been working on. A foundation for a fourth had been poured, and she and Bishop had spent days framing and getting it to the stage the others were at.
That way, as they ordered supplies, they could do it in bulk.
“You okay?” she asked as she approached Bishop again. She was very comfortable with him, because they spent hours together every day. He took her back to the homestead at lunchtime, where they’d only eaten alone once or twice. Bear was almost always there, usually with Ranger and Ace, and Montana had seen the way the four of them interacted.
She’d felt like an outsider, though literally no one treated her that way. Quite the opposite, in fact. She hardly saw Arizona at all, and while Sammy had spoken to her at the luncheon after they’d found the love letters, Montana hadn’t seen her again.
Out of everyone, she saw Ranger and his wife, Oakley, the most. She owned and worked at Mack’s Motor Sports, and she worked a lot of afternoons and evenings. Since she lived in the homestead, she was often there when Bishop and Montana showed up for lunch.
“Bishop?”
“Yeah,” Bishop said, looking up and tucking his phone in his back pocket. “Things are okay.” He took his water bottle from her. “Thanks. It’s just Agatha. The foal isn’t dropping, and the vet thinks he might have to do a C-section on her.”
“That’s not good.”
“He’s trying to get it to turn.” Bishop reached for her hand. “I’m distracted today. Can we just go to the stable?”
“We’re done here anyway,” she said. “You left me to haul out all the trash while you texted about your horse.” She smiled up at him, her eyes focusing on his mouth. She’d thought about kissing him, which did surprise her slightly.
“Sorry,” he said, his voice quiet and his eyes on her mouth too.
They’d been out a couple more times, and Montana needed to have a conversation with her daughter about Bishop. She couldn’t get herself to think of him as her boyfriend, though she probably should.
“We can go to the stable,” Montana said, but neither of them moved.
“There’s something I want to do first.” Bishop took her easily into his arms, and she put her hands flat against his chest. “Do you know what it is?”
“I think I have an idea,” she said, one hand moving up to his collar. She stalled there, her eyes drifting closed as she breathed in the scent of him. Cotton, and dryer sheets, and cologne. Wood, and work, and wonder.
She curled her fingers around the back of his neck and put pressure there so he’d lower his head. She kept her head tilted back, and as the moment lengthened and Bishop still did not kiss her, Montana’s need for him to do so rose exponentially.
Finally, his lips touched hers, and Montana felt like lightning crackled through her veins. His kiss lasted only a second, and then his touch was gone.
“That was terrible,” she whispered, opening her eyes to look at Bishop. He gazed down at her, so much adoration in those golden brown eyes. He ran his fingers up the side of her face and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I’ve never been told I’m a terrible kisser.”
“That wasn’t a kiss, Bishop.”
“No?”
She shook her head, almost laughing. If her heart wasn’t sprinting so fast, she might be able to do more than breathe in and out.
“No.” She tipped up and pressed her mouth to his. His hands tightened along her waist, and Montana and Bishop breathed in together, the kiss growing more passionate as it continued.
Now that’s a kiss, she thought, hoping it would last a lot longer.
Chapter Thirteen
Bishop had been dreaming of kissing Montana since almost the day he’d met her. He’d not waited this long to kiss a woman he liked before, but there was something different about Montana Martin.
Something very different in a very good way.
They’d been out three or four times, and they worked together every day, of course. They’d had great conversations, and times when she’d say, “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
He wouldn’t push her, and he got to say the same thing if she asked him something he didn’t want to talk about. The only topic he’d passed on was his father. She’d told him little about her first marriage, her daughter, and he still didn’t know if she wanted more children or not.
He suspected she didn’t, and that was something Bishop was going to have to face sooner