Delivery to the Farmhouse (Havenwood Cowboys Romance #4)

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

M y earlier reservations reared their ugly heads. One of them had buck teeth and sneered at me for even thinking a future with Colton Holden might be possible.

We only just started dating , I told it. We just had our first kiss. And yeah, it was amazing, but that didn’t mean it was time to start making plans together.

Not when I wasn’t sure he could be part of my future.

Not when I didn’t know what my future would hold—or rather, I wasn’t sure where my future would hold whatever came.

“Honesty is best,” I said. “Trust me.”

“You sound like you have some experience.”

“A little,” I said, fidgeting.

I didn’t want to talk about Jensen. But it was thanks to him that I knew how important it was to be upfront about life plans BEFORE deciding to move on from a relationship. Even though Colton and Bryce were brothers and not potentially building a life together, the same principle applied.

It was better to be upfront with your feelings about a situation, especially when it closely involved another person .

One of the cars in our procession turned off, and soon enough, I saw why. We finally approached the cement structure leading into the national monument’s parking lot. I sat up straighter in my seat, distracted for the moment. But I couldn’t see the carved faces from here.

Colton slowed through the entrance. My anticipation was sky-high. I kept inching forward, eager for a glimpse of the famed view of four U.S. presidents carved into the mountainside, which I caught a glimpse of from the entrance. The causeway was a lot longer than I expected it to be. As we walked, we passed what looked like a gift shop on one side and a cafeteria on the other, and then…

“There they are,” I said.

Colton nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “There they are. Let’s go closer.”

“I’m in.” I tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow, and we passed other couples and families who apparently weren’t as eager as we were.

One woman paused near the long line of flags leading up to the monument’s front-row seat and crouched in front of a stroller, offering a sippy cup to the cranky toddler who was strapped in.

Colton’s strides were a lot longer than mine. I had to practically skip to keep up with him, but I didn’t mind. Moving this quickly answered the call of eagerness in my blood.

A chasm dipped at the edge of the overlook, leading to what looked like some trails. And situated at the top of the rock, there were the familiar faces of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Roosevelt staring vacantly back at us from the overlook.

“They’re…smaller than I thought they’d be.”

Colton laughed. He slipped his arm around me and rested his head on mine as we both continued staring.

“Not to say the masonry isn’t remarkable,” I added. “It’s not like I could carve anything all that impressive. ”

The detail was truly incredible, especially considering not only its height but its size as well.

“Neither could I,” Colton said. “I can take a mean picture of it, though. Here.” He turned his back to the monument, and, keeping me close, lifted his phone to get a selfie of the two of us.

I got one as well. This was definitely going in the Anywhere But Here book.

Actually, come to think of it, I might need to start a new binder for all these trips once they were in motion.

“So you want to take up masonry?” Colton said, pocketing his phone and casting his gaze toward the presidents once more. The view of his jawline took up most of my attention. He was so handsome.

“You could carve works of art like this one.” He gestured to the presidents’ faces.

“I think I’ll pass.”

A family lined up near the overlook’s retaining wall, so Colton and I slid to the right, making room for them.

After we looked our fill, we made our way to the gift shop. It was chock full of the usual gift shoppy kind of things you’d expect to find: t-shirts, mugs, keychains, hoodies. Each with the Mount Rushmore logo, of course.

I picked a teal t-shirt and Colton snatched one with more of a sunset on his. I stopped at the lineup of wall art. Many were breathtaking shots of the national monument and the surrounding South Dakota countryside. Some, however, were a more generic spread of home décor with happy little sayings.

Colton searched them with me, prattling about how cool it would be to book one of their helicopter rides to see Mount Rushmore from an aerial view when my fingers plucked through a saying that gave me pause.

Bloom Where You’re Planted.

Disregarding it, I pushed the other framed artwork back and headed to the register to pay for my t-shirt. Colton beat me to it .

“Hey!” I said as he snatched it out of my hand.

He grinned, and even though I tried to take it back, he beat me to the register.

“Got any ideas of what you want out of life yet?” he asked as we walked back to the parking lot. The sun was setting. The evening was turning cool, which was a welcome change to the afternoon’s warmth earlier.

“To drive your truck?” I said, deflecting.

I didn’t really care all that much which of us drove. In fact, I was fine not driving. More naps for me.

But really, I just wanted to see what he’d do. He’d driven thus far just fine with his bruised hand.

He smirked and, while holding our gift bag in one hand, dug the key fob out of his jeans pocket with the other. He dangled the keys in front of me like I was a dog wagging my tail and eager for the throw so I could catch it.

“What if I agreed to let you drive my truck?” he said. “Would you tell me?”

I stared at him, seeing his talk of masonry earlier in a new light. I’d thought he was just being playful. But I should have known better. He was getting to the deeper matter at hand.

We hadn’t really finished our discussion about my confession to him, about how adrift I felt.

For reasons I couldn’t explain, my heart began to thrum. Maybe it was because of the confession hanging on my tongue and the thoughts I’d been having about him since our kiss. Maybe it was because of just how thoughtful he was to remember my dilemma and care about it.

I played it off the best that I could.

“I think singing is out,” I said.

I reached for the keys.

He lifted them, and no fair, but he was taller with longer arms and a wider reach .

“That’s too bad. Anything else?” he said without batting an eye.

“I…”

I leaped up from my toes and tried for the keys again. Again, he jerked them out of reach.

It was time to try the smooth approach. His hand was still raised up high. I placed my hands on his shoulders and tiptoed in closer, making it a point to stare at his mouth with as much longing as I could muster.

It wasn’t hard. He had a great mouth.

A prickling heat built between us, stirring the air. Colton went far too still, the muscles in his jaw working.

“Kissing cowboys is definitely in my future.” I kept my voice soft, and I inched in, pressing him against his pickup, letting my chest run flush with his.

The feel of his warm body against mine made my heart thunder.

“How many cowboys are we talking about here?” His tone matched mine.

And just like I knew it would, his hand lowered. Gradually, a little at a time.

My hands grazed from his shoulders to his biceps, and wow, the definition there was as rolling as the Black Hills. I lingered just a little, enjoying the feel of just how solid his arms were.

“Just one,” I said, lifting my chin and tipping his hat up away from his forehead.

His lips did this flicker that could level an entire mountainside. Heat shimmered in his eyes.

My hands continued trailing. They skimmed his warm skin.

“That sounds like a good future,” he muttered, closing his arm around my waist. Holding me to him.

“Oh, it is. Just you wait.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

I debated between teasing him a little longer and going for the kill. Deciding now was the time, I closed the distance between us. I pressed my mouth to his, savoring the sweetness. What I didn’t bank on was his unexpectedly fervent response.

His arms wrapped tightly around me. He held me, kissed me with intention. It was so overwhelming, that I nearly forgot my other motives. And all I could do was kiss him back.

Sense managed to wriggle back through. My fingers snuck through his behind me. His lips slowed against mine.

“What are you up to?” he muttered against my mouth.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He tightened his hand and took me by the shoulders, prying me back enough to look me in the face.

“Is that all you were after?” He didn’t sound upset. More like bemused.

With the keys in my hand, this time, I dangled them between us. “Looks like it worked.”

“Come here.” He growled and wrapped me back in his arms. I squealed as his fingers went to my sides.

And then he rebounded. He turned me so this time, my back was against his pickup, and I was pinned between his body and the truck. His mouth made lazy trails along my throat, stealing the strength from my knees.

My eyelids flickered. I placed a hand against his stomach, except I should have known that wouldn’t ground me any better than feeling his biceps had.

“You keep kissing me the way you are, and you can drive my truck anytime you want,” he said.

“Is that all it takes?” I muttered, giggling, fisting his keys in my hand.

“Just as long as that’s not all you want me for.”

I gave off a playful sigh. “Yes, Colton. I’m secretly after you for your truck.”

“It’s got a pretty good backseat,” he said, pressing kisses along my jawline .

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Might be worth checking out sometime, that’s all.” His expression was the definition of roguish.

I was so game. I was ready to dive back in there right this second and continue this conversation—and its accompanying activity—a little more privately.

Neither of us got the chance to say much else for I didn’t know how long because our mouths were a little preoccupied. Colton had removed his hat completely at one point for easier access and placed it on top of the cover over his truck bed. His lips claimed mine, toying with my nerves and making whatever my thoughts had been a complete muddle.

I raked my fingers up into his hair when his phone buzzed from within his pocket.

A grunt crawled its way up his throat. He kept right on kissing me.

“You going to get that?”

“I’m busy,” he muttered.

I smiled against his mouth, kissing him again before pulling free enough to say, “It might be important.”

“So’s this.”

He kissed me again. The buzzing stopped only to start right back up again.

This time, he pulled free and reached for his phone in his pocket. He gave me that smile I was starting to love and swiped the screen, lifting the phone between us.

“Hey, Hoss. What’s up?”

Hoss. His brother, Kyler, was calling?

“Am I on speaker?” Kyler asked.

“Yes, sir. Miss Natalie Brown is with me. That a problem?”

“Hi, Natalie,” Kyler said through the phone.

“Hi.” I quivered a little, but I’d noticed this was his way with other phone calls he’d received. He liked to keep things open. Every other call he’d gotten on the trip thus far had been received on speaker as well.

“I can call back another time,” Colton said as though reading hesitation in Kyler’s silence.

“No, it’s fine. It’s not a huge deal. I just—I’m feeling stuck, man. I wondered if you could give me some advice.”

Several cars moved their way through the parking lot. One pulled into an open spot just behind us. Another pulled out and made its way around to the exit.

“About what?” Colton asked. He tipped his head to one side, toward his pickup. I nodded and handed his keys back to him.

Circling around, Colton got my door, helped me inside, and closed it, hurrying around to the driver’s side.

Kyler’s voice continued once we were both inside the cab. “I thought I wanted this degree. No one else in the family got one, and I intend to. But now, I’m not so sure. I can’t hack it.”

Colton pushed the button to start the engine. Cool air blasted from the vents, and I tapped the screen, lowering the strength of the vents facing me. It’d been much warmer when we’d arrived than it was now.

Colton placed his phone on its magnetic holder on the dash and continued speaking.

“Who says? Hoss, you’re the brother who always called things like you saw it. You kept us all in line. You drove us crazy with your tenacious details and bragging about one-upping us. You need to do this. You can’t quit school.”

“I think it’s time,” Kyler said. “It’s just not working out, and I’m not sure I really need to.”

Colton looked livid. I squirmed a little—this was a really personal conversation for someone I didn’t know all that well. But Kyler said he knew I was listening in and didn’t care.

“What classes are you struggling with?” Colton prodded, resting his hands on the wheel but not making a move to shift. He was giving his brother his full attention. “Is it because it’s a summer semester?”

June first was in a few days, which meant he was only about a month in.

“All of them,” Kyler said. “I had it wrong. I don’t need a degree, not when I want to be a musician for a living. I can just come home. Move into Luke’s old shed on the Havenwood property. I’ll just work as a farmhand like he did until my music takes off.”

“Don’t go anywhere,” Colton said. “We’re leaving South Dakota in the morning, and we’re coming to you.”

“What? Dude, you don’t have to do that.”

“We’ll be there in two days. Tomorrow night at the latest, got it? Don’t do anything stupid before then.”

“No promises,” Kyler said. “I don’t want to bust your date.”

“Kyler,” I said, wanting him to know I was okay with this turn of things. It wasn’t like Colton and I had every inch of this impromptu excursion planned out. We’d already seen one of the major stops we’d planned on seeing. I was sad to miss seeing Yellowstone, but we’d just have to take another trip for that. “We’re coming.”

Colton’s eyes met mine. He hadn’t even run anything past me, but of course I’d go with him. I gave a nod to show him I meant it.

“Got it?”

“Got it,” Kyler said, ending the call.

A beat of silence collected between us. Colton took several breaths and tore his attention away from his phone to look at me instead.

“That okay with you?”

I detected the hint of worry in his tone. He was worried about his brother. What else was I going to say—no?

“More than okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

Was something more going on, something that Kyler didn’t want to talk to Colton about, knowing that I was listening in ?

“Do you need to call him back? Take it off speaker so he can have a private conversation with you. I don’t want to interfere.” I lifted my hands, feeling the cool air blow against my palms. “I can go back to the gift shop or something. This pass will get me back in, won’t it?”

“Natalie,” Colton said, resting his elbow on the console between us. “You’re never in the way. If Hoss had had a problem with you on the line, he wouldn’t have admitted as much as he did.”

That was good to know. I’d always liked Kyler. I didn’t know him all that well, but he’d always been decent and genuine.

“So we’re going,” I said.

He shifted into gear and the view from his backup camera appeared on the screen on his dash.

“Yes,” he said, backing up. “I wanted to see the Badlands while we’re out here; maybe we’ll do that in the morning and then head back. That means we’ll have to hit up Yellowstone another time. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Your brother is more important.”

And even though I meant the words, I wasn’t sure how much help we’d be.