was alive in them.
“I figured you probably forgot to hydrate.” She handed him the water bottle.
He set the sledgehammer down and guzzled the entire bottle. “My brain’s been on overdrive today.”
“Your brain never thinks of you until everyone else is taken care of.”
“You think you know me,” he said, parroting her words with a playful glimmer in his eyes.
She was glad to see and hear his levity. “I know I love you. Does that count?”
“More than you could know.” He kissed her again. “Thanks for bringing the drink and towel.”
“I keep them in my truck just in case the urge to come here or jump in the lake hits me.”
He looked doubtful. “When’s the last time you jumped in the lake?”
“I can’t tell you all of my secrets,” she said coyly. “There’ll be no mystery left between us.”
“You’ll never stop being a mystery to me.”
“Let’s hope not, but how about we take away a little of your mystery? Do you want to talk about what happened with your mom and Delaney? Or would you rather go back to hitting the wall? I’m cool with either.”
He pulled her against his sweaty chest, and she wrinkled her nose. “You’re a little ripe.”
“And you smell like my favorite girl who worked hard all day, but you don’t see me complaining.”
She turned her face and sniffed her shoulder. “I smell like my mother’s lavender lotion.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” he teased. “And I’m onto you with that love-potion lotion of your mother’s adding another level of irresistibility to my girl. Just an FYI, I like you sweaty.” He kissed her neck. “And I’d like to get you even sweatier.”
“I’m good with that.” She pressed a kiss to his chest and said, “But I’m also onto your avoidance technique.”
“I learned that trick from a very beautiful, extremely wise woman.”
“She must be an excellent teacher.”
“Wait until you see what she taught me to do in the shower.” He lowered his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.
Now she knew what Harley had felt like when she’d been closed off to him. She wanted him to let her in, but she knew she was the last person who should push anyone to talk about their feelings. At the same time, she was too worried about him not to ask. “Just tell me this. Did they see Marshall?”
“No, but they want to. I feel guilty for sending him away, but if I hadn’t, I would have hit him. That would have been worse.”
“Maybe, or maybe he needs to duke it out, too.”
“That is not the kind of advice my mother would give me,” he said.
“Mine either. My father told me that about him and his brother. They fought for years, and when they were trying to clear the air, he said they just went at each other. No words were spoken, but fists flew until they were both worn out.”
“Your father? Clean-cut Dan Dalton got into a fistfight?”
“My dad’s badass. How do you think I ended up this way?” She felt his tension easing and said, “What do you want to do about Marshall?”
He shrugged. “No idea, and he probably left town anyway.”
“If he did, then he wasn’t ready to come back. You two have a lot of bad blood and resentment between you. Maybe he just needs time.”
His eyes narrowed skeptically.
“I get it. He’s had years already, but you know what I mean. Thinking about seeing the people you’ve hurt and actually looking into their eyes is different. As you found out last night, suddenly all that crap you guys told yourselves that you’d do if you ever saw each other again rises to the surface.”
She took his hand and said, “Why don’t we put away the sledgehammer and go home and get cleaned up?”
He put the towel over his shoulder and picked up the sledgehammer, resting it on the towel as they walked through the long grass to the barn. After they put away the tool, they headed to their trucks.
“Why was the barn unlocked when I got here?” he asked.
“The lock fairies must have come out early in the morning. They’re smart like that.”
He squeezed her hand, and when his loving eyes met hers, she knew her resilient man was going to be okay.
“Want to get subs or a pizza for dinner later?”
He waggled his brows and said, “Definitely. I’ve got a twelve-inch meat lover’s for you.”
“I have a tape measure, remember?”
“Come on, Trig. You know those things aren’t accurate.”
She laughed. “I don’t care if you’re eight