Page 115 of Savage Heart

Iris: I guess if you won’t be too tired tomorrow.

Me: Let me worry about that

Iris: All right. Come on. Linc will probably be in bed.

Me: K. I’ll be quiet.

When I get to her trailer, I tap once softly, and she opens the door. The lights are low, and she tugs me inside and shuts the door, like she’s afraid someone might see me. There’s no hiding my truck outside her trailer, but I go along with it.

“You okay?” I ask.

Her shoulders drop an inch. Not enough.

“I think so,” she says finally.

I put my arms around her, and she sinks into me. She’s wearing a tank and shorts, and her skin is so soft.

I hum. “You feel good.”

“Are you okay?” she asks.

I don’t tell her about the busted gate on the south pasture or the calves we had to bring down off the ridge ahead of weather that still hasn’t decided what it wants to do. I don’t want to stack my tired on top of hers. I rest my chin on the top of her head and breathe her in.

“Best I’ve been all day, right here.”

We stand like that for a while.

“I’ve been thinking . . . I want to tell my family about us. They’ve got an idea already. I’ve talked to my brothers the most, but—”

She tilts her head back to search my face. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”

She steps back and sits on the couch, rubbing her hands together like she’s trying to warm them.

“I think I’m okay with it,” she says finally. “Mostly. But I don’t want Linc to know,” she adds, softer. “And can you wait to tell Jennifer?”

“If you say that’s what you need, I’ll wait.”

Relief flickers across her face.

“I just—you know how this town works, Iris. Jennifer is going to find out no matter how careful we are. I’m surprised she hasn’t already. And I’d rather she hear it from me than someone else.”

I sit next to her, my arm going around her shoulder. She nestles closer.

“You’re right. She should hear it from you . . . eventually,” she says. She looks up at me. “But are you sure you want to do this, Maverick? You sure it’s not too complicated? I’d understand if you want to stop this now, while it’s still new.”

“You and I are not new, Iris.” I press a soft kiss against her mouth, and we get lost there for a few minutes.

“I want this,” I say, when we come up for air again. “More than anything.”

I kiss her again, and she smiles against my mouth.

“When it’s just us, I feel like anything is possible.”

“It is,” I tell her. “I promise, it is.”

It’s too late to talk to my family when I get home, but I shoot out a text on our family thread . . . the one my siblings and parents are on.