Free My Ranger Weekend by J.D. Lowrance Page B

joked as I threw out the most famous line, “ I feel the need . . . ”
    She finished for me. “ The need for speed. ” We both laughed. “ Looks like we both like old school movies. ”
    “ Well I think every guy
puts Top Gun in their top 5 favorite movies. What makes Clueless your favorite? ”
    “ I don ’ t know. I can relate. I
am a blonde in California. It does not get more clich é than that. I love how over the top it is. ” We both laughed again. “ Your turn, ” she directed as she sat
there smiling down at me. I caught her light scent so I took a deep breath
trying to draw her into me.  
    “ Ok. Next question, ” she said, before asking, “ Favorite place to visit? ”
    “ That one is a hard one, ” I paused, trying to think of a favorite. “ I mean I have been all
over the world but never on a vacation. Until I joined the Army I never left
the state of South Dakota. ”
    “ Ever? ” she asked.
    “ Never, ” I replied.
    “ Wow, ” she commented. “ Ok then.   Where is one place you
want to visit? ”
    “ The new Dallas Stadium, ” I blurted out making her laugh. I knew in that moment I would
do anything to make her laugh. “ We Dakotans don ’ t have a football team, as I am sure you are aware, and my
dad is a huge fan. He made me into one, ” I explained. “ So yeah, I would love
to go to a Thanksgiving Day game there. I bet it would be really cool. ”
    “ I bet it would be, ” she added.
    “ What about you? Where
do you want to visit? ” I asked.
    “ Nantucket, ” responded Ryan.
    “ Nantucket? Why? ”
    “ I have only been to New
York and DC on the East Coast and I would love to go there. Reggie has been and
said it is gorgeous and the perfect temperature in the summer time. I would
love to go there. ” She turned and smiled
at me. I smiled back enjoying how easy this was with her.
      “ Back to your
question, ” I said, really getting into this. “ Where is your favorite
place to visit? ”
    “ Ireland by far, ” Ryan answered. “ I absolutely love it there. ”
    “ How many times have you
been? ”
    “ Only once. Reggie and I
spent about a month traveling all over Ireland and the UK before school started
this September. ”
    “ Sounds incredible. ”
    “ It was. I would go back
in a heartbeat. ” We sat in silence for a
few minutes, both of us lost in thought.
    “ Whose turn is it? ” I asked, trying to get her attention back on me.
    “ By all means, ” she said, “ ask away. ” The mischievous smile
was back in place as she could tell I was really into her questions game.
    “ How long have you been
interested in designing? ”
    The smile on her face absolutely mesmerized me. Thank God for
sunglasses as I could not stop staring at her lovely face. “ Since as long as I can
remember. One of my nannies taught me to sew at age eight and ever since then I
have been making clothes for my and Reggie ’ s dolls. As I got older I started to sketch the designs
before making them. Reggie was my mannequin as I taught myself about
measurements and sizes versus the amount of fabric I needed. ” Her love of what she did was evident in her voice and face.
And I bet her eyes if I took off her sunglasses. Her full lips took a
mischievous tilt making me want to her pull her to me. “ Ok, my turn. How old
are you? ”
    “ Twenty-four. ”
    “ Any siblings? ”
    “ Only child, you?
    “ Same. ” We both laughed as we tried to talk at the same time. “ Go ahead, ” she said as she turned and laid on her stomach but her gaze
remained on my face.
    “ The Porsche, ” was all I said, wanting her to expand on what she said last
night.
    Ryan blew out a breath as she sat up to look out over the
water. “ Well, let ’ s see. My parents are
very overbearing and had pretty much laid out this life for me well before I
could even walk. It included the most exclusive private schools, college, and
now law school. When fashion started taking a bigger and bigger role in