Page 104 of On His Ranch

“I want to. It’s not that I don’t miss you, Chase. Of course I do. But… I’ve cried so much these last few weeks, I’ve made myself sick. I’ve missed you and I wanted… but I just can’t risk it. I’m sorry. I can’t risk ever getting hurt like that again.”

He smiled sadly. “You don’t need to say you’re sorry.I’mthe one who’s sorry.” As he spoke, he stood and pulled out his wallet. He tossed two twenty-dollar bills on the table. “It was good to see you, Piper. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, but she stubbornly blinked them away. “I promise.”

He put a hand on her shoulder, patted it, then dropped his hand.

She didn’t turn to watch him walk away. She looked at those twenty-dollar bills, the potatoes and cheese she’d had suddenly feeling heavy in her stomach. She stared at them until the numbers blurred. Piper reached up and flicked her tears away, then slid out of the booth.

“Chase!”

He froze, his hand on the door. By the time he turned around, she was running across the restaurant. He caught her in his arms, but before he could say a word, she was pulling his head down and kissing him with all the fervor of lovers that had been parted for almost a month.

When they broke apart, they were both panting and her heart was soaring in her chest.

“You musta missed me more than a little.”

Her only answer was a giggle. His laugh echoed her own and the more she laughed, the harder he did too. By the time they were finished, she’d never felt so light. So free. And judging by the look on her cowboy’s face, he felt it too.

“You two kids get outta here,” Wendy groused behind her, but there was a crooked smile on her wizened face.

“My shift…”

“It’s dead in here. ‘Sides which, seems like you’ve got more important things to take care of.”

Chase offered her a hand and she took it and the two of them walked out together. “You need a ride to your aunt’s?”

“Well…”

“How’s that goin’, by the way?”

Piper couldn’t help but be flattered by the concern in his expression. “You know, actually, better than I thought.”

He smiled softly and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad. More than I can tell you. And Ma will be glad to hear it, too. She’s been ‘specially worried.”

“Oh,Mahas,” she teased.

“What! She has! We all have,” he added, but he was chuckling. “I’d forgotten how much of a brat you are, you know.”

Piper flushed but didn’t respond.

“Are you borrowin’ her car?”

“Uh, no…”

“You take the bus then?”

“Ah, actually, Chase…”

But before she could work up the courage to tell him, he spotted it. She knew he had, because his body stiffened and then he growled low in his throat. “Do my eyes deceive me, or did you lie to me, little girl?”

But she surprised them both by tossing her head back and laughing. “What are you going to do about it, huh?”

Chase’s jaw had dropped when he spotted the beat-up truck he’d been using since high school. He turned slowly to look at Piper, stunned even further to see that brat of his was blushing, head ducked, all the while grinning ear to ear. “Why did you lie to me, Piper?”

Her toes skirted across the pavement. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sure you do, little girl, you jus’ don’t wanna fess up. Come on, out with it.”

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