“Sage, I’d tell you how that felt and what I feel right now, but I can’t find the words,” he said softly.
She had gone to places she’d never been. She’d hit highs she didn’t even know existed. Her heart and soul were so full that they were about to explode. She understood what he was saying.
“Just hold me, Creed,” she said hoarsely.
He pulled her even closer, nuzzling his face into her neck.
She shut her eyes and snuggled up, her body melting against his.
And the two shall become one.
She’d heard that at weddings but she’d never understood it until that moment. Bittersweet as it was because Creed could still leave her if he decided not to buy the ranch.
Chapter 11
In those moments just before Sage opened her eyes, she smelled coffee and something sweet. Then her bed bounced and she couldn’t hold on to the dream, but she was sure it had to do with Creed Riley. And there he was, holding a tray with toast, scrambled eggs, cookies, and coffee.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Creed said.
“Good morning, cowboy.” Sex had not taken away his deep Texas drawl, and it sounded even hotter than it had when he first barreled his way into the kitchen.
“Hungry?”
She sat up and he quickly propped pillows behind her and set the tray on her lap.
“It looks wonderful. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, ma’am. Did the chores. Milked the cow and cooked breakfast.”
She put a fork full of eggs into her mouth. “Good!”
“Good that I got the chores done or good eggs?”
“Both.”
“Temperature dropped another five degrees. It’s down to thirteen, but I saw the trucks from the electric company making their way down the road this morning. We might get our electricity back soon.”
Not a word about the day before. Nothing about staying in bed and making love until dinnertime and then all the sexual innuendos that went on while they made sugar cookies in the afternoon.
“Should we talk about it?” she asked.
“Nothing to talk about. Either we get electricity or we don’t. We’ve managed to live without it a week now. Would be nice to have lights and if it’s not on tomorrow, I’m definitely going to have underwear and socks hanging all over the living room.”
“I’m talking about sex, not electricity,” she said.
“Oh, nothing to talk about there either. It was out-of-this-world fantastic.”
“Creed, I don’t do this kind of thing. I don’t jump into bed with a man I’ve only known a week. I’m not that kind of person.”
“I know,” he said softly, “and we were supposed to be slowing the wagon down, weren’t we?”
Did that mean he was sorry they’d gone over the barbed wire fence into territory they had no business exploring?
“Yes, we were, and hell’s bells, this is supposed to be awkward.”
He grinned. “But it’s not, is it?”
“No, it feels right.”
“I thought so too.”
She reached out and touched his cheek. “Now that we got that out of the way, what’s on the agenda for today?”
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “First of all, you have breakfast and then we’re going out for a drive in the big tractor to see how things are on the rest of the ranch. Bundle up good or you’ll freeze your cute little butt off.”
“Heater only works part of the time,” she said.
“Then put on two pair of socks.”
* * *
Creed picked up a sugar cookie and nibbled on it while Sage finished her breakfast. She’d said that the powdered sugar in the recipe was what made it melt in his mouth. He didn’t agree. It was her hands in the dough that made it so special.
When she’d finished with her breakfast, he dropped a kiss on her forehead and headed out of the room, tray in hand.
“I’ll brush my teeth and get dressed. I’ll be there in five minutes,” she said.
“I want to check the pastures to see when we can turn the cattle out of that feedlot. They’re getting bitchy.”
She laughed. “Most of them are cows and they’ve been cooped up for a week. They’ve got reason to be bitchy.”
“You aren’t.”
“You callin’ me a heifer?” she teased.
He turned at the doorway. “No, ma’am. This cowboy wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like that. I’m saying that you’re female, the prettiest kind of female, and that you’ve been a real trouper during all this. I didn’t hear you whining about your curling iron or hair dryer not working. You barely even mentioned not having a washing machine.”
“Well, then, thank you, Mr. Riley. Now if you’ll move, I’ll get ready to go straighten out those bitchy cows.”
He took a step out into the hall and watched her all the way to the bathroom. She looked adorable in his red and black plaid flannel shirt hanging halfway to her knees.
* * *
Sage spent an extra few minutes brushing her hair and gathering it into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She liked it higher up on her head, but that got in the way of her knit hat. If it was only thirteen degrees she’d need something to warm her ears. If she hadn’t put the skids on the wagon, she could have depended on Creed to heat her up. Of course, sitting beside him in the narrow confines of a tractor cab could do the trick without him doing a blessed thing except being the sexy cowboy he was by nature.
She pulled on her last clean pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and then started to unbutton his shirt.
“No,” she said aloud.
She pulled the shirt up over her head, dug around in her drawer for a bra and a thermal knit undershirt, and put them both on. Then she put his shirt back on over that. It was soft. It smelled like him and she liked that.
When she reached the living room, she drew a rocking chair up to the basket of squirming kittens and picked up the yellow one. “Good morning, Rudy.”
“You better name the other two or they’ll feel left out,”
