The ranch used to be like a second home to her. She’d often eaten meals with Dare and his family, their staff, and their clients, had attended every event, and had spent holidays bouncing between houses with Dare and Eddie. But after Eddie’s accident, she’d stayed away for two full years, until her father had talked her into attending the events the Whiskeys hosted, because That family loves you, and we don’t turn our backs on love.
Only she had turned her back on love. More than once.
She sat up straighter as they drove beneath the wooden beam with an iron RR across the top—the first R was backward. “What are we doing here?”
“I want to show you something at my place.”
She hadn’t been to Dare’s cabin since before Eddie died. He’d always had his eye on the cozy three-bedroom cabin that was tucked away from the others, near the climbing area his father had built. It had an enormous pasture out back where they used to run around. But every time he’d asked his father if he could live there when he was older, Tiny had said he was afraid to put Dare where he couldn’t see him.
“If you think I’m touching your corn dog, you’ve got another thing coming.”
He grinned. “I’ve got you in my truck for the first time in years. I’m already counting myself lucky.”
The sweet comment caught her off guard, chipping away at her resolve to try to reinstate a modicum of space between them. He winked, and she looked out the window as they drove by the pastures and corrals they’d grown up racing around and hiding in and the barn where she’d taken her first kiss.
She remembered that moment like it was yesterday. They were six years old, and Eddie had just gone home. She and Dare were crouched in a horse stall hiding from Doc and Cowboy, who were looking for her because her mother had come to pick her up. Dare had been whispering incessantly and wouldn’t stop, so she kissed him to shut him up. He’d looked at her like she’d lost her mind and snapped, What was that? She’d said, A kiss, stupid. He’d scowled and said, No duh. Why’d you kiss me? To which she’d responded, I felt like it. He’d asked her if she’d kissed Eddie, and she’d said, No. I kissed you, dummy. He’d wiped his mouth with his forearm and said, Well, don’t do it again. She had never liked to be told what to do, so she’d kissed him again, thrown her hands up like claws, and shouted, I’m the kissing monster! He’d sprinted out of the barn, and she’d chased him. Doc and Cowboy were on their heels all the way up to the main house. She warmed with the memory.
“You look hot in my hat.”
She glanced over, catching a coy grin that made her stomach flutter. This open attraction he was sending her way was new. He’d held her hand and put his arm around her, but he’d never acted so openly attracted to her. She liked it. Too much. I will not flirt with or touch Dare. She repeated it like a mantra, wondering how she’d gone from staying away from him to needing to remind herself not to touch him.
He drove through the property, passing the other cabins, porch lights glowing in the darkness, and his parents’ cedar-sided home set up on a hill. He wound down the gravel road they’d walked hundreds of times as kids to get to the climbing course. A sense of nostalgia tugged at her. She could still hear the three of them running on the gravel, making plans for their next big stunt. She felt a stab of longing for those carefree times, when life was easy and Eddie was still alive.
The headlights illuminated a massive four-bay garage in the distance, with two ATVs parked out front. “Wow, that’s new. Whose is that?”
“Mine.”
“I heard you were still tinkering with classic cars, but you could fit an entire showroom in there.” He’d always had a love for the classics. His grandfather had left him his 1958 Ford F100 truck, and as a teenager Dare had saved the money he’d earned from working on the ranch and had bought an old Chevelle, the site of their tipsy teenage tryst. She’d been surprised when he’d gone from driving his grandfather’s truck to the newer one they were sitting in, which he’d bought a few years ago. She’d wondered if his grandfather’s truck had finally died, which would make her sad for him, because he’d cherished it. But part of keeping her distance was not allowing herself to ask others about Dare or what he was up to.
The rustic log cabin came into view on the far side of the garage. The porch light cast a golden halo over the deep front porch, which was only a few inches off the ground and had never had railings. She loved that he hadn’t added them and imagined him sitting on one of the two wooden chairs sipping a beer or his morning coffee. But Dare wasn’t the kind of guy who sat around sipping anything, and she quickly nixed that image.
As he parked in front of the cabin, she noticed the stone chimney hadn’t changed. She used to tuck flowers between the stones only to have Dare tear them out and say they were stupid. When they were young, people had come and gone from all the cabins on the ranch as they’d bettered themselves. When Eddie died, she’d wished she’d had a place far away where she could go to heal. But even if she had, her heart had been staked to the man beside her, and she knew she wouldn’t have left Hope Valley. She might not have been able to be close to him, but she liked knowing he was nearby.
“How’d you convince your dad to let you live here?”
“I guess he realized I was more trouble than I was worth, and it was easier to put me out of sight.”
She pushed open her door. “I could have told him that.”
Dare lunged across the seat, but she jumped out of the truck before he could grab her. She spun around, laughing and pushing his hat back on her head as he climbed out, a wolfish grin playing on his lips. “You’re slowing down in your old age, Whiskey.”
“Hardly. Be nice and I’ll show you my toys.” He winked.
She stood stock-still, her pulse racing.
“They’re not quite as fun as yours, but I think you’ll like them.” He headed for the garage.
She hurried to catch up and swatted him, but she’d missed his sense of humor and was enjoying every second of it. “I can’t believe you tore down the cute workshop that used to be here. I loved that place.”
“I know you did. I didn’t tear it down. It’s around back.”
He opened one of the bays, and when he turned on the lights, her breath caught at the sight of shiny classic cars, motorcycles, and trucks and an array of old weathered vehicles.
“Wow. You’ve been doing a heck of a lot more than tinkering. When do you have time to work on these? Other than finding new ways to risk your life, I thought you spent your downtime getting into the bed of any willing woman in town.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is that what you think of me?”
She shrugged, not wanting to think about it, much less talk about it.
“You wouldn’t be altogether wrong, but I’m not a man whore. You know how much I always wanted to do this shit. When I was getting my master’s, I needed something to keep me busy and out of trouble, so I started with the two that had the most sentimental value.”
He pointed across the garage at what she realized was his grandfather’s fully restored two-tone blue-and-white truck.
“You finally did it!” She walked over, admiring how gorgeous it was. She reached for the door handle. “May I?”