Page 3 of Falling for Forever

“Really?” She squealed and hopped on her toes. “You’ll see. It’ll be fun. There’s food and there will be dancing. Good music. Have you been to one of our chili feeds before?”

He shook his head.

“Right, well, I’ll be there to make sure you have a good time.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He said it under his breath, certain she’d missed it, but then her eyes cut to meet his and for a second he wasn’t sure. He pulled his attention off her and nodded toward the horse. “So you think I’ll be able to handle her? She seems pretty stubborn.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

He grinned at how sure of herself she was. “Why?”

Lydia’s hand fell on his forearm, the touch warm and alluring. Then she leaned in close, standing on her toes so she could get closer to his ear. Her breath was minty and it tickled his senses. But her whisper was enough to shock him dumb. “Because you handle me just fine.”

His eyes grew wide, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything as she skipped toward the fence and climbed over it. That was more than simple banter. No question she’d crossed over a line. He wasn’t sure if she’d caught it herself.

Was she trying to open them up for something more than friendship?

But no. She wouldn’t do that. They’d had discussions about friends becoming more in the past, especially when they spoke about her youngest sister, Wren. Things got messy when friendships were involved. There was simply so much history. And what happened when it didn’t work out? Everyone lost so much more.

Chet straightened his shoulders and told himself she was only teasing. She had a knack for pushing his buttons in the strangest of ways. This time, she’d simply gotten the upper hand.

CHAPTER TWO

Lydia jogged up the steps to Tate’s new home he shared with Rylee and checked her pulse. She hopped in place while she allowed her body to cool down. If she’d timed everything right, she’d arrived just in time for supper.

Family dinners had become the new normal, especially after two of her four siblings had gotten married. Everyone was settling down. Even Jason had committed to a future with Cecelia. They were planning their wedding while Lydia fell further behind. So while her parents were currently traveling the world, Tate had insisted they needed to stay close. His reasoning made sense. It was as if he were throwing his success in her face, even though nothing could be further from the truth.

It was fine. She loved her family. She even adored the women her brothers had ended up with and Faith’s husband wasn’t all bad, except that he was still involved with the rodeo.

Ugh.

She chose not to hold it against him, though. He was good to her sister and that was all that mattered. Her own experience with rodeo cowboys had scared her off from dating anyone with that background. It was all too messy.

Lydia folded her body into a stretch and breathed deeply. She was hot and sticky, but the run had been so satisfying. Physical activity offered her an escape she’d never guessed she needed back when she’d been in the thick of a bad relationship. Now, she never missed a chance for a daily run.

The sound of a car engine had her straightening, and she moved to the edge of the porch, lifting her foot up behind herself to stretch out the muscles in her thigh. Then her foot landed on the porch with a thud when she recognized the truck that pulled up.

A smile stretched across her face as she ran down the steps. A split second after Chet’s door opened, she flung herself into his arms and gave him a big hug.

It wasn’t romantic at all. She loved teasing Chet to the point he was speechless. It was what they did. And what better way to do that than wrap her sweat-slicked body around his.

He grunted, then he stiffened, and she laughed as he pried her from his body. “Lydia, geez! Did you jump in the creek or something?”

She snickered, wiping her damp hair from her face. “What are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring his rhetorical question. “Need one of my brothers? I can go get them for you.”

“Just here for dinner.”

Lydia blinked. It wasn’t the first time he’d joined them for family dinner. His family was no secret to her. He’d moved around with his father from ranch to ranch and his mother hadn’t been in the picture for a long time. For all intents and purposes, Jason had become his family.

Well, Jason and herself. She prided herself on how close they’d gotten. But that wasn’t how things started between them.

Secretly, she’d had a crush on him. That had been in the beginning. She’d stopped by the barn where Jason and Chet trained horses more times than she could count, always finding excuses to spend time getting to know him.

Lydia gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You didn’t tell me you were coming for dinner.”

“You didn’t ask.” He grinned right back at her before he wrinkled his nose with exaggeration. “Although, I hope you plan on washing up.”

She gasped and shoved him again. “I do not. My sweat smells like roses.” Even so, she backed away from him. That latent crush had a nasty habit of rearing its ugly head at the most inconvenient times. And him reminding her that she probably didn’t smell great scratched at a raw spot. Chet had never been interested in more than friendship, and she’d been perfectly happy with that.