Montana Desire

Chapter 7

Cori

The wind cut through my shirt before I had a chance to pull the sweater over my head on the way to my truck. It was definitely fall. This was the first day we’d had that was actually cold. A precursor to the long, snowy Montana winters. They weren’t for everyone, but I was used to them by now. There was just as much beauty here in the winter as there was in the summer. You just needed better boots in the winter.

I started the truck and pulled out, heading out of town toward Resting Warrior. My stomach gave a little flip, knowing that I was going to see Grant. I was so worried about him, but yesterday had been fine. And whatever he thought about Joel and that night, not one thing had showed.

He’d never know how grateful I was for that.

The wind picked up as I left town, blowing hard enough that I could feel it in the steering. The flat, gray clouds that hung low in the sky were ominous. Not only was it cold, it looked like it was going to snow or storm or make life hard for everyone somehow.

I hoped that the weather held out just a little longer so that Grace and Harlan’s wedding wouldn’t have to deal with the extra hassle. Lena didn’t need to deal with driving the cake to the venue on snowy roads—she was stressed enough as it was.

But after that? Bring on the cold. I was ready for sweaters all the time, curling up with tea and hot chocolate, and enjoying being cozy in a way that simply wasn’t possible in the summer.

Pulling up to the main Resting Warrior lodge, I grabbed my medical bag and hopped out, waving to Lucas sitting on the porch with coffee and a laptop. It was nice that I was enough of a fixture here that I could just wave and make my way to where I needed to go. Some of my clients, even though they trusted me, felt the need to stick to my side like Velcro when I was on their property.

The stables were quiet and empty of people. The paddock was empty, too. No sign of Grant or Noah or any of the Resting Warrior guys. I checked my phone. No, I was right on time, so where was the horse?

I started to walk back toward the lodge when I spotted Mara carrying some food toward the dog pens. She could probably tell me where Grant was.

“Mara,” I called, jogging to catch up to her.

She smiled when she turned and nodded. Mara didn’t speak. Or rather, she did, but it was rare. Resting Warrior was a safe place for her to work and live with people who weren’t going to judge her for that. She was a near-invisible force that kept the ranch looking beautiful and made sure that the more menial tasks were taken care of.

“I’m looking for Grant,” I said. “He wanted me to look at one of the horses, but I don’t see him anywhere.”

Gesturing, she pointed toward the wild portion of the Resting Warrior property. The whole place was far larger than the portion that was developed. They had plans for it, but right now, it was mostly used as a safe place to train the animals. “He’s walking the horse?”

Mara nodded.

“Thank you.”

She smiled again, and I moved past her toward the fields. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too far. He might have lost track of time trying to get the horse to move around.

He was pretty far out, but I spotted him some distance away, so I didn’t have to wander. And as I got closer, I saw why he’d asked me to come. The horse was having trouble—favoring its front left leg. It didn’t look overly painful, but I needed to get closer to see what was going on.

Grant saw me and waved. “Hey.” He was smiling as we met in the middle. “Thanks for coming.”

“Happy to. Though I had to ask Mara where you were.”

He laughed softly. “I should have left you a note. This is Ginger.” He stroked his hand down the horse’s neck. “New arrival. Really sweet, but you can see something’s happening with her leg. I wanted to give it a little exercise to keep it warm.”

“Let’s see.”

Grant held on to the bridle and kept the horse still while I ducked down and started my examination. She shied away from me when I touched her leg, and Grant spoke to her softly to calm her down. “It’s okay,” I said, using my vet voice. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

When I ran my fingers over the leg, all the bones felt okay. No signs of serious swelling, no cuts, and her shoe and hoof were fine.

But when I gently squeezed, she shied away again, and the same when I bent her leg at the knee. “Okay,” I said. “Seems like it’s a sprain. I’d like to get her into the clinic for an X-ray just in case there’s something we can’t see, but I’m pretty confident. So, gentle work and walking like this is actually perfect.” I smiled at Grant. “You’ve got good instincts.”

“I like to think so,” he said quietly, and though I was looking at the horse, I could feel that he was looking at me when he said that. Standing this close, I found it hard to ignore that he was right there. And my stomach gave that same little flip that it had when I started on my way here.

I needed to know what he thought about the other night. If I didn’t find out, it was going to drive me mad. I opened my mouth to ask, and pain sparked on the top of my head. “Ow. What was that?”

Another ping of pain, and a second later, I saw the little white ball hit Ginger’s back. Grant cursed and grabbed my arm. “Hail.”

Now I was cursing too. He pulled me away from the main ranch. “Where are we going?”

“We have a few emergency sheds across the property. Small, but it’ll work.”

That wasn’t remotely surprising. A bunch of former SEALs like the Resting Warrior men wouldn’t chance being taken by surprise or unprepared, even on their own property.

“There.”

He pointed, and I had to squint to see it. With the hail starting to come down and the way the building was cleverly camouflaged in a copse of trees, it was nearly invisible. “Well, damn,” I said.

Grant laughed.

I pulled the neck of my sweater up over the back of my head to ward off the hail that was coming down faster. The stones weren’t huge, but they were enough to sting. Never very fun.

Opening the door, Grant guided Ginger inside and then me before following and closing the door behind us. The shack was so small, there was barely any room. I was pressed against the wall, and now that Grant was inside with me, we were in each other’s space. Even more than when we were standing close outside.

This close, I could feel the warmth coming off him. Smell the faint pine scent floating around him, along with something sharp and clear like snow.

Last night when he’d stepped out of the truck in workout gear, it was like a punch to the gut to see pieces of his body on display. I’d never seen him like that before. Or if I had, I’d never noticed because I was with Joel. But now that I wasn’t…

It was all that I could see. How had I missed how attractive he was all this time? Attractive wasn’t even the right word. Hot was the right word. Especially this up close and personal when he was looking at me and I could see the green of his eyes.

Outside, the hail dropped. It was loud on the wooden roof of the shack, but it seemed like a background to whatever was happening between us right now. The air in the empty space separating us was taut with something magnetic.

All I could see was the way he’d made Joel leave. Coming to my rescue even though I hadn’t asked him to. And then he hadn’t made me feel lesser because of that. The breath in my chest felt shallow.

Grant’s eyes dropped to my lips, and all of that air disappeared. He was going to kiss me, and I didn’t hate that idea. Screw that. I wanted him to kiss me. Right now, I wasn’t going to feel guilty for moving too fast after a breakup or think about what could go wrong with kissing the man who lived next door. All I wanted was to know what it would feel like.

He leaned in slowly, as if he was asking for permission. There was plenty of time for me to ask him to stop. I knew that he would have. But I didn’t.

Slowly, gently, his lips brushed across mine. It wasn’t a kiss yet. It was the moment before a kiss, breathless and endless.

Grant exhaled and pulled back, clearing his throat. My stomach dropped in disappointment, but that was okay. That was smart. Probably better, given that the breakup was only days old and we were neighbors. That was fine.

But it didn’t feel fine.

“I wanted to ask you something,” he said quietly. “We’re both invited to the wedding.”

There was no reason to clarify which wedding.

“I don’t have a date. And since I’m hoping the asshole is no longer invited, maybe we could go together. Neighbors. So we’re less lonely or awkward being single at a wedding. Or maybe we could be those things together.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could move, Grant did. He reached around me and slid a hand up my spine until one hand rested on the back of my neck. “And I want to make myself clear. I am dying to kiss you. But before anything like that happens, we need a better foundation than being caught in a hailstorm.”

A shuddering breath left me, combined with relief that I didn’t know I needed. He wasn’t blowing me off. Not completely.

“You want to kiss me?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “I do.”

Biting my lip, I leaned farther into the hand that was on my neck. “I want you to kiss me.”

A small smile broke out on his face. Heat rose between us, and he leaned in. His lips brushed my temple, and my stomach fluttered with about a hundred butterflies. “Come to the wedding with me?” he asked softly.

“Yes.”

He relaxed. I hadn’t even noticed that he was tense, but I felt the relief. It was in me, too. I wanted more than his lips on my skin, but at the same time, this was everything that I wanted. I wasn’t willing to move from this spot.

Neither was he.

We were frozen there until the hail faltered and silenced outside. But it wasn’t awkward. It was easy. It felt safe. And when the hail stopped completely, he slowly pulled away from me to let us out of the shed. I almost wished the hail would have lasted longer.

The ground was covered with a crusting of icy pellets that crunched under our feet as we exited. Ginger was fascinated by it too, licking some of the icicles.

“I guess I’ll see you at home at some point,” I said.

“Definitely.”

Both of us wanted more than this. I could feel it. I would wager to say we both felt it. But he had a point. And if it was more than just this moment, it would wait.

That’s what I told myself as I forced myself to turn and walk away. It would wait.