Page 42 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

She laughed with him, really enjoying the fact that he could give her that release. That this was such an easy, casual place for her to be, on a lazy Tuesday afternoon, after a great weekend and then hard conversations with her parents.

She took a bite of her oatmeal cream pie as they settled into the middle two chairs in the shade of the barn.

Finally, Henry looked over to her. “Well, how’d it go?”

“I didn’t talk to them about us,” she said.

“I didn’t think you would.”

“I told them that things need to change, that I can’t do everything that I’ve been doing. And I spent most of today sketching out different positions, maybe new captains, new team leads, and another foreman. A whole bunch of stuff like that. We’re going to go over it this week and try to figure out some adjustments inside our personnel so that I’m not shouldering so much.”

Henry reached across the arm of the camp chair and took her hand in his. “That’s amazing, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m really glad you’re doing that.”

“Me too.” She took another bite of her oatmeal cream pie, and since they weren’t that big, she could usually eat them in three or four bites. He let her finish, and then he took her trash and tucked it in his pocket.

“Trevor did roll call,” he said.

“Yeah.” She brightened, both in body and spirit. “He did a great job too, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Henry said. “He sure did.” He chuckled. “I was a little worried about him being up on that stool, but he did all right.”

“Yeah,” Angel said. “I’m going to have Justin build him a platform that has a railing to hold on to when he’s up there.”

“So he’s gonna be doing roll call for a while?” Henry asked.

“I put him in charge of roll call indefinitely,” Angel said. She cut a glance to Henry, noticing that he watched her with an open mouth. “I’m capable of change.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” he snapped, closing his mouth. “It’s just…you haven’t changed anything since you took over for your daddy.”

“I know,” she said. “Which is why I’m a complete basket case and have kind of broken down several times in the last year. It’s time for a change. I was too just stubborn to see it until now.”

“Until me?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t give yourself too much credit.” She swatted at his chest as she giggled. As she sobered, she nodded. “Yeah, Henry, until you.”

She looked at him then, and Henry reached across the small space between them to cradle her face. “I don’t mean to be a problem for you, sweetheart.”

“You’re not,” she whispered, her eyes dropping to his mouth. “You have a unique way of helping me see things that are right in front of me.”

“Is that a good thing?” he asked.

She nodded. “It’s not a bad thing.”

“I’m gonna kiss you now,” he whispered. “Unless you stop me.”

Angel closed her eyes instead, and the anticipation of kissing him was almost more than she could bear. Her heartbeat vibrated through her body, and every skin cell heightened to the potential of being touched by him.

It seemed to take forever until his mouth met hers, and then everything ignited, almost like an explosion. Angel kissed him back, receiving his stroke and hoping that he would kiss her, kiss her, and kiss her for a good long while.

Chapter Thirteen

Henry had not come to the East barn to kiss Angel. However, he wasn’t going to complain about kissing Angel. She kissed him back, just like she had last February, but this time was so much better.

Oh, so much better, as she actually wanted him to kiss her, she’d known it was coming, and the passion between them felt like hot lava exploding out of Mount Vesuvius.

Henry told himself to stop, that he was kissing her for too long, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Her lips tasted like apples and cool water at the same time, and the way her fingers moved into his hair, dislodging his cowboy hat, made his skin prickle with pleasure.

He finally got control of himself enough to duck his head, breaking their kiss. He leaned his forehead against hers and took ragged breath after ragged breath. She did the same, and Henry didn’t want to open his eyes and break the moment.

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