Page 27 of Tusks & Saddles

Chapter Eighteen

Boone

“ Y ou want to what?” Jacobus chuckled from the pen where they’d released the calves and the mommas.

Twelve days since they got home and it was a whirlwind.

Then again, it’s not Last Chance Ranch without a little chaos.

He’d taken some time away from the Paladins to help get the ranch back up.

Even moved out of his room at the guild.

Not that I had much. A chest full of random stuff, a sack full of clothes, and a few books.

Even Will asked where the rest of it was, which only made Jacobus laugh as he pulled out the notebook and pencils from his bedside table.

Then it was full steam ahead as they got the ranch ready for the next round of breeding season.

The cows who had babies last season needed to be separated so they could keep raising their young, while the other half got busy making more calves.

Plus, there was the cabin on the ranch that needed fixing.

That’s where Boone and Jacobus were, fixing the hole in the roof.

Willamina was out in the fields with the horses, working to teach Levi to ride the people-pleasing pony they kept on the ranch. It gave Boone the perfect opportunity to talk to Jacobus without her hearing about it.

“I want to do something special. So, I need you to get your momma out of the house,” Boone explained a second time .

“What kind of special?” Jacobus squinted at him suspiciously.

“Do you really want to know?” Boone cocked his head.

Jacobus paled and shook his head, returning to his work of nailing down wood.

After he burst in on Boone showing Willamina what she could do with that wicked mouth of hers in the stables the other day, he’d stopped asking about the pair of them.

At first, he’d been curious and excited.

Jacobus liked seeing Will happy. Then, as things always happen to get, he stopped thinking of it as ‘ my best friend has someone special’ and started seeing it as ‘ my sister is in love with my best friend’.

While there wasn’t a perfect ending to it, Boone knew better than to hope for just bewildered acceptance.

Jacobus accepted that he was in love with Will. Will accepted that Boone had two hands.

And as the days continued on, he would do everything in his power to make sure it stayed that way.

“I’ve taken a job, protecting a high cleric of Sun Bringer from the stronghold to Gloomsdale. We’ll be away for two weeks.”

“We?” Jacobus blinked rapidly, glancing down at him off the side of the beam he was currently straddling.

“Yeah, we. I got approval to bring a gunslinger with me. The guild doesn’t want anything going wrong, especially since that train robbery a few weeks ago.

We’re getting the cleric from the stronghold to the temple in Gloomsdale where the Paladin’s there will take over.

” Boone nodded at Jacobus. The daemon hugging a fresh oakwood beam grimaced down at him.

Boone rolled his eyes, “You’ll be fine.”

“I’m not a gunslinger, Boone. I haven’t even touched a gun. I lasso runaway cattle from the back of a horse.” Jacobus wobbled and nearly dropped the hammer in his hand onto Boone’s head. That’ll be three times today. Boone nodded at the hammer and Jacobus rushed to sheath it in his toolbelt .

“I know that, Kid. The guild doesn’t actually need a gunslinger, but if you come with me, they’ll pay us both for the job.” Boone returned to leveling out the panels of floor into the bottom of the cabin.

“So, you just want me to go for extra money?”

Boone huffed. These Jones’ are going to be the death of me. “I want you to go cause you’re my best friend and I don’t want to be stuck on a train making small talk with a cleric for several days on end.”

“Oooooooh,” Jacobus dragged out the word with a knowing bob of his head. “You don’t want to have to talk to them and you’re hoping I’ll be your Chatty Cathy, huh?”

Boone jabbed a finger up into the air letting Jacobus know he’d hit the jackpot.

His best friend snickered the whole way back onto the roof to grab more lumbar and nails.

While Boone had several reasons to keep Jacobus on his hip, the main reason he did it was to keep an eye on him.

For the last twelve days, Jacobus didn’t even sniff in the direction of alcohol.

Will even made a show of throwing everything in the house into the bunkhouse and threatening the ranch hands that any who gave Jacobus a sip would immediately get the boot.

Not that she needed to worry, with Boone keeping the boy run ragged, he’d no time to chug anything but water.

However, Jacobus didn’t need to know he was worried he’d slip off the wagon. Until Boone was sure taking a job or two wouldn’t loosen the reins, Jacobus was his honorary sellsword. When the time came that his best friend was safe with just a list, then he’d ask if Jacobus wanted to go with him.

“So, uh, not the nitty gritty stuff, but what are you planning for Will? I can get momma out of the house easy, take her out for a date on the town and stuff. She’s been missing doing that with daddy, and she’ll let me dress up the horses and stuff. But I’m curious.”

“I’m taking her dancing,” Boone smiled to himself.

“You’re what?” Jacobus half blurted out, half laughed. “Will hates dancin’!”

Boone snorted, shaking his head. No, she hates people.

But he wasn’t going to argue with Jacobus over what Will did or didn’t like.

While to her brother’s face she might spit and roll her eyes at the idea of dancing, that wasn’t the case for Boone.

The second she suggested it, he knew what he needed to do.

And best to do it tonight to keep her warm at night while he was gone.

I want it to feel like I’m still with her even when I’m away.

I want to keep proving I’m coming home to her, even when she’s worried I won’t.

And to say I love you to her face. He’d been tiptoeing around the words for a few days, wanting to find a good time to say it. Not that he was worried she didn’t feel the same—he was worried she wouldn’t hear it right. He wanted her to hear him and listen to him when he said those words.

Because I mean it, Willamina Jones, I am yours.

And that started…with dancing.

“Boone?” Will called out from the front door, the sound of her toeing off her boots echoing around the room.

Boone planned the whole night out and was just finishing up with dinner.

It needed to finish cooking on low, which would give her plenty of time doing what he wanted her to do.

But Will was a rattlesnake when it came to doing things she didn’t want to do.

Thus, the game that ensued. He heard her huff from the kitchen as she stomped up to the table.

He left a small basket on the table for her to see.

In it was a piece of parchment and a freshly folded towel with a new bar of soap in it.

He’d found she liked the cactus lily scent the best on soap so he bought her a fresh bar from the small apothecary in town.

When he heard her go up the steps, clearly more curious than angry with him, he left the backroom.

While she showered, he moved the table and filled the kitchen with candles.

The Sun Bringer blessed him with tiny tealights that bobbed up and down in the air.

Setting the record player on the counter, he cranked it up so they’d have plenty of time to play when she came down from the bathroom.

There was a note on the inside of the bathroom door for when she was done showering, one she wouldn’t see until the steam filled up the room.

It led her to her top dresser drawer where she’d find a dress.

Gracie helped him pick it out, as Will didn’t wear dresses except for when her best friend begged.

Which is why there was a note inside the drawer with that dress that said for her to just wear the damn thing.

Boone turned from the counter at the light sound of bare feet coming down hesitantly. He smiled at her as she marveled at the little bobbing lights. He let the record player go and her attention snapped in his direction. Her voice was soft and confused, “Boone? What is all this?”

“You said to take you out dancing in your kitchen.” He shrugged playfully. Will immediately rushed down the last few steps. He grinned from ear to ear as she spun around in a circle under the lights.

“You absolute bastard, how dare you!” She laughed, spinning around him one more time. He grabbed her by the hips as music crackled over their heads. “I thought there was something wrong! Where’s Momma and Jacobus? ”

“He took her out on a ride into town for some fun. I wanted to have you all to myself.” She looked amazing, shimmering from a fresh shower under the dancing lights. Her hair was a wild mane behind her, half dried and smelling sweetly of cactus lily.

“You tryin’ to butter me up before you leave on that Paladin job tomorrow?” She narrowed her eyes on him suspiciously.

“Is it working?” He turned her with him slowly, feeling her melt into his arms with each soft brush.

The dress was a simple green fabric, nothing shiny or gaudy.

Just pretty as it hung off her shoulders by two straps and made her chest stand on display for him. Something I definitely wasn’t minding.

“A little. We’ll see where the night takes us, Cowboy,” she winked at him.

Boone twirled her sharply, eating up her pretty laugh as she clung to him.

As the music bounced off the walls and dinner finished up cooking, he swung her around that kitchen easily.

She smiled the whole time, even as she rolled her eyes and teased him for being cheesy.

“If you don’t like it—”

“I didn’t say that!” she huffed, purposely stepping on his toes.

“Then quit complaining and let me take you dancing,” he retorted, stealing a kiss.

She threw herself into it and he stopped to press her into one of the counters.

Her hands cupped his face and his whole body caught fire down to his bones.

Will slowly threw her arms around his shoulders and he hoisted her up onto that counter.

Her legs wrapped around his waist, sealing in the scorching heat.

“I’m not complaining,” she breathed against his lips. “Thank you, Boone…this is exactly how I wanted to go dancing.”

He tugged her off that counter, holding her tight to his chest as he steadily swayed them around the floor. “You’re very welcome, Baby. ”

She flushed but those sparkling gemstone eyes never looked away as she stole another kiss. “I prefer when you call me ‘baby’ over ‘woman’.”

Boone chuckled, “Sometimes I gotta call you that or else you don’t hear me.”

“Shut up and dance,” Will scoffed, rolling her eyes again.

But that smile never left her lips as he slowed down to a simple two step sway.

One of her hands played with his hair. Twirling it around her finger then letting it go.

The way her gaze roamed his face, he knew she was open. That she was ready to hear it.

“I love you, Will. You know that right?” he confessed, memorizing the soft expression on her face.

“I do,” she murmured, cupping the back of his head. “I might be stubborn as an ox, and it’s going to take some time for my heart and brain to get on the same page, Boone. But I know. I love you too.”

“Good.” He returned to that counter so he could kiss her like she deserved to be kissed. To hold her close and steal the air in her lungs. To make sure it sank in. He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes and say it again. “I love you.”

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. “Quit that, you’re gonna make me sob like some ninny!”

“Never,” he chuckled warmly, kissing her again.

And again. And forever, because Willamina Jones was the sunlight.

Fiery and temperamental…it could burn and scorch the skin, or it could bring life.

And those who loved the sun never feared how hot it burned, just what would happen if it ever went out.

Boone Larokson was never going to let his sun dim.

A good Paladin stands by their oath, and he swore to keep her sun burning till their dying day.