“My love will warm things up real fast,” he said.
She looked up into his green eyes. “About that? Are you sure that what you said wasn’t…”
He put a finger over her lips. “You know my reputation, Allie. You know what kind of cowboy I’ve been. But what you don’t know is that I’ve never, ever said those words to a woman before. Not even the girl I married while on a drunken binge after we’d graduated from high school. I stood there and promised to love, honor, and respect her until death parted us, but I couldn’t make myself say those three words.”
“But you were pissed at me,” she said.
“I was.” He yawned. “But it was male pride getting in the way and doubts that I could ever deserve a woman like you.”
“And now?” She pressed even closer to him.
He buried his face in her hair. “Now, I feel free. I’m happy. I can’t imagine life without you in it. I was terrified I’d wreck the truck and hurt you, and I’m exhausted, Allie. Can we take a short nap together before we get lucky? I’ve got the worst adrenaline letdown I’ve ever had.”
“Me, too. Let’s take a short nap.” She still couldn’t utter the L word.
“Sleep first, then a fancy vending machine supper, then making love, more sleep, and more vending machine food. Sounds like a good plan to me…” His voice trailed off and his eyes fluttered shut.
The phone setting on the nightstand not two feet from her face woke her. At first, she thought it was the alarm and then she felt Blake’s naked body wrapped around her and remembered the whole evening. She opened one eye and checked the clock. It flipped another minute making it 11:11. That meant she could make a wish and it would come true. Sure it was superstition, but she and both her sisters had believed it since they were kids. The first person who saw all four ones lined up on the clock got to make a wish.
She brought one hand out and reached for the remote phone receiver. “Yes?”
“This is the front desk. I got a call from a feller named Deke saying to tell Blake Dawson that he has Shooter at his house. Cell phone towers are down all around us so he couldn’t get through to you that way.”
“Thank you,” Allie said.
“Weatherman says that it’s supposed to let up by midnight, but I wouldn’t bank on the roads being cleared tomorrow. Y’all want me to pencil you in for another night?”
“Yes, please,” Allie said.
“Will do. If you need anything I’m right here all night.”
“What was that all about?” Blake asked.
“Deke has Shooter at his place. Evidently he found out from Mama that we’re in the motel in Archer City and got the number to call here so you wouldn’t be worried,” she answered.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Me or Shooter?”
“You.” He grinned.
“Yes, but not for food. I’m reversing the order of the evening. First it’s making love, then food, and then we’ll talk about the rest. And Blake, I love you, too,” she said. The words came out so slick that she didn’t realize she’d said them until his lips were on hers.
Chapter Twenty-six
Blake could hardly believe it was already February. Allie had said that she loved him and things had been good since those three wonderful days in the motel when they’d lived on vending machine food, takeout pizza, and lots of sex. Two weeks had passed since then and their relationship had grown deeper with the passing of each day. The next step was to pop the question and open a pretty red velvet box to reveal a ring, wasn’t it?
All those sparkling diamonds displayed in a jewelry store window had always made Blake shield his eyes and hurry across the street. But now a ring was all he could think about. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but was he rushing things? Buying the ring didn’t mean he had to give it to her before summer. Six months seemed like the appropriate time to wait after the “I love you” to the “Will you marry me?” He would have months to plan the perfect setting and the ring would be ready for that magical moment.
The plan had to be right because thinking the words didn’t give him hives. Only the online jewelry stores had so much to offer that he couldn’t choose, and then he worried that he might select something similar to her first wedding rings. He worried with it all afternoon and finally decided the only thing to do was ask Lizzy and hope to hell she didn’t pull out the gun from under the counter and start shooting.
“Hey, gorgeous!” he yelled down the hall toward Allie as he and Shooter came through the kitchen door. “I’m going to Lizzy’s store. You need me to pick up anything?”
Allie’s head bobbed down from an exposed rafter in the living room ceiling. “Not a thing. Lizzy is lonely with Mitch away. Want to ask her to join us for supper at Nadine’s tonight?”
“I’ll ask her. See you later. Be careful up there.” He blew her a kiss.
Luck was with him. No one was in the store when he arrived that chilly February afternoon.
Lizzy looked up from the counter and smiled. “Fence posts?”
“Wedding rings,” he said.