Page 39 of Guarded Hearts

“I had no idea that you had all this going on. I’d heard that your family was back in the area, but I thought you were just running cattle on the ranch.”

“We do that too. In our spare time.”

“Spare time! How can you even have any?”

He chuckled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oaks, casually reclining with one leg crossed over his knee, hide his reaction by scuffing his knuckles over his jaw.

At that moment, a door next to the big screen opened, and a young woman pushed a snack cart toward them. The wave of buttery popcorn aroma hit Layne. Though she was full from dinner, the scent enticed her like no food had in years.

Her last two years of skipping carbs to retain her flat stomach and keep her hips from getting any wider vanished in the face of a big tub of her favorite childhood snack.

She groaned. “You’re never going to have to worry about me leaving the ranch. I won’t fit out the door if I keep eating like this.”

He plucked the bucket off the cart and placed it in her hands. “Eat the popcorn, Layne.”

Then he took two sodas from the woman and placed them in the cupholders on each side of their seats.

After the woman had doled out snacks to his brothers as well, she vanished with the cart again. Layne slipped a puffy kernel between her lips and moaned. “Tell me more about this therapy for vets.”

He gave her his full attention. And when Carson’s electric gray eyes landed on a woman, she paid attention. Layne had seen it time and again. Heck, the theater worker had just given him a once-over like he washerfavorite treat. And he’d completely ignored the attention.

That in itself was sexy as hell.

With one thick finger, he broke open the box of candy and popped two in his mouth. As he chewed, he gave her a thoughtful look. “You know that most of us Malones entered the military after high school. Denver and Theo are still enlisted.”

“I’d heard rumors but didn’t know the particulars.”

“Well, it’s not an easy life. Not all of us come out of it unscathed. We see our military brothers as a precious resource. Nobody should be discarded.”

She nodded, chewing her popcorn. “Least of all people who have served their country.”

His lack of a response wasn’t lost on her. It seemed like every time Carson didn’t answer her, it was because he was passionate about the topic or it struck some emotion he didn’t know how to express.

Or he doesn’t trust me enough to express.

Her stomach dipped with the thought. After all they’d been through, she wanted Carson to trust her. She meant the toast she’d made at the restaurant.

“To old friends” came with a strong link to their past.

But she couldn’t deny the new feelings stirring inside her at the man Carson had become.

Lifting the popcorn bucket, she held it out to him on offer. She stared into his eyes. “To new friends.”

A gleam flashed in the depths of his eyes. He reached into the bucket and took a big handful. Popping one into his mouth…and then one into hers.

Chapter Ten

Layne loved the silence of her Wyoming country estate. The solitude was definitely a step up from the bustle of cities where she spent so much time living and working. The only thing missing was looking at that beautiful view, a different landscape painting in every window in Golden Horizon.

Only she wasn’t allowed to open any of the blinds or curtains. And the silence was becoming disconcerting.

Carson wasn’t exactly talkative, but she felt his absence even more now. After their date, he had wished her goodnight and closed his bedroom door.

He hadn’t come to her bed.

He hadn’t woken her with tender kisses.

With a sigh, she sank to the chair behind her desk in the study. All the letters were still spread out on the surface where she’d left them. Over the past few days, she’d made her way through three stacks. The ones she’d read were neatly set to the side and held down with a small marble paperweight.

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