Page 46 of Sweet Whiskey
I laugh when he visibly withholds his grimace. “Not a fan of pink?” I say.
Colt wrinkles his nose. “It’s not…my favorite, but whatever you want, Kinsey.”
Swallowing down the nerves, I stare at him in earnest before I ask, “So we are doing this then? Officially courting?”
“It’s been official for us since the first night,” Colt says intently.
I avert my gaze, looking over the acres of land before us. “I came for my dad. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after I found him.”
He clears his throat, so my attention falls back on him. “But you could see yourself staying?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
Colt smiles. “Can I show you something then?”
CHAPTER 21
COLT
I blow out a breath, shifting in my boots on the porch as Kinsey’s car comes up the driveway. The overgrown tree hangs dangerously close to the ground, and I see her grimace as she drives through it, her wheels slowly crawling. I’d taken the horses back as she went to the inn to check in with Brielle and promised to meet me here after.
When she climbs out of the car, I cock an eyebrow. “That’s a nice car.”
She smiles, rubbing her hand along the door. “Yeah, you like it? It was my mom’s pride and joy.”
I meet her halfway down the steps, catching her around the waist before leaning down to brush a kiss across her lips. “I can tell she loved that car, and I can tell she loved you.”
Kinsey sighs, hugging me before letting go to stare wistfully at the car. “She tried to sell it one year to help pay for the academy. I told her I’d quit if she ever tried. We didn’t have a lot, but I’d be damned if she didn’t get to keep her car.”
“And look where it took you…”Home.I don’t say it, but she looks up at me, like she understands where I’m coming from. Her face softens.
I clear my throat, nodding to the house. “Want to see it? It’s not much yet, but we’re getting there.”
She holds out her hand for me to grab and I lead her up the porch.
Both of our noses wrinkle at the distinct smell of fresh paint as I open the door. We had aired it as much as we could before we left for the weekend, but I wasn’t about to leave a window open and unlocked while we worked down the road, too far to hear anyone who might break in.
“It’s a little rough, but uh. We’ll get it all fixed up,” I say, scratching the back of my neck as I lead her inside. “We just put in new floors and painted.”
The floors had started to rot near the baseboards, and the paint was peeling off the walls. It’s been sitting untouched for years, with no maintenance done. I probably would have passed it up entirely if Brooks hadn’t reminded me of the renovation loan we could qualify for as a pack. We make decent money at the ranch, but not the kind to just dump tens of thousands at the drop of a hat. And thankfully we already had the tools to start fixing it up on our own after years of fixing up the ranch.
Kinsey is frozen at the doorway, her eyes wide as she takes it all in. The longer she’s silent, the faster my heart beats with nerves. My stomach turns with possible rejection.
“I know it’s hard to imagine,” I tell her, pointing at a wall across the room, “but we’re thinking of knocking that down to open the living room and the kitchen. We already checked the floor plan and pipes, so we should be goodto go soon.”
Her tongue sweeps across her lips, and she blinks a few times as if breaking her thoughts before turning to face me.
“I love it.”
My head jerks back in surprise. “What?”
She smiles. “I love it. I can see what it will become.”
“You do?”
Kinsey nods. “Yeah, I can feel it. Can’t you? It’s…home.” She moves farther inside, heading toward the kitchen, and I follow her, silently stunned. I had figured I would have to plead my case, paint the imagery of what’s to come.
“This wall, right? You want to knock it down and open it up?” she asks, pointing.
