“You’re that much of a workaholic?” Like his brother Tyler once was before he’d found his new wife, Zoe.
“I’m sure as hell turning into an office hound.”
“But you won’t be that way forever.”
He stayed silent, and that didn’t bode well to Mina.
“You like working that much?” she asked.
“I like staying busy…at least, I do lately.”
Because of the scandal, but she wasn’t going to mention it. Wasn’t going to pop their bubble.
It seemed as if he’d just needed time to chew on her initial question—the one about vacation—and he swerved back around to answer it.
“Someday,” he said, “I’d like to buy back the spread I gave up in Montana, then spend a lot of time there.”
“Why didn’t you keep it?”
“Because I didn’t think I’d ever be going there again. I really thought I could help my dad recover from cancer and we’d have this wonderful life down south.” It was obvious that “dad” meant Abe, and it probably always would. “I can afford the land a hundred times over now, but…”
He didn’t have to finish, didn’t have to say that things were never going to go back to the way they’d been.
“What was your ranch like?”
“The Double R?” Chet tightened his arms around her. “Three hundred acres, a cabin that was built over a half century ago by a rancher who sold it to me after he retired. He was one of those old-time coots—you know, the kind you’d expect to see on a bench outside of a general store, whiling the hours away with a bunch of other oldsters who sit there spitting tobacco and exchanging gossip.”
“Just like old pioneer women.”
“Yeah. But these gossips would have scraggly beards down to their belts.”
When he went quiet again, Mina could just about feel how much he missed his old home.
She leaned against his arms, enjoying the sensation of muscle, stalwartness. “You never would’ve left if it wasn’t for Abe.”
“Never. But I like Texas. And I’m okay at my job.”
“You’re more than okay. You’re a natural at putting together development deals.”
“Thanks.”
She swallowed, getting to the bigger questions. “So you’re going to stay for a while? In Texas?”
Although she didn’t see him nod, she could sense it. “I owe it to my brothers,” he said. “And to Eli, even if he’s the one who made all this trouble. He’s falling apart and I think the only thing that’s going to bring him around is acceptance from all of us Barron boys.”
She was so proud to hear him say that—to take matters in hand and turn them around. Shock had forced him away just after the scandalous truth had come out, anger had kept him on the periphery of his new family, doing what he could to help them but never fully allowing Eli the forgiveness he needed. But he sounded as if he was ready to tackle everything now.
That was another good sign for their future, yet time would tell if this was only pillow talk.
He was stroking her skin now, light fingertip brushes over her arms. Her pulse skittered, her flesh tightening with heat.
Until morning, she thought. That’s what he’d promised her, and she was going to make him own up to it.
She stretched beneath him, angling her face so that her lips would meet his.
“I’m glad you’re staying,” she said against his mouth.
It turned into a kiss before she could say any more.
It wasn’t easy to get out of bed come morning, but Chet forced himself to do it, even after awakening to the sight of Mina next to him.
The sheets gathered at her waist and her arms were flung over her head. Her positioning made her breasts all the more tempting, and he woke her up by kissing their pink tips.
She groaned, but when they both saw the time on his digital clock—6:07 a.m.—they got going soon enough.
Since he was leaving for the airport later today, neither of them made promises to meet again, just as they had last night. Nevertheless, being with her was all Chet could think about as Mina pulled her clothes on then rushed out of his cabin with a quick kiss to his cheek.
“See you at lunch?” she asked.
He knew that she had a meeting with some contractors in about forty-five minutes, and he would be dining with representatives from the nearby Chamber of Commerce at noon. Mina was scheduled to be there, too.
“See you then,” he said, smiling, and that’s the closest they got to making future plans.
After showering and putting on a gray business suit, Chet left the cabin. He even found his hat on the side of the path they’d traveled last night, and he beat it against the trunk of a tree instead of his leg, just to get the dew off. It might’ve even been the same tree he’d pressed Mina against when he’d kissed her.