Page 44 of The Spice Is Nice

Chapter 17

Wylde West Girl

Colt

After Bozeman,in the middle of hauling hay, tending to Silver, and working my ass off down Ash’s list of prepping the ranch for winter, my plans changed. I’d go home for a couple weeks in December, see Mom, help a bit at her Flora’s Diner, eat too much of her cooking, all my favorites, and let my sisters fuss over me. Then I’d come right back to the ranch, to the work that had started to feel less like healing and more like living.

Back to Ivy.

It wasn’t a forever plan. I wasn’t ready to call it that. Hell, she probably wasn’t either. But it was the first plan I’d made in over a year that didn’t end with me loading a duffel bag onto a bus heading east, and never returning.

I got to the prairie at the top of the hill early for church. The sky was gorgeous, in the way only Montana could paint it, big and blue and going gold and purple at the edges where the sun started its descent. Ash had the grill going. Knox was hauling a cooler from the back of the truck while Eldon and Anson set out food. Willow was humming,while helping, with Ro buzzing around her. The smell of mesquite and charcoal thickened the air, mixing with pine and nature.

I loved Sunday nights here. No agenda. No drama. Just food and fire and easy company that made me forget I’d ever been anywhere else. Holly Creek seemed like a lifetime ago. The ship, like someone else’s life entirely. Somehow Montana replaced them both, settling deep in my bones.

More of the guys started arriving. Ivy’s truck rattled up the hill. I walked over to greet her. The grin that broke across her face through the windshield hit me right in the sternum.

She hopped out onto her running board, holding a foil-covered dish balanced in one hand, tossing her golden hair loose and sun-streaked over her shoulders with the other. She wore a pretty sweater, too far down covering her ass for my tastes, but at least bared one shoulder. Gazing at her creamy skin there made my thoughts go sideways. Mm. Her and those skirts she liked to wear—hard to tell which I preferred her in more, those or tight Wranglers. She made a damn fine country girl. That young guy who left Holly Creek to join the Navy would never have thought he’d end up with a woman like her.

“Oh good, my hero,” she called, glancing down. “The grass is wet again.”

“You could wear real shoes, you know, Miss Fancy Boots.”

“These are real shoes.” She wiggled a pretty boot that had bling on it. “They’re just notpracticalshoes.”

“Climb on.” I turned my back, crouched, and she hooked one arm around my neck, the dish held high in herfree hand like a trophy. I held her behind the knees. Her laugh vibrated against my back, and her thighs tightened around my ribs as I walked. The press of her mouth against my ear, her breath with the faint berry and vanilla sweetness of the lip balm she wore, driving me out of my mind.

“Careful with the goods,” she warned.

“The casserole or you?”

“Both, of course.”

I heard other vehicles arriving as I carried her across to the food table and set her down. She positioned the dish just so, then turned and looped both arms around my neck. She kissed me; these moves now natural. That was just what we did now, kissing all the time. And it felt so goddamn good I didn’t have a word for it.

I pulled her in tighter, hands settling at her waist, and wouldn’t dare go lower with Ro and Eli running around. My mouth found the spot below her ear, and I let my voice drop enough that only she could hear me. “There’s a clearing past the treeline,” I murmured. “Thought we could take a walk after dinner.Privatewalk.”

“Is that so?” She bit her bottom lip and her eyes went half-lidded, turning every coherent thought in my head to mush.

“Mm-hmm.”

“I could be persuaded,” she whispered, and then her fingers traced the collar of my shirt, and I swore the temperature went up ten degrees. I leaned in to claim her lips once more?—

“Well, Chelsea. I guess we now know why Colt has been dragging his feet about coming home.” A woman’s voice I knew well came at me from behind us.

Every muscle in my body locked.

Ivy pulled back, tilting her head, her hands still on my chest, her eyes going wide at the sight. I turned, already knowing who I was going to find, the ground shifting beneath me because my two worlds were colliding.

There stood my sisters and brothers-in-law, Richard Buchanan, too. In Montana. Arriving apparently without warning.

Maisy crossed her arms, her eyebrows raised to her golden hairline. Chelsea, beside her, had her mouth pressed tight in that way she did when she was trying not to cry or laugh and hadn’t decided which yet. Rex, Richard, and Brooks stood off to the side, taking in the view. The only family missing were my Mom, Richard’s wife, and all the kids.

My sisters looked good, better than I remembered. Both in dark leggings and sweaters and scarves and fashionable hiking boots with socks scrunched over them. Designer things they’d buy in New York thinking they’d be practical for a trip to Montana. Both of them, tanned and sharp-eyed, radiated the particular energy of Calhoun women on a mission. The guys were more practical in denim, boots, flannels, and down vests.

Behind them, Daisy walked up from her truck, hands raised like she’d surrendered. “These people were wandering around the barn, looking lost,” she explained. “Said they are your sisters, Colt. So I brought them to church.”

I should have answered those three missed calls earlier. I’d seen them come in while working with Silver on the lead line, easing him back into exercise, too focused on my work and thinking about being with Ivy this evening. She alwaysmade for a beautiful distraction. I’d told myself I’d deal with family later. Later had apparently decided to show up in person.