Page 74 of Savage Secrets

Lips flattened against the words he didn’t know how to form, he ducked his head in a nod of agreement.

Without another word, Gracey crossed the yard and got into his truck. Before he even started the engine, Zach was taking the porch steps two at a time.

Opal looked up at his sudden entrance. She stopped, the whipped cream can hovering over the mugs of hot cocoa.

There were three mugs. She still held out hope for a “them.”

Dammit, there wasgoingto be a “them.”

In a few steps, he caught her around the waist and yanked her flush against him.

“Woman, I can’t do it. I can’t walk away, even though you deserve so much better than a cowboy with a dark past. You deserve—”

Before he could get out another word, she squirted the whipped cream into his mouth, overflowing it.

He sputtered around the sweet treat. A deep laugh bubbled up his throat, but she cut that off too by kissing him.

Her mouth moved over his, and he knew in that moment…she was giving herself to him.

She belonged to him.

Love burned through him. Clutching her tighter, he deepened the kiss.

“Hey! I want whipped cream!” Rainie’s demand made them laugh again.

Breaking apart, Opal held the canister of whipped cream over her daughter’s mouth, held open like a baby bird eager for a worm.

After Rainie swallowed and quit giggling, Zach leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Pumpkin, I changed my mind about that sleepover. I’m going to stay.”

“Yay!” She hurled herself into his arms.

Tenderness stole over him as he cradled the girl against him. Then he lost his heart completely when her mother took her spot against his chest.

Chapter Twenty

Opal picked up the notes of freshly brewed coffee and followed her nose into the kitchen.Ohhh.The small aches and pains from Zach’s “sleepover” made her remember body parts she’d forgotten about.

As she entered the space, her gaze landed on the coffeemaker. The pot was full. Confusion rippled through her. Zach always poured the first cup for himself into his travel mug and took it outside to get him moving for the day’s chores. Today he hadn’t taken any.

She slipped on her rubber boots by the door and her dad’s old quilted flannel, the one that made her feel like he was giving her a warm hug every time she put it on. She walked outside, following her sense of hearing to locate her lover.

She heard a faint scraping noise in the barn. She’d recognize that sound in her sleep. He was cleaning stalls.

When she stepped into the doorway, she blinked to adjust to the dim lighting. The sunshine only trickled into the space through a few high windows in the building, but she saw the dust swirling in the middle of the space.

She drifted forward to see Zach giving the stall a quick sweep. He was so absorbed that he didn’t hear her as he ducked into the adjoining stall, giving it a once-over in preparation for the day’s interviews.

“Zach.”

He turned, his hat tugged low, face in shadow. Dust spun around him.

“Everything okay?” he asked in a gritty voice.

“Yes. Just coming to see what was so interesting that you forgot to drink your coffee.”

He moved toward her and wrapped his hands around her arms, drawing her a step closer to him. “I’m already too jittery. Coffee would make it worse.”

She studied his face. “You’re nervous about the interviews?”

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