“You don’t have to do this now, Blake.”
“Yeah, I do. Since selling the ranch I’ve felt…displaced. I didn’t know where I was going. Or what I was doing. Or if what I’d done for the last fifteen years of my life was pointless in preparing me for what comes next.” He smiled tentatively. “Then I met you. I was totally unprepared for you, sunshine.”
Willow didn’t say a word.
“These last four days have been amazing.”
“For me too.”
“You know I’ve gotta ask…why? I know why they were unforgettable for me, but why for you? Especially when yesterday afternoon you accused me of lying to you.”
“I was mad. But I shouldn’t have said that… I…I’m sorry.”
“Was what happened between us amazing for you only because the sex is so incredible?”
“I’ll admit that’s part of it. I’ve never…clicked with anyone the way I have with you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I liked working with you in the bar. I liked talking to you. You make me laugh. You make me feel like I am a sexy beauty queen. You make me hot.” She smiled. “You make me dinner.”
Blake laughed softly.
“You make me feel all those things plus a whole lot more. After I took off and calmed down, I realized I didn’t want…”
His hopes sank. “Didn’t want what? Me?”
“No!” Willow inhaled a deep breath. “I didn’t want you to leave. I want more than four days to get to know everything about you, Blake West.”
“Thank God.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Does that mean you’re okay with me sticking around Broward and tending bar part-time at Dave’s until I figure some things out?”
Her shocked expression was priceless. “Really?”
“Yeah. Think maybe you could help me find a place around here to rent?”
“You could live with me.”
Blake shook his head. “I appreciate the offer. But I wanna do this right, Will. What’s started between us is too important to screw up. Seems I’ve been waiting for a woman like you my whole life.”
“You’d better define woman like you,” she teased.
“A perfectly sweet, perfectly hot, perfectly nice woman.” He touched the curve of her jaw. “I’m crazy about you.”
“I’m pretty crazy about you too.”
The moment floated between as sweetly as a promise.
“So what do we do now?”
“Think your crew could do without you for a couple days? I need to go back to Sundance and get my dog and books and stuff. And I’d like to introduce you to my folks on the way back here.”
“You sure you want me to come?” Willow smoothed the hair from his forehead. “Won’t you be sad to leave your family and home in Wyoming?”
“But that’s the thing. I feel like I’m finally coming home.”
“You and that sweet talkin’. I could get used to it.”
“I sure hope so, sunshine.”
“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you… Why do you call me sunshine?” Her brow wrinkled. “I’m not blonde. Or even golden skinned.”
He grinned at her. “And your disposition isn’t particularly sunny when you have a hangover either, which was why it was tongue in cheek when I first started calling you that. But now…”
“But now what?”
“Now, I call you sunshine because you light up my world.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I could definitely get used to having you around, Blake West.”
“I have a feeling it’s gonna be one long, hot summer.”