Her breath hitched as her eyes lowered to his lips, remembering what it had done to her when he kissed her. She wanted to feel that way again.
“What did it mean to you?” she asked, her voice breathless, like she’d just run through the fields.
“Kara.” Nick’s hands took her shoulders. “This… means something.” He pulled her into his arms. “I can’t think straight. Not yet. But… I just want you to know that.”
She held onto him and closed her eyes tightly as she listened to his heartbeat next to her ear.
Then, just as quickly as he’d held onto her, he pulled back. She instantly missed the feeling of him. The sound of his heartbeat.
“Thanks for helping out.” He turned to leave the room. “Feel free to take some leftovers.”
“Nick?” she said, and he paused at the door.
“I’ll be over after my meeting with my uncle,” he said when she didn’t say anything more. Then he walked out of the bathroom, leaving her shaking and wanting.
The next morning, she woke and ate half-burned waffles and coffee before checking on all the animals.
When she walked outside, she noticed a truck parked outside of Nick’s place and wondered what they were talking about while she completed her chores.
“Oh, to be a fly on the wall,” she told Wilbur, who had turned into a rather agreeable pig since Nick had worked with him. Wilbur looked up at her from his slop and oinked loudly at her in agreement. She was thankful that Liz’s dad had informed her he’d already bought a wild turkey from his neighbor, who had killed two on a hunting trip. “You know, maybe I’ll just bring turkey for Christmas this year,” she said, sitting on the edge of the fence as she watched the pig.
“I bet he likes to hear that,” Nick said from a few feet away, causing her to squeal and almost fall off the fence.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Don’t sneak up on someone like that.” Kara held her hand over her heart until it settled down in her chest.
Nick chuckled and moved over to stand next to her, leaning on the fence and looking down at Wilbur.
“If you’d been paying attention, you would have seen me riding across the field towards you.” He motioned to Crash, who was tied up just outside the barn.
“Right,” she said and took a deep breath. “How’d things go with your uncle?”
“Until the official reading of my father’s will… things are strained,” Nick answered.
She frowned. “What did the lawyer tell you yesterday?”
“He was there to tell me that my father requested his will not be read until Christmas Day,” he answered. “That was all.”
“He can do that?”
“Lawyers will do anything their client’s request. If they’re paid enough. Naturally, my uncle thinks this is a good sign. He wants to make a deal with me before the will is read.”
“A deal?”
“He wants the ranch. He’s pretty sure my father left it to him if I wasn’t married before my father’s death.”
“Which you aren’t.” She sighed, then turned to him. “You aren’t, are you?” She smiled.
He smiled back at her. “Nope.”
“Are you sure you didn’t sneak off to Vegas and marry a stripper?” she teased.
He shook his head. “I’ve never been to Vegas.”
Her eyebrows arched. “You haven’t? You should go sometime.”
“And marry a stripper?” he teased back.
“Hey, they’re just working girls,” she pointed out.