Rory didn’t look at her for a long while. He chewed his roast beef sandwich and stared off into the distance. “I intimidated you.”
“You scared me. You take up the space around you like no one else I know. It’s not just your size, but your presence. You never smiled at me to let me know you wanted to even say hi. Whenever I caught you looking at me, you walked away. I thought maybe I’d done something to piss you off. Or at least my brother had.”
“It’s no secret to anyone around town you watch over him like a hawk and he treats you like crap for all your trouble. That’s what I didn’t like. But that wasn’t why I never said anything.”
“Then what was it, because you don’t seem to have a problem with me now.”
“I never had a problem with you. I liked you. A lot. But you’re Colt’s age.”
“So.”
“So I didn’t think you’d be interested in someone six years older than you.”
“Age doesn’t really matter. Not when you’re headed toward your thirties.”
“You’ve got a few years to go yet.”
She shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s coming quicker than I thought. So that’s it, the age thing is why you never said anything, why you always sat across the restaurant. I thought maybe I smelled bad, or always had something stuck in my teeth.”
Rory laughed at that and set his empty plate aside. He took a sip of his beer, then looked at her again. “I didn’t know what to say, and it seemed too important to mess it up, especially when you didn’t seem interested in me.”
She went still, understanding the real reason he’d held back. The shyness most people didn’t see. The depth of emotion Rory felt but never let show. He’d opened up to her and showed her who he really was these last weeks. The age thing was an excuse for him to cover how much he really liked her but feared doing something, saying something that ruined his chances with her, especially when she’d kept her distance.
His fault for always being cold and remote, never letting anyone in, until he’d saved her and they’d found each other.
“Besides that, I’ve been too consumed with raising my brothers and keeping this ranch. It’s an all-day, every-day kind of thing.”
“Yet you’ve barely worked since I met you.” Because being with her had become more important. Like her, he found something he wanted and didn’t want to waste this opportunity and good fortune.
“I’ve turned into a real slacker.”
“After all these years, you don’t even care.”
“When I found you . . .”
He left off the part about how he found her and she appreciated it.
“I realized that I might lose you before I ever got the chance to see if what I felt for you was real or just some made-up thing in my head. I didn’t want to lose it then, I certainly don’t want to lose it now that I know how real and deep it is.”
Sadie set her plate aside, finished off her beer, and lay back on the blanket, staring up at the branches and the blue sky peeking through the leaves.
“I’m kind of glad my brother stole your cattle.”
Rory fell back onto the blanket beside her with a soft chuckle. “Don’t tell my brothers I said this, but so am I. I’m not going to thank him for it, though, especially after that asshole left you out there . . .” Again, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. He didn’t have to. She got it, felt it, shivered with the gruesome memory.
“I never thought you would or expected it.”
They shared the silence below the trees for several minutes, settling into the quiet and each other’s company. It never grew awkward. In fact, the longer it went on, the more comfortable she felt in his presence.
Rory rolled to his side, propped himself up on his elbow, and stared down at Sadie. Her pretty blue eyes were cast up to the trees. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“You should stop stopping yourself from doing what you want where I’m concerned.”
He actually followed that convoluted sentence and went with his urge to kiss her, bending down and kissing her softly on the cheek.
She smiled and shook her head. “All that buildup for such a chaste kiss.”
This time he reached over with his free hand, placed it on her hip, and pulled her across the blanket to lie down his length. He dipped his head and took her mouth in a searing kiss that was so far from chaste that he had her panting for breath when he finally eased back and kissed his way down her neck to her collarbone.
Her fingers slid through his hair. His hand on her hip slid up her side under her shirt and cupped her full breast. He swept his thumb over her hard nipple, tucked his fingers into the bra cup, and yanked it down. His palm settled over the mound, her nipple pressed against his palm, and he squeezed her flesh into his hand, molding it to his grip. She sighed, arching her back and pressing her breast into his hand even more. He reached around her back and undid the clasp on her bra.