Meredith

I froze, my head still pressed back against Colt’s chest. What did he mean? He had to have just meant come back to Texas. I wasn’t so naive to think that this wasn’t anything but a fling for him. It was a ‘in the moment’ kind of thing. I was just happy I got to live out this childhood fantasy of mine as long as it lasted.

I shook it off, and then turned to face him with a smirk and wound my arms around his neck. I planted a quick kiss on his lips, and replied, “I'm here for now. Isn't that good enough?”

He stared back at me with an unreadable expression before smiling at me sadly. “I guess it'll have to do.”

Before I could answer, there was a soft knock on the door. A timid voice called out, “Mr. Stone? I'm so sorry to bother you, but this phone down here's just been ringing and ringing.  I'm afraid it might be something wrong...with your guest, I mean.”

Colt and I exchanged a confused look before I pressed both hands over my mouth to stifle a surprised yelp. “My phone! Holy crap, the office!”

I bolted from the shower, catching my toe on the bamboo rug and almost toppling headfirst into the marble countertop. I was saved by two strong hands that slipped around my waist and pulled me back.

“Where’s the fire, honey? You’re on country time here.”

He handed me an oversized towel from the wall shelf behind him, then took one down for himself. He looked every bit as gorgeous as he had the day before with the crisp white towel around his waist, setting off the deep tan he’d gotten working out in the sun for countless hours at a time.

I let that last comment slide and focused on drying off instead. I was just about to panic at the thought of racing back downstairs to retrieve my own clothes from the deck when Colt held out a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I took them, smiling with relief now that I wouldn’t have to face poor Mrs. Claire—or anyone else who happened to be here by now—mostly naked for the second time.

I hopped down the stairs, holding the waistband of the pants tightly in my free hand as I clung to the oak bannister with the other. If I did manage to fall, there was no way I’d keep my dignity and my modesty at the same time. By the time I made it to the kitchen counter to dig through my bag, the leg holes had fallen all the way past my feet, making it impossible to walk gracefully.

“Shit!” I muttered under my breath when I picked up the phone. Six missed calls from Diana, and my phone only had 12% battery left. I looked through my bag for my charger and panicked when I remembered it must be all the way back in my car. I fired off a quick text to let her know I’d call her as soon as I plugged in, but the phone rang under my fingers. I accidentally answered it, and cringed.

“Meredith? Oh my god, are you all right? Why weren’t you answering?” Diana screeched.

Fortunately, it was her concerned voice, not her, “you missed a deadline and now I’m going to eat your soul,” voice.

“Yes, sorry. My phone’s almost dead, my car is actually dead, and I couldn’t—”

“Wait, wait, start over. Your car is dead? Where are you?”

“Um...I’m still...in Texas,” I answered, hedging my reply. It wasn’t an outright lie, after all. This was certainly Texas. My mama always said you didn’t have to tell all you know…

“Yes, I know you’re in Texas! But where are you right now? Are you safe? Tell me you’re not sleeping in that car of yours! This isn’t a hurricane in the South Pacific, we have hotels here, you know!”

Diana’s voice rose in pitch at the thought of me sleeping on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere. I’d tried before to tell her that Texas has big cities and mid-sized towns, that it’s not all desert scrub and tumbleweeds like she envisioned.

“Well, I’m actually at Mr. Stone’s home,” I said calmly, waiting for the wrath. Instead, there was an eerie, endless silence. I finally looked to my phone screen to make sure it hadn’t died. “Hello? Diana?”

“I’m here,” she answered coolly. “So, you’re at Mr. Stone’s house. I might have my time zones off a little, but isn’t it awfully early to be back at the subject’s residence? Or… does that mean you never left yesterday?”

Shit! I thought, my mind racing for an answer. I hated to do it, but there was no way the truth was gonna go over well.

“Of course not, Diana. What are you implying?” I demanded, trying to sound sternly professional. “I told you, my car died. I’m back here trying to get someone to come out and fix it so I can get the hell outta here.”

I turned around and froze at the sight of Colt’s face. His expression was a mixture of embarrassment and hurt. I shook my head frantically, but it was too late. He placed a phone charger on the counter behind me and walked out of the room softly.

“Colt, wait!” I called out after Diana finally stopped tripping over herself to apologize and I’d managed to hang up.

As if I already didn’t feel bad enough for lying, my boss had to go and be so awesome as to beg for my forgiveness. That was already enough to make me repent, but knowing that Colt had heard me was a stab to the heart.

I saw a flash of movement out the windows facing east and looked out to see Colt walking towards his barn. The back deck was the fastest route, so I hurried outside, closing my eyes with a shot of embarrassment when I saw the neatly folded piles of his and hers discarded clothing sitting on the foot of the chaise, along with a folded blanket. I briefly wondered how many times his poor housekeeper had had to take on that chore, but shook it off and followed after him.

“Colt!” I called out again when I reached the barn, peering around the wide open door to look into the darkened space. “You in here?”

“Back here,” he said, his voice muffled from where he stood behind a large pile of hay. He stood up straight and hefted a large black toolbox from the ground, then walked past me. I jumped back as he passed, then took two steps to every one of his as I tried to keep up.

“Listen, I want to explain…”

“There’s nothing to explain,” he said over his shoulder. “I got my tools, I’ll go take a look at your junk heap. You know, so you can get the hell outta here.” Colt shot me a knowing look and continued walking.

I had half a mind to just let him go, but I was too pissed to think about that. Even if I had meant it, he certainly wasn’t looking for something long term with me. It was just a fling thing that just happened.

I came down here on assignment and did something reckless. It had been awesome and amazing and hot, and something that we both obviously wanted, but reckless just the same. And now he wants to play high and mighty because he heard me covering my ass to my boss?

No way. Besides, no one calls Beatrix a junk heap.

“Where do you get off being pissy? You want me to let my boss know that I stayed the night with my interviewee, half-naked on his deck? I mean, come on!” I demanded, balling my fists indignantly. I tried to walk towards him but the long sweatpants made that difficult.

And then… Colt laughed. Not like snickered at me, but actually dropped what he was holding, threw back his head, and laughed. I was still trying to stop fuming and catch my breath when he doubled over, one gloved hand clutching his stomach, the other one balancing against his knee.

“What’s so funny?” I demanded, stopping just short of stomping my foot.

“You are, honey,” he purposefully lengthened his drawl as I had done mimicking him. “Now that’s one thing about you that hasn’t changed!” He laughed some more, and then tried to suddenly turn serious again. That only ended up making him choke back another laugh as he tried to keep a straight face, bringing tears to his eyes. He cleared his throat and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t meaning to laugh at you. But your little tantrum was so cute!”

“Oh, my outrage is funny to you?”

“That was outrage? Whew, we’re gonna have to work on that. Might wanna tone down the pouting level before you try and toss that rage out there.” He bent over and picked up his toolbox, then adjusted his belt. “Now, what are you so fired up about?”

“You!” I stormed. “You got all huffy with me over what I said on the phone. Where do you get off getting your feelings hurt over a one-night stand?”

“What if it wasn’t a one-night stand?” he asked, stepping closer and looking down at me. “What if I want something more?”

“Wh-what?” I backed up a few steps. It never even crossed my mind that he would ever want something more. Not with me, his best friend’s little sister.

“What are you talking about? I hadn’t seen you in ten years until yesterday. I live in Chicago. I came down here for work, I ended up having to stay here and we had a really nice evening and all, and oh my gosh the sex was incredible, but that’s… that’s gotta be it, right?”

“That’s it?” Colt repeated, moving closer to me. For just a second, I thought about stumbling back out of the way again. Realistically it didn’t matter if it wasn’t. We lived in two different worlds so it had to be.

“Yeah, that’s it,” I tried to say defiantly, but the words came out in a choked whisper, betraying the feelings I was working so hard to keep hidden.

His gloved hand traced a line from my elbow up to my shoulder, coming to rest behind my neck. The smell of old leather and the scratchiness of the stitching against my skin sent shivers racing through me. Colt gently pulled me closer and I followed eagerly, our lips meeting once again.

Unlike our frenzied, heated kisses from the night before—heck, from just an hour before—this one was slow, carrying the heavy weight of intention. There was meaning behind this one, and it made warning bells go off in the back of my mind. Fortunately, the feel of Colt’s hard chest beneath my hand all but silenced that warning.

I kissed him back, thrilled by both the intensity of such a new feeling and at the same time, the familiarity I felt with Colt. He was right. Being with him was somehow like coming home, even if he’d never really been mine in the first place. This was where I belonged, but then again, I had no place here.

Our lips parted slowly, feeling a whole lot more like a first kiss than the hundredth, but the increasingly familiar feeling of wanting him on top of me made me stop.

“I can’t do this, I have to go,” I whispered, breaking the kiss and putting some distance between us. I couldn’t meet his eye, knowing that it would only take a single look at him to make me change my mind. “I can call for a car to take me to the airport.”

“No honey, let me go take a look at it,” he answered, looking a little too lost for my liking. “Remy and I can give it a go, there’s no need to go calling for the cavalry.”

I could see a barrier going between us. I told myself it was for the best. He didn’t really want this. It was the thrill of the chase, the excitement of the forbidden fruit. He would come to his senses and I didn’t want to be in any deeper then I already was when that happened.

I waited in the house and tried to start working on my article while he and his foreman headed out to putter around with my car. I couldn’t get my thoughts together for some reason, though. Every sound, every flickering movement made me remember another story, another time I’d been sitting at this very kitchen counter.

I looked up suddenly when I heard the front door open, and Colt and the older man walked through. Remy looked down and shook his head sadly, while Coly shuffled his foot.

“I have to ask you a question,” he began, finally meeting my eye. “Did you have a transmission when you started down here?”

“Of course I did... Why?” My heartbeat quickened, and my breath caught in anticipation.

“Because it doesn’t look like you have one now. Whatever’s left of it, there’s a belt and a good bit of screws missing. A few pieces might even be scattered between here and Oklahoma.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you have to get a new transmission, and you’re not gonna find a place around here that has one in stock. They’ll have to order it, I’m sure.” Even though this sounded like the perfect ploy—convince the damsel in distress that she’d have to stay a little longer while the part gets ordered—Colt did look truly sympathetic.

I must have looked crestfallen, because he walked over and took my hand, giving it a little squeeze. “I promise will get it up and running as soon as we can, just let me make a call into town and see what they can do for us. In the meantime, you can stay here.”

“I can’t,” I said desperately reminding myself I need to create distance before I get more attached. I searched for excuses.

“I’ve got to get back. Diana’s gonna kill me if I don’t get this article turned in, it’s already behind and it’s sort of my last shot at getting a cover. If I don’t produce something worthy soon, there just won’t be any reason to keep me on the staff.”

Remy excused himself and headed out the door at the mention of my work troubles, but Colt only smiled.

“I’m sure we can make them see reason, Sugar. Cars break down, it happens. But in the meantime, I can order the part from Carl while you get to work. Use my office, shut the door, and just buzz down if you need anything. Okay?”

I must have nodded in my panicked state, clinging to anything that sounded like a reasonable plan. I gathered up my things and followed Colt upstairs to a spacious office that made my cubicle at the magazine look like a janitor’s closet.

“Here you go. Just let Mrs. Claire know if you need anything, she’ll know how to call me if I need to come up here. I’ll just pop into town and get this taken care of.” He kissed my forehead, as if it was something we’d done every time we said goodbye for a minute. For that minute, I had a flash of what my life could be like with a husband who kissed me goodbye when he headed out. And I liked it.

Stop it, and get to work! I hissed at myself as he shut the door behind him.

I sincerely tried to concentrate on my work, but not long after he left, Colt walked past the window outside. I watched him from the safety of the second floor, knowing he couldn’t see me through the glare against the glass. He was absolute perfection in every way: gorgeous, sexy, but most of all, caring and thoughtful. A genuine cowboy, like the kind you always heard about it books.

It shouldn’t have surprised me, but the article just wasn’t happening. I was on edge, unable to think, unable to even form a coherent sentence. Something about being not only at Colt’s house but in his personal office made it all too unreal. I closed my laptop and walked down the stairs, trying to clear my head.

“Oh good, honey, you’re done!” Colt exclaimed when he saw me on the back deck. I shook my head dejectedly.

“No, I just couldn’t get anywhere with it. Did you get a hold of a mechanic?” I asked hopefully.

Colt gave a yes and no kind of gesture.

“He didn’t have the part, but he’s ordered it from a guy just a little piece up the road. He’s gonna call when it comes in. So, if you couldn’t get your work done, I have a better idea. How about a ride down to my favorite part of the ranch?”

“I don’t know, I really shouldn’t be playing hooky right now. Not with such an important article hanging over me,” I was hedging, but I desperately needed to clear my head so I could focus. Hey, I could call it research for the article, couldn’t I?

“We won’t be gone long. And you have to eat, right? I’ll have Mrs. Claire pack us a bag and I’ll go get the horses ready!”

Colt took off before I could answer, probably because he knew I’d find some lousy excuse not to go. I laughed in spite of myself and watched him head to the kitchen. Apparently he hadn’t gotten his fill of the forbidden fruit. I could totally continue on and not get any more attached than I already was. At least that was the lie I told myself.

When we set out on the same two horses from the day before, we headed south to a part of the ranch I don’t think I’d ever seen, not even as a kid bouncing around in the back of his dad’s pickup with the family. It was exciting to think I’d known this place my whole life, but that there was still something more to be discovered.

We ambled along for nearly an hour, talking and telling stories. The horses seemed to know exactly the way to go, and a bitter part of my brain couldn’t help but wonder if Colt dragged women out here all the time to impress them with a romantic horseback ride and a picnic.

I ate my words when we climbed a small rise and a grove of apple trees came into view. I instantly heard the sound of a rushing creek that wound through the trees, giving them much needed water in this hot, dry place.

“Colt, it’s beautiful!” I said softly, looking out over this strange oasis in the middle of a Texas cattle ranch.

“I know,” he agreed, smiling at the sight himself. “My grandpa had the idea. Those trees aren’t wild—he planted them for my grandma. Water’s such a commodity on a ranch when animals need it to live that watering some trees closer to the house just doesn’t make sense. But she was originally from Oregon, and she missed putting up apples in the fall. So he planted these along the creek.

“I barely remember it, but I know we’d all go down for the day and get the apples. Dad would help pile hay up in the utility trailer and hitch it to the truck, and we’d ride out in the trailer. Grandpa would drive slow, only a little faster than we rode out here, and we’d talk and laugh. Mama and Grandma would sing songs and pass around cookies. Then we’d spend the whole day gathering up the apples so Grandma could put up apple butter, spiced apples, all kinds of good stuff.”

I listened to him talk, amazed that there was a story I didn’t know. It made me wonder what other stories there were to this wonderful old place.

We nudged the horses on to the creek where Colt set out our lunch. We ate under the trees while the horses drank from the creek or scavenged the occasional early dropped apple from the tall grass.

It hit me with a sudden force, a feeling that built up in my chest and almost stopped my heart. The horses were standing nearby, Colt was leaning back on his elbows on the blanket, talking about this time we’d all gone out looking for ghosts one Halloween, the water bubbling so softly it was like a steady trickle in the background…and I almost couldn’t breathe.

If I didn’t get out of here, I’d never leave. It was like some fairy tale where the magical place has a spell on it, and no one can ever get out, not that they’d want to. I had to go, or risk my heart getting broken when I accidentally convinced myself that any of this was real, or that any of it could actually be mine.

“Um, Colt, this has been really great. But I have to get back. I’m sorry.”

“What?” he asked, unable to read what had just changed. “But your car… you can’t go yet, hon!” He gave me a worried smile, like he couldn’t tell why I wasn’t understanding.

“I know, I can just… I’ll call for a car service or something.” I started to clean up our lunch and stood up, looking around as though I would find my way back. I knew I was being stupid, but I had to get out of there before I let myself get hurt.

Colt simply wasn’t mine, and the longer I stayed, the worse it was going to hurt when it all came crashing down on me.

“Meredith, did I do something wrong? Did I say something?” Colt asked, standing up and reaching for my hand. I leaned away from him and he let his hand fall, empty. The pain that flashed across his face made me feel like a monster.

“No, of course not! You’ve been great. But I just need to get back, I’ve got things I have to do and my job and all…” I knew I sounded like a blithering idiot, but I couldn’t explain what was really happening without putting my heart out there and letting him cast it aside.

“Well, okay then.” Colt looked so hurt, and it made me want to grab him and just cry against his chest. Instead I stood still, arms wrapped around myself as if I didn’t trust my own limbs not to betray me. “We’ll head back and get you on your way.”