I Heart Geeks (32 page)

“Sure,” I said as I slipped on my shoes.

“Let’s take the truck, we can go to the creek,” Luke suggested as soon as I stepped out onto the porch.

“Ok.” In my nervous state I was slipping back into one word answers.

We drove to the creek in amplified silence. Luke stopped the truck by the same spot we’d ridden to the week before. I waited until he opened his door before hopping out and walking over to the log. Sitting, I gave Luke time to come over and join me.

“I talked to my mom and dad,” he said finally.

“How did it go?” I asked, surprised how calm I sounded when my mind was spinning out of control.

“I didn’t ask for permission or for an opinion. I’d already made up my mind before I got to the house.”

My heart sank.

“I understand,” I forced out, trying to hold my emotions in check. “You need to do what’s right by your family.”

“No, Ains.” He turned his body to towards mine until our knees touched. He cupped my face gently, pausing until I looked up, “I told them I wasn’t going to run the ranch anymore, and that I was going to follow my own path. Riley said she’d stick around for a while to take care of the business side, and the foreman was more than happy to step up and take over the cattle side of the ranch, at least until something permanent is figured out.”

I stared at him in stunned silence. “You did? You are?” I finally choked out, wondering if he had a defibrillator in the truck to restart my poor confused heart.

“Yeah.” He beamed. His hand slipped from my face and grasped my hand tightly. “Call the banker, Ains. Schedule for Monday morning and let’s make this happen.”

Forgetting the past twenty-three years of being the shy one, I squealed and threw myself into Luke’s arms, clinging to him for dear life. I was excited, relieved, and terrified all rolled into one.

“Ok. Let’s call now.” Unwilling to wait a second longer, I punched in the number and arranged an appointment for Monday morning.

When I hung up Luke was looking at me, smiling.

“What?” I asked, smiling back dazedly.

“You are amazing, Ains,” he said simply. I fumbled for something to say, but he wasn’t done yet. “You have a wicked sense of humor, you’ve got a huge heart, you’re intelligent, and you’re so damn beautiful I forget my own name sometimes when I look at you.” He reached out and ran his fingers through the curls hanging over my shoulder.

At that moment a soft breeze could have blown me over. Luke Morgan had just called me beautiful? My inner teenage girl was doing backflips and high fiving the grown-up me. Outwardly, I sat with my mouth hanging open like a flytrap.

“I don’t know what to say to that Luke,” I finally replied, trying to figure out which end of my world was up because it had just been completely rocked. “I feel the same about you.”

“You think I’m beautiful?” he teased with a grin, trying to put me at ease.

“You know what I meant.” I blushed and waved a flustered hand in his direction. When he didn’t immediately reply, I blurted, “My Gram said you were courtin’ me.” As soon as the words were out I wanted to take them back. I quickly covered my face with my hands and groaned.

Laughing, Luke leaned over and pried my fingers away from my face.

“Ains, look at me,” he said, voice shaky from trying to hold back laughter.

“No, forget you heard that. I never said it; the last few minutes did not just happen,” I grumbled.

“Hell no, I will not forget Ains. It’s taken me since high school to get to this point. No take backs.” He finally succeeded in freeing my hands, and looked me straight in the eyes.

“We didn’t talk much in high school, Luke,” I pointed out, unsure what he meant by the last comment.

“Exactly!” he exclaimed. He shifted closer to me and framed my face with his hands so I was forced to keep eye contact. “That was the problem. You were too shy. Every time I’d approach you, you’d run off in the other direction!”

“You were always surrounded by people,” I said defensively, then feebly attempted to look away. “I wasn’t a fan of crowds.”

“What about when our families would get together for cookouts, or when you’d come over to hang out with Riley?” he challenged, dropping his hand from my face but not moving away. “You avoided me then too.”

“I had the biggest crush on you; I was terrified you’d figure it out and think I was pathetic,” I said quietly, almost unable to get it all out.

“Ainsley, pathetic is never a word I’d use to describe you,” he replied, sounding almost baffled. “You really thought I’d react like that to knowing you liked me?”

“I didn’t know what you’d think. I didn’t have many positive interactions with males at that point in my life; at least not with males that weren’t related to me,” I said, embarrassed. “Riley figured it out pretty quickly, but I swore her to secrecy.”

“That little brat!” he laughed. “I told her I liked you and asked for her advice on how to approach you without scaring you off. She never even hinted that you liked me too!”

“Wait, you liked me then?” I asked, instantly stuck on that detail, unable to process the rest.

“Then and now.” He reached over to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. “To answer your earlier remark, your Gram is right. Although I wouldn’t necessarily use the term ‘courting,’ seeing as though this is the twenty-first century. I am, however, very interested in dating you.”

“Dating?” I parroted.

“Yeah, kinda like we’ve been these last two weeks… spending time together, but with the dating label that implies more than friends.” He smiled at me with patient bemusement.

I sat there a moment, shocked into complete silence before I finally found my voice. “I’d like that, Luke.”

He smiled, then pulled me closer to him on the log and wrapped his arms around me before leaning in. The second kiss was just as electrifying as the first one had been. I could almost believe in spontaneous combustion, the way this manmade me feel when we kissed. His tongue snaked out to duel with mine, sending shivers of excitement coursing through my body. I sank my fingers into his thick, soft hair and allowed myself to be washed away in the moment. Luke had one hand secure at my back, holding me to him, while the other was anchoring my head at the perfect angle for his kiss. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine.

“We should have been doing that a lot sooner,” he whispered quietly, his breath ragged.

“What took you so long?” I smiled unevenly, still trying to get control of my riotous body.

We both took some calming breaths, then he turned us until we both faced the creek with me sitting between his thighs. He wrapped his arms around my middle and pulled me back to rest against him. His strong arms wrapped around me and the warmth from his body seeping into my own caused a sense of euphoria to wash over me from head to toe. I inhaled his familiar scent and reveled in this moment I never thought would happen.

We sat like that, cocooned together, talking until long after the sun set and the frogs started their chorus. It didn’t matter what Monday or the future would bring, because in this moment we were together.

No book is the effort of a singular person and that is especially true for this anthology. I’d like to thank all the authors (Stephanie, Layla, Rae, Aria, Kristyn, Leslie, and Bella) for their creativity, hard work, and patience. Cait for being with me from the beginning. Kendra and Lindsey for putting up with my crazy, long-winded ramblings about the proper formatting of social media. Kim and Sam Eggleston for the great tagline. The super talented Carolyn Belefski who designed the Wyrd Romance logo. And finally, Scarlett Rugers and her team for their advice and patience with a first time publisher.