“I can’t believe the sassy Stevie O’Dell has a soft heart,” Cody teased.
“Believe it…love.” She winked. “I can’t believe you are going to let us eat in your new truck. I wouldn’t let anyone even have a soft drink with a lid on it inside my new right-off-the-lot car when I first got it.”
“The fact that I’m letting you eat in my new truck just goes to show you how special you are to me…love.” He unfastened his seat belt, leaned across the console, and kissed her on the cheek.
Warmth and contentment filled Stevie from the inside out at the touch of his lips on her face. Those two things seemed like two diametrically opposed feelings to her. Sexy heat and peace at the same time. But maybe, just maybe, that was exactly what she had been looking for all this time—stability with a steaming hot cowboy.
* * *
After they had eaten and had a nice slow ride back to the ranch, Cody parked his truck out by the barn and helped Stevie out of the passenger side. “We’ve been neglecting Dixie for the past few days. I thought we’d take a few minutes to check on her.”
“You don’t think she has forgotten me, do you?” Stevie asked.
“She’ll never forget you, darlin’,” Cody answered as he slipped his hand into Stevie’s and led her through the barn and out into the corral.
“What makes you so sure?” Stevie asked.
“Because I’m living proof that it’s impossible to forget you,” Cody whispered, and then kissed her on the cheek.
“That is so sweet.” Stevie’s eyes lit up when she smiled. “And there’s my sweet Dixie.”
The cria came running from the back of the lot over to her, and Stevie stooped to hug the baby around the neck. “What is this? Who put a string around your neck?”
“I did,” Cody admitted. “There’s something on it just for you.”
“What is this key to?” Stevie asked as she removed the string.
“It’s a surprise I’d like to show you,” Cody answered.
“Did you find a house for me to rent?” she asked.
“No, but come with me and I’ll show you what that key opens.” He held out his hand.
She put her hand in his without a question, which made him feel like the luckiest cowboy in the whole state of Texas.
“I love surprises,” she said.
Cody parked in front of the house on the ranch that Sonny had bought from the Hall family when they had moved out to the Texas Panhandle. He had been over to the place when he and Jesse were plowing or moving cattle from one pasture to another, but he’d never really paid much attention to the house itself.
“Is this the old Hall Ranch?” Stevie asked. “I love the wraparound porch. Can we get out and sit on the swing? It’s a beautiful day.”
Cody thought of what his folks had told him about their first date, and smiled at the idea of sitting on a porch swing with Stevie when he asked her to move in with him.
“It was the old Hall Ranch, but it is part of Sunflower Ranch now, and yes, we can sit on the swing.” Cody got out of the truck with plans of helping her, but she slid out on her own and beat him to the porch.
“You are ruining my reputation as a gentleman.” Cody took her hand in his, and they crossed the wide porch and sat down on the swing together. “Looks like this old swing could use a coat of paint. What color do you see it as?”
“Yellow,” she answered without hesitation. “Sunflower yellow, and the house could use a paint job too, and I would make it white instead of gray.”
“Why yellow?” Cody asked.
“Because that’s my favorite color and because it’s part of Sunflower Ranch,” Stevie answered. “Are y’all getting it ready to sell or something?”
Cody was more nervous than he’d ever been on a first date. “Or something…love,” he finally answered.
“Okay, Cody, something is going on. I can tell by the gleam in your eyes, and you’re teasing me with that word again. And I’ve got this key.” She held it up, still on the baling twine. “Does this open the door to this house?” she asked.
“I’ve fallen in love with you over this last month, and I know this is maybe too fast, but would you move in with me?” Cody asked. “And, yes, darlin’, that is the key to this house. I have one just like it, and I want us to live together.”
Stevie’s brows drew down and she frowned. “Cody, we have been living together for weeks.”
“But that was as roommates with a few kissing privileges. I’m asking you to move in with me here, with a real future in mind—in this house. There’s four bedrooms inside. You can have one all to yourself until you are ready…”
Stevie stood up and sat back down, only this time she was in his lap. She pulled his face to hers in a long, passionate kiss. When it ended, she said, “Yes, yes, yes. I’m really in love with you, Cody. That infatuation I had as a teenager has grown into something serious and deep, but if I’m going to live with you, I want all the benefits. I want to share my life with you. My whole life…love.”
He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close enough that he could feel her heart beating against his chest. “Do we have to wait until we move in to start that sharing a bed and being totally intimate?”
“Lord, I hope not!” She whispered, “But could we take a look inside before we make it official?”
“Of course we can.” Cody said. “I don’t want you to be disappointed in the place. Mama says it might need some cosmetic help.”
“I’m pretty good with a paint roller, and besides, as long as we’re together, that’s all that matters.” Stevie stood up and started for the door.
“Don’t I get to carry you across the threshold?” he asked.
“That’s for the next step. Right now, we’re just moving in together.” She opened the door and went inside.
* * *
If a person could float on air, Stevie was doing it on the way back to the bunkhouse. She was moving in, as in really living with, Cody Ryan. They were going to have a house and room to put all the things that she could salvage from her house in town before it was torn down.
I’m going to sleep with him tonight, she thought, and then panic struck. What if I disappoint him? What if he changes his mind? I may not have braces, but I’ll never be a trophy girlfriend.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Cody said as he drove from what would soon be their home back to the bunkhouse. By walking, it would only be a mile, but driving meant going back to the farm road, traveling half a mile to the main road, and then another one to the lane leading up to the ranch house on Sunflower Ranch. “Thinking about what color paint you want to use for the inside of the house?”
“No, I was worrying about whether or not you will be happy with me in the bedroom,” she answered.
“I can always depend on you to be brutally honest, can’t I?” Cody said.
“I can’t change who I am,” she told him.
“And I’m so glad you can’t. That’s just one of the things that I love so much about you, and, honey, you could never disappoint me—not ever.” He turned in to the lane and drove right past the house.