Page 59 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“You might not like it sometimes. It can be a bitch when you don’t want to hear it, but I’m not good at holding back either way.”

She squeezed his hand. “There’s a line in a song about that. I don’t remember exactly how it goes but it’s something about it being better to hurt me with the truth than deceive me with lies.”

“I don’t ever want to hurt you, but I won’t lie, and I won’t deceive you.”

“I won’t either, Ty. I promise.”

After they stopped for their burgers, he drove up to the same park where they’d stopped last night. They were earlier, and Shayna wasn’t starving tonight, so they walked up the trail a little way and ate sitting on a bench looking out at the view.

When Shayna finished, she let out a big sigh. “Thank you. This is amazing. I love this, Ty.” Her smile disappeared. “I’m going to miss this.” She met his gaze. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Not for long. I’m going to come see you just as soon as I can.”

She gave him a sad smile that made his heart hurt.

“Aww, Shay! Don’t look like that. I promise I’ll come see you. I’m going to miss you, too, you know.” He chuckled. “Although it might not even be an issue.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might not be able to let you go. The thought of taking you back to the airport and waving you off?” He shuddered. “I mighthave to bundle you into my truck and take you home with me instead.”

She chuckled. “Part of me hopes that you will but …” She blew out a sigh. “I love my little family. I know they’re not my real family, but they’ve been so good to me. And Booker’s come to think of me as his big sister, and I love him. I help him as much as I can. He hasn’t made any friends his own age yet and …”

His heart was pounding in his chest. “What are you saying, Shay?”

Her eyes shone with tears. “I don’t know. It’s a lot to process. I want to spend more time with you. I think you know how I feel.”

He nodded.

“But … how could we even?”

He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think about this not working out, but he knew that she had a point, and he didn’t want to dismiss her concerns.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. All we can do is take it one step at a time, like you said. But I’m not going to give up easily. I … I know it might sound crazy, but you mean too much to me already to think about giving in without a fight.”

He tucked his fingers under her chin and made her look up at him. “Let’s not worry about it yet, huh?”

“You’re right. Sorry. I …”

“You don’t ever have to be sorry, Shay. We might be getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s just enjoy what we have while we have it.”

“Okay.”

He hadn’t known when to give her the gift he’d gotten for her, but this felt like the perfect moment. Hopefully, it would put a smile back on her face. He hated to see her look so sad.

He rummaged around in his inside pocket for the gift box and the little package he’d bought. The box had come from the jewelry store, and the packet was just a lucky find in the gift shop.

She gave him a puzzled smile. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good. I’m not scratching myself like an ape even if it looks that way. I have something for you.”

Her eyes grew wide. “You do? What kind of something? Now I feel bad – I didn’t get you anything.”

“And I don’t need you to. This is just from this afternoon. I went for a walk while you were in with Eli, and I found something I thought was perfect for you. After our conversation earlier, I think it might be even more perfect.”

He closed his eyes when she touched his beard and leaned in to kiss him. It was brief, but sweet – and it hit him that was the first time that she’d kissed him, instead of waiting for him to kiss her. That meant the world.

When he opened his eyes, she was smiling.