Page 47 of Hesi-Dating
"What do you see?" He handed me a beer.
"There are so many stars. It's incredible." I toasted the bottle at him and sipped. "Thank you for letting me see this place. It's wonderful. You can't ever sell this."
His face crumpled as he gazed into the horizon, sightlessly. "She always said I should sell it. Take the money and get us a better place. I even pushed my dad to sell, but he refused. He said it was my legacy."
"She, as in your ex?"
"Yes. I'm glad I held out, but I always wonder if we'd have made it if I sold."
"Not sure it would've saved your marriage."
He took a big swig of beer. "There's a lot of good I could do here. So many horses I could help. Not many people have space for them. I don't have time, though. I'd have to bring on help and fundraise if I wanted to take on more than two or three. Schmoozing, raising money, all that shit was more my ex's thing, not that she gave a rat's ass about the cause. She refused to help with my vision to have a horse sanctuary. Any sort of charity work for her was about rubbing elbows with the rich. Now I'm not sure if I could raise enough to have that kind of place."
I gazed up at him. "If that's what you want, all you have to do is a few strategic social media posts. People will rally. You've got more followers already than some A-list actors."
"My social media is managed by a lady in the department."
"She's done an excellent job. People love you. Well, they love looking at you, especially your ass."
"What?"
"Do you even look at the posts she puts up?"
"Not really."
"Let's just say they're complimentary angles." I leaned around to stare at his butt. "It's sexier in person."
His cheeks flushed. "That's not…I never wanted it to be like that."
"Hey, it sells you and the department. Half the country's women post about the sexy sheriff from California."
"I didn't know that."
"Some lady at my nail salon who follows you was jealous we had a date." I chuckled. "She said I was too young for you, but she was perfect. Maybe I should set the two of you up?"
"No thanks."
I smiled at him. "If you sell yourself as not only the sheriff but also an advocate to save injured and abandoned horses…" I put a hand over my heart. "Women across the nation will send you money. They'll also line up to be your next hookup."
"You're just saying that because you think I'm hot."
"Is that a question?" I did a double eyebrow raise as I stared at his ass again. I put down my beer. "For tonight, this hotness is all mine."
With both hands I gently pulled his head to face me and then down to my lips.
"What are you doing?" His voice was hoarse. "I'm trying to respect you not wanting us to go there."
"I'm going there. Hell, we already went there." As I stared into the mixture of blues in his eyes, I had only one question. "Will you kiss me again?"
He didn't. Not right away.
I let my hands fall away, waiting for him to choose to make the next move.
He studied my face as if amazed I decided to finally give him the green light while treating it as if it was only a yellow. I pictured us attacking each other and clothes being torn off. Somewhere between twenty seconds and an eternity later, he touched my shoulder and dragged his hand down my arm. Goosebumps prickled in his fingers' wake. He was taking his time, which was annoying when I thought my heart might pound out of my chest. His fingers undid the two barrettes I had used to hold up the sides of my hair. He placed them on a side table.
If he didn't get on with it, I was going to scream.
He dipped his head slowly…too slow. Breaths wouldn't come as I waited for his descent. Exhilaration like I'd won a raffle overwhelmed me. His lips finally touched mine. His mouth didn't devour, didn't crush or compress. He placed a spatter of small kisses as if to let us get used to each other. It was slow and sweet until he deepened the kiss.
