Page 56 of Destined for the Cowboy

She was going to live again.

Happily.

She didn’t make the bed before she left.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

He’d known itwould be good. Hell, he’d known it would be great. But he hadn’t known just how great, because he hadn’t known that level of hot, that level of searing, flying pleasure was even possible.

It wasn’t until he looked in the mirror in his bathroom that he realized he was grinning. He should have noticed just from the muscle strain, since it wasn’t exactly his normal expression.

That she’d even wanted him like that, that it had been her idea, and she’d been so certain every step of the way despite him giving her—dreading it every time—chance after chance to change her mind, was hard enough to accept.

What it had become, that firestorm of sensation that had peaked at a height he’d never been to before, was unbelievable. Even now it didn’t seem possible.

A slight smile curved his mouth.I guess to be sure we’ll just have to do it again. And again. And again and again and again…

He wished they could have done that today, but as one who tried to always honor prior commitments like the one Tris had said she had today, he understood. He didn’t like it, but maybe tonight they could make up for the missed hours today.

I wanted our first time to be at your place…

The words that had so stunned him—both because of her wanting to be at his remote, isolated home, and because she was clearly considering this only the first time—rang in his head again. So maybe tonight, they could manage that. Come back here, where there would be no distractions of any kind, eithertraffic on the street or noisy neighbors only a wall away. Endless hours of just them, touching, learning, discovering…

He headed out to the shop to pick up the next buckles for Rylan Rafferty. He’d been glad to have the task to do last week, when he’d been psyching himself up for yesterday.

He was grinning again when he realized that, given how little sleep he’d had last night, he should be exhausted. But instead he felt as if he’d pumped a triple shot of espresso, revved up and ready. And his mood was heightened by the response to the test-run buckles, which had already sold.

“I knew you’d get it right,” Rylan said when he delivered the new ones. “I’ve already got the designs for more. Now, we just need to work out how much I owe you.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Like hell,” Rylan said with a wide smile.

“Just supplies, then. I don’t need—”

“Shut up, Fox. You don’t give away that kind of skill and talent.”

Logan was still processing that unexpected compliment when the man who had become famous came back from his studio and handed him a check he thought had an extra zero on it. He was about to protest when Rylan’s mother came out of the main house. She came over to them, welcoming Logan with a wide smile.

“Off to the ceremony at Creekbend?” Rylan asked.

She nodded. “I want to be there, if only for Trista.”

Logan blinked. Processed the words. Ceremony. Creekbend, the high school. For Tris. It hit him like a multi-car pileup. He’d known about the commemorative ceremony, he’d just forgotten what day it was. It was hard to miss anything of such significance in Last Stand, thanks to that damned grapevine. He should have put it together with Tris saying she had something on her schedule she couldn’t skip today, but he hadn’t.

Maybe because she shorted out every circuit in your brain last night? Maybe because she fired up nerves you didn’t even know you had? Maybe because she nearly blew the top of your head off in her bed?

“So, you off on one of your history jaunts today?” Rylan asked, and it took Logan a moment to realize it was directed at him. He went with the easiest answer.

“I…maybe.”

“You should stop by the high school first,” Maggie said, in that commanding way of hers that no one in Last Stand could ignore. “To show support. Then you can be off to…where is it this week?”

“Don’t know yet,” he muttered.

He wasn’t even sure how he escaped. Or why, when he reached the T-intersection that would have taken him back home, he went the other way. And ended up on the Hickory Creek Spur headed toward the school.

By the time he got there a sizeable crowd had gathered around the temporary podium that had been put up. A lot of people had turned out to, as Maggie had put it, show support.

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