Page 181 of That Rush

“Riding her once doesn’t explain how you know how to do that.”

“I listen when people show me things.”

I step behind her and put my hand at her waist. “That’s attractive.”

“So is competence. We’ve discussed this.”

My mouth brushes the place beneath her ear. “I remember.”

Josie turns around. “No kissing during chores.”

“You keep adding rules,” Paige says.

“Because you keep kissing.”

I release Paige, but she hooks a thumb in my belt loop, pulls me back for a hard, fast kiss, then returns to the horse.

We eat lunch on the porch with the last of the peaches Mom sent. Paige cuts one into slices because Josie claims whole peaches are too slippery.

Josie takes a slice. “It’s better when you cut it.”

“It’s the exact same peach,” Paige says, but she’s smiling.

Afterward, Paige reaches for her paperback.

“I’m going to read for an hour,” she says.

Josie looks toward the book in her own lap. “I’ll read too.”

“Alone,” Paige says.

Josie frowns. “Why?”

“Because I like quiet time by myself.”

“But we can be quiet.”

Paige’s gaze meets mine.

“Come on, Josie,” I say. “We need to check the south fence.”

“That’s not quiet.”

“It can be if you stop asking questions.”

She gives me a look that makes Paige laugh, but she follows me toward the truck.

When we return, Paige is stretched across the porch swing with her bare feet propped on the arm and her book open against her thighs. She looks peaceful, completely at home and completely herself.

She closes the book when she hears us.

“How’s the fence?”

“Still there,” Josie says. “Daddy said it probably would be, but we had to check.”

“Ranching sounds suspenseful.”

Paige shifts so Josie can climb beside her. She picks up the children’s book waiting on the table and holds it between them while Josie begins reading aloud.