Page 23 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

B oston wanted to stay in this moment for the rest of his life—right here on the mountain, with the eagle habitat only a stone’s throw away, Cora in his arms, and the taste of her lips in his mouth.

He kissed her for far too long, but she didn’t seem to mind, and she never pulled away.

When he finally got control of his hormones, he pulled back, half embarrassed that he’d let himself carry on for so long. “Sorry about that,” he murmured.

“Sorry about what?” Cora asked.

Boston didn’t answer but instead tucked Cora against his chest and looked out into the tall trees as the sun continued to rise. He lifted his left arm and pointed.

“You see that real tall tree right over there? It’s about maybe one hundred yards away?”

Cora nodded against his chest.

“It’s a Jeffrey Pine,” he said. “That’s where the eagle’s nest is. We’re looking at the back of it.”

“Okay,” Cora said. “I’m not sure I see it.”

“It’s about six feet deep,” he said. “All the twigs and branches up at the top, they kind of look like they’re falling down? And then there’s that green piney overhang at the top.”

“Oh, yeah,” Cora said, recognition lighting her voice. “I see it now.”

“They sometimes fly into the nest from the back,” he said. “But not as often as the front, so we might not see them.”

He fell quiet, glad when Cora did the same. Boston loved holding still and watching nature move around him as the silence infused his soul.

Time passed and the sky lightened, and then right before his eyes, a beautiful golden eagle landed on a branch about halfway up a tree only fifty yards in front of him. He pulled in a breath at the same time Cora said, “Holy cow, Boston.”

So she saw it too.

The bird fluffed its feathers and then preened before settling into a sit and observing, its head jerking to the right and then the left.

“That’s a golden eagle,” Boston whispered. “Looks to be a mature one too—an adult. They don’t get as big as the bald eagles, and of course, their head and tail feathers don’t turn white.”

But Boston found them just as majestic and beautiful as their cousins. Hawks and other birds moved around. The bald eagles did not call again, but Boston kept his eyes on the nest every so often.

He estimated they’d been sitting there about an hour when he saw a swoop with a flash of white, and then the nest in the tall Jeffrey Pine wobbled a little bit.

“I think there’s an adult in the nest,” he said.

Cora didn’t respond, and Boston watched and watched some more. Then, as if God wanted to make sure that this day would be the absolute best one of Boston’s life, the adult bald eagle hopped up onto a higher branch right at the back of the nest.

Boston and Cora both gasped this time, and he couldn’t believe the show this eagle was putting on. He looked left and right, lifted one leg, and preened down the front of his body.

“How do you know if it’s a male or a female?” Cora asked.

“The females are way bigger than the males,” Boston said. “But I can’t tell from here. They’ve definitely got a juvenile in the nest, though, and I think that adult just brought breakfast.”

Boston’s stomach rumbled at the thought of eating, and he stayed right where he was for another few minutes, until the bald eagle flapped off the back of the nest, dropped at least thirty feet, and then soared to the left and out of sight.

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Cora said.

Boston chuckled as he got to his feet. “They’re pretty incredible.”

“Are we going in?” Cora asked, surprise etched in her expression as she looked up at him.

“You can stay out here,” he said. “The cabin is literally right there.” He pointed to the right. “I’m going to go start breakfast, and I can bring it out to you when it’s done.”

She nodded, and Boston returned to the cabin to brew coffee and make ham, cheese, and egg breakfast sandwiches out of bagels.

As he worked, his dream of owning his own place—with land and a house that had a real kitchen and a full bedroom—continued to grow and flourish.

He’d told Cora about it, and now it seemed to be the only thing he could think of.

Especially now that you’ve kissed her, he said to himself, a wide smile covering his face. He’d certainly spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about that , and he hurried through the breakfast preparation so that he could return to the gorgeous woman he was falling for.

“It just feels like we got there a lot faster than it’s taking us to get back,” Cora said, a note of complaint in her voice.

“That’s because you have to go back to your regular life when we get back,” he said. “Before, you were excited to see the cabin and the eagles.”

And wow, they’d had a lot of eagle encounters in the last couple of days.

This morning, the nesting pair had chatted back and forth several times, and Boston had remembered to bring out his binoculars.

He’d been able to see the adult eagle when he’d arrived with a fat, juicy fish clasped in its talons.

“It’s only another mile,” he said to Cora, though she’d been going slower and slower since they’d stopped for lunch.

Boston didn’t particularly want to go back to his regular life at Silver Sage and in Coral Canyon either, but he had church tomorrow, and cousin night on Monday, and plenty of other amazing things in his life.

The eagles and being out alone in the wilderness always reset him to a place of goodness, to the center of his soul.

He’d worried that might not be the case if he had Cora with him, but the trip had done the same thing as it always had.

Only fifteen minutes later, they stepped onto the improved grounds at Silver Sage, though they’d never really left the property.

“Here you are, Cora-Cat,” he said, delivering her right back to her front door. He opened it and put her pack inside, then drew her into his arms. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Maybe next time we can take the horses,” she said.

Boston chuckled. “Why are you so tired? You seem to sleep fine at night.”

“You get me up early, cowboy,” she said, “And you toss and turn like a madman.”

Boston chuckled, this romantic warmth moving through him absolutely blissful.

She wore a grumpy expression, but Boston leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “Well, I really enjoyed it,” he said.

“If that’s your definition of a goodbye kiss,” Cora said. “You better think again.”

Boston blinked at her. “We’re standing on your porch.”

“Yeah, and it’s the middle of the afternoon,” she said. “Kat and Momma will both be down for their naps, and Jeremy will be over in the administration lodge. So kiss me goodbye properly, because I’m not going to see you again until tomorrow.”

Boston liked this sassier, bossier side of her, but he tilted his head to the side, trying to see inside her mind. “We’re not going to dinner tonight?”

“I’m going to go take a nap,” Cora said.

“But if you sleep through dinner, then you won’t be tired for bed.”

She sighed like he was the most exasperating man in the world. “Fine. I will allow you to bring me dinner.”

Boston tipped his head back and laughed. “Your wish is my command, sweetheart.”

He kissed her then, much more than a peck, drawing the gesture out and deepening it, hoping she knew how much he liked her already.

Spending three whole days together with a person could really accelerate a relationship, and for a moment he worried that she didn’t like him as much as he liked her.

But she kissed him back like she sure did, and Boston told himself not to be so concerned.

He pulled away first again and whispered, “You know, you could come to my place for dinner. I am a better cook than you.”

She looked up at him with sleepy, beautiful eyes. “Is eight o’clock too late?”

“Yes,” he said emphatically. “Eight o’clock is too late. I go to bed by nine, sweetheart, and we got up at five and we walked six miles today.”

“Seven, then.”

“Seven is fine,” he said. “Are you going to come to church with me in the morning?”

Indecision raced across her face, and she had enough courage to say, “I don’t know. I’m still thinking about it.”

“We don’t have to go at eight,” he said. “We can leave at eight-forty, and that’ll get us there right in time to walk in and sit down. No one will see you. No questions.”

Cora nodded, and Boston wondered why she didn’t like eyes on her or questions coming her way. She certainly worked in a profession where both of those things would happen on a daily and hourly basis, but they sure seemed to bother her.

“I’ll let you know tonight.”

“Okay.”

She stepped out of his arms as if she’d go inside, and then she rushed at him again and kissed him almost roughly before she fell back. “Okay, yeah. See you tonight.”

She went inside, and Boston waved to her through the screen as she closed the main door between them.

Then he turned and had another quarter-mile walk back to his apartment. Exhaustion pulled through him, but he managed to get everything inside, get in the shower, and lay down on the couch before he dialed Cash, ready to freak out about everything that had happened in the last three days.