Page 63 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

He grinned.

“What?”

“You said but – and that’s all I needed to hear.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. Our chances don’t look good from here, but I’ll come and see you next weekend. And maybe things will look different from there. One thing I know for sure is that the horizon won’t change until you take a step forward. I’m prepared to keep taking the steps, if you want me to. Who knows, maybe at some point, something we can’t imagine yet will appear out of nowhere and make it all possible.”

“I want to believe that something will, Ty. I really do.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips. “Then believe it, sweetheart, because it sure as hell won’t happen if you don’t.”

~ ~ ~

Ty folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the pillows. He stared, unseeing, at the TV. This had been the best weekend of his life, and he didn’t want it to end. It was late, and he knew that they should get some sleep but then they’d wake up, and it’d be tomorrow, and they wouldn’t have any more time left. He’d have to take her to the airport and watch her walk away. He was really hoping that it wouldn’t be goodbye, but he knew that it might be.

He hadn’t lied when he told her that something they couldn’t yet imagine might appear out of nowhere. He just hadn’t wanted to point out that while that might be something that would makeeverything possible for them, it could equally spell the end. She might get back to her life and realize that she just didn’t want to make the effort. That it’d be easier for her to find someone closer to home – or that she just didn’t have the time for a relationship at this point in her life.

She was taking her time in the bathroom, and he couldn’t wait for her to come back out and sit with him. He wanted to hold her while they pretended to watch TV. Part of him kept thinking that he’d be crazy if he didn’t make the most of this last night together. He knew damn well that if he took things in that direction, she’d willingly have sex with him.

If this was it – if he never got to see her again – he’d probably regret passing up the chance for the rest of his life. But he wanted to believe that they were going to have a future, and he didn’t want to embark on it that way. Of course, he wanted her, but right now it felt kind of opportunistic.

He frowned when her phone vibrated on the nightstand beside him. He didn’t want to check, but he couldn’t help it. It was a new notification from the dating site.

He felt like a shit, but he had to – he leaned across so that he could read it.

Shay’sGuy: Where are you? I miss you. Come home.

What the fuck? He reread it a couple of times before the screen went dark.

She came out of the bathroom, and the sight of her in the shorts and tank top that she wore as pajamas distracted him for a moment. She took his breath away every time.

“What do you think, should we …” Her smile faded. “Ty? What is it? What’s wrong?”

He stared at her while he tried to push down the anger that had bubbled up. Was she playing him for a fool?

She climbed onto the bed with him and cupped his cheek in her hand as she looked into his eyes.

“Are you all right? Did something happen? What is it?”

He shook his head slowly. “I … shit, Shay. I hope everything’s all right, but you’re going to be the one who has to decide that.”

“What do you mean?”

He pointed at her phone. “You just got a message.”

Her eyes grew wide. “What was it?” The way she scrambled for her phone, looking totally panicked, made him feel bad.

“Was there an accident? Is someone hurt?”

“Nothing like that – I didn’t mean to scare you. It was from that dating site.”

She frowned. “What? I don’t understand. What was it? What did it say?”

He shrugged. “Take a look for yourself. And I know I shouldn’t have looked, but … I did.”

He watched her face as she opened her phone.

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