderness to reign victorious, but at last, disbelief won out.
“You’d get tired of him, believe me.”
His voice was final, like he’d already resigned himself to the fact that the man I wanted could never be him, even as I was beginning to realize he was the only man I needed. He’d underestimated me once before, and I’d proved him wrong. I would just have to prove him wrong again.
“You sound awfully sure.”
“I’ve seen it before.”
“What does that mean?”
Before he could explain, my phone rang in my back pocket.
“Oh no, I completely forgot. I’m supposed to go out with Eden and the girls tonight.” I’d planned to go straight to Pop’s after my chores around the ranch, but it had slipped my mind. Being around Ty made a lot of things slip my mind.
