wanted to tread lightly and give her an opportunity to take the initiative. “Let’s go fix old Bess.” They headed outside.
“She’s my favorite.” Lauren patted the tractor’s gills next to the engine they’d spent many hours repairing.
“Ready for a ride?” Lem asked her.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Lauren climbed the tractor like an outlaw would a getaway horse and fired up Bess.
“Away she goes,” Lem said as he and Mitch watched Lauren bump and plod along the road and then to a field.
Lauren eventually circled back around and peered expectantly at Mitch and Grandpa from beneath sun-shielded eyes. “One of you handsome gents care to join me?”
Grandpa muttered something about needing to water his vegetable garden and shoved Mitch forward, causing Lauren to laugh. Mitch loved hearing it and seeing the deep-seated tension leave her face.
He climbed on behind her. Lauren pivoted to face him, yet nodded to Grandpa. “He has no vegetable garden this year.”
“I know.” Mitch grinned like the tractor grill as it bumped across the road and into the track she’d carved in the field and, as fast as she gunned it, into the wind.
Comfortable silence fell between them. She didn’t startle when he rested his chin on her shoulder as she maneuvered Bess around fields that probably hadn’t felt tractor tread in years.
To Mitch, it just felt like the right thing to do. Maybe he was right because her back relaxed into him in a way that made him hopeful he could earn her full trust. The tractor bounced over a rock and jostled them. Alarm screamed through him.
She’d almost bounced off the seat.
Pulse returning to normal, he surveyed the coming landscape and brought his thighs in, snug against her hips. Stiffened, she peered over her shoulder, eyes asking his intention.
He grinned and raised innocent hands but kept his legs against her like buffers. “To lessen the likelihood of you sliding off the seat when we jolt over big ruts.”
Kind of like in life.
Lauren must’ve felt safe with his answer because she relaxed again. Even when he took the next step of planting his palms atop his thighs in order to brace his arms around her like a shield. Better yet, she let herself lean deeper into him, proving he’d earned another measure of her fragile trust.
“Lauren, your hair smells like strawberries and sunshine.”
She smiled. The curve to her mouth became all too inviting.
So he looked away.
You never liked strawberries much anyway, he tried telling himself. Yet the essence of her appeal never fully went away.
Chapter Nine
S he shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as she was.
Lauren peered around to find Mitch’s eyes averted. His grin elicited hers and left her with a contented feeling.
It wasn’t every day she got to wreak havoc in Lem’s fields with an irresistibly handsome rider.
Lauren steeled herself against silly notions and simply enjoyed the sun’s warmth.
Sure, he was cute and this felt a little cozy for comfort. But being out here on Bess was so relaxing, she couldn’t bring herself to end the peaceful ride.
However, she could bring herself to make the moment last as long as possible.
She drove Bess up a perfectly inclined hill and cut her engine. It ticked to a stop. Every sound became absorbed by the silence around them.
“Those are his old pastures?” Mitch asked her.
Lauren figured he already knew the answer but was being polite. There was little about Lem that he didn’t know. He didn’t tout it today, however.
She had to give him credit. He was trying. She should, too.
She pointed to the land their hill stood over. “His horses used to chase escaped rabbits back to their hutches.” Lauren took it all in. If she squinted, she could almost see where the hutches had been. She climbed down to get a better look.
“Lem always warned me not to get attached to the rabbits. That they were for eatin’, not pettin’. But he never butchered a one. The next
“She’s my favorite.” Lauren patted the tractor’s gills next to the engine they’d spent many hours repairing.
“Ready for a ride?” Lem asked her.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Lauren climbed the tractor like an outlaw would a getaway horse and fired up Bess.
“Away she goes,” Lem said as he and Mitch watched Lauren bump and plod along the road and then to a field.
Lauren eventually circled back around and peered expectantly at Mitch and Grandpa from beneath sun-shielded eyes. “One of you handsome gents care to join me?”
Grandpa muttered something about needing to water his vegetable garden and shoved Mitch forward, causing Lauren to laugh. Mitch loved hearing it and seeing the deep-seated tension leave her face.
He climbed on behind her. Lauren pivoted to face him, yet nodded to Grandpa. “He has no vegetable garden this year.”
“I know.” Mitch grinned like the tractor grill as it bumped across the road and into the track she’d carved in the field and, as fast as she gunned it, into the wind.
Comfortable silence fell between them. She didn’t startle when he rested his chin on her shoulder as she maneuvered Bess around fields that probably hadn’t felt tractor tread in years.
To Mitch, it just felt like the right thing to do. Maybe he was right because her back relaxed into him in a way that made him hopeful he could earn her full trust. The tractor bounced over a rock and jostled them. Alarm screamed through him.
She’d almost bounced off the seat.
Pulse returning to normal, he surveyed the coming landscape and brought his thighs in, snug against her hips. Stiffened, she peered over her shoulder, eyes asking his intention.
He grinned and raised innocent hands but kept his legs against her like buffers. “To lessen the likelihood of you sliding off the seat when we jolt over big ruts.”
Kind of like in life.
Lauren must’ve felt safe with his answer because she relaxed again. Even when he took the next step of planting his palms atop his thighs in order to brace his arms around her like a shield. Better yet, she let herself lean deeper into him, proving he’d earned another measure of her fragile trust.
“Lauren, your hair smells like strawberries and sunshine.”
She smiled. The curve to her mouth became all too inviting.
So he looked away.
You never liked strawberries much anyway, he tried telling himself. Yet the essence of her appeal never fully went away.
Chapter Nine
S he shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as she was.
Lauren peered around to find Mitch’s eyes averted. His grin elicited hers and left her with a contented feeling.
It wasn’t every day she got to wreak havoc in Lem’s fields with an irresistibly handsome rider.
Lauren steeled herself against silly notions and simply enjoyed the sun’s warmth.
Sure, he was cute and this felt a little cozy for comfort. But being out here on Bess was so relaxing, she couldn’t bring herself to end the peaceful ride.
However, she could bring herself to make the moment last as long as possible.
She drove Bess up a perfectly inclined hill and cut her engine. It ticked to a stop. Every sound became absorbed by the silence around them.
“Those are his old pastures?” Mitch asked her.
Lauren figured he already knew the answer but was being polite. There was little about Lem that he didn’t know. He didn’t tout it today, however.
She had to give him credit. He was trying. She should, too.
She pointed to the land their hill stood over. “His horses used to chase escaped rabbits back to their hutches.” Lauren took it all in. If she squinted, she could almost see where the hutches had been. She climbed down to get a better look.
“Lem always warned me not to get attached to the rabbits. That they were for eatin’, not pettin’. But he never butchered a one. The next
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