He came down the steps, his cowboy boots making plenty of noise on the wood. “You don’t have to yell, sweetheart. I’m right here.” He smiled at her, and that only caused tears to prick her eyes.
He was so sweet, and so good. “I’m sorry,” she said, still unable to move toward him. “Maybe it’s too late. Maybe you’ve already found someone else to take to dinner and send cheese puns to. I don’t know.” She swallowed, her throat so dry. “I just know that there’s no shame in making spreadable cheeses and ice cream.”
“No, there is not,” he said, still coming toward her, that perfect cowboy hat perched on his head.
“I also know that I’m not supposed to be in San Antonio,” she said. “And while I’m kind of mad at the Lord for re-introducing you into my life at a most inconvenient time, maybe it’s those times when you least expect to find your soul mate that you find them.” She caught sight of the large bandage on his forearm, and she wanted that whole story right now. She wanted to check and make sure he was okay. Really okay, and not just physically.
“Soul mate?” Spencer asked, his voice half the volume of hers as he reached her and slid his hands up her arms.
“Potentially,” she whispered. “That’s what I want, Spencer. Not just a husband. A soul mate. Maybe it’s you, and I don’t want to throw away this chance without knowing.”
“Then let’s find out,” he said, leaning down and pausing only a breath away from her. “Just so I’m clear, you’re choosing to come back to the farm, right? Permanently?”
She grinned and wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. “That’s right, cowboy. See, I saw Gray Bell making pimento cheese on TV, and it was his momma’s recipe. And I thought, oh my word, I’m not above making spreadable cheeses. What if one of my sons is a famous country music star, and he’s on TV one day, making one of my recipes?”
Spencer’s eyes softened as he heard what she was really saying. “Can’t have a famous country music star son without a hot cowboy husband.”
Clarissa wondered how he always knew exactly what to say to heal her heart. She laughed with him and then pressed her forehead to his. “I’m sorry, Spence. Can we try again?”
“I’m not sure if I just lost my job or got myself a girlfriend,” he said, and he closed the gap between them. He kissed her like he’d gladly be unemployed as long as he got to see her and kiss her every day.
He pulled away too soon, and she pressed her cheek against his. “You’re choosingme, right, Clarissa?”
“Yes, Spencer. I’m choosing you.”
He smiled, the movement in his mouth subtle against her face. “I’m choosing you too,” he whispered, and then he kissed her again.
Applause filled her ears and told Clarissa to stop making out with the hot cowboy not-her-husband-yet. She pulled back to find his friends coming through the garage, all of them wearing smiles and cowboy hats. Since she’d been here a few weeks ago, she recognized all of them.
“Looks like you won’t need that plan,” Nate said, clapping Spencer on the shoulder. Then he scooped Clarissa into a hug, which sent a bolt of surprise through her. “He loves you so much.”
“I haven’t actually told her that yet,” Spencer said, and Nate pulled away, quite the look of alarm on his face.
“You blew it,” Ted teased him, and he slung his arm around Spencer’s shoulders. “I think the turkey’s out of the bag, Spence. You might as well tell her.” He grinned like no one Clarissa had ever met, and his spirit was sobig.
“Yeah,” Slate said, also smiling like the Cheshire Cat. “Tell ‘er. We won’t listen.”
“My ears are plugged,” Dallas said, his eyes shining with bright light.
“You guys are impossible,” Luke said. “They did this to me at Dallas’s wedding too. Totally ganged up on me, and I had to put them all in their place.” He stepped next to Clarissa’s side. “Come on, you idiots. Let’s leave them alone.” He started herding cowboys, which turned out to be as hard to do as trying to do the same to cats.
Spencer watched them go, a glow on his face too. He faced her again and lifted one shoulder as if to say,What can I say? They’re kind of crazy, but I love ‘em.
Clarissa wanted to tell him she loved him too, because she did. “I’m in love with you,” she blurted out, the words practically a shout. She cursed her Cooper genes and dialed back the intensity of her red hair. “I mean, I love you, Spencer.”
“Even after what happened today?” He dropped his chin toward his chest, clearly distressed by that morning’s activities.
“Nothing that happened sounds like it was your fault.”
“Even though my family is so dysfunctional and yours is so great?”
“Are you kidding me right now?” she asked, folding her arms. “I had to scream at them to get them to stop talking long enough to tell me where you were. I asked five or six times. They’re maddening, and loud, and so grouchy all the time.”
“But you love them.”
She sighed and dropped her arms back to her sides. “Yes,” she said. “I love them.”
“They don’t steal from you.”
Her heart bled for him, and she reached up and cradled his face. “You’re not your father.”
His eyes shone like black gold, and he leaned into her touch. “I love you, Clarissa.” He didn’t say anything more. No qualifiers. No follow-up.
She felt his love flow through her, pure and simple and oh-so-good. A smile filled her face, then her soul, and she knew there would be nothing better than this man in her life. No restaurant job would hold a candle to being his wife, and she laughed as he took her into his arms again and spun her around.
He set her on her feet again and swayed side-to-side with her. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” he whispered as he lowered his head toward hers. When he finally kissed her, Clarissa experienced peace, light, and love in their purest form.
She’d finally gotten what she wanted, and it had happened on a ranch in the middle of some small town in Texas no one had heard of.