Page 28 of The Cowboy's Unlikely Love

“For being awesome. For getting it. For seeing the world the way that you do.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

He held her gaze for a long moment, looking as though he was about to say something important, but then he smiled and turned away to reach into the back for the bag they’d picked up from the bakery.

“Do you want the sausage?” he asked.

Everly couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing.

He rolled his eyes at her. “You can’t blame me for that one – that’s all on you, seeing innuendo when there’s none there.”

She pushed at his arm. “You’re right. But if we’re going to be real with each other, I’m not going to hold back any more than you are.”

She was enjoying laughing at him, but there was no missing the way the air in the cab of the truck crackled between them when he handed her a burrito and said, “If you want it, I’ll give it to you.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Everly’s heart raced. If he said that he wasn’t joking, she’d take him up on the offer in a heartbeat.

He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, sending shivers down her spine. Then he laughed. “We’re playing a whole different game here, aren’t we?”

There was no point in pretending that she didn’t know what he meant. “It sure looks that way.”

Chapter Seven

Tanner loved Dailey Lake. As he’d told Everly, he and his brothers used to spend a lot of time here when they were kids. It hit him that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d come. In fact, he’d only been once since he returned from his time in the Navy. He and Ty had come ice fishing last winter.

He wrapped his arm around Everly’s shoulders as they walked along the path that followed the water’s edge. It was fun to see the place through her eyes. She pointed and exclaimed with delight at things he wouldn’t have noticed.

It wasn’t as though she lived in the big city – he’d been to Napa; it wasn’t bad for a place that wasn’t Montana – but it was obvious that she was blown away by just how beautiful it was here.

“Oh my God, Tanner!” She stopped abruptly and looked up at him with panic in her eyes. “Is that a wolf?”

He looked to where she was pointing. From her reaction, he’d expected the animal to be much closer. Instead, it was making its way along the path at the edge of the tree line. “No, that’s a coyote.”

She peered at it again. “It sure looks like a wolf. What’s the difference?”

“Wolves are much bigger. Coyotes are just little guys by comparison.”

She looked at the coyote again. “He looks big enough to me. I wouldn’t want to bump into him if I were by myself.”

Tanner chuckled and tightening his arm around her shoulders, started them walking again. “You’d more than likely be fine. There’s plenty of easier prey for them to feed on around here. But if you ever do encounter one, act aggressive. Wave your arms above your head, yell, scream – they’ll more than likely take off running.”

“And if they don’t?”

“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll be right here with you; I’ll take care of them.”

He was relieved when she smiled. “You’re offering to be my bodyguard?”

“Yeah, if you want me to, I’ll guard your body as closely as you like.”

She laughed and slapped his arm. “I thought you weren’t going to give me that kind of shit.”

“I’m not giving you shit, darlin’. I mean it. If you don’t believe me, you should ask Callie.”

He laughed at the puzzled look she gave him. “I know, right? That sounded weird, didn’t it? What I meant was that she only met Kolby because he was assigned to work as her bodyguard. And now…” His words trailed off when he realized what he was about to say.

“It’s okay. I know how things worked out for them – that they’re married now. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go getting ideas, not going to imagine that you might want to marry me someday. Geez, relax! You look terrified.”

Tanner cleared his throat. He didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that he was worried about her reaction – more that hedidn’t understand his own. The way that she dismissed the idea of marrying him so easily and completely made him want to ask why it was such a ridiculous notion. Andthatreally was crazy. He had no intention of settling down anytime soon. Just because his brothers had met some amazing women and were starting to build lives with them, that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking for the same thing.

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