Page 37 of Older Cowboy

“Thank you for going out with me again,” he told her.

“Thank you for being so understanding about everything.”

“I’m very understanding. Some even say I’m a pretty nice guy,” he intoned with a smirk, but she didn’t smile.

“You are,” she said instead. “You absolutely are.”

It was how her eyes focused so exclusively on his lips that had his smirk faltering. Not because she’d become sad or tentative like before, but because bit by bit she was narrowing the distance between them. He met her halfway, and reliving the sensation of her lips sealing to his was like being reborn into the world.

Even still, as they broke their connection, he couldn’t help watching her expression carefully. They’d reached this point previously only to have things fall apart, and a part of him remained leery despite all the positivity this evening had shown him.

But there was nothing negative on her face whatsoever. Rather her lips had curled up at each corner—the softest of smiles—as she maintained their eye contact. It was like she was searching every corner of his soul.

“Please tell me we can do this again,” she breathed, and he swallowed.

Do what again? Meet up? Go out for barbecue? Talk half the night? Kiss beneath the stars? He was more than happy to repeat any and all of it. So his answer was uncomplicated.

“Yes.”

It was Erika’s composure that broke out across the parking lot.

“Yes?” She let out a snicker. “Yes to what?”

“Yes to whatever you want.” Only after the sentence was out of his mouth did it occur to him that making such a statement might not be wise. Especially considering their troubled backgrounds and past relationship. Honestly, saying such a thing was risky.

It was just that Cody didn’t care.

“Then let’s go out again next Saturday,” she suggested. Likely for clarification’s sake.

“Same time?”

She nodded. “Same time.”

“Want me to pick you up from your place?”

She smiled at him. “That would be great.”

“In that case, I’ll see you next Saturday.”

“Yes, you will.”

Even after this tete-a-tete, neither of them shifted position. They’d been standing incredibly close but no longer touching, and Cody decided to alter this by looping his arms around Erika’s shoulders. He needed to hold her for just a little longer.

And from how swiftly she shifted to join him, wrapping her arms around his torso in return, she must’ve felt the same.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

It was astoundingthe difference one choice in a woman’s life could make. Erika felt as if she’d been peering at her world through a monochromatic mask or something prior to now, and somehow agreeing to go out with Cody had lifted it. The colors around her were brighter and more brilliant. The harsh edges of her existence softened.

Cody had been taking her out for various activities every weekend for the past four months. The two of them had adopted this routine with one another, yet it was anything but commonplace. They’d done everything from the traditional dinner and movie date to her introducing him to every restaurant in town. He’d called it his tour of Rocky Ridge.

“Gotta say,” he said. “Never expected this tiny town to have such an abundance of good eats.”

She didn’t know why, but it’d made Erika feel so pleased to hear this. As if Cody Stiers, new guy to the area, had given the place his stamp of approval precisely because she’d shown him some of the best parts of it.

So far, they’d been keeping to their own small slice of the universe, and she suspected it might have something to do with the last time they’d strayed from her hometown. She felt bad about their date to Billings, about how it’d ended. Maybe Cody hadn’t asked her to go anywhere else specifically because that memory had been tainted by how she’d treated him.

Maybe that was why when he informed her that his brother Boone had sent him three tickets to one of his NHL games happening during his son’s upcoming spring break, she felt surprised when Cody invited her.

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