Page 20 of Falling For Her Cowboy
She gave them a wave before dashing over to another table.
“She’s so nice.” Melah returned to her plate. She picked up her rib and bit off a chunk of meat.
Ridge zoomed in on the sauce that was smeared on the corner of her mouth and her cheek. Without thinking, he scooped up a clean napkin from the table and reached over to blot at the corner of her mouth. She froze in place, her wide brown eyes on him while he wiped the barbecue sauce from her face.
“There. You had a little something on your face.” He settled back. He had needed to touch her in someway. Sitting across from the table appeared to be too far.
“Thank you. I appreciate it,” she said softly.
“Not a problem.” He decided to go back to his food before he did something else crazy. He picked up his fork and snagged a piece of meat and raised it. “So tell me something about you. Where are you from?” He popped the meat in his mouth. It was soft and had been slow cooked for hours.
“Missouri. A little town called Dunwich. It’s about an hour and a half west of Jefferson City,” she said.
“Your family still there?” Ridge was curious about this woman in front of him. He had the sudden urge to want to discover all there was to Melah.
“Yeah. I’m an only kid. It’s just been me and my dad. We moved around a lot because he was in the Army. When he retired, he bought a house around the corner from his brother so we could be close to his family.” She flicked her gaze to him, tilted her head to the side, and studied him. “What about you? I already met your brother, Draven. Any other siblings?”
“Nah, my parents could only handle the two of us. My dad said that when I turned two, they realized they were done.” Ridge chuckled.
His mother had her hands full when Draven and he were younger. They’d got into everything. When she’d died, there was definitely a change in the house. Nothing had been the same. Andy had tried his best to keep things as normal as possible, but there was always something missing.
“You were a little hellion?” She arched one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.
Those plump lips of hers curled up in the corners again. He tried to not focus on them but couldn’t help it.
“I mean, define hellion. Was I always pulling pranks, sneaking out, having the school call the house—guilty as charged.” He grinned. He had to admit he did have wonderful childhood where love was definitely in the air. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t remember how much his mother loved him and Draven. The world was cruel to take a woman like Flo Harvey from them.
Andy was never a man to shy away from showing his boys affection. Ridge had grown up admiring the old man. His father had worked hard to make the Silver Creek what it was today.
“What about you?” he asked.
“I was a good girl. Never got in trouble.” Shemade an imaginary cross on her chest and tried to give off an innocent look.
“Sure you were.” Ridge snorted.
“I’m serious. I had good grades all through school, and when I graduated, I knew I was going to enter the Army.”
They continued a steady conversation while they finished their food. Once they were done, the waitress came over with the check. Automatically Ridge reached for it, but Melah’s hand appeared and pushed his away from the tab.
“My treat, remember?” Melah said.
Ridge grinned and raised his hands in the air. He settled back and allowed her to take the bill.
“I told you I’m not used to this,” he said.
She pulled her card from her wallet and waved down the waitress who hadn’t waited for payment. The woman returned and took Melah’s card and the bill.
“I’ll be right back,” the waitress said. She spun on her heel and walked away.
Melah turned her attention back to him with a silly grin. “You mean to tell me that there’s not one woman who has scooped you up and treated you to dinner?”
“You are the first.” Hissmile slowly faded. At the moment, he didn’t want to think of any other woman. He had a beautiful one in front of him who he wanted to get to know better. There was an attraction between them, and he was sure she felt it, too.
“Why aren’t you taken? Why isn’t there a Mrs. Ridge Harvey?” Her smile slowly disappeared.
The waitress returned at that moment, giving Ridge time to think of the answer. Why wasn’t he married? He couldn’t say there hadn’t been candidates. He’d dated plenty, had a few steady girlfriends with Raquel being the last serious relationship.
Melah signed her copy of the bill and handed it to the waitress.
