Page 170 of My Cowboy Freedom
Epilogue
Sky
A grinning Rock led me and Maisy to a newly built wooden swing nestled in a copse of trees. All private and romantic-like.
It was so Rock and I couldn’t resist teasing him about it.
“Oh my God, Buford. Did you build us a romantic rendezvous spot?”
He peered at me warily. “Are you asking that because you think it’s an awesome idea, or because you’re about to unleash a load of horseshit about—”
“Aren’t you worried we’ll get our man-scent all over the nature here and spoil things for the Bambi slayers?” I asked.
“It’s too close to the pens. Nobody hunts here.” He dug the toe of his work boot into the loamy earth, where I noticed he’d planted some kind of vine. Delicate, tender shoots had already curlicued around the base of the swing’s wooden framework.
“Did you plant something?”
He shrugged. “By this time next year it should be covered with passion flowers. They’ll bring bees and butterflies. More likely it’ll just get covered in bird crap, though.”
Ah, now. I have ruined his surprise with my sarcasm and I can’t stand it. “In that case I can always get up there with a bucket and brush. I’m an ace scrubber.”
He kicked at the dirt. “You don’t have to do that.”
Aw. No fair pouting. He was killing me here.
“I don’t mind.” I lifted my foot to give his ass a tap from behind but that never worked because my foot didn’t reach that high. I caught his thigh and Maisy gave me a hard stare. “I love it. It’s beautiful.”
“I know, right? And Foz and Elena can use it, and Ryder and Declan and whoever else. I just thought it’d be nice to have a swing.”
He sat down and patted the slatted bench.
“Try it out?”
“Sure.” I removed my hat and sat next to him.
Ooh.
Nice craftsmanship. The seats were contoured, like one of those Adirondack chairs from the fancy camping catalogues we looked at sometimes.
I marveled at it. “You really can do anything you set your mind to, can’t you?”
“Nah.” He was pleased that I said it. But we’d need to go another round or two.
“You are amazing. How did you even know how to build this? Did you get plans off the Internet?” I was handy, but I could no more craft something this beautiful than I could fly.
“What’d you do today?” he asked.
“I cowboyed some.” A brief flare of happiness burst inside me.
I closed my eyes because the sun was at that awkward late-afternoon angle, right in my eyes, leaving me light-blind and disoriented. I was going to need sunglasses or see nothing but black spots out there.
Since Rock and I would be spending a lot of time there, I figured I should buy some.
Rock’s fingers curled around mine. It felt so good. I let my head fall until it was lying on his shoulder.
That made things even more pleasant.
“The sun’s going to set in a few minutes,” he said. “The light’s bad, but then it fades. Gradually your vision clears. Out here, every sunset is the opening credit roll on the best movie never made.”
