Terri just smiled. “We’ve made a fortune off of events out there. They could be bigger and better if we had catering facilities. That’s the only reason some people choose to book a venue in town over us. We’ve got the relaxed atmosphere most want, but the hotels in town have the in-house catering.”
“Well, good luck convincing Joel of that
,” Carrie said looking at the empty shot glass, wishing it was full again.
“If we added an industrial oven out there we could do the baking here too
,” Terri said thoughtfully. “You could bake cakes for events everywhere, not just our events. If you do an event that’s not ours, you could just pay rent to use the kitchen, and charge that to your customer.”
Carrie shook her head. “This place is too far from my parents
’ ranch for that to be feasible. They’re out in the boonies.”
“So move here,” Terri suggested quickly.
Carrie snorted. “I can’t pay rent right now. I’m up to my eyeballs in debt.”
“I’m sure we could work something out. You take a smaller cut on the cakes you do for us, so we make more. I know I can keep you busy, and you can still make good money to help with those bills.”
“I have two kids. They’d just get in your way out here. And there’s school to think about too. I already enrolled them both in the school by my parents’ ranch.”
“I have a kid, and Rocky is always giving riding lessons to children out here. There are always kids at this ranch. Your children would not get in the way. As for school, we have the best school district in the county. They have 4-H and junior rodeo programs. It would probably be good for them.”
“Building that kitchen would take months. I’m sure the events on this list would be long over by then,” Carrie said.
“You can bake in the house until we get it built,” Terri countered, then dropped her hand on Carrie’s knee. “I want to help you, hon. Stop looking for excuses and just say thank you.”
Emotion shot up to her throat, but she managed to squeeze out, “Thank you.”
“Now you go to your room, get undressed and take a long hot bath. Relax. Stop worrying. Trust me, things are going to work out just fine,” Terri said with a big grin.
It was after ten o’clock at night, she should be bone tired, but what Carrie was right now was wound for sound. Terri’s plan sounded good, but unless she changed and took a walk to burn off some of the conflicting emotions making her mind whirl, she would never be able to sleep tonight. “I need to go for a walk and think.”
And make a decision about her future. Making a move out here so soon after moving to her
parents’ ranch might not be good for her or her kids. Too much upheaval and change. But like Terri said, it might be good for them too. Carrie was so confused she didn’t know what to do.
“You’ve been doing too much thinking. That’s your problem,” Terri said with a sigh as she stood. “You’re going to drive yourself nuts.”
“It’s not a far drive,” Carrie shot back, as she stood too.
“Stop anticipating problems,
inviting them to happen. And stop feeling sorry for yourself! Yeah, you got thrown, and it sucks. I’ve been there too, but you’ve got to get back in the saddle. Life is waiting for you to hop on and ride again, Carrie.”
Hop on and ride
. That brought her back to her promise to ride with Dylan in the morning. Stop thinking.
Get back in the saddle
. Her mind started whirling again, mulling over the pep talk she’d just received from the only person who had the balls to give her one since Sean died. Everyone else walked on eggshells when they ran across her.
“Thanks, I think I will
,” Emotion choking her, Carrie stepped forward to hug her new friend. “Thanks for everything.”
Terri hugged her tightly then stepped back. “Deep breath, honey. Just breathe…” Terri said with a chuckle. “I’m going to find my handsome husband and tell him the same thing. I think he might be in overload mode too, or buried in that paperwork I have him doing. I guess I’ll have mercy and dig him out.
I have plans for his fingers tonight that don’t include a calculator.” Terri waggled her eyebrows comically, before she headed across the living room to the hallway.
Carrie
smiled as she watched Terri head off down the hall, then bent to pick up her heels. She carried them upstairs and hurriedly changed into jeans and her boots, then pulled her hair into a ponytail. She was going for that walk, but she was determined not to think. She would just enjoy the night, walk off her problems. Tomorrow she was getting back in the saddle. She knew like Cinderella at midnight, at five o’clock tomorrow evening her reality would return, but until then she was going to ride like there was no tomorrow.
Dylan better eat his Wheaties and be ready
for it, for her, she thought with a laugh as she hurried back downstairs.
The next morning Carrie was up before dawn. A strange sense of exhilaration held her captive as she dressed and headed downstairs to the kitchen to make a picnic lunch for them. The sun was just about up when she finished stuffing the ham sandwiches she’d made with her leftover homemade bread, some of the cupcakes she’d made the other day, and some new sugar cookies she’d baked this morning into the tote she’d found in the pantry.
Dylan
seemed to like sugar cookies, and since she’d burned the last batch she made a single batch this morning to take with them. For him.
She all but skipped across the dew-covered yard as she walked toward the barn through the quiet morning. Peace settled around her shoulders like a soft sweater, and she inhaled deeply of the cool, crisp morning air. It was a feeling she hadn’t had in years. Not just since Sean died, before then. Before she got married.
Carrie used to love to go for morning rides on her parents’ ranch just to find this particular feeling. This morning she felt free. Like a load of bricks had been lifted from her shoulders. She walked into the barn and a large hand dropped on her shoulder.
“I was wondering if you would stand me up
again,” Dylan said smoothly, as he tugged her arm until they were in a small darkened room that smelled like rich molasses and corn. He took the bag from her and sat it on the ground, then cupped her chin with his hand. Tilting her face upward, his lips covered hers in a slow, delicious kiss that made her feel like she was floating in the clouds.
When he finally pulled away, a half-smile cocked one corner of his talented mouth.
“Yep, sugar cookies. I smelled you before I saw you,” he drawled.
“That’s because I made some,” she informed him dreamily. “They’re in the bag, along with some
sandwiches and cupcakes. I thought we might get hungry on our ride.”
“You made cookies for me?” he asked with raised brows.
You bake cookies. Not my type
. At the time she did it, Carrie hadn’t considered how he might take the gesture. “Um, well since I burned the first batch, I wanted to redeem myself. They’re for everyone,” she improvised.
“You
’re right…” he said with a laugh.
“About what?” she asked
, looking up at him.
“About being a terrible liar.
Admit it. You made me cookies,” Dylan accused with a sigh.
She had, but she wasn’t going to let him change his mind because she confirmed his suspicions about her not being his type. Today, she was going to be exactly his type. Tomorrow might be a different story, but today they were perfect for each other.
Life is waiting for you to hop back on and ride
.
Carrie was about to get back in the saddle, and ride like she hadn’t ridden in years. And she wasn’t leaving the barn without this handsome cowboy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Let’s go riding,” Carrie said pushing away from the wall. She brushed past him, and he followed. When Dylan stepped around her, she saw that he had picked up the bag of goodies.
“I had Sheedy help me saddle the horses
,” he said with a smile, as he grabbed her hand to pull her with him toward the back door of the barn. “They’re tied out back. Terri’s horse, Diamond, is pretty sedate, so I figured she’d be good for you.”
Irritation prickled at the base of her skull. Carrie didn’t want sedate, she didn’t want to ride a barn sour nag with no get up and go. She wanted to run. Today, she was a free woman. She wanted to feel the wind on her face and a powerful horse beneath her.
They walked out into the sunlight and she shaded her eyes. Tied to the fence post beside the barn were two horses. One was a big sorrel gelding with a white blaze on his muzzle, and the other a pretty
, petite white mare. Carrie pulled her hand out of his and walked past Dylan to the fence. She climbed it, and dropped down on the other side beside the gelding.
Without asking, she untied his reins and led him a few feet away from the fence. She pulled on the stirrup to test that the saddle wasn’t loose, then ran her hand over his rump. His tail caught the side of her face as he swatted at a fly, and she laughed.
“That’s my horse,” Dylan protested with a laugh as he walked up beside her. Carrie just looked up at him and smiled. He tossed a thumb over his shoulder at the other horse, who was munching on grass at the bottom of the fence. “That’s your horse.”
“I don’t think so,”
Carrie said with a grin as she grabbed the reins loosely. She had to reach way up, but she managed to grab the saddle horn. Lifting her leg, she got her foot in the stirrup. With a bounce, she pushed upward, balanced a moment, then threw her leg over the horse’s back. It took a little effort, but she managed to get centered. The stirrups were too long, but she wasn’t about to get down to adjust them. She could ride bareback, so she could ride fine in this big saddle without using them.
“I can’t ride Diamond, she’s too small,” Dylan complained.
“You’re right, she is,” Carrie agreed with a chuckle, as she patted her horse’s neck. “Guess you better get Sheedy to help you saddle a different horse.”
“He’s out in the field already,” Dylan said.
“Well, I guess you’re riding Diamond then.”
His feet shuffled, kicking up little dust clouds as he walked back to the fence
, looking a lot like Chris when he was put out. He tied the bag with the cupcakes behind the saddle, then seemed to be pouting as he untied Diamond’s reins. Carrie felt kinda sorry for him, as she watched him walk Diamond over to stand beside her horse. The tiny mare’s back hit him at right under his pecs. He could probably throw his long leg over her back without even using the stirrup to mount. She really was more Carrie’s size, but definitely not her speed.
“Have you learned a lesson about making assumptions about me?” Carrie asked with a chuckle
, even though she was dead serious.
His gaze flew up to hers and his brows knotted. “What assumption
s did I make?”
“That because I’m small, I’m
helpless. Because I’m widowed, I’m needy and clingy. Neither is accurate. You should’ve just put a sidesaddle on her, and that would have been the final insult.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “There’s nothing helpless about you, beautiful. I’m sorry for assuming anything.”
Carrie swung her leg over the horn, then turned on her stomach to slide to the ground. She grabbed the reins and held them out to him. “Ride your damned horse,” she said with a wink.
Dylan didn’t take the reins from her, he turned back to Diamond and untied the sack from behind her saddle, then turned back to Carrie. “I have a better idea.
Since I’m the helpless one with this damned shoulder, we can ride together,” he suggested with a grin. “Unsaddle Diamond and turn her loose in the paddock.”
“You’re not a good liar either,”
Carrie said with a laugh, as she scooped up Diamond’s reins. “You just want your hands free so you can molest me while we ride.” The thought sent a delicious shiver through her.
“Damn, busted,” he replied with a waggle of his dark brows.
Laughter bubbled up in her chest, and she threw her head back and let it free. It felt damned good to laugh. It had been so long. As long as it had been since she’d had any kind of contact with a man as sexy and charming as Dylan—damn, she realized right then she didn’t even know the last name of the man she had every intention of having sex with.
“What’s your last name?” she asked.
He looked down at her as if she’d lost her mind. Carrie was starting to think that was exactly what had happened.
“Thomas, why?” he
replied.
“If I’m going to have sex with you, I need to know these things.”
She thought she needed to know a lot more than that, but wasn’t going to interrogate him. This wasn’t about forever. She wasn’t interviewing him to be the replacement father for her children. It was a one night, or afternoon stand, in their case. But she thought she at least needed to know his last name.
“We’re having sex? I thought this was a date.”
“If the other morning in the kitchen was any indication, I have a feeling we both know where this is headed.” Or where she hoped it was headed. She had worked herself up so much for this, gathered the courage to do it. If it didn’t happen she would be sorely disappointed.
Dylan put his hand on her chin, and held her gaze. “Whoa there, cowgirl. I want to get to know you. That’s what this is about. If that leads to me finding out if you taste like sugar cookies all over that delicious body of yours, I’ll be a happy man. If not, I’ll have a new friend. No pressure,” he said.
Another shiver worked its way up Carrie’s spine and split off to harden her nipples. He leaned in for a quick kiss, and Carrie wanted more, but he stepped away. So now that she’d finally decided to go through with this, he was backing off? She was rusty, but Carrie thought for sure the signals she was giving him should come through loud and clear.
With a sigh, she
led Diamond to the gate and opened it. After she unsaddled the horse, she carried the saddle into the barn and dropped it inside the tack room. When she walked back out of the barn, Dylan was already mounted. He scooted back in the saddle, and smiled as he extended his left hand down to her. Carrie just stared at it a second, as her heart took a couple of glancing shots off of her ribs.
Taking
Dylan’s hand meant she was actually going through with this. No matter what he said, if she took his hand she knew she was doing a lot more than getting to know the man who owned that hand. She would be admitting that Sean was never coming back to her. That she was now a single woman who needed more than memories to keep her among the living. It would be a giant leap into a new beginning for herself.
She needed a new beginning, she thought
, as she forced herself to put her hand in his. He moved his foot out of the stirrup, and she shoved hers in then grabbed the horn. He pulled and she flew upward. Pivoting her body, she sat in front of him, and she slid her leg over the horn. It was a snug fit with both of them in the saddle, but it was comfortable, and the horse didn’t seem to mind they were riding double. Dylan wrapped his right arm around her waist, then handed her the reins.
She twisted to look at him. “You want me to—“
“Yeah, you’re in charge of whatever happens today, sweetheart. I’m just along for the ride.” He chuckled and squeezed her waist. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t throw me off though. I’m banged up enough already.”
His words and gesture, the symbolism of him handing her the reins, made her relax a little.
Carrie leaned back against his firm chest with a sigh. Squeezing her calves she gave the big horse the cue to start walking. The rocking gait eased more of the tension in her shoulders. “You’ll have to tell me where we’re going,” she mumbled as they reached the open field.
“Just keep riding north. When the pasture runs out, we’ll be there.”
Carrie squinted to look, and couldn’t see where the pasture ended. This was a huge ranch. It could take hours for them to get there at this pace. Excitement pulsed through her. It was tough riding double, but both of them were experienced riders, so she asked, “Would you have a problem if we ran?”
“We can do whatever you want to do,” he replied. Reaching around her he grabbed the horn with his left hand. Carrie rested her arm on top of his. She sucked in a sharp breath when his arm brushed the side of her breast. Dylan shifted in the saddle behind her, then leaned over her, putting his crotch flush with her ass. His scent drifted to her nose on the breeze, made richer by his heat and the sun, and Carrie couldn’t help but inhale it deeply. A delicious quiver rippled through her, and her heart kicked in her chest. A throb started at the top of her thighs and she unthinkingly squeezed them.
The horse took that as a signal
it was time to go. Her body slammed back into Dylan’s, and she squealed as she slid sideways. His arms tightened around her to pull her back up and his laugh rumbled in her ear. Carrie gathered her senses to put her hand over his on the horn, then leaned over the horse’s neck, and Dylan leaned over her back.
The hoof beats pounded in time with her heart as they streaked across the field. Ex
citement coursed through her. Freedom. Lightness in her soul. Peace she hadn’t felt in a long time engulfed her. Living in the city as long as she had with Sean had made her forget this feeling. Carrie remembered now, and she would never go back. This was where she belonged.
The wind dried the moisture in her mouth she was smiling so widely as they galloped across the field. A
happy giggle worked up from deep inside of her and escaped. The wind whipped her hair into a frenzy, but she didn’t care. Riding this horse, being with the man behind her was liberating, and Carrie was glad she made the decision she had.
To let Sean and her old life go.
It was time.
The horse’s huge stride ate up the ground for several minutes, while Carrie just leaned low over his neck, reveling in the fresh air rushing across her skin, the scent of the warm horse that wafted up to her. Nothing in the world smelled better. Well except for Dylan Thomas. The two combined w
as irresistible.
Her eyes swung up and she suddenly realized they had reached what must be their destination. Through the sparse trees she saw the
sun sparkling on water. A lake. Carrie smiled. It had been years since she’d enjoyed a day by the lake. Since she left her parents’ home to move to the city with Sean. Easing upright, Carrie slowed the gelding to a trot. She felt Dylan’s hot breath on her neck, and turned her face to the side to kiss his beard-shadowed jaw. His arm tightened at her waist, and his face dipped to the side to brush his lips over hers. Carrie’s heart melted in her chest, then caught herself daydreaming that this man could be hers.
One day she would find someone
just like him, but someone who wanted forever. Dylan Thomas might want a fling with her, but he wasn’t her forever man. Carrie wasn’t going to set herself up for a world of hurt by thinking that he could be that man. He had been honest with her, and she had accepted his terms when she chose to come out here with him.
Tomorrow evening she was going home to her
parents’ ranch. Her kids would be there, and reality would once again resume. But maybe today would help her deal with that reality with a fresh perspective. And instill hope that things would get better soon. She hoped so anyway.
When they reached the tree line, Carrie stopped the gelding. Dylan put his foot in the stirrup, and cool air brushed her back when he swung his leg over the saddle and dismounted. He smiled up at her.
“I’d help you down, sweet cheeks, but…” he glanced at his right shoulder and shrugged.
“I can get down,” she assured him, then laid on the saddle. The ground was a long way down, so she held onto the horn and back of the saddle until she found the stirrup with her foot
to ease herself down to the ground. She huffed out a breath to tamper the adrenaline still coursing through her. “That was fun.” Carrie looked up into his eyes and found him staring down at her with concern in his eyes. “What?”
“Your cheeks are sunburned. You should’ve worn a hat,” he said gravely. “You can wear my hat on the way home.”
The corner of her mouth kicked up. “You can’t let me wear your hat. You’ll get burned then,” she teased. In more ways than one. He was a fricking cowboy, he knew what that meant. In cowboy terms, it was a claim that she was his. But it sure was a sweet gesture. Dylan Thomas was sweet. And thoughtful. And considerate. As good as gold.
If he ever decided he was a relationship kind of man, she knew he’d be a good one. Some lucky lady in the future might discover that too
one day and offer the right incentive to make him change his ways. But right now, Carrie was going to get the benefit of basking in his sweetness for a few hours. And whatever else he wanted to do.