She held up her finger and said, “So, just one question.”
He picked up a handful of rocks and raised an eyebrow. “And what would that question be?”
Her heart raced at the thought of all the possible answers. She had to admit, if he could read her thoughts at this moment, she’d be deemed a pervert for the rest of her life. She couldn’t deny liking these thoughts, but she had to remind herself that he was still just a friend, until further notice.
“What prize do I get for winning?”
“You sound a bit too confident that you’ll win. I guess we’ll have to see what the prize is when the challenge is over.”
“When’s the challenge over?”
He chuckled and said, “Now, that’s the million dollar question right there.”
“It’s not fair to not know what’s at stake,” she said, playfully pouting.
He grabbed two larger rocks, each were equal in size and weight, and were the size of his palm—which was fairly large. She focused her attention more on his hands than the rocks. They were dark tan with calluses—a strong indication of his work on the farm.
“So, what’s the million dollar answer?” She felt sarcastic and fun, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Even when she was around her friends, she thought of herself as bland and boring. Today turned a new leaf for her. She was now witty and fun, with a side of cute and spontaneous.
“The challenge is over when one of us skips a rock and it doesn’t follow the rules,” he said, matter-of-factly.
She nodded, picking up her first rock from the pile at her feet. She got a good feel for the rock before she skipped it across the water. So far, so good. She smiled and focused on his rock as it bounced on the water. Dang, he was pretty good at this, too.
He winked at her as he bent to pick up his next rock. Flutters filled her stomach and her heart raced. The affect he had on her amazed her.
She followed suit and picked up a rock that resembled his. Once again, she lightly bounced it around in her hand and got the feel for it. She swung her arm out to the side and tossed the rock. This time, the rock carried itself across the water for more than three jumps and sank once it reached halfway across.
“That was pretty good,” he said.
She smiled in acceptance of his compliment and motioned toward the water. “You’re next.”
She watched him as he gently skipped the rock across the water. His rock had gone a hair farther than hers had, and had quickly sunk.
He showed her his bright, white smile once again. “Two for two,” he said, holding up his next rock. It was a bit larger than the last one. He winked and said, “Good luck.”
She returned his wink and said, “Right back at cha. You’re going to need it more than I will.”
From the corner of her eye, she watched his smile fade into a tense, more focused expression. The competition was fierce. She wondered how he would handle losing. She chuckled to herself before she prepared to toss the next rock.
She blamed her lack of concentration for what happened next. The rock she had perfectly placed in her hand for the last time flew erratically in the air and managed to sink before it had a chance to skip. She should have received credit for the huge splash it had made.
“Boom! I win!” Liam shouted. His voice echoed through the mountains.
Shaking a finger, she said, “Not quite yet.”
He tossed the remaining rocks into the water. He turned his attention to her and asked, “What? I beat you fair and square.”
She pointed to his last rock. “You have to skip that one.”
She silently wished his last rock would take the same journey hers had while she watched him methodically toss his last rock into the water. To her amusement, his rock faltered and sank closer to the land than hers had. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the complete failing of their attempt to win this challenge.
Smirking, he shook his head. He ran his hand through his gel-spiked hair and said, “I guess this means I should call a truce?”
“Or, it just means that we aren’t as great as we thought we were,” she admitted. She hated the thought of losing, but decided it hadn’t technically been a loss. They had tied.
“I think the actual term for this is a tie,” he said. “Which means we need a tie breaker.”
“Whatever you say.”
Before she could catch up, he had jumped into the water and hollered, “First person across the creek wins!”
She kicked off her boots and hopped into the water right behind him. The water was deeper than it had appeared to be. She pushed herself through the water while it pressed against her hips. In an attempt to gain the lead, she splashed Liam. He was a foot in front of her when he turned and splashed water at her face. She closed her eyes tight and quickly wiped the water from her face. She lost her balance and tried to remain upright, but she ended up face first in the clear, cold water.
She attempted to stand in the water, but with drenched clothes weighing her down, she lost her balance once again. She toppled over in the water a second time, and made a small splash with her flopping hands. She felt like a drowning animal. She had no control as she flipped and flopped in the water trying to get her feet under her.
She heard loud, hysterical laughing coming from across the way on the other side of the creek. She focused on Liam as he stood on dry land, bent with laughter. She spit the water out of her mouth and hollered at him, “I’m glad you find this funny!”
He slapped his knee with laughter and hollered out, “I’m sorry… I just…”
She straightened herself in the middle of the creek and watched him as he laughed so hard his face turned red. “Breathe,” she encouraged. She laughed because he laughed—his laugh was contagious. She was positive that she had been a fun sight to see. She could only imagine how crazy she had looked as she had flopped around.
“Do you need my help?”
Reaching out to him, she grabbed his hand and he pulled her out of the water and onto dry land. A certain feeling came across her, but she ignored it and yanked him off balance. He flailed his arms wildly and tried to resist gravity as he flopped hard into the water. She hadn’t laughed this hard for a long time.
He blew a mix of water and grass from his mouth as he trudged, soaking wet, out of the water. She hadn’t been ready when he caught her off guard and tackled her. She screamed when he lifted her out of the water and tossed her gently over his shoulder. She relaxed when he gently carried her up to dry land and set her down under a graceful, flowing weeping willow.
9
The time they had spent under the tree was enough time to dry off. She wrung out what little water remained in her clingy shirt. Rolling her pant legs up she said, “So, now that we know who won, what’s the prize?”
He leaned against the trunk of the tree and said, “Well, since I won and I’m an easy-going man who doesn’t ever ask for much…”
She felt her heart miss a few beats as it picked up its pace, the flutters returned to her stomach. She had no idea what he was about to say, but at the same time she could only hope that he wanted…
“I’d like for you to come have supper with me and my grandfather and Rosie,” he said, tipping the water from his boots.
She swallowed hard and tried to quiet the thoughts that raced through her mind. Was this still a friendship? She couldn’t do this if it was more than that. What would she say? Tugging on her boots, she looked at him. She was sure that fear was evident on her face. She tried to act relaxed and cool about it, but that was extremely hard to do at the moment. How could she say no?
He looked down at his hands and back at her. His hands clenched together as he waited for her to say something. She could tell this wasn’t easy for him. He finally looked at her with some sort of agony in his eyes, disappointment etched on his face. “You can say no, if you don’t want to,” he said. “It’s okay.”
She was taken aback. How in the hell had she gotten he
rself into this? Why was she so nervous? It was only dinner, not an actual date. Wasn’t it?
He suddenly stood up, offering his hand to her. Accepting his help, she stood. She bent over and pulled her pant legs down over her boots. Struggling with her balance, she accepted his strong arm to lean on.
The walk to the horses was a bit awkward, and in silence; neither of them saying anything to the other. Before reaching the horses, she stopped and broke the silence.
“Liam,” she called out. When he stopped and turned toward her, she brought her eyes to meet his. Disappointment radiated from him. “I’m not going to say no. I’d love to have dinner with you guys, but…”
“But what?”
Exhaling a huge breath she had been holding in, she said, “I’m not sure what I really want right now.”
He looked down at the ground and kicked dirt. “I’m not sure either. I could go for a steak and potatoes or a nice juicy hamburger,” he said, with a deep-throated chuckle. Holding out his arms, he said, “It’s dinner, not a lifetime commitment.”
She raised an eyebrow at the tone of his voice. She could hear his frustration. She was frustrated too. No matter how many times she had told herself to relax and just go with it, she couldn’t. These were the times she wished she could be more like Rachel—carefree, and just go with whatever was thrown her way—no thinking, just doing.
She untied the reins from the post and climbed onto Whiskey’s saddle—with less difficulty this time. If there was one thing she was certain about, it’d be that she had enjoyed today.
She watched Liam as he climbed onto his saddle and gripped Ryder’s reins. He had a strong hold on them when he made Ryder shift forward. He gave him a bit of his spur to the side, causing him to rear up and take off in a full gallop. He hollered over his shoulder, “First one to the farm wins!”
“What? That’s not fair!”
“I’m giving you another chance to win!”
“Wait for me!” she hollered after him, holding tight to Whiskey’s reins.
She bounced in the saddle as Whiskey galloped at a steady, fast, pace to catch up. She hadn’t needed to spur Whiskey in the side to get him to go, because he had listened to her commands. This horse was smart, and even though she had failed at winning everything else, she was certain Whiskey wouldn’t let her lose this time.
They raced each other through the woods and into the pasture. Her hair would be a tangled mess, but she didn’t care. All she cared about at the moment was her chance to win. She would not let him win again.
She leaned in closer to Whiskey’s neck and whispered a few words of encouragement. She might’ve appeared crazy, had anyone been watching her, but she didn’t care. She dug her heels into the stirrups, holding on for the rough ride ahead.
“Let’s give it all we’ve got, Whisk,” she hollered, focusing on Liam who was now a few good strides ahead of her. She kept her focus on Whiskey, as they nearly closed the narrowing gap between them.
They arrived at the pasture seconds behind Liam and Ryder. She rode Whiskey through the open gates and slowed him down as they approached Liam. He stood against the fence post, showing her his eye-catching smile—looking a bit too proud of his win.
She unsaddled Whiskey, removed his bridle, and hung them over the top of the fence. She ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to untangle her snarls, but gave up when the snarls wouldn’t budge.
“Go ahead,” she said, smiling as she patted Whiskey. “Rub it in.”
His grin made her heart pitter-patter. “What? That I’m the champion?”
She couldn’t contain the laugh that escaped her. “Is that what you’re calling yourself now?”
He tossed Ryder’s saddle over his arm like it weighed nothing, and carried the bridle in his other strong hand. He looked at the post where Leah had set the other saddle and bridle. He pointed to them and asked, “You wanna toss that saddle over this arm?”
She shook her head and said, “Don’t be foolish, I’ll carry this set to the barn.”
“Okay, whatever you wanna do, city girl.”
She huffed at his comment and tossed the heavy saddle over her left arm. She started in the direction of the barn, but he called out to her.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She turned, realizing she had forgotten the bridle. She silently picked them up and continued on her way to the barn. Liam caught up with her in a few short strides.
“Come on,” Liam said. “You’re not upset that I called you a city girl, are ya?”
She attempted to shrug, but the saddle weighed her arm down. There was no sense in the struggle. She stopped a few feet short of the barn door and looked at him. “I’m not one to get offended, but clearly you should know by now not to underestimate a woman,” she said, huffing into the barn and tossing the saddle and bridle where they belonged. She locked her gaze on him once again and finished her spat, “I may live in the city, but I was raised in the country when my parents died.”
Shoot, she had said too much. She could only hope he wouldn’t make her divulge any more information about her life. She wasn’t up for sharing much about herself.
And that’s exactly what he did. “Wait, I thought you said your grandparents owned the farm, not your parents.”
She ignored his comment and said, “I’m ready to see what else you’ve got to show me.”
There was absolutely no way he’d get her to spill everything about herself in one day—not if she had any control over it.
* * *
“Let’s get a bite to eat at Levy’s,” he suggested. “We have this amazing burger you’ll have to try.”
She didn’t care where they ate or what she ate—she was hungry and needed food. “Sounds good to me.”
“First, though, I want to show you where I live,” he said, grabbing her hand and showing her behind the barn, and onto a path through a small gathering of shade trees.
“You live on the land too?” she asked, allowing him to guide her through the trees.
They cleared the trees, and once again she was in awe at the view. An older style cabin sat nestled comfortably in the scenery.
“You live here?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“It’s so close to your grandpa’s,” she said, looking at the distance between his cabin and his grandfather’s house—less than a city block away.
“I’d show you inside, but it’s not very clean,” he admitted, smiling sheepishly. “It’s like a bachelor’s pad.”
“You mean, it is a bachelor’s pad,” she said, laughing.
Stepping up to the door, he unlocked it. A barking, light-colored lab, wagging its tail happily, greeted them as soon as the door opened.
The lab jumped and turned in circles at their feet, whining and begging for attention. “This is Bear,” Liam said, holding onto the collar.
She held out a hand, allowing Bear to smell and lick her. She loved dogs. Which was another thing she truly loved but couldn’t have in the city apartments—unless it weighed less than ten pounds.
“Bear, outside,” Liam said, pointing the dog out of the cabin. Bear obeyed, jumping off the front steps.
“Sorry, I should’ve warned you about him, first,” Liam said.
“No worries, I love dogs,” Leah said.
She followed close behind him as he showed her the rest of his place. He had lied about the place being dirty. It was cleaner than her place—not a speck of dust anywhere.
“Well, now that you’ve seen the place, how about that food we talked about?”
* * *
“So,” Liam interrupted her thoughts. “How old were you when your parents passed away?”
She watched the lines blur. Even though an instant guard went up against his question, she felt comfortable with the thought of opening up to him.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry,” he apologized.
“It’s okay.” She shrugged, as she debated on what to tell him. �
�I was fourteen.”
“Tragic,” he said, guiding the truck through the curves of the valley.
“Yes, it was,” she said, clenching her purse in her lap. To direct the questions from her, she asked, “What about your parents?”
Watching in silence as his jawline tensed, she waited for him to say something. When he didn’t, she relaxed in the seat and focused on the road in front of them. Cedar Valley was a small town, but it was full of life and character. They drove down the main street towards Levy’s, and were greeted with friendly waves from more people than she had ever received in the city.
“You’ll meet a lot of nice people when you start coming around more often,” he said, nodding his head in return to someone’s waving hand. He gave a quick wave to another couple who were standing outside the local bakery.
“Who said anything about me coming around more?” She joked.
“One could only hope, I guess,” he said, opening his door and giving her a wink.
He parked the truck in an empty spot next to an older beat up truck. She was careful not to ding her door into the truck as she climbed out—not that another dent would be noticeable.
“Here, I was going to get that for you,” he said, walking around the front of his truck.
“No need to do everything for me. I’m capable of doing things for myself, you know.”
He opened the door to Levy’s and smiled. “It’s how I was raised to treat a pretty lady like you.”
“Well, what do ya know? Look who’s back,” Wes said, to his group of guys who were crowded around the bar. He walked over to greet them, and asked Leah, “Did you enjoy yourself, young lady?”
“I did,” she said, stealing a glance at Liam. “Your grandson is quite the tour guide. He’s so polite and such a good sport.”
Wes patted Liam’s shoulder. “’Atta boy, son.”
“We thought we’d better stop in and grab a bite to eat before she heads home,” Liam announced. She couldn’t ignore the feeling that dropped when he said she was going home. She’d had so much fun here, and there was so much more she wanted to see and do.
All She Ever Wanted (Cedar Valley Novel Book 1) Page 7
