Page 45 of A Cowboy Sugar Cookie Kiss
Chapter Eleven
MAGGIE
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THE TRAIL RIDES AREclosed.
“It’s not ideal to ride horses in the dark anyway.” Cole stuffs his hands in his jeans. He tries to cover his disappointment with a half-smile. We turn away from the brightly lit barn. Clear Christmas lights accent the outside of the red barn. We follow a rope trail decorated in garland and lights back in the direction of the lodge.
“You miss your ranch, don’t you?” I ask.
He clicks his tongue. “I do. It’s been my life for the last ten years. Since the day I bought the property from my granddad. I’ve worked every single day.”
“Every day?”
He nods. “This is the first time I’ve spent the night away. I’m used to rising early with my cattle and working under the hot sun.” He inhales the evening outdoor scent. “This smell is my life. Trees. Pine needles. Hay.”
“I’m a butter and sugar girl, but the smell of Whiskey Ridge Creek brings back my childhood. Sometimes I miss it here. Like at night. You can’t just lie in the backyard when you live in an apartment and let the starry night engulf you.”
He chuckles. “Did you move away for work?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Why then?”
“It’s too cliché.” And pathetic. I’d never want him to look at me the way my sister does.
“I’m a rancher who wears boots, a cowboy hat and listens to country music. I understand cliché.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I was running away from a broken heart.” It’s a lie.
“Who’s the bastard? I’ll grind him to the dirt.” His growly tone sounds serious.
I laugh. “It happened one summer at Whiskey Ridge Creek’s annual Bake-Off.”
“The same bake-off that started our grandparent’s rivalry?” His Stetson shades his face from the luminous light of the lamp posts we pass.
