said as I made my way over to the table and grabbed a plate.
“Don’t be. I adore your mom.”
“And she clearly adores you. Kaylee must have told her you were thinking of moving here and she’s trying to tempt you to vote for Montana. She doesn’t make her homemade chicken salad for just anyone.”
Her cheeks turned a slight pink. “I’m honored she thinks so highly of me.”
We settled onto the sofa, each of us with a plate piled high with food.
Timberlynn took a bite of her sandwich and then smiled as she chewed. “Okay, if your mom made me this chicken salad every day, I’d totally move here.”
“I’ll make sure she stocks up.”
I watched Timberlynn take another bite. Fucking hell, this felt so damn right. I could do this every day for the rest of my life and feel content. Was that what falling in love was like? Could I really be falling for this woman after a few days? I frowned as I stared down at my food.
“So, Tanner Shaw, I want to know more about you, other than what your jilted ex-lover has to say.”
I shot her a smirk. “I’m an open book, Ms. Holden. Ask away.”
“Okay, why don’t you bull ride?”
“Because I’m not stupid.”
She lost it laughing and caused me to laugh as well. “Good answer. But give me the honest one.”
“Okay, I tried it once, and when I got thrown, I decided I liked my body and my face too much to risk a bull hurting it…and, did I mention that I’m not stupid?”
I loved the way she was looking at me. Her smile was so natural and carefree. This was a side of Timberlynn I thoroughly enjoyed.
“Why roping?”
“I don’t know any little boy who grows up on a ranch who doesn’t want to rope a cow. Rope fence posts, rope a pretty girl.” I winked, and Timberlynn shook her head at me.
“That last one doesn’t surprise me.”
“You’ll be happy to know I have yet to rope a girl.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “Haven’t met one yet I wanted to.”
Her brows raised slightly. “Not interested in settling down then.”
“If you had asked me six months ago, I’d have told you there was no way in hell I wanted to settle down, at least not anytime soon.”
She tossed a strawberry into her mouth, and I watched as she chewed it. “And now?”
My eyes bounced back up to meet her inquisitive gaze. Was she flirting with me? “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know, but it doesn’t seem like something I’d be afraid of doing now.”
“Fair enough,” she replied with a soft smile.
“What about you? Are you ready to settle down, get married, have a couple kids?”
Her smile faded slightly before she pulled out her phone and looked at it. “Crap, I told Kaylee I’d call her about going shopping with her and Lincoln. She mentioned wanting to show me something today.”
I didn’t say anything as I motioned for her to make the call. She clearly didn’t want to talk about marriage and kids, but I was patient.
She frowned as she stared at her phone. “I don’t have a signal.”
“You might have to stand by the window.”
Timberlynn got up and walked over to the window and then gasped. “Tanner! I thought you said it was going to be warm today.”
I stood and made my way to where she was standing.
“It’s snowing!” she exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, look at how beautiful it is. Wow.”
I turned to look at her and felt my chest squeeze. She was practically shaking she was so giddy. My feelings for Timberlynn hit me all at once so freaking hard that I nearly jumped back from her. I wanted her, that much I knew, but not in the usual way. I wanted to wrap my arms around her, have her lean back against me and simply watch the snow fall together.
Hell, this was confusing and exciting all at once.
Not taking my eyes off of her, I said, “Very beautiful, indeed.”
Chapter Ten
TIMBERLYNN
A day had passed since the morning ride I took with Tanner. We had walked the horses back since it was snowing and neither of us wanted to risk them slipping. Tanner went to help his father on the ranch, and I met Lincoln and Kaylee in town for some last-minute Christmas shopping. Whatever Kaylee wanted to show me had been pushed off for reasons she didn’t share. Interesting…
The stores in Hamilton were darling, and I quickly fell in love with the town all over