Page 44 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“Yep.”

“Then no. I bet you don’t have a view like this, do you?”

He smiled through pursed lips. “No, I don’t.”

“I’ll be okay, Ty. I’m not all that clueless, I promise.”

He couldn’t help it; he reached for her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m not saying that you’re clueless, Shay. I just hate the idea of anything happening to you. But I’ll be walking you back to your door and coming to pick you up, so we’ll be good. I’ll try to loosen up a bit. Will you promise me that the second I leave, you’ll put both locks on the door and the bar as well?”

“The bar?”

He led her to the door and pointed.

“Oh!” She laughed. “Don’t look at me like that! I know what you mean now. I have stayed in hotels before! You said put the locks on the door and the bar as well – I thought maybe you meant that I should lock up my minibar.”

He had to laugh. “If someone wants to steal your mini bottles of booze, I’m not so worried. It’syouI care about.”

She slid her arms around his waist and looked up into his eyes. “I care about you, too, Ty.”

He hugged her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. He didn’t know why he kept doing that, but it felt right.

“Do you want some time to get settled in? Do you need to do anything, or do you want to go out?”

“I’m good. Let’s go and explore. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m starving. I haven’t eaten a thing yet today.”

“First stop In N Out, then?”

“Yes!”

Chapter Eleven

The hotel was just off the interstate, and Ty knew exactly where he was going.

Shayna looked over at him from the passenger seat. “Have you been here before – to Salt Lake? It seems like you know where In N Out is.”

“Yeah, I’ve been here a few times. And I know where it is because when I used to drive home from base, Salt Lake was the last chance I had to get one of their burgers.”

“You used to drive from Coronado to Montana?”

“Yep. It’s easy. I-15 – the interstate that we’re on right now – runs all the way from San Diego to Montana – it goes right up to the Canadian border, but I hop off it when I’m almost home. In the summer, that means in Idaho because I can take a shortcut through the park, in the winter I have to go a bit farther north before I can turn east.”

“The park?”

He glanced over at her. “Yellowstone. Have you ever been there?”

“No. I haven’t really been anywhere.”

“I’ll take you if you want to see it.”

The way she smiled made his heart buzz in his chest. “I’d love that, thank you.”

“Me too. I’ll show you the park because everyone always wants to see it – but that’s only because they’ve heard of it. The valleywhere I live is just as beautiful, maybe more so, but it doesn’t get as swamped with tourists because they think that only the part they have to pay to get in and see is worth anything.”

“I know what you mean. I went to Yosemite a few years ago. It was beautiful, but the crowds kind of spoiled it, and there are places around Summer Lake that are just as pretty, and way more enjoyable to visit because no one knows about them.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing this lake of yours.”

She smiled. “We can take a boat out if you like. They have them at the resort. And if you want to ride, I’m sure Lily will let us take some of the horses out by ourselves. I used to lead trail rides for her, but it doesn’t fit with my schedule these days. I don’t make as much for a two-hour afternoon ride as I do for an eight-hour afternoon shift at the grocery store. Bet you can guess which I enjoy more, though.”

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