there when we kissed the other night, right?”
He ducked his head, the brim of his cowboy hat hiding his face. “I was there.”
“Then you seriously cannot have doubts that I like you.”
He glanced up, and a sparkle resided in his eyes. “Long-term, though?”
“Yes,” she said boldly. “I’m not interested in the same thing we did last time. I’m really not.” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation, but it felt like something crucial that needed to happen. “If that’s what we’re doing, I’d rather you just go up to the dog rescue alone.”
She felt sure she’d cry the rest of the day if he went to Ruff Rescue alone, but she’d rather know now than later.
“I don’t want to go to the dog rescue alone.”
“You know what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes.”
“Say it using regular words,” she said.
He chuckled and shook his head, and though she heard a bit of annoyance in the sound, it was mostly happy. He looked away from her and then back into her eyes. “I’m thinking long-term with you too, Sophia. I just don’t know exactly what that looks like, or where it puts me in the end.”
“You don’t have to know exactly,” she said. “I just need to know we’re on the same page.”
“I think we are,” Ames said, taking a step forward and slipping his fingers between hers, oh-so-slowly and so deliberately. His touch brought something to life inside her that laid dormant when he wasn’t around, and she couldn’t ignore that.
She didn’t know exactly what would happen with them either, but she wanted to find out. Her heart might get beaten up and bruised and broken, but if she could spend more time with Ames, the risk was worth the reward.
“We better go,” she said as he took another step toward her. “We’ll be late.”
“I think we’ll be fine,” he said.
“You hate being late.”
“I’ll drive fast,” he said, leaning down.
She giggled, because the man never drove over the speed limit. She reached up as his cowboy hat bumped into her forehead. She slid her hands up the sides of his face, noticing the way his eyes closed in bliss.
She felt powerful in that moment, as she could make this handsome, strong man soften and sigh with her touch. Hers.
It seemed impossible, but the evidence of it was right before her eyes. She ran her thumb over his eyebrow and pushed his cowboy hat off his head so she could kiss him. She had to tip up onto her toes to get to his height, even with his head bowed, and he steadied her with both hands on her waist.
She touched her mouth to his, and Ames’s grip on her body tightened. She slid her fingers around to the back of his neck and enjoyed this slow, sweet kiss. He let her set the pace and dictate the direction of the kiss, and she pulled away when what she really wanted to do was keep kissing him.
“We really will be late,” she said, ducking her head so she didn’t have to look him in the eye.
“Let’s go then,” he said, moving out of her personal space and taking her hand again. Things between them turned light and casual once they climbed in the truck and started down the canyon to Dog Valley.
“You’ve never really said much about your family,” he said. “And mine is a circus you can’t look away from.” He glanced at her, but Sophia kept her gaze out the windshield. How did she start this story?
“It’s complicated,” she said.
“Start with something easy,” he said. “Siblings?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I have two older brothers. Ryan and Keith.”
“Parents?”
“Divorced,” she said, all of the members of her family flashing through her mind like a bad slide show. “My dad was in the military when I was growing up. We moved all over the place, sometimes year after year.” She was aware that her voice had slipped into somewhat of a monotone, and she pushed out her breath in a long exhale. “We’re all spread out now,” she said. “I don’t talk to any of them all that much. It was like once I graduated and my dad retired from the Army, we just…fell apart.”
“I’m sorry,” Ames said.
“It’s been fifteen years,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt.”
He was right, and Sophia knew it. Her throat closed, and it was just as well, because she didn’t know what to say. She’d gotten along the best with her father growing up, but he’d thought she had