Page 49 of Trusting a Cowgirl

“What? I thought all you girls dreamed about dancing in the kitchen when there wasn’t any music playing.”

She laughed again. “You make a good point.” It was then that she relaxed, resting her cheek against his chest. His heart pounded harder, more erratically. His grip on her hand tightened and he placed his chin on her head.

There was no music, no sound except the crackling of the fireplace beside them. But inside, he could hear a thousand love songs that told him he was right where he was meant to be.

18

Grace

Okay, this was happening. It wasreallyhappening. And each step she made closer to allowing herself to fall for him, the scarier it became. That was normal, right?

Grace could hear his heart beating in his chest, the way it seemed to beat to the song neither one of them could hear.

So Riley was a romantic. She never would have guessed. And he was willing to spill their secret to the sheriff so he didn’t get dragged out of the diner for all the town to see. She’d have to have a talk with Michael to inform him he wasn’t to breathe a word to her father about any of this.

There was still no guarantee that she’d end up staying with Riley. This was her first serious relationship. She didn’t even know what she wanted in a guy.

Except Riley seemed like a pretty good option right now.

Dinner.

Dancing.

Firelight.

He hit everything on a girl’s dream list, and it was so easy to just give in. Her whole body hummed with nervous energy and her heart beat in time with his.

She lost track of time as they swayed back and forth. At some point they’d stopped dancing altogether. Riley held her close and she let him. She’d never felt so safe and yet so thrilled at the same time. Her heart was split into two parts.

Riley shifted first. He pulled back just far enough that he could look into her eyes. “See? I make a pretty good boyfriend.” The husky tone of his voice caused her whole body to go into overdrive. Her pulse went haywire, and her throat went dry.

“I stand corrected.”

His eyes traced over her face, from her hair to her eyes and down to her mouth. She couldn’t look away, so the best thing she could do was blink. She knew it was coming before it happened, which made the whole experience feel like it was going in slow motion.

Riley dipped his face closer to hers, his eyes searching, asking permission for what he was about to do. Her breath hitched in her chest and she tilted her chin upward, her eyes fluttered closed.

Then nothing.

Grace waited, expecting and hoping for his lips to brush over hers like the wings of a butterfly. She wanted to give him the same thing, to show him that she desired him as much as he desired her.

Then again, maybe he didn’t.

She opened her eyes, finding him staring at her. His gaze was so serious, like he was weighing all the pros and cons of what he was about to do. She could see the hesitation in every line of his face. He wanted her. There was no doubt about it, but he was also worried.

Grace pulled away, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. “You need to make up your mind. Do you want to date me or not?”

She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t laughter. Riley moved toward her. “I want to kiss you more than I want breath itself.”

Grace’s eyes cut to his. “Then why don’t you?”

“Because once I do, there is no going back.”

“Isn’t that the point?” she said with exasperation. “You fought so hard to get me to agree to any of this. I thought that this was the next logical step.”

His eyes drilled into her. “You don’t understand.” Riley let out a hard breath. His chest rose and fell as if he was grappling with what he needed to say. “I know that if I kiss you, there’s no way I’m going to be able to go back to the way things were before. I know I’m going to want more. And I don’t know if you’re ready for that yet.”

Her whole body went numb. So this was far more serious for him than she’d expected. But if she were honest with herself, she’d admit that to a degree sheknew. The strange part was that she wasn’t as scared as she thought she’d be.

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