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“Ooh, getting a little cocky, are ya?”
“Something about that question rings true.”
Her laugh burst forth, contagious and bright. “C’mon, cowboy, walk us back to the barn.”
I helped her get Cher untacked and started brushing her soft, coppery coat. Kinsley brushed her from the other side, and I found my eyes drawn to her delicate wrists and her precise flicking motions.
“What’s got your concentration, cowboy?”
“Your wrists,” I blurted without thinking.
“My wrists, huh? Interesting choice. He’s a wrist man.” She was smirking at me, and I couldn’t suppress my smile. “Do you want to come home with me in a couple of weeks?” she asked suddenly.
“What?”
“We have a break in the schedule coming up. I thought maybe you would want to come back to the ranch with me for a while. Bring Drifter, maybe leave him there? We could turn him out with our horses for the summer; he’d love it.”
I thought it over. It would be nice for him to spend the summer grazing instead of being hauled around from rodeo to rodeo. I wouldn’t mind the break either, to sit still for a while.
If I agreed to go home with Kinsley, it would mean something to her. I wouldn’t be able to keep pretending we were just friends. But I wanted to be close to her again and make her happy.
“Sure, I’ll come.” My voice came out softer than I’d intended.
Kinsley’s face lit up, her smile brighter than the sun streaming through the barn windows. “You will?” She bounced on her toes in excitement. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Drifter will love it there. We have this big pasture with a creek running through it, and the grass is so green and lush...” She rambled on, her words tumbling over each other in her enthusiasm.
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. It was impossible not to get caught up in her energy.
“I’ll call my parents and let them know.” She pulled out her phone.
My smile tightened at the mention of her parents. Not that I didn’t like them—quite the opposite. They had always been kind to me, welcoming me into their home with open arms, but they were a class above me with their sprawling ranch and their expensive horses. It made me uncomfortable, like I didn’t quite fit in their world.
Kinsley paused, her finger hovering over the call button. “You okay?” Her brow furrowed.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I forced my smile back into place. “Just thinking about how happy Drifter is going to be.”
She grinned, then hit the call button and put the phone to her ear. As she talked to her mom, I leaned against the stall door, watching the way the light played off her hair and the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed.
I knew I was in trouble, that this trip would change things between us, but for the first time in a long time, I looked forward to the future, whatever it might bring.
Chapter 23
We Were Us - Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert
Kinsley
We loaded Gambler, Drifter, and Cher into my trailer. Wyatt insisted on driving, so I handed over the keys to my truck; he’d left his with Finn and Grady. Rhett had to go home for a while.
The drive to the ranch took a few hours, and we fell into a comfortable silence except for Gambler’s kicking.
“Does he always do that?” Wyatt’s eyes darted to the rearview mirror as if expecting to see a horse jumping out of the trailer any second.
“Yep.” I turned up the music to a song he liked.
His head just barely moved to the beat. I gazed at him unabashedly, and when he glanced over at me, the corner of his mouth quirked up.
“What?” he asked.
I shrugged, shaking my head. “Nothing,” I said, but I couldn’t hide my smirk. “I’m happy you’re coming with me.”
