Page 37 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

He grinned. “If I’d want you to come stay here at the house with me? Of course I do. Should we go and get your stuff right now?”

“I … what? I didn’t mean … I …”

He had to laugh at the way she sputtered. “I know you wouldn’t ask if you could stay here with me – you’re thinking about the cabins, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “But you’re not mobile enough yet to be by yourself. I don’t like the idea of you falling, getting your crutches caught up on something and …” He gestured with his arm, taking in the dining and living area. “There’s plenty of room here for both of us. The way things have been going, we spend all day together at the cabins, then have dinner together in the evening. The only thing we do by ourselves is sleep and …” He chuckled. “I’m not going to talk about changing that situation just yet, but …”

Her eyes were huge as she stared back at him.

“But there’s the two bedrooms back there. You’ll have your own bathroom. Everything’s on one level, and you’ll have me around if you need anything.”

“But …”

“But you can’t stand to spend that much time around me?”

“No! That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is, darlin’?”

“I … I couldn’t impose on you like that.”

“It’s not imposing. It’ll be easier for me than having you in one of the cabins.”

“How?”

He winked. “If you’re in a cabin by yourself, I won’t be able to relax. I’ll be worrying about you the whole damn time. And on a practical note, I’d have to take you there and pick you up. It’d be easier for me to just bring you home with me.”

When he saw the corners of her lips turn up in the hint of a smile, he stopped talking and waited.

After a few long moments, she asked, “And you don’t think it’d be … inappropriate?”

He chuckled. “I do not. In fact, I think it’s more than appropriate for two people who feel the way we do about each other to spend as much time as possible together – so that they can figure out what they want to do about it.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“We’re not kids, darlin’. You know how I feel about you. I’ve told you that I’d like to see what can happen between us. Unless you don’t want to do that, then it makes all the sense in the world for us to be under the same roof.”

She sucked in a deep breath, and just when he thought that she was about to launch into all the reasons why they shouldn’t, she nodded as she blew out a big sigh.

“Is that nod a yeah?” he asked. “Yeah, what?”

“You’re right.”

He grinned. “I thought it’d be harder to convince you.”

She chuckled. “I feel like it should be. But you’re right, Travis. We’re not kids. There’s something there between us – an attraction. And as scary as it seems, I would like to explore it.”

He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “There’s nothing to be scared of, darlin’.”

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she held his gaze. “I’m scared of messing this up. I’d hate to lose your friendship.”

“Then relax, because you won’t. I like the idea of us seeing what might happen. I’d love to reassure you that we can ride off into the sunset together, but I can’t. We both know that there are no guarantees, but I promise you that I’ll put our friendship first. If things don’t work out – if we don’t get along in a coupley kind of way, I’m not going to turn my back on you. Right now, we’re at the friendship level. If we can move up a step into something more, awesome. If that doesn’t happen, we can stay the way we are. Okay?”

She nodded. “And can we take it slowly?”

He chuckled. “That’s my plan. I’m offering you one of the guest bedrooms, not inviting you into mine. It’ll take some time before either of us knows if that’s what we want.”

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