Page 26 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

“Yep, it’s really him. He’s an old man now, but he obviously remembers you.” He laughed as Murphy covered Leni’s face in puppy kisses. “He always loved you.”

The dog wasn’t the only one.

“Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as the dog put his paws up on her shoulders and knocked her over. She fell on her back, laughing as Murphy straddled her body, still wagging his tail as he licked her chin and face. “Gah, not my mouth,” she said, still giggling as she tried to push his nose away from her face.

“Get off her, Murph,” Chevy commanded as he hurried over to help. He grabbed Murphy’s collar and tugged the dog back then reached his hand out to help pull Leni to her feet. “You okay?” he asked, brushing gravel and dust from her back.

“I’m fine,” she said, still laughing. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s been that excited to see me.”

“I felt that excited to see you when you drove up,” he said, teasing her. “I just didn’t wiggle my butt around as much. But I would have tackled you and covered you in kisses if I thought I could have gotten away with it.”

She blinked up at him, her laughter gone, replaced with another look, one he couldn’t be sure of. Was it longing? Affection? Annoyance?

She tore her gaze away and stared out over the lake in front of the cabin. “Wow, look at this place,” she said, obviously changing the subject, although her voice still held a wistful tone. “I’ve got so many good memories of being here.”

“Yeah?” He did too. And so many of them involved her. “Does it look any different?”

It had been over ten years since Leni had been there, and he dropped an arm casually around her shoulders as he stared outat the lake with her, taking in the view as if seeing it from her perspective.

The cabin was to the right. From the front, it probably hadn’t changed much, same rough-hewn logs, same wide front porch with the two rocking chairs his grandfather had bought for his grandmother that faced the lake. Since Leni had been there, they’d added on an extra bedroom and updated the appliances and the plumbing, redoing the bathroom to add a tub and a nicer shower.

Most of the décor was the same, the curtains his grandma had made, the mountain landscape his great-grandfather had painted, the same tacky antler chandelier, and the baskets of pinecones that he and his brothers had probably collected when they were in grade school.

The lake was small, ringed with tall pine trees, with the side of the mountain climbing up about forty feet along its far side. A creek ran off the top of the ridge, forming a waterfall into the lake. A pine tree with heavy branches protruded over the side from the bank next to the cabin, and a rope swing hung over the water.

This afternoon, the water gently lapped at the shore, and he breathed in the scent of pine trees, wildflowers, and the lake.

He loved it here. It always felt like home. Even more so now…with Leni here.

“Maybe. The drive up felt the same, all those gorgeous sunflowers I love growing next to the road—those have always been my favorite.”

“I remember.” She’d almost always made him stop on the way down the mountain to pick a handful.

“But the trees seem taller. The cabin looks the same, although I remember it seeming bigger.” She inhaled a deep breath, and her face broke into a smile. “But it smells the same.And the lake. Oh my gosh. The lake is still amazing. So beautiful. It’s like a painting. Is the water still warm?”

Several hot springs in the mountains above the lake fed into it, so the waterwastruly warm.

“Go find out,” he told her.

She looked at the water, then at him, then back at the water. Then she walked to the water’s edge, kicked off her shoes, and waded in up to her knees. “Oh my gosh. It’s amazing.”

The water did look amazing, and he’d been dying for a swim all afternoon.

He shucked off his boots and jeans then let out a whoop as he raced past her, wearing only his black boxer briefs, and splashed into the water.

He ducked his head under then came up, shaking the water out of his hair. The temperature was perfect, warm but not hot, and cooler the deeper it went. He lifted his hand and beckoned her toward him. “Come on in. The water’s fine.”

“No way. I don’t have a swimsuit.”

He offered her one of his best flirty grins. “Never stopped you before.”

She shifted from one foot to the other, chewing on her bottom lip.

“I know you’re weighing the pros and cons in your head,” he told her. It was what she’d always done.

She planted a hand on her hip. “You don’t know me that well.”

“Yeah, right. Go ahead. Lay them on me.”

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