Page 43 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

She laughed. “They sure could be.” She bumped him slightly. “That one is cheating a little.”

“You told me to go first.”

“Yeah, I should’ve gone first.” She looked across the small shed to her writing desk. “You did better, so I have to do worse….” She exhaled. “Things could be worse than moving back to Three Rivers.”

He chuckled and said, “Fair enough. Uh…things could be worse than sitting on this amazingly comfortable couch with an amazingly beautiful woman.”

“I’m just a woman?” Edith asked without thinking. Finn ducked his head and looked at her, but she didn’t tilt her head back. “I think that sentence should’ve ended with the word girlfriend.”

“Is that what you think?” he teased.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “That’s what I think.”

“Well, then, I think a boyfriend would kiss his girlfriend before he asked her for a ride back to his ranch, where he lives with his momma and daddy, who are gonna have a lot of questions for him.”

Edith laughed, glad when Finn joined her. Their voices together made a perfect harmony, and the way Edith fell for him made her stomach swoop. “You probably should get back, I guess.”

“Yeah,” he said.

She sat up and ran her hands through her hair. Then she looked over her shoulder to Finn. “I can drive you back to the ranch.” She started to get up, but he tutted and touched her elbow.

Edith turned back to him, and he slid that hand up her arm and across her shoulder, sending fireworks popping in every single cell he touched. “About that kiss….”

She didn’t hesitate as she leaned toward him, and he knew exactly where to put his hands. The second one joined the first as he cradled her face in both hands, making her feel cherished and worth holding.

Edith drew in a shaky breath a mere moment before Finn’s lips touched hers, and then everything in the world stood on solid rock. She’d kissed Finn before, but as a much younger woman. He’d been a much younger man.

He’d said he’d only dated a few people in the past several years, but wow, the man could kiss. He moved at exactly the right speed, and his passion bled through in every stroke. Edith hadn’t been kissed in a long time, and she’d missed it so much.

More than hand-holding and more than cuddling. Kissing Finn was so much better than both of those, and Edith wanted to keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it.

Chapter Thirteen

Finn pushed aside his nerves, his pounding heart, and the screaming warning in his head not to mess this up. Thankfully, kissing Edith felt like second nature to him, and he managed to relax into the movement, the feeling of her fingers as they swiped through his hair, the silky quality of the skin along her neck.

“I have missed kissing you,” he whispered as he broke away from her. He matched his mouth to hers again, this second kiss as amazing as the first.

Not that this was the first time he’d kissed Edith, but he had forgotten how amazing this kind of touch was. How much it made him feel. How full his heart grew as she kissed him back, as if she liked kissing him too.

He ducked his head to break the kiss when he felt himself getting out of control. His nerves told him to talk, but his military training told him to stay silent until he had something important and necessary to say.

Edith moved forward and touched her cheek to his. “That was nice.”

“Yeah.” Finn wanted to stay longer, especially out here in Edith’s she-shed stocked with soda and ice cream, but he knew he needed to get back home. His mother had texted him twice now, and while she’d told him to take his time, he knew she had something she wanted from him. She wouldn’t have messaged otherwise.

They breathed in together, and that broke the moment enough for them to separate. “I’ll get my keys,” she said.

“Yep.” Finn got to his feet and reached back to help Edith stand. “This was an amazing day.” He swallowed his gratitude for her letting him come work for them. He didn’t mention what time he’d be there in the morning. He’d simply show up ready, with coffee, and he’d put his head down and get the job done. He wouldn’t follow Edith around with puppy-dog eyes, and he’d pack a lunch so he didn’t impose on the Baxter’s for food.

In the house, Alex stood at the counter, several sheets of paper in front of him. “We need to get to IFA tomorrow,” he said. “With everything else, I forgot they have our fertilizer.”

“Okay,” Edith said, dropping his hand to get her keys. “We can go tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Alex said absently. “That bill for the rock is due.”

“I can move money,” Edith said.

That caused Alex to look up and blink. Finn looked between the two of them. “You don’t need to do that,” he said. “There’s money in the ranch account.”

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