Page 37 of Long Past Dawn
“Dawn,” he moaned, his legs shaking as he held onto the little bit of control he had left. “You’re incredible. It’s never been like this before. Oh, God,” he moaned, his hips bucking against me again. His forehead came down to rest on mine so he could gaze into my eyes. “I can’t, Dawn. I can’t explain it.”
I caressed his cheek tenderly while I gazed into the unfathomable depths of his coffee brown eyes. “We don’t need to, Beau,” I promised when I lifted my hips to meet his. “Right now, all we need to do is fly. Should we fly up into the sky together?” I whisper-asked, feeling the tension building inside him. The words barely left my lips before his hips took over and carried us both up into the night to dance among the stars.
As soon as the back door opened, a brisk wind accompanied my best friend inside. The wind reminded me that it might be April, but it was still Wisconsin. I turned from the stove to see Heaven standing there, her hair windswept around her face and her cheeks ruddy.
“Chilly out?” I asked, chuckling as I stirred a pot of soup.
“It’s brisk, especially on the back of Grover. I’m relatively sure Mr. and Mrs. McAwley are going to hate us for picking April as the month to get married.”
I shut the burner off and pulled the pot off the stove. “It wasn’t like you could wait until June. The bison will be calving by then. You didn’t have many choices.”
Heaven sat, and I scooped out two bowls of soup, setting one in front of her then sliding into my seat. “Thanks,” she said, digging into my homemade chicken and wild rice soup. It was always her favorite, and it made me smile to make her happy.
“When do they arrive?” I asked between bites.
“Later today. Ash and Amity are flying into Duluth and driving from there. I should be at the ranch, but I needed to escape for a few minutes. Blaze is a bit intense right now.”
I snorted and washed my soup down with a swallow of hot coffee. “Beau mentioned that last night. He said, and I quote,the dude needs to chill the F out. He’s going to give himself an aneurysm.”
Heaven almost choked on her soup but couldn’t stop the laughter from escaping. She pointed her spoon at me while she swallowed, then she lifted an eyebrow. “I noticed you and Beau have been rather,” she waved her spoon around in the air, “happy the last few days. Ever since, oh, I don’t know, perhaps since you spent Saturday night in the pasture.”
I lowered my spoon and rolled my eyes at her words because she’d expect that reaction. What she wouldn’t expect was the bomb I was about to drop. “We didn’t spend the night out in the pasture. We made a fire, talked, ate Beau’s famous hobos, and made love before we returned to the house to sleep.”
“Shut the front door!” she yelled, jumping straight up from her chair, and almost spilling the rest of her soup. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, stomping her foot. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you two finally gave it up and realized you’re perfect for each other! Did you tell him about your arthritis? How did he say I love you?”
Her enthusiasm was a lot to handle on a day like today. Whatever look was on my face had her plopping back into the chair and taking my hand.
“He didn’t say I love you?”
I barely shook my head as an answer. “Neither of us said I love you. You don’t have to declare your love for each other to have sex,” I said, withdrawing my hand from hers so I could finish my soup.
Heaven frowned. It looked like I’d stolen the wind from her sails. “You don’t, but it’s so obvious to everyone else, so I thought for sure …”
She thought for sure that we saw it, too. It wasn’t that I couldn’t see it. At least I knew I was in love with Beau Hanson. Since the day I met him, I had been, but that didn’t mean it was wise to declare that aloud if he wasn’t ready to hear it.
“I have to be careful,” I finally answered. “The twentieth anniversary of his mom’s death is today, and Beau is struggling with it. I just thought it was wise to give him what he needs right now and not upset the apple cart in the process.”
“But you do love him?” Heaven asked, her spoon balanced in the bottom of her bowl.
“You said it was obvious.”
“I said it was obvious to everyone else, but that doesn’t mean it’s obvious to the two of you.”
“It’s obvious to me that I love him. I can’t speak for him, though. I won’t push him to feel something he doesn’t. That never works out for either party.”
Heaven nodded in agreement and took the spoon from my hand. When I glanced up, she was staring me down. “What about the autoimmune disorder situation?”
Heaven was aware his mother had lupus before she died. Even though she didn’t die from the disease, Beau experienced how difficult living with someone with the condition is.
“I explained to him about my arthritis and how I’m getting treatment for it now. He told me we would weather the complications together as long as we continued to trust and be honest with each other.”
Heaven smiled, her eyes filling with relief. “Totally sounds like the Beau Hanson that I know.”
“At least the one we knew before last fall, right?” I asked, knowing exactly what she meant.
She tipped her head in agreement. “I will take the blame for that one.”
I waved my finger at her in anger. “No, you don’t get to do that. You and Blaze getting together might have been the catalyst, but you were not the cause. He’s been unhappy for a long time.”
