Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(75)

But she shook her head and pointed to the other chair. “We’ve got to talk.”

He dropped his hand. “Uh-oh. Nothing good has ever come from those four words.”

“I don’t know. That will be up to you when we get finished. I figured you’d be really mad at me for not returning your calls and texts.” She twisted around until she was sitting in the chair with her feet on the floor. “If this is more than casual sex, then you should be storming around in anger, demanding where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.”

He combed back his damp hair with his fingers. “Is this where you’re going to tell me exactly why you didn’t come home last night?”

Fiona shrugged. “Are you mad at me?”

Jud shrugged.

“So you don’t even care? Were you just leading me on by saying this is more than sex? You aren’t even angry. God bless, Jud! Dora June was right after all and I never thought I’d say those words, not to you.”

Jud’s eyes narrowed. “Right about what?”

“That all along you just tell women what they want to hear so you can get them into bed with you.”

Jud’s jaw worked in anger. When he finally spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “Jesus, woman, I was ready to call out half the country and all the Dawsons to go looking for you.”

“Just how many Dawsons is that?” she asked.

“A hell of a lot.” He took a breath and settled down, his expression softening. He scooted his chair over and took her hand in his. “Now are you going to tell me what happened to make you run and where you were all night?”

“Is this our first fight?” she asked.

“No, this is a bump in the road. A fight will include some of that storming around you talked about.” He scooted his chair closer to hers, picked up her hand, and held it on the arm of his chair.

There was comfort in the touch of his hand but he still had a worried expression on his face. She opened her mouth and told the story, all of it, not leaving out anything from start to finish. With more detail than she’d told her sisters and Dora June, she told him every emotion she’d felt through the whole experience.

“I’m not sure what tomorrow holds but I’m not in a hurry to leave Dry Creek.” She squeezed his fingers. “My heart and my mind are at peace with each other and I’m not making five-or even one-year plans anymore. That gets in the way of living, and I’m enjoying the life I’ve got right here at home.” She hesitated. Maybe she’d already said enough but she couldn’t stop. “Call it a Christmas miracle or karma or fate kicking me in the butt, but I’m happy and I’m not throwing that away just to prove that I can make a plan work.”

“And us?” he asked as he squeezed her hand ever so tenderly.

“Is there an us? Or just booty calls?”

“I’d like for there to be an us,” he said.

“Then”—she paused, trying to find the words—“we should slow down.”

“What does that mean?” he asked. “Are you saying date without sex?”

She nodded slowly. “I want to know if what I missed was Jud these past two nights or the hot sex.”

“That’s fair enough.”

“So now you talk. And I mean seriously,” she said.

“I want there to be an us, Fiona. I want to see where this goes. Knowing that you’re happy here and not planning on leaving anytime soon makes me more than just happy. I’m a man and we don’t express feelings too well. Living with Truman should teach you that.” He paused.

The silence was deafening for a few seconds. Then he went on. “I’m glad you are home and that you found peace in your heart. I’m having trouble here, but…”

She removed her hand from his, cupped his cheeks in her palms, and kissed him. A brand-new feeling joined desire and heat, one that held the promise of a future in the kiss. “I can feel what you feel and that’s enough for now.”

“I’ll gladly move back into the trailer if you want to announce it to the world right now because I sure want to crawl up on the rooftop and tell everyone,” he offered.

She shook her head. “Let’s keep it under wraps until Dora June and Truman move out. But I do intend to tell Mama about what happened.”

“Then that means I can tell my sister?”

“Of course. Now tell me how in the hell you got Truman to go to the Lucky Penny and to go to dinner at Nadine’s today with Blake and Toby.” She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.

As Jud embellished the story with facial expressions that were so like Truman’s, her laughter seemed to make him give her even more details about the whole day. By the time he wound down the story, her sides ached and she had the hiccups.

“How about a beer to cure those hiccups?” he asked.

“We’ve still got beer in the cooler? I thought it was all gone. Some boyfriend you are,” she said.

“Those are all gone. But Deke brought them to the poker game and Truman said that if Dora June found out and he got into trouble, then he would never play with us again, so I snuck the last two up here in a plastic bag of ice. They’re in my room. Shall we have one before we head off to bed?”

A loud hiccup and a nod sent him toward the bathroom. He returned with two icy cold beers, the caps off both, and handed one to her. She tilted it back and let the cold liquid slide down her throat. Lord, that tasted good and it was an instant cure of the hiccups.