Page 79 of The Chances We Take

“Damn, Short Stack, hitting me with the hard questions today,” he teased. “I’m going to think, but I need you to answer this too. I’m curious.”

Easy. I’d be yours.

“Oh, that’s easy. I’d be Elizabeth Bennet. I mean, we already have practically the same last name, she’s a reader like me, and Mr. Darcy? Thehand flex? Every girl’s dream.” I picked the second best option.

He looked me dead in the face. “What, like this?” And thenhe did it.

My jaw practically dropped. “Reid Lawson, are you telling me you?—”

“Have watchedPride and Prejudice? I have a sister, Isabelle.”

If I thought Colter was book boyfriend material for Ellison before, Reid had knocked him out of the park. Colter Carson who?

“I—you—what?” I didn’t know what to say, blabbering out an incoherent string of words.

“John Wayne.”

“Huh?” I was still stuck in a stupor over what he said—and did.

“I’d be John Wayne,” he replied, seemingly unbothered by my lack of ability to form a complete sentence.

I laughed. “That’s such a cowboy answer.”

All he did was shrug. We walked a bit further without saying anything, the trail winding around until there was a drop to our left with a river running below.

I walked closer to the edge to look down at it, and my breath hitched in my throat. “This is beautiful.”

“Wait until you see the end destination.” Reid gave me an amused smile.

He was right. The end destination was even better thanI’d expected. The lake was a beautiful aquamarine color, and mountains dabbled with snow stretched toward the sky behind it.

“It’s breathtaking.” I sighed in awe before looking over my shoulder only to catch Reid staring at me.

He held my gaze, his honey-colored eyes gleaming, as he replied, “It sure is.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

reid

Even though we’d been out exploring all day, neither of us were tired when we got back to the cabin that night.

Isa flopped down on the plush couch in the living room, right in front of the fireplace, which served as decoration more than anything this time of year.

I lifted her legs so I could sit then I let them fall back over my lap, her feet barely over the edge of my outside thigh.

“Mmm, that feels good.” She groaned as I took one socked foot and started massaging it, rubbing deep into the muscles tight from our hike earlier that afternoon.

I kept going, pressing my thumb into the middle part of her foot, trying my best to ignore the noises she was making. The ones causing my dick to twitch in my pants. I switched to the other foot, giving it the same attention and garnering the same response.

“You’re really good at that, you know?” Isa laughed as I finished, giving the top of her right foot a pat as I let it rest back on me. “Give many foot massages in the past?”

I playfully rolled my eyes at her teasing and responded, “No, can’t say I have.”

“Well, now you have a career for after you retire from being a cowboy.”

“I’m not that old, Short Stack. That’s not something I want to think about right now.” I chuckled.

Isa swung her legs back onto the ground before standing. “I’m getting ice cream. I think I deserve it after that hike.” She giggled to herself. “Do you want anything?”

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