One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(42)

When the plane descended onto the DFW runway, her chest tightened and her hands went clammy. Rhett was waiting. He’d said he would be there, and she could trust him with her life. That tingle inside her said that he was already there. Everything was going to work out exactly like it was supposed to because Rhett had come to take her home.





Chapter 13


She turned on her phone as she headed for the baggage claim area and found that she had three missed calls from Rhett. She quickly hit the button to call him, hoping he wasn’t stuck in Dallas traffic.

“Are you on the ground?” he asked.

“I’m in baggage claim.”

“I’ll be sitting on the bench in front of the doors when you come outside,” he said.

“Thank you, Rhett.”

“No thanks necessary. I’m glad you are home.”

As luck would have it, her suitcase was the last one to appear on the conveyor belt. She quickly grabbed it before she had to wait another five minutes for it to roll around again. She stopped a few feet back from the door and scanned the area. There he was, waiting patiently and staring at the doors. Her pulse raced and she forgot to exhale for so long that she got a little dizzy.

He looked up and saw her, waved, and stood up, shaking the legs of his jeans down over his boot tops. Today he was dressed up, wearing his best boots, jeans that had been starched and creased, and a green-and-yellow plaid Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up right above his elbows.

Sex on a stick, Eve’s voice inside her head said with a giggle.

You got that right. Leah smiled.

She pushed her way through the revolving doors, out of the cool air and into the sweltering hot Texas summer heat. Rhett met her, hugged her, and kissed her on the forehead.

“Welcome home to Texas, Leah. Ain’t nothin’ like it at this time of year.” He laced his fingers with hers. “I borrowed Sawyer’s truck. Didn’t think we could manage luggage on the cycle.” He opened the truck door for her and then shoved her suitcase into the backseat.

“I appreciate this, Rhett,” she said and then noticed a bouquet of pink mimosa blooms mixed with greenery and baby’s breath. It happened to be her all-time favorite flower, and one that nobody had ever given her. As a child, she’d told herself that when her true prince came along, she would know he was the one because he would give her a bouquet of mimosas like the ones from the tree below her bedroom window on River Bend.

She picked up the bouquet and slid into the passenger’s seat, not even minding the heat. Rhett hurried around the back of the truck and quickly got inside, turning the air conditioner on high right after he started the engine.

“It’s lovely. How did you know I liked mimosas?” she asked.

“You are a mimosa, Leah. You are delicate, but inside you are wild and free. You are sunshine to everyone around you, and there are many layers to you as a woman, like there are many little petals on the mimosa bloom. I expect it will take a lifetime to see all the layers,” he said.

Her eyes misted. “That’s pretty romantic for a biker cowboy.”

“I was speakin’ from my own heart and tellin’ it the way I see it.” He opened a small cooler, brought out a plastic container with a cupcake inside, and handed it to her. “It’s your welcome-home cake. I had to keep it on ice so it wouldn’t melt.”

She put the bouquet in her lap and took the chocolate cupcake. When she popped the top off, the smell of chocolate filled the cab of the truck.

“I hope I’m right and you aren’t a red rose lady,” he said.

“Mimosas and chocolate cake—my two secret delights. How on earth did you find mimosas at this time of year?” she asked.

“I went into a flower shop and asked for them. The lady said they only used them as fillers for wedding bouquets and she had a few left. Must have been an omen. I’m glad you like them,” he answered. “So the mimosas and chocolates are secrets?”

“Most folks have figured out the chocolate, but no one knows about the mimosas,” she said.

“Then that can be our secret.”

She stuck her finger in the icing and held it out toward him. “You should have the first bite for giving up your fishing to come down here to get me.”

He gripped her wrist, and his mouth closed around her forefinger. His tongue licked away every bit of the icing, and all the air left her lungs. Heat shot through her like she had a full-out drip of pure Tennessee whiskey flowing through her body.

Then he popped her finger from his mouth and returned the favor, scooping up an inch of frosting on his finger and offering it to her. She took a deep breath and grabbed his wrist. His eyes went wide as she cleaned every bit of that chocolate from his finger, working her tongue around to make sure nothing was left behind.

“Sweet Jesus,” he mumbled.

She opened her lips enough to slide his finger out and then kissed his wrist before she let it go. “That is some fine chocolate, and I do know good chocolate.”

“You are not a sweet little angel, Leah Brennan. You might come off as a pampered rose, but, darlin’, you are a wild and free mimosa bloom for sure.”

“I’d say that we match pretty good then, wouldn’t you?”

“I never was accused of being an angel.” He laughed as he backed the truck out of the parking spot.