by Liz Isaacson
She laughed, the sound half happy and half sarcastic. “Definitely better than dinner with Luke. Not only did I work the restaurant that night, but I made our meal too. He met me at Sotheby’s when we closed and we ate at the desk in the office.” She gestured to the candles and the roses with her spoon. “This is much, much better.”
Kurt softened as he leaned forward, coming closer and closer. “As long as it’s better.” He pressed his lips to hers, and his were hot and just the tiniest bit demanding. Pulling back, he smiled. “I’m glad to be here with you too, May.”
He didn’t speak her name often, and a zing of love pulled through her. “Thank you for making this beautiful memory,” she whispered.
“Oh, we’re not done yet.” He grinned. “But do you want to tell me about Luke? You guys were serious? Like, talking marriage or…?”
She scooped up a spoonful of beans. “Yeah, we’d talked about marriage.” She was treading on dangerous ground now, and she suddenly didn’t want to talk about Luke anymore.
Kurt gave her several moments to say something, and when she didn’t, he asked, “And then?”
May laid her spoon on the table and looked straight into Kurt’s intoxicating eyes. “He thought I worked too much. He didn’t want to be second to the restaurant.” The words still hurt, and she could still hear his twang as he delivered them with perfect precision. “I sort of drifted after that, kind of like you. I was still in full career mode, though, and I didn’t date for a couple of years.”
He nodded, taking the time to absorb her words. “So you’ve been back in the game for a few years now?”
“Yeah.”
“And dating cowboys, which you obviously didn’t have much luck with.”
May reached across the corner of the table and covered his hand with hers. “Until now.”
His whole face lit up, and she giggled. “Come on, cowboy. Let’s eat our cake on the couch.”
“Sounds dangerous,” he said. “That thing is barely a shade above white. It is comfortable, though.”
“You took a nap there, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
She tipped her head back and laughed, squealing when Kurt practically pulled her from her chair and swept her into his strong arms, finally kissing her with that perfect passion she’d come to expect from him.
As he led her to the couch and told her to stay while he got the cake, all May could think was Best Valentine’s Day ever.
Chapter Twelve
Kurt walked over to the homestead on Sunday morning, taking in deep lungfuls of air and trying to organize his speech. He’d talked with Dwayne plenty of times about May, but this conversation was going to be bigger, and Kurt wanted to say all the right things and come away with a plan of action he could start to implement.
Dwayne sat on the front porch, a knife in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. He didn’t seem to be carving anything in particular, as the ground was covered with simple shavings.
“Mornin’,” Kurt said as he mounted the steps and dropped into the chair beside Dwayne. “I swear it’s getting hot already.”
“It’s not even March.” Dwayne chuckled and shook his head. “You and your hot blood.”
“I can’t help it.” Kurt took off his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Dwayne’s knife made soft swish, swish, swish sounds as he sliced off layer after layer of wood.
“So we need to talk about your schedule,” Dwayne said. “Now that you want to take things with May to the next level.” He flicked a glance in Kurt’s direction. “Is that why you asked for this meeting?”
“Yep.” Kurt stared over the railing and past the front yard. The dirt road led to a corner and then turned back toward the highway, passing under a big arch with peaches carved into it. “Am I moving too fast?”
“It’s been how long?”
“Six weeks or so.”
“Well, considering you kissed her only a week after you met her, I don’t think so.”
“I did not—” He cut off when Dwayne started laughing.
His voice faded into chuckles. “You didn’t say anything, but we knew.”
“We?”
“Felicity told me, actually.”
“How did she know?” Mortification struck Kurt. Maybe May had been telling all her girlfriends about their private encounters.
“She said she just knew.” Dwayne shrugged. “But you did, right? That first Sunday you went to church with her.”
Kurt’s heart thumped out an extra beat just thinking about that first kiss with May. Well, the second one, really. The one where she’d actually reciprocated his actions. “Yeah.”
“Well, then, six weeks doesn’t seem too fast.”
Kurt’s mouth turned dry. “I’m thinking about showing her my grandmother’s ring.”
That got Dwayne’s knife to stall. Thankfully, as the constant grating noise was getting under Kurt’s skin.
“You are?”
Kurt swallowed, the very idea of marriage huge and terrifying. “I think so. She’s the first woman I’ve felt this strongly about in years. Since coming to Grape Seed Falls.”
“And you think you want to marry her?”
“I don’t know,” Kurt admitted. He didn’t think he was in love with her, but it had been so long since he’d allowed himself to get that close to another person, he wasn’t sure. Besides May, only Dwayne knew of his first marriage and why it had ended, and only Dwayne had heard Kurt admit he didn’t know if he could ever get married again.
“So you’re close.” He resumed the scratching of the blade across the stick.
“Close to what?”
“Falling in love.”
Kurt’s first inclination was to shake his head and deny it. But, rationally, he knew two people didn’t talk about diamonds and weddings without talking about love first. “I don’t know,” he said.
“Well, you will.” Dwayne set the knife and the butchered stick on the ground with a big sigh. “And you’re my foreman, and I know I ask you to work an insane amount of hours.”
“I’ve never minded.”
“A woman changes everything.” Dwayne gazed out at his land too, and Kurt wondered what he was thinking.
His own mind churned with so many scenarios and possibilities that he closed his eyes and tried to make it all stop.
“Tell me what you need.”
“I need more time to see her at night.” The words just streamed from his mouth. “I need to figure out what’s going to happen if we do get married. Like, there’s no way she’s going to live out here, and I don’t know if you want a foreman who doesn’t live on-site.” He turned and looked at Dwayne, his every worry flowing from him like fast-moving water. “There are just a lot of unknowns, and we need to talk through all of it.”
Dwayne let the words drift into the sky, and Kurt felt better with them outside of him, where they couldn’t infect him anymore.
“Not everything has to be known,” he said. “Felicity taught me that.” He finally turned and met Kurt’s eye. “And we’re willing to shift some of your responsibilities around to the other men. Maybe we start training a second foreman, and the two of you can share responsibilities.”
“Who were you thinking of?”
“I was hoping you’d help me brainstorm who you think would be a good fit.” Dwayne smiled, his usual boss-face disappearing into the man he knew as his best friend. “I think it’s really important you have more time with May. If she’s the one for you, I want you to have that.”
“Thank you, Dwayne.” Kurt drew in a deep breath, some of his anxieties calming. “What about Shane? He’s a hard worker. Always willing to do whatever I ask him to. The oldest brother.”
Dwayne nodded, a line appearing between his eyes. “He has a lot of anger, that one.”
Kurt thought about the blond cowboy. “I’ve only seen it once or twice. What’s his story?”
“Something with his father,” Dwayne said. “He didn’t want to talk
about it, and like you said, he works hard. I don’t have to know everything about the cowhands to hire them.”
“He’d be good,” Kurt said. “And we get along well.”
“What about Chadburn?”
“Chad’s great too,” Kurt said. “A bit on the young side for the foreman.”
“Yeah. Twenty-six.”
“Lots of growing to do.”
The screen door squealed as Felicity pushed it open with her shoulder and handed one cup of coffee to Dwayne. “With two sugars,” she said. She extended the other mug to Kurt. “Cream and sugar.” She smiled at them. “How’s the meeting going?”
“Just fine,” Dwayne said. “Kurt needs more time with May.”
“So I was right.” She positively beamed down at her husband and then Kurt. He lifted his coffee to his lips so he wouldn’t have to ask her what she was right about.
Dwayne chuckled and drew her onto his lap. “Yes, sweetheart. You were right.”
Kurt couldn’t take it, so he asked, “What were you right about, Felicity?”
“That you really like May and want to see if you can really love her, and that you’re worried about what that means for your place here.”
Kurt looked at Dwayne, who shrugged one shoulder. “She seems to know stuff, man. I don’t embellish what you tell me. I don’t speculate.”
“No,” Kurt said dryly. “Felicity does that.” He smiled good-naturedly at her.
“Hey,” she said in protest. “I made you coffee.”
“And it’s delicious. Thank you.” He took another sip, knowing how Felicity detested domestic chores.
“So Chad or Shane?” Dwayne asked Felicity.
“To partner with Kurt?” She looked back and forth between the two of them. “I think Shane.”
“Me too,” Kurt added.
“Shane it is,” Dwayne said. “Let’s meet at lunch today after church. Your place?”
“Sure,” Kurt said. “I’m baking off the lasagna I made over Christmas. May’s comin’ out.”
“We can do it another time,” Dwayne said.
“No, it’s fine,” Kurt said. “I want her to know I’m making changes so I can see her more often.”
“She’ll like that, Kurt.” Felicity stood and pulled her ponytail tighter. “All right, I’m takin’ Lucy out real quick before church.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dwayne said. Kurt watched them go down the front steps, link hands, and head for the stables. And he wanted that companionship, that comfort, that conversation so badly his chest hurt.
He’d never gotten it with Kara. They’d seemed compatible. He’d loved her. But he hadn’t even known her, and that had hurt almost as much as the hole she’d left in his life.
As Dwayne and Felicity disappeared into the stable, Kurt’s old hurts faded. He admitted for the first time that he was finally willing to move on from Kara and find his own happiness again. And that made his heart light and the rest of his worries dissipate.
It took forever to get out of the chapel and on the highway toward Grape Seed Ranch. Pastor Gifford wanted to meet Kurt’s cooking partner for the Spring Jubilee—and apparently, so did everyone else in the Elberta Church congregation.
“Sorry about that,” Kurt muttered as he finally got behind the wheel of his truck. “I had no idea I was so popular.”
May giggled as she scooted right on over next to him and buckled herself beside his side. “Well, you haven’t been to church here for a couple of months.”
“I guess.” He’d missed church before, especially during the summer when it was hard to get off the ranch. “So I have something I want to talk to you about before we get to my cabin.”
“Ooh, sounds serious.”
It was. At least to Kurt. He shifted in his seat and looked anywhere but at her. “I talked to Dwayne about working less, so I can spend more time with you.”
Her hand curled around his arm, and he dropped his right hand so she could hold it. She did, softly, almost cautiously, in both of hers. “You don’t have to do that. I’m fine with how things are.”
Kurt’s throat felt stuffed full and beyond dry. Like he’d swallowed sand and couldn’t quite get it all down. “Well, I guess that’s another thing to talk about.”
May didn’t say anything, as her flirtiness had fled.
“I’m serious about us, May,” he said, pushing past his fear and his blasted clogged throat. “And I want more time to be with you. Really be with you, not just chatting online.” His bravery lasted long enough for him to turn and glance at her. He caught the panic in her eyes, though she wiped it away quickly when she caught him looking.
A pit opened in his stomach. Maybe the feelings he’d been experiencing all this time weren’t mutual. He’d fallen fast before, and it had burned him. Regret lanced through him, hot and acidic, and he felt like he might throw up.
After a few minutes of strained silence, he asked, “I have to know, May. Are you serious about us, too?”
“Of course I am.” At least her answer had come immediately and with a fair bit of indignation.
Maybe not serious enough to show her Granny Gertrude’s ring, he thought.
“All right.” He tried to slow the flow of his thoughts. “So lunch today is with Dwayne and Felicity, and Shane’s comin’ too. Dwayne and I are going to talk to him and see if he’d like to take on the role of a shared foreman with me so I can have more time to see you.”
“Kurt—you don’t—I mean—”
“What do you mean, May?” They were nearing the ranch, but this conversation wasn’t anywhere near over. He slowed the truck and pulled onto the shoulder. He looked at her, struck by her beautiful face and her powerful soul. He felt himself slipping and he desperately needed something to hold onto.
He leaned down and kissed her, and that action provided him the anchor he needed. She received him willingly and gladly, in his opinion. “I like you a whole lot,” he whispered, keeping his eyes closed. Somehow it was easier to talk to her that way. “And I think this could turn into something where we start talking about where I’m going to live after we get married.”
She sucked in a breath, but Kurt curled his hands along the back and sides of her neck and kept her close to him. He lit a kiss on her cheek, then her cheekbone. “I think you like me a whole lot too…right?”
He shifted back slightly to see her, relieved and joyous when she nodded.
“So why are you so afraid?” he asked, touching his lips to the tip of her nose and then the spot right between her eyebrows.
She pressed into his touch. “I work a lot, Kurt. That’s not going to change.”
“I didn’t say it needed to.”
“But you will.” She pulled out of his embrace. “Luke said the same thing.” Her voice pitched up, and Kurt was afraid she might cry.
“May—”
“It’s a lot to put on me. The pressure of you working less to see me more. Makes me feel like I should do the same for you.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “As long as I know you’re still interested in this cowboy, you can work all you want.” He knew her restaurant was important to her. “Come here.” He tugged her gently toward him, satisfied when she melted into his chest.
Now the silence between them was comfortable and Kurt drew in a deep breath. “So lasagna today, and don’t be surprised when we start talking about splitting responsibilities. That’s all I wanted you to be aware of.”
She sniffed and nodded. “I’d like to see you more too. I don’t work every morning, or every night. There should be time.”
“Of course there is, sweetheart.” And he was eternally glad that he had a reasonable boss and the time to give to May whenever she needed it.
“Thank you, Kurt,” she whispered, tilting her head back to look into his eyes. He lost himself instantly in the coffee-colored swirls of her gaze, and he felt himself falling again. Faster and harder than ever before, and some o
f her familiar panic washed over him.
When she kissed him, Kurt’s worries over their relationship vanished, and he knew he’d just set foot on the first stone of a path marked in love with May Sotheby.
Chapter Thirteen
May sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as Kurt bumped the truck down the dirt road to the cabin community in the middle of the ranch. She could still taste him on her mouth, and that only fueled her frustration.
He wanted to reduce his hours right when she needed to increase hers. They seemed to be moving in opposite directions, and she didn’t know how to get on the same page with him. She felt caught in a riptide, being sucked out to sea, while he swam effortlessly toward shore.
He’d said he didn’t care how much she worked, but she didn’t quite believe him. Help me believe him, she prayed for the tenth time since he’d pulled back onto the road and continued toward the ranch.
But Luke’s voice was always there. Always saying he’d give her the time she needed and then breaking up with her because she worked too much.
You should’ve told Kurt about taking over the restaurant completely, she chastised herself. It had been the perfect time, but the words had been swallowed by her fears and then kissed away by Kurt.
“You comin’, Miss May?”
She turned toward his voice, realizing he’d parked and gotten out of the truck without her even noticing. He extended his hand to her, and she put her hand in his and let him help her out of the truck.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to her temple. They walked up his steps hand-in-hand, his border collie perking up from his place on the porch. “Hey, Patches. You just lying around today?” He bent down to pat the dog, and then entered the warmer cabin.
He bustled around, getting the lasagna out and setting the oven to preheat. May hadn’t been out to the ranch since that first time they’d cooked together, and she looked around at the simple yet charming décor. Plaid window treatments in blue, red, and white. Comfortable, clean furniture. Plenty of windows.
Maybe she could live here. She lived ten minutes from town as it was. The ranch was only fifteen. She liked her privacy, and there was plenty of that out here. Well, sort of. The cabin community had eight cabins all in close proximity, and Kurt had said everyone who lived out here was single except for Dwayne.
