So they took turns using her beach towel to dry off. She dressed more quickly than he did now that she’d decided to dispense with underwear. He got such a kick out of that. She was turning out to be quite a seductive woman.
He figured that their week together had something to do with that. Oh, hell, he had something to do with that. Might as well admit that he’d coaxed her into becoming less inhibited.
And now what, genius? Will you go off and leave her, so that some other yahoo can reap the rewards? Or does that stick in your craw a little bit?
It did. But unless he planned to stay in Shoshone and make things permanent between them, which he didn’t, then he had to live with the fact that she’d bestow her newly discovered sexuality on some other lucky slob. Better not to think about that.
Back in camp, wearing his jeans and boots with his shirt left unbuttoned, he pulled his cell phone out of his saddlebag and turned it on. As he’d feared, the signal was weak. It would be better in town or back at the ranch, but he didn’t want to leave Naomi so he could make a damned phone call.
He turned his phone around to show her the bars, or lack of them. “I can call tomorrow.”
“Or you can ride back.”
“No.” He didn’t like that scenario at all. He’d always been able to slip away from the ranch without attracting any notice, but if he went back to make a phone call, someone would see him, and leaving again would be problematic.
Besides, he wanted Naomi’s moral support, and he couldn’t very well take her back with him. If he had to call tomorrow without her, so be it, but he wasn’t leaving her tonight to make that call, no matter what she said.
She slapped her forehead. “Luke, we should try your phone from the observation platform. That might make all the difference. The signal is stronger for my laptop, so it should be stronger for your phone, too.”
“Sure, okay. We can climb up there. Let me get the cold fried chicken I brought.”
“You brought chicken? Why haven’t I heard about this before?”
“Sorry. I’ve been a little preoccupied.”
“No kidding. I love fried chicken. If I’d known that you brought some, I would have—”
“Wanted that instead of sex? Then I’m glad I didn’t mention it.” He crouched down and pulled the plastic container out of his saddlebag. “Remind me never to make you choose between sex with me and fried chicken.”
She gave him a saucy smile. “Why can’t I have both?”
“Oh, you can. I’m just worried about how you order your priorities. I want to be at the top, but I have a feeling that when it comes to fried chicken, I’m not. And I—oof!” He nearly fell over as she launched herself at him.
“Listen here, my friend.” She wound her arms around his neck. “I don’t know how many times I have to say this before it makes an impression, but sex with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life. Yes, I love fried chicken. And beautiful sunsets and baby eagles and the sound of the wind through the pines. But I would forgo them all for an hour alone with a naked Luke Griffin.”
He couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face if someone had offered him a million dollars to do it. She’d laid it on pretty thick and he wasn’t sure he could believe all of it, but he appreciated the effort more than she’d ever know.
He cleared his throat. “Thank you. I’ll probably still be thinking about that speech when I’m a white-haired old geezer who can’t get it up anymore.”
“You actually think the day will come when you can’t get it up anymore?”
He laughed. “No, I don’t, but that sounded good, didn’t it?”
“It sounded like you’re still fishing for compliments about your awesome package.” She patted his cheeks. “Bring your chicken and your cell phone and your package up to the platform, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Luke followed her down the path to the pine tree that supported her observation platform. He knew she’d been teasing him and acting sexy on purpose to take his mind off the impending conversation, assuming he could make the phone call from her platform.
That was exactly why he’d sought her out once he’d dreamed up this plan. She was the soft landing spot if he should fall and go splat, psychologically speaking. He stood below the ladder and concentrated on the pleasure of watching her climb it. By tilting his head, he could almost see up her shorts. Not quite, but he knew she wasn’t wearing anything underneath and that was enough to fuel his imagination.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted this phone call to go through or not. He had such mixed emotions about it. But at least, whatever happened, Naomi would be there at the end of it. And he could lose himself in her lush body…if she wasn’t too absorbed with eating fried chicken.
NAOMI HAD SENSED all along that Luke’s wandering soul had a soft, vulnerable spot somewhere within it. Maybe she’d been afraid to find out what that was because she already cared too much for the guy. Discovering his secret pain could tear down the walls around her heart completely, and those walls were already displaying stress fractures.
But he’d come to her, like a bird with a broken wing, and asked for help. She could no more deny that than she could toss an injured animal out into the elements. Her creed was to live and let live, but when that life hung in the balance, was she supposed to turn away?
She was no psychologist but even she could figure out that Luke had become a wanderer partly by nature but largely so that he could live the life his father had said he wanted. Maybe he’d hoped to please his father and maybe he’d wanted to compete. It didn’t matter. He’d come to a crossroads, a place where he wanted to invite his father to share in his adventures.
Luke knew his dad’s response to the invitation was important to both father and son. She didn’t have to tell him that. Whether it was important to her was another question.
She could no longer deny that she was getting emotionally involved with this drifter who had wandered under her observation platform one bright, sunny day. She knew how much he’d come to mean in her life. She was less convinced how much she meant to him.
Yes, he needed her now, when he was about to make this difficult phone call to his father. But was she only a temporary crutch to get him through this critical time in his life? Or had they made a deeper connection?
She had no answers. But while he stood at a far corner of the deck and dialed the number for his parents’ home, she laid out their picnic on the red checkered cloth he’d left there after their first meal on this platform. Regardless of how the call went, she would offer him solace.
If that cost her dearly in the long run because she ended up with a broken heart, she’d deal with that. He’d given her so much in this past week that she couldn’t begrudge him whatever he needed. She mentally crossed her fingers and hoped that his father would understand the stakes when he heard Luke’s invitation.
She didn’t eavesdrop, but she knew when he’d made a connection because the low murmur of his voice drifted over to her. Sitting beside the picnic tablecloth, she stayed very still, not wanting to disrupt his concentration in any way. This could be one of the most important conversations he’d ever have with his dad.
After what seemed like an eternity but was probably less than five minutes, Luke walked over and sat cross-legged on the far side of the checkered tablecloth. Glancing over at her, he shrugged. “He says he’ll think about it and get back to me.”
She wanted to scream. Stupid, stupid father! She tried to imagine her own father