Kiss Me Cowboy (Cowboys of Crested Butte 3)

“Okay,” Blythe whispered. She pulled out her phone and sent Tucker a text, wondering if something like this had happened between Bree and Zack.

I’m sorry, she wrote. I wish you hadn’t left. She thought for a minute and added, please give me another chance.

His phone pinged. Whoever it was, whatever they wanted, he didn’t care. He had nothing to give to anyone else right now. As hard as he tried not to look, he couldn’t help himself.

Blythe.

Where are you?

What could he say? Around the corner?

Are you at the inn? I’ll come over. I have to see you, Tucker. Please don’t leave me again.

He stared at the phone. It was one of those moments. He could be stubborn and ignore her. But would that get him anywhere? Would it get him what he wanted? Did he even know what he wanted?

He realized he wasn’t standing still any longer. He was walking toward her house. If he cut through the woods, he’d be there in less than two minutes.

Meet me outside, he texted back.

“What?” asked Bree.

“He’s coming back.”

Bree got up to go inside.

“Wait, you don’t have to go.”

“Do this, Blythe. Talk to him.”

Blythe walked to the end of the driveway and watched for his truck to come back down the road. She was so focused on watching for him, she didn’t hear him walk up behind her.

“Blythe,” he breathed into her hair.

She spun around and he caught her. “Tucker,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Blythe. I don’t know what—”

She didn’t let him finish. She reached up and brushed her lips across his. She opened her mouth to him, and he took it. They stood at the end of her driveway, bodies intertwined, mouths locked together, as though they were a couple of teenagers with nowhere else to go.

“Where’s your truck?”

“I didn’t get very far. I was too pissed to drive, so I pulled over.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

He kissed her forehead. “Blythe, this isn’t easy for me. I want us to talk. There are things I want to tell you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“Let’s talk. Do you want to go back to the inn, or do you want to go somewhere else?”

Tucker looked out over the valley in front of them. On the other side of the highway, he could see what looked like a fire road going up the side of Mount Herman.

“Ever been on that road?” he asked.

“Many times. My dad and I go up there and shoot.”