Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
This time, I’m the one shooting the glare. “You sure you want to talk about exes?”
“I’m not threatened.”
“Good.” I step onto the ladder. “You shouldn’t be.” I take a few steps and then say, “He dumped me as soon as I told him I was moving, so it was never a discussion. Guess I wasn’t worth the effort.”
I try to step off the ladder, but his arms hold me in place. When I turn to face him, his hands hold my hips, and he says, “He was a fucking idiot for not fighting for you. You’re always worth the effort, Pris.”
I try to play off the compliment by rolling my eyes, but he’s just so swoony I can’t resist him. “If you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask.”
“Can I kiss you?”
“Absolutely.”
I’m given the kiss of all kisses—sweet with embracing pressure, gentle caress of our tongues, and he holds me in his arms like I might slip away if he doesn’t. The one in the rain was pretty damn good as well. The man knows how to make me swoon. I’ll give him that.
“You ready?” he asks as we approach the doors of the barn.
The night fell a while ago, but the light outside the barn shone bright enough to keep things visible through the dark. From here, I can see the lights on in the house and some movement in the kitchen.
I rub the muzzle of each of the horses, then catch up to him. “It’s probably best if you head out from here. My dad will start with a whole line of questions. I can dodge them and go shower, but you could be stuck for the next hour trying to explain what we’ve been doing.”
He scratches the back of his neck, eyeing the house. “You’re probably right.”
When I close the gap, standing next to him, I’m swept up in his arms and taken to a darker corner where no one can see us. Tagger kisses me once, and then again before whispering, “This was one of the best days of my life.”
I grin. “It was winning at the rodeo for me. What am I competing with?”
“The birth of my son.”
I surrender on the spot, throwing my hands up in front of me. “It’s no competition, then.”
“No. Two different events, important in different parts of my life.” He sets me down on my bare feet, the hay both irritating and tickling. The mud can suck it. I’m sick of it after today.
“You’re an amazing dad. Beckett’s fortunate to have you.”
“I’m fortunate to have him. He’s changed my perspective on pretty much everything. I put importance on things that were never worthy in the big picture. Now I value things that really matter—my son, happiness, and living a life that feeds my soul.” His gaze drops as if he needs a second to collect his thoughts. When he looks up, that determination he’s always carried in his eyes is at the forefront. “Come to New York. I’ll book you on a first-class ticket.”
“When?” Clearly, it only takes hearing first class to get me to say yes. I’m not that bad. I can afford my own first-class ticket. The truth is, I’d go anywhere for him and sit in the cargo hold if I had to. Desperate much? I now know what dreams taste like, so I’ll never get enough of him.
“When can you break free for a few days?”
I know I’ll have to lie to my dad. Since I’m more transparent than glass, I’ll have to come up with something good and a story that won’t raise red flags. “Give me two weeks.”
A smile splits his cheek wide open. “Two weeks it is.”
We share one more kiss before I run for the house. I’m more than happy to distract my dad to help Tagger’s quick getaway. I stop on the porch to drop my boots and look back at the barn, knowing it will always hold a special place in my heart.
I smile, then walk inside to find my dad at the stove. He glances at me. “You got caught out in it?”
“Yeah. Cats and dogs.”
“Cows and horses,” he says, smiling over a joke we’ve always shared to make storms less scary for me when I was growing up. Then he sees the dress. In my heart, I know he’d never be mad at me for wearing it, but I do hate seeing the pain it causes him to see it so dirty as if I didn’t care at all. “Your mother’s dress.”
I look down as it sinks in again that it’s ruined. “Sunrise was under a tree at the back of the cornfield. I waited with her.” I don’t say more because what is there to say? It was careless of me to wear it at all.