Bartender's Beauty (Culpepper Cowboys Book 11) by Kirsten Osbourne, Culpepper Cowboys

he back of her wrist against her forehead dramatically. “I feel like such a trollop! Oh, woe is me! What have I done?”
    “Other than made your new husband the happiest man on earth? I have no idea!” His hand stroked her shoulder, smoothing her hair away from her face. He didn’t remember either of them taking it down, but it was now released from its captivity and spilling over both of them.
    She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “You know, for a little while there, I saw myself through your eyes and almost believed I really was beautiful.”
    “Hopefully you’ll learn to do that for longer and longer periods until you realize that it’s your vision that’s skewed, not mine.” For now, he’d just be pleased that he’d gotten her father’s voice out of his head for long enough that she believed it a little bit.
    She sighed, her hand exploring his ribs and abdomen. “Have I mentioned how much I love touching you? We get to sleep late tomorrow, right?”
    He nodded. “Yeah, but I do have to work tomorrow evening.”
    “It’s Tuesday,” she said softly. “Was it only a week ago that I promised you every Tuesday night?”
    “I think it was. You go back to school on Wednesday, right?”
    She nodded. “Students have a couple of weeks yet, but I go back tomorrow. I get to set up my classroom and get ready for the school year. It’s going to be strange.”
    “Being back at Culpepper High?”
    “Yeah. And teaching all levels of math. I’m used to a big school. I taught five periods of algebra one. Here I’ll be teaching pre-algebra through calculus. It’s going to be a much bigger challenge.”
    He grinned. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you mention teaching at Culpepper High in anything that sounded remotely like you’re glad you’re doing it.”
    She smiled, rubbing her cheek against the smooth skin of his shoulder. “Maybe I’m starting to see Culpepper through your eyes a little more too.”
    “I hope so.”

Chapter Eight
     
    The next day was Dallas’s last day before she had to start working. She was ready to see her classroom and suddenly excited about getting to work. There was something about Austin that made her see things in a more positive light.
    A couple of hours before he had to leave for work, he took her hand. “We need to go for a walk.”
    “A walk?” She shrugged. “Okay, let’s go for a walk.”  She put her socks and sneakers on, already wearing shorts and a T-shirt. It was one of those too-hot summer days in her mind. Even there in the mountains, she was scalding.
    Once she was ready, he took her by the hand and walked in a seemingly aimless direction. “Where are we going?”
    He shrugged. “Just walking.” He had something in mind, but he wanted her to be surprised.
    Finally, he walked onto the schoolyard, and she laughed. “I’m not going to live under the monkey bars with you. I’m not crazy, and according to Kolby, you couldn’t catch a fish to save your life.”
    “I don’t still want to do that. I’d rather have a bed to be in with you every night than sleeping in dirt that could get…places.” Austin led her toward the monkey bars anyway, kneeling down beside one of the posts. “Look here.”
    Dallas knelt beside him, looking at the very bottom of the post to see what he was pointing at, before she burst out laughing. “Austin + Dallas. When did you do this?”
    He shrugged. “Probably late nineties? I’ve looked for it a few times, and I always kind of expected the school would buff it out, but it’s still there.”
    She laughed, turning to him. “I love it. Thank you for showing me this.”
    He grinned. “I thought, because it was the first romantic thing I ever did for you, we should do each other right here. Just once.”
    Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, laughing. “I’m not having sex under the monkey bars at our old elementary school! What if some kids walked by?”
    He looked in every direction, obviously making sure