Jesse by C H Admirand

time she’d stayed with her uncle. She’d finished school, graduated with honors, met and married the love of her life, and was a mom.
    But what she’d felt for her ex paled in comparison to the residual effect the tall, dark, and handsome cowboy who’d rescued them had on her. But right now wasn’t a good time to let herself be distracted by another cowboy. She had more important things in her life to worry about now: Lacy, first and foremost. Everything else just wasn’t important.
    But the dark-eyed, dreamy cowboy filled her mind again, and for a brief moment, she wondered what it would be like to be held in his arms again. That brief touch, when he’d reached out to save Lacy from falling out of Danielle’s arms, was imprinted on her heart. He’d been strong, solid, and larger than life—heaven help her, it felt as if they belonged there.
    But there were things to consider, other than where she’d begin if she had Jesse all to herself for just ten minutes… you could pack a lifetime into ten minutes. But would she really have the nerve to ask him to park his boots under her bed? The image of his broad-shouldered frame standing in the doorway to her bedroom had her breath catching and her heart tumbling.
    â€œMommy?” Lacy tugged on her sleeve. “When will we get there?”
    Danielle buried the image and glanced over at her uncle. “Five minutes?” She waited for a sign from him that she had been right.
    He smiled. “You still remember.”
    She reached across Lacy’s head to lay her hand on his forearm. “I spent the best summers of my life here with you.”
    It had always been that easy for her; their relationship had been based on love and trust from the time she was old enough to toddle into his waiting arms… and then he fed her pie. Life without pie wasn’t any kind of life at all. For those that hadn’t experienced manna from heaven—aka Sullivan’s chocolate pie à la mode—it was something that could not be explained. One had to experience firsthand the taste sensation of flaky perfection filled with smooth chocolatey goodness, finished off with his special whipped topping, a combination of crème fraîche—which tastes similar to sour cream but not quite as sour—and heavy cream.
    Perfection. There just wasn’t anything else that she could think of to explain the tasty goodness and sensation of the chocolate filling melting on her tongue.
    â€œMommy?” Lacy asked as they turned onto the familiar road.
    â€œYes, sweet pea?”
    â€œCan we go to the Circle G tonight? I wanna see cowboy Jesse.”
    Her heart stopped, then slowly, painfully, started beating again. Why should the mere mention of the man’s name affect her? She swallowed and shook her head. “Not tonight. Jesse had work to do and didn’t have time to give us a tour of the ranch, remember?”
    Lacy’s sigh was loud enough to have Danielle and her uncle looking at one another and grinning. “But I wanna learn to ride a horse.”
    Danielle was amazed that Lacy remembered the name of Jesse’s ranch but not surprised; her daughter listened to everyone and everything around her, sometimes hearing things Danielle wished she hadn’t. Hoping to redirect Lacy’s line of questioning, she asked, “How about if we promise to visit Jesse out at his ranch, but wait for him to call us?”
    â€œDo you know his number?”
    Danielle laughed, while her uncle asked, “Little June bug, do you always pester your momma like that?”
    Lacy stopped squirming on the seat and gave her undivided attention to her great-uncle.
    â€œI just want to see him again, Unca Jimmy.”
    â€œI’ve known him a lot of years and am pleased to say that he has worked hard to overcome the first impression I had of him.”
    â€œReally?” Danielle asked. “What did he do to give you a