Bree didn’t look at him right away; instead, she continued to watch the eagle. “Do you have to leave tonight?”

“I should.”

“I wish you didn’t have to.”

She still hadn’t looked at him, and he wanted her to. “Bree, darlin’, look my way.”

She slowly turned her head toward him, but kept her eyes closed. He stroked her cheek with his fingers. “Please, look at me.”

She opened her eyes and the tears were back.

“I’m about as lost in knowin’ what to do when it comes to you as I am when I try to cast a fly.” He reached out and circled her waist. When he did, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He kissed her hair, then rested his cheek against it. He breathed in deeply. She smelled like sunshine, and outdoors, and the breeze.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed.

“Come on,” he walked her over to her side of the truck. “Let’s go back. I’ll call my daddy and see how things are at home. Then we’ll talk some more.”

Before she could climb in, herself, Jace put his hands on her waist and lifted her into the truck. It made her giggle, a sound he was quickly growing to love.

“Guess you’re stuck with me for a few more days at least,” he said when he hung up from talking to his father. “Turns out there might be a bull ’round these parts after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a fella buckin’ bulls in Stanley this weekend. My understanding is that he’s also got an auction in the works. My daddy thinks there might be a bull or two worth me stickin’ around for.”

Bree wasn’t sure what to do with this information. She was glad he was staying. Very glad. But the kiss had changed things, and that was the part she wasn’t sure about.

When Jace kissed her, she didn’t want him to stop. And tonight, no matter how many times she told herself she shouldn’t, she knew full well that she’d do just as she did the night before. It was too tempting, having him on the other side of the cabin’s thin interior wall. She’d want him to hold her until she fell asleep, because when he did, the nightmares didn’t come. And that wasn’t the only reason she wanted him to hold her. It felt good, and right, to be in his arms.

The problem was, he’d want more. And after the heat of that kiss, so would she. But she knew, and there was no denying it, it was a step she wasn’t ready to take. Was it fair to ask him to be there for her when she was also asking him to hold back his feelings?

Jace reached over and stroked her forehead, his finger running over the creases she knew were there.

“Just because I’m stickin’ around, doesn’t mean you’re really stuck with me. I know you’re here to spend time on your own. I don’t want to intrude any more than I have already. I can always find a place to bunk in town. Is that what’s causin’ all this worry in that pretty head of yours?”

Bree leaned forward so she could rest her furrowed brow against his chest. “What’s worrying me is how much I want you to stay. And by that, I mean stay here, with me.”

Jace wasn’t sure how to respond. Stay here, with her, as he had last night, in the other part of the cabin, or stay with her in her bed? If he did, would she ultimately regret it? He’d be the detour again. She needed to stay on the road she was on. Even though he didn’t know much about grief, he did know there were stages of it she needed to work through. He couldn’t let himself get in the way.

There wasn’t anything selfless in his thinking though. He wanted her to work through it because he wanted her to be his…all his. As long as part of her still belonged to her late husband, she could never be his completely. This time, with this woman, he wasn’t willing to settle for any less than all of her. He was done compromising, done settling, done accepting anything other than it all.

He wanted what his parents had, and what Tucker had with Blythe, and what his friends Billy and Irene had. He wanted a great, all-encompassing love, and from the day he met her, he’d known, somewhere deep in his soul, that Bree was meant for him and he was meant for her. Their timing was off, but that was all. Everything else about them worked. They fit. He could be patient; he could wait until she was ready. She was worth it. He was as sure of it as he was sure of his own name.

“I’ll tell you what,” he began. “I’ll stay, just like I did last night, next door. I’ll even hold you until

you fall asleep, just like I did last night, but that’s it, Bree. I won’t allow anything else to happen between us.”

At first she looked surprised, then confused. His fingers, which had been running across her furrowed brow only moments before, stroked down the side of her face.

“Bree—” he breathed.

“Don’t say it. I’m begging you not to say it.” She pulled away from him and started to walk in the direction of the cabin.

He grabbed her arm; there was no way he could chase after her and have any hope of catching her with the shape his leg was in. If she made it all the way to the cabin and closed the door, he might not be able to convince her to let him in.

“Stop!” he shouted.

She spun around and glared at him. “Don’t you tell me to stop; don’t you tell me to do anything, Jace Rice.”

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