Page 109 of One Wild Chance

She laughs. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“No comment,” I say, pressing her against me tighter, my arms heavy around her waist and the heat of our bodies mingling.

I exhale a slow breath against her neck, and a shiver runs over her.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she complains.

“I’m enjoying you in my arms, yes.”

Click, click.

Her shoulders come down from her ears as she relaxes into me. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were hitting on me, cowboy.”

“Oh, I’m definitely hitting on you,” I say in a low, teasing voice. “Is it working?”

“Too well,” she says with a laugh. Maybe it’s easier to say these things when you’re both focused on something other than each other.

She turns her head to the side, her mouth so close, I imagine angling my face two more inches to capture her lips with mine.

“The question is,” she begins, “do we like each other enough to announce it to the entire town of Golden Springs?”

“I know I do,” I say without hesitation. “Do you?”

“I’m still deciding,” she deadpans, but her eyes gleam.

“Now who’s the liar?” I growl into her ear.

A muffled laugh bubbles up inside her as she tips her head back into my chest, her body pressed against mine, sending sparks through me.

Jess takes a few more pictures as my brothers look on.

“Perfect,” Jess coos, reviewing the screen with a smile. “You two are so cute. It’s going to be hard to choose which picture to use.” Then she looks at Summer. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions for the article as well?”

Summer steps away from me, and I immediately miss her warmth, the feel of her body in my arms, the sweet scent of jasmine. She starts to take off my jacket, but I shake my head. “Keep it. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

I slide it back over her shoulders and whisper in her ear. “Positive.”

The way my body’s burning up right now, I’m surprised I haven’t combusted.

Jess and Summer walk toward the mare barn, Summer’s hands tucked in the jacket’s front pockets. She turns back once, catches me staring, and turns away with a shy smile.

Wyatt saunters closer the second Summer and Jess are out of earshot.

“So,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets. “When were you going to tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

He gives me the same look he did when I was twelve and tried to cover up who broke the barn window. “That you’re in love with her. And I had to find out from Jess Connors.”

I kick a stone with the tip of my boot. “Okay. So maybe I am.”

“How long has this been going on?” Grady asks.

“When we started to work on the old barn. We took some pictures together for social media, and, I don’t know, things started to change.”

“Does she know?” Wyatt asks. “How you feel?”