Page 123 of Rocky Mountain Home

A laugh burst free. “Here I was expecting you to make some comment about wanting me in cowgirl position.”

“That’s a given.” He lifted her hand to his mouth, nipping at her knuckles before using his tongue to outline the grooves between her fingers. Desire raced up her spine as he sucked her pinky into his mouth.

She shivered. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.”

Jesse sighed heavily. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles before setting her free. “I hate to admit you’re right, but I should go and let Blake know our plans. Rain check on this?”

“You know it.”

He pulled into the parking space outside the trailer. He made it around to her door before she could hit the ground.

They pushed through the door into the cozy home. Dare put her computer on the kitchen table while Jesse deposited her clothes bag on a chair.

“You need anything?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll give Vicki a call to find out what she’s got planned for supper to see if I can get it started.”

For a split second he tensed before giving his head a shake. “You’ve got her number?”

“She gave it to me when we first got here.”

His grin reappeared. “Like I said, you two together are going to be so much trouble.”

His tone of voice wasn’t quite normal normal, but he was trying. She decided moving forward was the best option. “As if you and Joel are innocent babes. Don’t worry about me. Go on. I’ll see you later.”

It was actually a treat to wander through the small space alone. She hadn’t lied when she told Jesse she appreciated the company over the weekend. If she’d had too much time by herself she probably would’ve worked herself into a tizzy worrying about Buckaroo, but now that they were doing the next thing, this moment of quiet was much appreciated.

Quiet, and time to catch up on a few things, including getting in touch with Ginny.

When her call went to voicemail she sent a text.

Dare: you around?

Ginny: delivering boxes. What’s up? You okay?

Dare: just got sprung from the hospital. Buckaroo and me are 100%

Ginny’s message came a couple of minutes later: thank God. When are you coming home?

Well now, there was a loaded question. Dare decided that this wasn’t something she wanted to do via text message or even over the phone. Because she bet even though Ginny had supported the idea of Dare going away, she probably wasn’t expecting it to happen this soon.

Dare: I’ll see you tomorrow and tell you everything

Ginny: rock on. Love you Dare

Dare: Love you, Truth

Dare enjoyed wandering around, examining the pictures on the shelf. Trying to learn more about Jesse’s twin and the woman closest to him by what things they felt were valuable.

There weren’t a lot of knickknacks though. A vase on top of the bookshelf held an arrangement of dried flowers, and a collection of all sorts of rocks filled a glass bowl. Other than that there were pictures of Joel and Vicki, a picture of a woman in her midtwenties holding a puppy, and pictures of Jesse’s family, including a number of shots with just the twins.

Dare took one down to examine it closer. It must’ve been from before Vicki had come on the scene because the two of them were shoulder to shoulder, like identical bookends. She could see the connection between them and how much they enjoyed being around each other.

Maybe she did have something in common with Vicki. The woman had been willing to do anything to get the brothers back to this state of laughing connection. While Dare had other reasons as well for wanting to be around the Coleman family, letting Jesse and Joel work past their differences so they could be like this again was just as important.

Their sheer joy and connection spilled out visibly from the picture. The fact that even while he had to have been angry with Jesse for running off, Joel kept the picture up—that meant something.

That meant a whole lot.