“Exhausted.” She turned, smiling up at him. “Thank you. I haven’t had this much fun in years.”
He shook his head. “That’s a crime, Mrs. Boone.”
She blushed, turning a very pretty color of pink. “It’s just the way it is—”
“Was.” He tugged on his leather jacket. “You ready?”
He didn’t know why he felt nervous. Tonight had changed things. It wasn’t about getting Annabeth into bed—not anymore. Maybe it was because he knew how he felt about her. He’d slept with plenty of women, but he’d never been in love with them. No, now it was about getting Annabeth—and keeping her. But he had no idea where to start—
“Penny for your thoughts?” Annabeth’s question broke the silence on the short drive home.
“Nothing worth sharing.” He was still coming to terms with the fact that he was in love with her.
“Work? Rodeo? Family?” she probed.
He glanced at her. “You light up when you dance. Must have missed it.”
“After Greg died, it wasn’t...a priority.” She paused. “I don’t know. Cody was a baby and Grandma Flo was just starting to get sick. And I was a single working parent.” She started to laugh. “Dancing seemed...frivolous.”
He looked at her then, a wave of admiration washing over him. She’d done so much on her own. “You’re quite a woman.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know, a real Princess.”
He pulled into the driveway, put the truck in Park and looked at her. “You’re stronger than most men I know.”
The cab was dimly lit, but he knew her cheeks were tinged with color. She didn’t know what to do with his compliments or how to respond.
“I’m waiting,” she murmured, her fingers absentmindedly picking at the stitches on her wool coat.
“For?” But he knew. Normally he’d tack on some smart-ass comeback. Teasing had always been his way of keeping things from getting too serious. Now, serious was what he wanted.
She frowned.
“I mean it.” He wanted to say something more, to tell her how special she was. But the words wouldn’t come.
A furrow formed between her brows, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned her full attention to the bit of thread she’d worked loose on her coat. “We still haven’t worked through what we’re doing...how we’re doing it.”
“It?” he asked.
“The whole being-temporarily-married thing.” She stumbled over the words.
Temporary. His lungs emptied, hard and fast. She wanted to make temporary plans. He wanted to make a real family. Now he needed to convince her of that.
“I imagine you have a few ideas.” He leaned against his door. He stared out the front windshield of the truck, feeling like an idiot. Getting a woman into bed was a hell of a lot easier than getting into her heart. “Inside? Before all the heat’s gone.”
She nodded, sliding out of the truck without a word. He followed, fighting back his frustration and defeat.
Tom greeted them inside the door, mewing pathetically and winding between their legs.
“Guess he got lonely,” Ryder said.
“Tom!” Annabeth froze in the kitchen door.
Ryder peeked over her shoulder. “He got lonely all right.” Shredded bits of paper towel were spread all over the kitchen. Even the now-empty cardboard rolls were gnawed and tattered. “Come on, Mom, he got bored.”
Annabeth glared at him. “Couldn’t he read a book or something?”
“Bet he’d get a kick out of that.” Ryder laughed, his mood lightening. “Rip it to pieces.”