“He’s very nice to me,” Emma said with another squeeze that made him want to whimper.

“Then he should be your boyfriend.”

“What about the fact that he lives here and we live in New York?” Emma asked, as if he wasn’t sitting between them, listening to their conversation.

“Lucy and Colton figured that out, and so did Will and Cameron. You can, too.”

“None of them had a girl named Simone to think about when they were working it out.”

“That’s true.”

“That’s all you’ve got? That’s true?”

“For now. Give me time to think about it, will you?”

Grayson laughed at Simone’s saucy reply. “Yeah, Mom. Give her some time, will you?”

Emma smiled at him, and he was so focused on her adorably red cheeks and big blue eyes that he nearly missed the huge obstruction standing before them.

He brought the team to a stop about three feet from a collision with Fred the moose.

“Oh my God,” Simone whispered. “Is that him? Is that Fred?”

“That’s him.”

“He’s huge!”

Fred let out a loud moo that had Emma moving closer to Grayson, if that was possible.

“No wonder Cameron’s car was totally smooshed,” Simone whispered.

“She’s lucky all she had were two black eyes from the air bags,” Emma said in the same whisper. “Do we need to be afraid of him attacking us?”

“Absolutely not,” Grayson said. “He’s a pussycat.”

“Right,” Emma said sarcastically. “A thousand-pound pussycat.”

One of the horses whinnied, and Fred took a long, measuring look at them before ambling into the woods.

Emma released a sigh of relief. “He’s way bigger than advertised.”

“And totally harmless,” Grayson said as they began to move forward again. “Ask anyone around here.”

Emma cast a wary glance at the woods into which Fred had disappeared. “I can’t believe Cameron survived running into him,” she said with a shudder.

“He’s totally forgiven her. They’re old friends now.”

“I know,” Emma said. “I was there when Fred crashed her wedding.”

Simone giggled. “That was so funny. He came right into the tent.”

“I was sorry to miss it. I was away on work travel.” Another perk to self-employment was that he’d never again have to miss an important event due to something his partners decided “couldn’t be avoided.” Whatever. Life was too short for that nonsense.

They completed one big loop around the trails that surrounded Butler. “Do you want to go with me to the barn to put these guys up?” Grayson asked his passengers.

“You feel up to it, Simone?”

“I’m fine. I’d love to go.”

Grayson loved her spunk and how she was up for any adventure even when nursing an injury. “Then let’s go home.” He guided the team toward the Christmas tree farm and relaxed to enjoy the ride and the company.