I raised a brow at her. “In general or for Carter?”
She shrugged and lifted her hands. “Either?”
I made a thoughtful face, nodded a couple of times, then said, “Well, I can’t do much about the height at this point, as Iamold enough to have done all my growing. I’ve also handled studs much bigger than him before, so I’m sure it’s going to be okay.” I patted Carter’s thigh for emphasis.
The corner of his mouth jumped up and I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
“But more importantly,” I continued. “Didn’t he askyouto find out who to find and train his horse? So, you knew exactly how old I was, and I feel like that’s something you can only blame yourself for. If you didn’t want your boss to succumb to my tiny cowboy wiles, you shouldn’t have connected us.”
“He’s got you there, honey,” Elisa deadpanned in a mock thoughtful tone.
We all cracked up at that, and I leaned in to kiss Carter on the cheek.
I turned to look at Marielle again. “Was that your attempt at a shovel talk?”
Before she could answer, her wife piped up again. “Yes. It was so bad. I love the woman, but holy crap!”
“I have enough siblings that I can smell a shovel talk from a mile away. Trust me, I’ve given some myself.” I chuckled at a memory. “In fact, I might’ve given one to the girl Crew took to senior prom, and I was like… eleven or twelve. Trust me when I say she didn’t exactly quake in her kitten heels.”
That set us all off again and yeah, I was pretty sure if there’d been any ice to be broken, it was gone now.
We chatted about the ranch and Colorado Springs on the way. The ladies were incredibly excited about visiting some art galleries and museums in the area.
When Carter drove to the doors of Hotel Polaris, and a valet was there to park the vehicle I kept my sigh on the inside. I’d known he’d spare no expense. He’d even insisted on upgrading Marielle and Elisa’s accommodation to this hotel when they’d tried to choose a slightly cheaper one for their stay. There’d been a lot of bitching about that in the first half of the journey.
We grabbed our luggage—an overnight bag for both Carter and myself—and headed to reception.
In short order, the ladies were given the keys to a mountain view suite with a balcony, and Marielle’s eyes sparked fire at Carter for upgrading them for that much. Elisa, seeing how close her wife was to snapping at her boss, grabbed her arm and pulled her to the elevators.
“We’ll message you when we’re ready to leave for dinner!” Elisa called over her shoulder.
“Anyone ever told you you’re a bit of a bulldozer sometimes?” I asked Carter.
He chuckled and took the key cards from the nice person behind the front desk.
“Usually I hear steamroller, but bulldozer is not inaccurate.”
He held out his hand and I took it, then walked with him to the elevator banks. I hoped that he hadn’t gottenusa suite, because we sure didn’t need one.
To my relief, the door he opened on one of the top floors was to a large room that was just fancy, and still had a view of the Rockies, but less extravagant or needlessly massive.
I dropped my bag on the end of the bed, my brain reminding me of all those “never ever put your luggage on hotel furniture” posts I’d seen on social media. I was pretty sure this place was too expensive for it to be dirty or have icky things in the nooks and crannies of the furniture.
The door closed and I turned to look at Carter who was leaning on it, smiling.
“How did I do?” he asked knowingly.
I chuckled and made myself hold eye contact instead of looking away sheepishly.
“Really well, baby. This is incredible.”
He pushed off the door and came over to me, dropping his bag on the way. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, and I melted into him.
Every time I was this close to him, I felt safe. He kept showing me I could relax, by reading me and anticipating how I’d feel about things.
“Thank you,” I whispered against his lips before he had time to pull away from the kiss.
He looked at me from the close distance, his brow scrunching minutely, before he nodded.
