Page 71 of How to Say I Do
My affronted gasp, him pulling me close as he laughed. We were body to body, breath to breath, close enough I could pick out the blue flecks in his gray irises. “It’s just soap and water.”
“And a sponge.”
“You’ll see. I’ll wash your dishes so well.”
“Mmhmm.” His eyes were dazzling. “In a bit. We’ve got something else we gotta do first. C’mon.”
Despite me saying only hours ago that I wanted to move slowly with him this time, I half expected Wyatt to back me up against the porch railing and cage me in his arms and seize me in a kiss. I was ready, I was— But, no. He led me to the barn.
The partially-finished whitewash glowed beneath the tawny light of two old-fashioned lanterns hanging by the barn doors. I looked up at the lanterns and then back at Wyatt. “Electricity? You’re embracing modern technology.”
“I added electricity shortly after the wheel arrived.”
“Well, aren’t we fancy.”
“It was a busy few years, you know, keepin’ up with all the new-fangled inventions. We never did get but one stop sign in town, though.”
Inside, the barn was softly lit with a handful of incandescent bulbs, and it smelled of hay and dust and horse. I trailed Wyatt to the run-in half of the stables, where the horses moved freely between their paddock and the shelter of the barn.
Peanut trotted over as soon as she saw Wyatt. They said their hellos, gently pressing their foreheads together. Peanut blew out a breath into Wyatt’s hair as Wyatt scratched her neck and called hersweetandbeautifuland asked her how her evening was going. Peanut snorted and nickered and shot me a long look over Wyatt’s shoulder.
“Look who’s here, Peanut,” he said.
Peanut chuffed.
“I know, I’m excited, too.”
She glared.
He chuckled. “C’mere, Noël.”
Wyatt brought my hand up to Peanut’s forehead. “Just like this,” he said, running our joined hands down her long nose. Peanut snorted, unimpressed and uninterested and not at all excited about me being back in her barn and her life.
Her hot breath hit the side of my face. I tensed, shying away from Peanut and into Wyatt.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and kept his hand on top of mine. He ran our joined fingers over her forehead and looped them behind her ears. “Keep going,” he whispered. “She won’t ever hurt you.”
I curled my fingers into her coat and scratched, first behind her ears and then down her long, strong neck. After a few minutes, Peanut blew air in my face.
“Good girl, Peanut.” Wyatt stroked her forehead. She rolled her head into his touch and closed her eyes. “She likes you.”
“I seriously doubt that. I nearly gave her an aneurysm before.”
“She’s a sweetie, and she’s good with nervous riders.” He grinned. “You know, Liam’s never been all that great on a horse. Peanut takes care of him whenever he needs to ride out with me.”
“Liam? Wildlife biologist Liam? Aren’t horses part of the whole ‘being a wildlife ranger in Texas’ thing?”
“He does his work from his truck. But guess who ended up loving horses?”
I laughed. “Are you sure Jason isn’t your child?”
He pulled a face. “Aside from the obvious problems with that, there’s no way he could be mine. My first time was with you.”
His eyes looked gilded, and I got lost in their glow until Peanut pushed her face between us. He laid his cheek against her snout, but his gaze never left mine. I took his hand. He kissed my knuckles.
Peanut snorted in Wyatt’s face.
We said a fond goodnight to the deeply jealous Peanut and wandered back to the house, our arms around each other’s waists. Inside, I steered Wyatt to the kitchen and pushed him toward one of the stools, then went to the pile of dirty dishes we’d brought to the sink. I rolled up the sleeves of my Ralph Lauren.
