Forbidden Cowboy (Rocky Ridge Creek #1)

Chapter Twelve

LEVI

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NIGHT AFTER NIGHT I’ve met Hope at our spot and not once was I as nervous as I am right now.

I stretch out my clammy hands before I spread out blankets on each side of the fence. I carry over the picnic basket my ma prepared for us. She’s on our side. Ever since the kissing booth fiasco, she’s silently been giving me hints of approval. It’s my pa and Hart who are sitting on the edge. If I can wrangle my pa on board, Hart will have no choice but to jump on too.

I lift out the bottle of wine and two long stem glasses.

Will Hope show up? Or has our sneaking around been too much for her? I wish to the starsit wasn’t so complicated between us.

“How’d you know I’d come?”

The sound of her voice calms my jittery nerves.

I face her. She’s gorgeous, fresh out of a shower with damp hair darkening the shoulders of her long dress.

“Come, sit with me.”

She lowers herself cross-legged on the opposite side of the log fence. Her makeup-free face glows with sun as it begins to set.

“Hi,” I say.

Her lips curve upward. “Hi.”

“You look beautiful.”

Her nose turns up and she takes a quick glance down at her outfit “I just got out of the shower.”

I growl. “You’re making me jealous.”

Her smile is reserved, her tone low, and her bubbly self appears knocked down. “You look nice, too. New shirt?”

I pinch the middle of the plaid shirt I picked up in town before heading home. “This old thing?”

She laughs. “Yeah, that old thing.”

I uncork the wine bottle and slip a glass between two logs for her. Our hands brush. I don’t pull away. Instead, I loop my finger around hers. “I didn’t know if you would come.”

Her tongue darts across her lips moistening them. “You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

“I don’t want to get rid of you.”

“You put a blanket on each side of the fence.”

“Because I know, if we’re sitting on the same blanket, I’d be kissing you by now.”

She nibbles on her lower lip in a way that drives me wild. “It’s true, you can’t keep your hands off all this.”

I laugh. Deep and throaty, all at the same time. “I love you, woman.”

“I love you, my fobidden cowboy.” Her words are music to my ears. “But the last couple weeks we’ve been distant in public and hiding at night. I can’t do it. I want to walk down the street and hold your hand. I want to sit in a restaurant and eat food off your plate. And I want to kiss you all the times you make me giggle inside.”

I wish I was on the other side of this damn fence.

“And don’t get me wrong, I love hiking the trails hand-in-hand and eating the veggies you pack on our picnics. And I especially love making love to you under the stars, but I want everyone to know that you’re my cowboy.”

I can’t stay here for another second. I hop over the fence and gather her in my arms. “I love all those things and I want all the rest.”

“That means we’re standing up against our families and the town.”

“I know what it means.”

She cups my face in her hands. “But before we do this, let’s get away. Let’s pack a bag and spend the weekend where no one knows us. Where they won’t whisper behind our backs or shout in our faces. Where we won’t feel judged every second, or end up in jail.”

“Hope, I would take you anywhere in this world.”