“Did you always live here?”
“Worked out of Cheyenne for ten years, but like you, I had enough of the rat race. I moved back here, built this place.”
He didn’t say doing what, and I didn’t push. I took a sip of wine. I’d never heard of it, but it was just how I liked my wine: dark ruby red and heavy tannins. I took a second to let the flavor play over my tongue before I asked, “How did you become sheriff?”
“My predecessor wasn’t much of one. Someone needed to fill in.”
I was sure there was more to it, but again, I didn’t press. The next words were out before I realized I intended to say them. “You seem to fill in where needed, but if you could do anything what would it be?” The reminder of a similar conversation with Brock had me looking into my glass. The wave of melancholy took me by surprise. When the silence dragged on, I glanced up to find he was studying me.
That was his way of making sure I was okay. He didn’t need to speak the words, when a look could just as easily convey his thoughts. The more I got to know him, the more I liked him. I smiled. He continued prepping the steaks.
“Take on the occasional carpentry project and the rest of the time, chilling and riding.”
Remembering the sight of him on horseback had me taking a long sip from my wine. “How many horses do you have?”
“Two, Cisco and Lady. You ride?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to learn.”
“We’ve time. You wanna go see them?”
I loved that he loved animals as much as I did. “Yes.”
He grabbed his beer, and I took my glass. We walked back outside and down the steps of the deck. Cooper and Max took off, but we were heading to the gray barn. “How far does your land go?”
“I’m on a hundred acres.”
“Holy shit.”
“There had been whispering of putting in a development. I didn’t want neighbors, so I bought the land.”
“I would have too. How do you monitor your land? Aren’t you concerned about squatters?” I hadn’t been before but, knowing someone had been on my land, it got me thinking about how I would know if someone setup a trailer on it. Unless I walked the entire twenty acres weekly, I would be none the wiser.
“Cameras. Have a monitoring station behind the kitchen.”
“Have the cameras, need to figure out the monitoring.”
He stopped walking. “What do you mean you have the cameras?”
“After you told me about my visitor, I put cameras up, but I didn’t know how to link them to a monitor.”
“Where?”
“On the spot you found, on Sassafras Road, the far back of my property.”
“Who installed them?”
“Me.” I took a sip of wine before I shared, “I do have some surveillance experience. Of course, I was eleven at the time but still.”
“Tomorrow, you’re going to walk me through where you put the cameras. We’ll hook them up to monitors.”
He wasn’t asking, but then, this was him taking care of me. Some might get annoyed with his methods, but not me. “Okay.”
A softening around his eyes was his only reply. Yeah, I was getting good at reading Killian Reid.
He pulled open the barn door, hit the lights and two heads popped out of their stalls.
Cisco looked bigger in his stall than he had that day they’d come to my house. And Lady was every bit as beautiful as him. “They’re beautiful.”
Cooper and Max came running in, and watching the dynamic of the dogs with the horses… “They like each other.”
“Yeah. They’re family.”
I wasn’t sure why those words hit me as hard as they did. So simple a concept but one I’d been without for a long time. He was learning me, too, because he moved in, right in front of me, those blue eyes darkening. He didn’t touch me, except for a light brush of his thumb on my cheek. “You’re carpe fucking dieming, yeah?”
At first, I didn’t move because I liked him in my personal space, then his scent filled my nose, and I was hungry, but not for steak. Then his words registered, and I chuckled. Never heard it put that way, but he was right. “Yeah.”
“Maybe tomorrow after we deal with the cameras, I’ll put you on Lady.”
My focus shifted behind him to the beautiful mare. “Really?” I wondered why we didn’t try tonight, but figured it was my dress.
He knew what I was thinking when he said, “After dinner we’re going somewhere.”
My focus snapped back to him. “We are. Where?”
“You’ll see.” He reached for my hand, called his dogs. “But first, we eat.”
Chapter Eighteen
killian
He liked her in his house; she brought a light. They were in the kitchen. Cedar was making the salad. A stray curl brushed against her shoulder. He wanted to taste her there.
“Where did you get these vegetables? Is there a farmer’s market somewhere?”
He didn’t answer until she glanced his way. “Mom’s garden.”
It was because she was looking his way that he saw the sadness again, subtle, but it dimmed those green eyes.
She got back to chopping the vegetables. Her voice was soft when she shared, “My mom had a garden, mostly flowers. She owned a florist in town. We used to work in it together. I always thought I’d have a big garden one day. Flowers and vegetables, fruit bushes and trees. I was going to get a place not far from theirs, and Mom and I could work both gardens.” She stopped chopping. “Hmm, I let myself forget that too.”
“And your dad?”
“He was an insurance broker. He liked it, though, because his neighbors were his clients.” She looked over and smiled. “Do your parents live close?”
“Yeah, on the other side of town.”
“Nice.” She glanced down at the salad. “This is done.”
“You want more wine?”
“Please.”
He topped off her glass. “I’m going to get the steaks.”
“Okay.”
He returned, but she wasn’t in the kitchen. He tented the steaks, took out the potatoes and went in search of her. She was in the hall, looking at the pictures his mom had given him, ones of the three of them through the years.