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After ripping a brush throughsurprise there, so I made a layover in the bathroom to slick on some lip balm

Voices buzzed in the kitchen already, which meant I wasn’t only late, I was really late As soon as I skidded into the kitchen, my eyes locked onto his and his onto mine Jesse was already seated at the table with the rest of the hands, eating breakfast After finishing the bite of food in his rin spread across his face as he took me in decked out in my new clothes

"Wowza! Don’t you look fabulous," Rose said when she pulled her head out of the fridge

"She sure does," Jesse added, his grin stretching wider The rest of the hands, along with Neil, turned and took a quick look A few nods, a couple sot back to their breakfast

"Thank you," I replied to Rose before glancing back at Jesse I don’t think he’d blinked yet "And thank you" I hoped he’d pick up on the subtle inflection because I couldn’t just walk across the kitchen, kiss him full on the lips, and thank him for the clothes the way I wanted to I wasn’t sure how his faure us out for myself, so whatever Jesse and I had, we’d have to keep it quiet until we figured out just what it was

"Sorry I’m late," I said as I rushed over to the coffee pot That was round, made, and poured the coffee After that first day, I hadn’t spilled any Occasionally, I’d be brave enough to whip up the pancakethe coffee was the safest bet

"That’s all right, hun," she said, waving it off "Cleht You could have slept in, you know?"

Cleriddle while standing on a step stool Her purple scarf was proudly on display

"What kept you up? Mind, body, or both?" Rose asked as I grabbed the coffee pot

I couldn’t look her in the eyes when I answered, "Both" I promptly spun around and whisked toward the table

I felt one set of eyes on ht Itlast night when I had hot coffee in ood idea I stopped beside Neil and lifted the pot "Refill?" It was a rhetorical question Not once in the past week had Neil turned down a coffee refill

"Please," he said with a nod "Did you end up going to the rodeo last night, Rowen? We didn’t see you there, but it was packed as usual"

"Yeah, I went" I focused on pouring coffee into his cup I did a quick scan of the table and was relieved to see a certain seat empty I wasn’t quite ready to see Garth Black yet

"What did you think?" he asked, turning in his seat toward ht? I bet it left quite an impression"

"It certainly left an impression," I replied as I set his cup back down in front of hilad you could make it," he said as I moved on to the next cup that needed topped off "Did you do anything especially fun afterward?"

Fro next to Jesse hammered his back a few times while Jesse took a few sips of water "Geez, Jesse Try chewing your food before you s it Basic stuff here, buddy"

Jesse lifted his eyebrows in acknowledgelanced my way

I shot him a thumbs up and made a face He shot me back a smirk

"I just went back up to ht" I continued to make the coffee rounds Jesse picked his fork back up and dove into his breakfast, but his eyes shiftedit subtle

"Sounds like an uneventful night," Neil said

"Perfectly uneventful," I replied

Jesse shook his head and grinned into his plate

The pot was empty a few cups later After a detour to refill, I headed back to the table En route, Jesse lifted his full cup of coffee and took a drink He didn’t stop until the cup was eer and winked at me

If he kept that up, the entire ranch would know so on between us

"Refill?" I stopped beside hi it, but his eyes twinkled a bit ht you’d never ask," he replied as he handed razed razes,last night, too?" I asked innocently as I poured his coffee No one was paying us any attention, but just in case