“Stop.”
“What?”
“Looking.”
“Where?”
She stared.
The Cowboy smiled.
“Dangerous question.”
The Older Sister wiped flour from her hands.
“Go outside.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was outside all day.”
“So?”
“I prefer this view.”
Her face warmed.
She pointed toward the door.
“Barn.”
“It’s six in the evening.”
“Practice.”
The Cowboy laughed.
He stepped closer instead.
The Older Sister remained where she was.
His hands settled on the counter on either side of her.
Not touching.
Again.
That maddening restraint.
“You could move.”
She whispered.
“So could you.”
Neither did.
The Cowboy lowered his head.
The kiss started gently.
Then the Older Sister grabbed the front of his vest.
Things became less gentle.
His hand moved to her waist.
Then her back.
She pressed closer.
For several seconds, all the carefully constructed restraint of the previous weeks disappeared.
The Cowboy broke the kiss first.
Again.
The Older Sister stared.
“You enjoy annoying me.”
“Immensely.”
“Why stop?”
“Because your sister could come home.”
“She won’t for an hour.”
His eyes changed.
That information was not helpful.
The Older Sister saw the effect.
Smiled.
Then regretted smiling.
The Cowboy leaned closer.
“Cruel.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep proving it.”
She touched the scar along his jaw.
His expression softened.
The intimacy changed instantly.
Less playful.
More vulnerable.
“What happened?”
The Cowboy touched her hand.
“My father’s farm.”
She waited.
“Men came to remove us.”
“I was twenty.”
“Thought fists could solve law.”
“They couldn’t.”
The Older Sister traced the scar.
“You learned.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“That anger without knowledge is easy to defeat.”
She looked at him.
“And now?”
“Now I try knowledge first.”
“And fists?”
“Still available.”
She laughed softly.
The Cowboy kissed her palm.
The Older Sister’s breathing changed again.
He noticed.
She whispered:
“Barn.”
He smiled against her skin.
“Yes, ma’am.”
This time he actually went.
The Older Sister stood alone afterward.
Very annoyed.
Very happy.
The Younger Sister’s future changed too.
She had once said she would leave with the Cowboy if he asked.
He never did.