Page 4 of A Gift for the Hopeful Cowboy

He snorted. “Of course you’d say that. But you’re also the one person in your family who went against the grain and chose to start her own business. I’m not like you, Pippa. I’m…”

“You’re Rob.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m just Rob. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to do something… more.” He hated how his voice got a far-off quality to it. How embarrassing was it that he didn’t have a plan? Adults were supposed to have their lives figured out. Was there something wrong with him?

“Do you remember when we first met?”

His eyes snapped up to meet hers. “Of course I do. We were kids.” Then they were teens. Then they spent eight years with this whole back-and-forth flirting nonsense. He liked to think there was something more beneath the surface of their friendship, but he wasn’t willing to risk it.

What was a pact for if not to maintain a certain degree of trust?

She worried her lower lip, biting it hard enough that she couldn’t form a symmetrical smile. “I bet you didn’t know I thought you were the cutest but laziest cowboy on the planet.”

“To be fair, you only had your brothers and cousins to compare me to… and I was seven.”

“It’s a good thing I realized you weren’t nearly as lazy as I thought you were.”

“I resent that!”

She laughed. “I still can’t believe it turned into what we have today.”

He moved closer and his voice lowered. “You mean our pact?”

Pippa glanced away. He wasn’t fully certain, but it almost appeared as though a blush spread across her face. Her eyes found his and she laughed again. This time it sounded more nervous. “Exactly.”

“I don’t know…” he drawled. “I think it worked out perfectly. What teenage boy wouldn’t jump at the offer you made?” He moved closer so their faces were inches apart. “I mean, come on. A pretty girl like you? I would have been crazy to turn you down.”

He leaned closer to her, his focus on her lips. He’d been craving them since the second he saw her. Before he could steal a kiss, she pushed him back with the stall door itself.

“I beg your pardon, but I wasn’t the one who asked you. The way I recall it, you flirted mercilessly with me. And when I finally showed interest, you played hard to get.” Pippa pushed the stall door closed and walked backward, away from him. “I seem to remember you telling me it would be a bad idea because I was the stereotypical good girl, and you weren’t interested in settling down.”

It had been the biggest mistake of his life. He hadn’t seen it then, but he did now. Pippa was worth so much more than a handful of flings over the years with no promises of more. But he could never tell her that. Instead, he’d written all those thoughts in letter form. He’d nearly mailed it to her about three years ago. But then he realized how silly that would have been. Pippa might have been interested in settling down years ago, before she started her restaurant business, but there was no way she would now.

He stepped toward her like a predator chasing his prey. “Okay, so maybe I was the one who brought it up. But I don’t remember you arguing with me. You were on board from the get-go.”

He caught up to her and grasped her around the waist, pulling her closer. If he were more confident in his own life and his future, he might have told her right then and there about those letters he had hiding in his room. He might tell her he had been a fool for believing no strings attached was a good idea.

But the truth was, he simply couldn’t bring himself to utter a single syllable.

Pippa placed her hands on his chest, her eyes delving into his. Oh, the things he dreamed he could one day share with her. It wouldn’t be today. Nor would it be this week. But one day in the distant future, he might be able to get the courage to tell her how much she meant to him—even if it meant risking it all.

For now, he’d have to be happy with their pact.

And that meant if he wanted to kiss her right now, she’d kiss him back. Then they’d go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

Rob dipped his face closer to hers. Pippa’s eyes closed and she tilted her face upward. The air buzzed with the electricity crackling between them. It might have been a couple years since he’d been able to hold her in his arms, but it felt like it was only yesterday.

His heart thundered and thrashed with the anticipation of her touch. He could almost taste her sweet breath as it tickled all his senses.

Then she jerked out of his arms. “Did you hear that?”

His lungs burned as if he’d been sprinting moments before. The blood in his ears roared. He shook his head, completely disoriented. “Hear what?”

She looked toward the barn door. “I was sure…”

“Pippa? You in there?”

Allie’s face materialized before the rest of her body did in the doorway. She squinted and held up a hand to shield her eyes then blinked a few times before her gaze landed on Pippa.

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