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I take the front steps two at a time to my grandparents’ log cabin. The smell of freshly baked biscuits invades my nostrils the minute I open the door, and good memories flood my senses.

The thought reminds me of a new favorite scent I can’t seem to stop craving.

Making my way toward the kitchen, I hear laughter, and then the voice that’s been crowding my thoughts all week long. I slow my pace as Bellamy’s words filter through the air.

“I love that turquoise bangle. Where did you get it?” she asks Gigi, and I picture the silver and blue bracelet my Gigi has worn for as long as I can remember.

“Papaw gave me this years ago. He got it from one of those little stores in town. He’s a sweetheart when he wants to be,” Gigi answers, and I can imagine her winking at Bellamy as she does.

“That is so sweet, and I bet these biscuits are how you landed him all those years ago, huh?”

Gigi chuckles. “Honey, I had him hooked before I ever cooked for him.”

Now Bellamy is the one laughing. “You need to teach me your ways then, Gigi.”

I’m two feet from stepping into the kitchen and making my presence known, but instead, I find myself stopping to continue listening.

Every day this week, Bellamy has come down to the horse stables. Finally, after days of just staring, I couldn’t take it anymore and told her to saddle up. There was only a second of hesitation from her before she was ready to go.

I’m surprised she came back after the first ride. I saw the way she examined the pictures in the barn, then it was like she was drawn to Mia, of all the horses, and the mention of the 4-wheeler trails put me over the edge I was already dangling on.

The next day, she acted like none of it had ever happened. It made me want to apologize for the way I acted, and it also made me like her that much more. Which is a slippery fucking slope.

Every day we ride, she talks, filling in the silence. I pretend it drives me crazy, but the truth is, I find myself wanting to know everything about her. Hence me being a creep right now.

I hear the kitchen sink cut off, and I can almost picture Gigi turning around to respond.

“Bellamy, as pretty and sweet as you are, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble in that area. Did you have a boyfriend back in Tennessee?”

“Yep, but I was relieved when my mom told me when we were moving. I’d been wanting to break up with him for a while and didn’t have the heart to do it.”

“Well, first off, don’t ever be with someone for any reason other than it being what you want.”

The oven timer beeps as Bellamy speaks, “I know, I know. Never again.”

“Well, the twins have lots of friends, so I’m sure you’ll be meeting some of the boys you’ll go to school with soon...” Gigi trails off, likely bending down to get the biscuits out of the oven.

My face scrunches up. The thought of her with one of my friends makes me unreasonably jealous.

She’s fucking with my head.

“But also, you don’t need a man to enjoy yourself,” Gigi reassures her.

Bellamy huffs. “I know, but they’re fun to pass the time with.”

They both break out into a fit of laughter, and I don’t think I want to hear anymore.

“Smells good,” I grumble as I walk into the kitchen.

“Cash, there’s my handsome boy,” Gigi beams immediately, meeting me halfway and pulling me up into a hug. These days, I have to dip to meet her small frame.

“I swear you and your brother just keep getting taller and broader by the day,” she says as she pats my arms, and I finally let my eyes flick over to Bellamy’s curious green ones.

“You’re just tiny.” I smile at her, but from the corner of my eye, I don’t miss the way Bellamy watches where my grandmother’s hand lands on my bicep.

“Where’s Maverick?” Gigi asks, looking behind me.

“He should be here any minute. We had hockey workouts today, and he stayed behind to work with one of the freshmen on a few things.”

“That’s so sweet.” A misty look takes over her hand as her hand rests on my cheek. “I’m so proud of you boys.”

“We love you, Gigi.” The thought of where her sadness comes from sends a pang so deep in my chest, it feels like it could break in two. But I remind myself it’s already broken.

“I’m going to go say hey to Papaw before I wash up.” I kiss the top of her head and quickly make my way out of the room full of prying eyes.

Thirty minutes later, we’re all here and finding seats around Gigi’s huge dining room table.

Bellamy sits down beside me, and the sweet smell of her overwhelms my senses.

Three days was all it took for me to give in and go into her bathroom to find out what the scent was.

Vanilla, salted caramel, and sandalwood.

It smells like my newest obsession… Her.

And it drives me out of my mind.

Gigi interrupts my thoughts, demanding us to bow our heads and bless the meal.

Once the food is on everyone’s plates, we dig in.

Bellamy’s mom is the first to talk in between bites.

I see that Bellamy gets her lack of silence from her, but unlike with Bellamy, her mom actually annoys me.

Not because she’s done anything out of line, but because there’s just something about her I don’t like.

“So you guys had hockey today… Your dad was telling me you are both verbally committed to Mountain Ridge University.”

I nod, and Mav answers, “Yes, ma’am.”

She waves me off. “I told you…call me Andrea.”

Maverick smiles at her in response while I stuff my mouth with another bite of food to avoid the conversation.

“What got you two into hockey?” she asks, likely because it's not as common of a sport here in the south.

“Our mom is from Boston, so when we were little, they took us to a Bruins vs. Hurricanes game in Raleigh, and I was a goner ever since.”

He nudges me. “Made this stubborn guy play it with me until he started liking it too.”

I smile because it's true. I remember we started out playing on the concrete pad outside our house, and he would bug the shit out of me every day to play with him. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the sport.

“You were a pest then, just like you are a pest now,” I tease him.

“Well, you won’t be saying that when we are making the big bucks in the NHL,” he chides back.

I take a sip of my sweet tea before grumbling, “That’s all you, buddy.”

Because it is. I have no desire to play past college, and he knows that, but it’ll be the first time in our lives that we won’t be living together, and even though it's far away, I think it's a life-altering change neither of us wants to think about. No one acknowledges my response, though, but I see the way Bellamy’s green eyes watch me curiously.

“Speaking of hockey…” Maverick says, looking over to our papaw, who’s inhaling his wife’s food, as usual.

“Papaw, some of our teammates and a few friends want to come over and hang out by the pond later this week. That okay with you and Gigi?” He looks between the two of them, knowing their house is the closest to the water.

Maverick and I aren’t perfect, by any means, but if there’s one thing both of our parents instilled in us, it's to always respect our grandparents.

“I reckon so. Y’all just be safe down there and don’t do anything stupid.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Gigi’s face takes on a knowing smile as she looks at Bellamy. “See, honey, you’ll get to meet some friends from your new school sooner than later.”

The wink she gives Bellamy sends a blush across her cheeks, and I have to pry my eyes back to my plate.

She hasn’t even met them yet, and she’s already blushing. I fucking hate it.

“Hey, wait up,” Bellamy calls out, the front door shutting behind her.

I slow my pace, but I keep walking. I hear the grass swishing under her feet as she catches up with me.

“Gigi said you were probably heading to the stables,” she says once she’s walking by my side.

“Yep.”

“Can I tag along?” I glance in her direction, her green eyes daring me to say no. So I decide to play along.

“If I said no, would that stop you?”

“No.” She grins triumphantly.

“Figured,” I murmur, trying my best to stifle a smile.

I look down at her once more as we walk side by side along the driveway.

I don’t miss the way she watches me, like she’s taking in every inch of me.

And I can’t say I don’t like the attention from her or the appreciation that shines in her gaze as her eyes trail over my shoulders, down to my forearms, before she responds.

“But it would make me happier if you didn’t say no… Maybe even if you admitted you enjoyed me being around. Ya know, I’m not so bad.”

“Nah, you aren’t…but you talk too much.”

She lets out a sound of disagreement. “Well, shit, someone’s gotta carry the conversation. In case you didn’t know, you don’t have much to say with that pretty mouth of yours.”

Did she just call my mouth pretty?

“Don’t take it personally.”

“Oh, I don’t… It’s just, your eyes tell me more than your mouth… They make me curious.”

My steps falter for the briefest of seconds before I carry on walking.

I know exactly what you mean.

“Well, you know what they say about curiosity?”

I can almost feel her eyes roll, even though I can’t see them. “Yeah, it killed the cat, but guess what?”

“What, Bellamy?” I deadpan.

She pauses for a second, and I look at her, realizing that’s probably the first time I’ve said her name out loud.

She recovers quickly, though, and with an extra pep in her step, she says, “I ain’t no regular cat. I’m a bobcat, so curiosity can’t kill me.”

I fight the smirk making its way onto my face. This girl.

“Okay, Bobcat. Good to know.”

We walk in silence until we see the barn in the distance.

The horse arena just on the other side of the horse stable has me asking a question I’ve been wanting to ask her since the other day. “So why’d you stop barrel racing?”

The sad smile on her face tugs at something inside me.

“My horse passed away, and after that, my desire to compete with a horse I didn’t share that bond with just wasn’t there anymore.”

I nod. I understand that; just the thought of losing Dom and the bond I share with him makes my chest clench.

I keep my eyes focused ahead of us, but I can feel her watching me. I should have known my question would only encourage her to ask another of her own.

“So Mav seems pretty set on playing in the NHL. Is that your dream too?”

I swear, the way she asks it, it’s like she knows that’s the complete opposite of my dream.

I shake my head. “Nope.”

“So why did you verbally commit?”

“It’s not that I don’t love hockey, and Mountain Ridge is close enough that I can come home when I want to.”

“That makes sense. You’d still be close to Dom.”

I look around, admiring the beauty of this place. “Yeah, I don’t ever see myself living far from this ranch.”

There’s a lot more to it, but I don’t say any of that. And for once, Bellamy is quiet until she stops right before we walk into the barn. Staring at the sky, I see a look pass over her face I haven’t witnessed before. Is she scared?

“It looks like a storm may be rolling in,” she says, but it’s almost like she’s saying it to herself.

“The radar looked like it was heading north of the ranch. Hopefully, those clouds will keep moving around us.” I just checked my phone after dinner, because I knew they were calling for rain this week.

She doesn’t respond or say anything else until we get inside the stables. Something about her demeanor has shifted, making her seem a bit uneasy.

“I have to say, y’all have some of the coolest names for your horses.” Her tone is back to her usual sunshine self.

She traces along the wood-carved name plate that says Dolly , and then to the next stall where Jolene huffs at her.

“Gigi can tell it better, but basically, she told Papaw that his mare would be the only other woman in his life, so he might as well name her Jolene.”

“I figured both these names were her doing, since it’s pretty obvious by the picture of Dolly Parton she has on your family wall.”

I chuckle at that, because the picture even says, “What would Dolly do?” across the bottom of it, and it’s right smack dab in the middle of all our family pictures.

My laugh is cut short when my mind traces over the faces in the pictures surrounding that one. No doubt that Bellamy must know about my sister by now, since she certainly didn’t seem to earlier this week.

I continue walking, and I hear her follow closely behind as we pass Maverick’s horse, Roman.

“I also see a theme here. It didn’t quite hit me until I heard your TV through the wall last night.”

Roman loves attention, just like his owner, and he gives a swift kick to the door, wanting Bellamy to come over.

She startles back. “Whoa, boy!”

“He’s fine. He’s just a drama king… Exactly like Maverick.”

“And exactly like his namesake in the movie,” she says through a laugh.

“True.” I’m surprised she knows the movies well enough to pick up on all of this. I watch her as she loves on Roman. She has eleven freckles on her left cheek; I wonder if the right side is the same.

“So, was it a family movie night type of thing?” she asks, and I quickly snap my eyes from her.

I shrug. “I’m not sure which one of us became obsessed with it first, but it just kinda turned into a tradition on Friday nights.

We’d watch a scary movie, and then follow it up by all falling asleep in the big bonus room upstairs to one of the Fast & Furious movies.

About a year after that was when we changed the ranch to horses only, and all three of us got our own horse. ”

“That’s really cool.”

“Mia…” She nods to the last stall along the wall and hesitates before asking, “She was your sister’s?”

I swallow thickly and nod. “Yeah, she was.”

Part of me doesn’t think she’ll pry more about that, but the other part of me doesn’t want to take the chance, so I quickly ask, “Now do you want to ride June again, or do you want to give Jolene a go?”

“I bet Jolene’s a wild one,” she jokes, but her smile quickly turns into a frown of fear as a streak of lightning out in the distance draws our attention.

Bellamy immediately takes two steps back before she recomposes herself and shakes her head. “Nah, I’m going to call it a night. Maybe tomorrow.”

Disappointment floods me that we won’t get to ride together today as I watch her jog up to the house. Concern seeps into my veins when I recall the look on her face.

She hides her pain better than I do, but I knew I saw it that first day, and it was back with a vengeance just now.