Page 73 of Wounded Cowboy
Kelsey’s heart leaped into her throat.Spring!
Jenna looked over her shoulder and grinned at Kelsey.“Why, Ms. Armstrong, there’s someone here to see you.”
She stepped aside. Spring stood framed in the doorway, even more handsome than she remembered.
His expression was composed of one part happiness, one part hopefulness and one part something she couldn’t identify.
Is he actually… nervous?Kelsey wondered.“Spring!” She was smiling and felt like she could barely breathe.
Then she looked down at herself, appalled.
She’d put on her comfy old sweats and a faded hoodie for her Trashy TV Night with Jenna, and she wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup.
I look like a complete slob,Kelsey thought in despair.He’s going to take one look at me and run away.
“Come on in,” Jenna said, oblivious to Kelsey’s consternation. Behind Spring’s back, she gave Kelsey a thumbs-up and a broad wink.“I was, uh, just headed downstairs to grab us some cookies.”
As Jenna left, Spring strode into the room. He was wearing one of his nice shirts and his best hat, making Kelsey feel even more self-conscious.
“Hi, Spring,” Kelsey greeted him, trying to sound casual.“I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”
“Neither did I, but when I heard you were back in town, Ihadto see you right away,” Spring declared. His smile took her breath away.“My God, woman, you’re so beautiful it should be illegal.”
Before she could respond to his unexpected compliment, he crossed Jenna’s living room with long strides. He bent and swept her up into his arms.
She clung to him, pressing herself against his hard, lean body.God, I missed this!
Then he lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her deeply, hungrily, and she responded with equal passion. Her heart swelled with emotion, her earlier fears and doubts melting away under his passionate greeting.
When they finally broke apart, Spring studied her face intently, as if trying to read her thoughts.“Are you just back for a visit, Kelsey?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.“Or are you here for good?”
“I’m back for good,” Kelsey told him.
She couldn’t stop smiling. Words flowed out of her in a rush.
“I hated everything about Los Angeles except for the food.” She smiled at the memory.“There was this gourmet food truck in my neighborhood called Seoul Salsa Mobile that served the most incredible Korean-Mexican fusion burritos. They were expensive, but worth it. Everything else… the traffic, the smog, the high cost of living, the superficial people… it all sucked.”
Oh God, I’m babbling, she thought.
Relief flickered across Spring’s face. He pulled her close again, wrapping his arms protectively around her.“I’m so glad you’re back, Kelsey. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too. More than I can say. And the girls, too. When April texted me last weekend in the middle of the worst day ever, that’s when I knew I had to come back.”
He studied her, his beautiful blue eyes searching her face.
“‘Worst day ever’?” he echoed.“What happened? Is that why you hightailed it out of L.A. so quickly? Not that I’m not overjoyed to see you back in Snowberry Springs,” he added.
Kelsey sighed.“Well, it wasn’t just last weekend. That was just the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she began.“First, there was this scary road rage incident where I seriously thought this guy was going to ram my car for trying to merge in front of him when Caltrans closed a lane. And then there was my agency. I was hoping to actually work as a nanny for a family long-term. Instead, they kept sending me on all these terrible short-term babysitting gigs for entitled rich people and their awful, spoiled kids.”
“Jeeze,” Spring said sympathetically.“No wonder you didn’t like it.”
“But the final straw,” Kelsey continued,“was spending three hours in stop-and-go traffic last weekend just to drive less than twenty miles to the beach, then spending another half-hour trying to find parking, only to end up with a huge parking ticket because I didn’t have any quarters with me for the parking meter, and my phone was dead, so I couldn’t even pay with the parking app. It was the worst birthday,ever.”
Spring pulled Kelsey into a warm hug.“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry Los Angeles didn’t work out for you,” he murmured into her hair.“But think of it this way: at least you went there. Now, you won’t ever torture yourself with‘might have beens.’”
“I feel like a failure,” Kelsey confessed. But hearing him call her“sweetheart” made her feel warm and tingly inside.
“I don’t think you’re a failure. I think you’rebrave,” Spring countered.
