“You’re on.” He lay back onto the truck bed and tugged her with him. She leaned against his arm, making a little home for her head there while they stared up at the clouds drifting through the sky. They turned mysterious on the horizon where a coming tempest swallowed them up in its darkness.
A storm was coming, but it would be a few hours yet.
That had better not be symbolic of what waited for them at the farmhouse.
They could wait it out. Cole had no intention of going anywhere until the sky poured over them in a punishing torrent. Until then, they’d enjoy this beautiful morning together where every once in a while, Cole stole away Eva’s attention from those fascinating skies with a kiss.
Eva was proving to be just as sly a thief. She sneaked a kiss against his jaw, making him grumble out a laugh.
They could stay this way forever. Cole didn’t mind wiling away the morning like this at all, even though his stomach started to whine. After about the fifth time his insides rumbled, Eva’s head twisted around. She patted his poor growling stomach. “Is someone hungry?”
Cole tried to deny it. “No, no.” He slid her closer, marveling that he could have her at any moment by just reaching out and bringing all that softness into his grasp. After stopping himself for so long, he felt almost greedy for her. “I can’t be hungry when I have you.”
She giggled. “How is that even a thing? You planning on eating me?”
“If I have to.” He growled and rolled over, pretending to nibble on her ear.
She shrieked out with laughter while she wriggled to free herself, though not very convincingly. “Not me! Not me! I’ll cook a turkey. You can eat that instead! C’mon.” She caressed his cheek. “Let’s go back and make that Thanksgiving dinner that we planned for. It’ll be so nice.”
His romantic soul complained more than his stomach. He was not eager to return to whatever intervention West was planning for them at home. They could still make the most of these last moments they had to be alone.
“Not yet.” His gaze traveled to that old abandoned Burro Mine to the side of them. The granite walls of the mountain towered over them to the side. The area had always fired up his imagination when he was young, thinking of the miners risking life and limb to get through those sheer cliffs to get into the caves above them. “I want to show you something first. You recognize those granite rocks over there?”
That deep dimple of hers made another appearance. “You bet I do—that’s the make-out spot.”
He laughed. Cole didn’t need an excuse to kiss her now, but pretending like he did was still funny. “Why do you think I want to take you?”
She jokingly slapped his arm.
“Don’t you want to see where that abandoned miner cart is stuck? Some say it’s haunted by the ghost of the old man’s horse.”
Her eyes widened. “His horse? What?” Cole watched on with amusement as right in front of him, her expression turned from horror to intrigue. She squeezed him. “You know me way too well, Cole,” she said. “I’m in.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
As they walked through the field to reach the marshes, Cole’s hand in hers felt so nice. She was still getting used to the joy of being able to grab his hand whenever she felt like it. She just loved being near him.
She felt the protection in his touch; she sensed his passion, his soul.
The way Eva felt with him was so different from anything that she’d ever had with any of her other boyfriends. She’d often got a sense that those men had all been threatened by her in some way, whether at the fear of losing her or of getting too much of her, but Cole?
He was his own man. Not only could he match her strange wit and humor, but he also seemed to enjoy everything about her, like the whole package! She’d always gotten guys that enjoyed her looks, her flirtatiousness, and then gawked when she got out of hand.
One even said that she looked one way and then acted the other. He hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
And here she was with Cole accepting and loving her the way she was! She laughed and talked too much; her hair was messy; her makeup was smudged—she’d noticedthaton her TalkieTalk—and yet, he was still crazy about her.
Eva was crazy about him too, and strangely… that didn’t drive her into a panic at ultimately being rejected by him.
She just felt so secure and comfortable, and… absolutely dying to kiss him again.
This would take some getting used to, even if she loved what they had.
Eva caught sight of a glimmer in the distance and stumbled over her feet when she realized that she’d found what was left of her phone.
Eva set the shotgun in the dead grass while Cole got the fencing open. She squeezed through and ran on ahead. Eva couldn’t help it—she had to see the damage. Rushing to her phone, she bent down and retrieved the heavy rectangular piece of metal. The screen was shattered… no, the protective covering was… wow! That was a good buy there.
Her actual phone was still alive, though the TalkieTalk had been turned off after the usual five-minute cutoff. Thank goodness! Leaving her TalkieTalk fans staring up at the sky was not the way she wanted to say goodbye.