I bounced and bumbled, giggling as I crawled forward. “I wanna go faster!” I shouted at him.
“What?”
“I said, I wanna go faster!”
“No.”
“You are the poopiest of party poopers.”
“Huh?”
“I said—”
Jake hopped onto the step and grabbed the handle on the frame of the roof. “You call me a pooper?”
I shrugged dramatically, my eyes on the pasture in front of me. “Call ’em like I see ’em.”
This time, I heard his laugh. It was the best sound in the whole world.
“Take it to second.”
My face shot open. “Really?”
“Really. Eyes on the road, ma’am.”
I was giggling again, and I threw it into second, which was fast enough to almost go ten whole miles an hour. “Where do you want me to go?”
He leaned in and pointed to the winding line of trees on the other side of the pasture. A creek split the trees, one of the water sources for the cattle.
I turned us in that direction, bobbing my head as I yelled, “They see me rollin’—they hatin’.” When I earned a chuckle, I said, “Mooooo, bitch—get out the hay.”
I got a full-blown belly laugh for that one.
He reached around me, and I shifted so he could slide beneath me.
“I’ll take you for a real ride,” he said in my ear, shifting the levers as I settled into his lap. “Hang on.”
A lurch, then a second, and we were flying over a stretch of green grass. Well, as fast as we could go in a tractor, at least.
I’d only just finished laughing when we reached the trees, my hand on the top of my sun hat so it wouldn’t fly away.
I sighed when he cut the engine. The silence was loud, my ears ringing and my body still vibrating.
“What are we doing here?” I asked. “Am I yelling?”
“A little,” he sorta yelled back, patting my butt in his lap. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
I climbed out of the forest-green tractor carefully, but Jake had all the grace of a jungle cat as he exited with a slide and a leap. He reached for my hand, smirking at me.
“What in the world did you do?” I said on a laugh, hanging on to my hat again as he towed me toward the creek.
“Really, Kit did most of it,” he answered, sweeping boughs out of the way to reveal a picnic basket on a plaid blanket.
I gasped like a big, squishy mush and ducked in.
He’d found the perfect little patch of grass next to the bubbling creek, and by the look on his face, he knew just how perfect it was. I wondered how long he’d looked for this spot, and my heart melted like a candle.
I whirled around and stretched up on my toes, angling for a kiss. “I love it.”
“Good,” he said and pressed his lips to mine.
And then I was off, hopping on one foot so I could pull off a rain boot, then the other. They didn’t even match my sundress, but he’d told me I couldn’t wear sandals, so I’d opted for the rain boots as a joke.
He chuckled behind me and knelt on the blanket to start unpacking our food, and I tiptoed into the frigid water, relishing the feel of the smooth stones pressing the soft arches of my feet. I kicked the stream, watching beads of water fly into the air.
Looking down, I stepped on one of the bigger rocks, then another, using them as a bridge to the other side. When I looked up, he was watching me with that look on his face he’d given me so many times lately.
Smiling, I hopped back toward him and sat next to him.
“Ooh, is that Havarti?”
He turned the wedge of cheese over in his hand to look at the label. “Guess so.”
I sighed. “I miss Havarti.”
He hissed a swear and threw the cheese back in the basket. “How’d I forget that? Once upon a time, that was one of my favorite things to tease you about. Stupid Pinterest.”
I tried to stifle a smile. “You went on Pinterest?”
“Don’t make it worse. It said charcuterie, which I told Kit. There’s meat and grapes and crackers in there too. It also said wine, but I figured whiskey was more our speed.” He reached into the basket, and in his hands were two crystal glasses. A bottle of whiskey followed.
“You did good.” I leaned in and kissed his neck as he continued to unpack. “How’d it go today? I’m sorry I was too busy to come with you. I’d rather have been in the barn than stuck inside on my computer.”
“Went fine. We have a handful of heifers sick in one of the herds, but Miguel doesn’t seem worried about it. The fire marshal came by with an update on the investigation.”
I stilled, cracker in my hand. “Did they find out who did it?”
“No—the update was that there was no update.”
My shoulders slumped. “I just can’t help thinking it was a farmhand smoking after banging his lady friend or a Wiccan ritual or a psychic doing a seance or something.”
“A seance?”
I shrugged and popped the cracker into my mouth, saying around it, “Anything’s possible, Jake.”
“A seance with gasoline?”
“Probably not,” I admitted. “I should ask Chase.”
He gave me a look. “No, you shouldn’t.”
“You are such a stick in the mud.”
“And a pooper too, apparently.”
“Every party’s gotta have one.”
“Do you think if Chase was somehow involved that he’d tell you?”
My nose wrinkled. “Probably not. But maybe if I don’t flat-out ask him, he’ll give me a hint. It couldn’t have actually been him. He was at the diner when it happened.”
“Which isn’t at all suspicious.” He handed me a glass with a finger of golden whiskey in it.
“You’re suspicious of everyone.”
“Which is why nobody can get to me.”
“I got to you.”
There it was, that little flicker of his lips that only happened these days when he didn’t want to smile.
“Well, you’re special.”
“Thank you,” I said primly, straightening my dress over my thighs.
He raised his glass, touched it to mine. We took a sip.
“So,” I started, “is there an occasion we’re celebrating? Or did you just want to tease me with forbidden dairy?”
“No occasion. I knew we’d be out here with the tractor, and I thought you’d like a picnic.”
“Enough to Pinterest it.” I pressed a hand to my heart.
But he laughed. “You’re the worst.”
“You’re the worst.”
“You’re welcome for teaching you how to drive the tractor, by the way.”
“You let me drive for like four seconds before you took over. I mean, it tracks, but still.” I took a sip and reached for another cracker. “Think next time I can get to third?”
“Ooh, I like it when you say it like that. Sounds dirty.”
I set my whiskey down on the cheese board and crawled toward him, saying in a fake sexy voice, “Want me to grind your gear shaft?”
He leaned back a little, his legs stretched out in front of him, that smirk on his face. “I really do.”