MOTHER BUCKER

BUCK COWBOYS

BOOK 4

ELLE THORPE

WWW.ELLETHORPE.COM

Copyright © 2023 by Elle Thorpe Pty Ltd

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-922760-26-5

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-922760-27-2

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Editing by Emmy and Studio ENP

Proofreading by Karen Hrdlicka.

Photography by Wander Aguiar

V1

For Lissanne,

who keeps me organized and entertained at signings, catches multiple trains to meet me for lunch, and who always has the very best tea.

1

ABEL

Iwatched her from the back of the wedding I’d crashed.

It was hot out, the summer sun unrelenting, but while everyone else smiled at the bride and groom reciting their vows, all I could see was a bridesmaid’s fight to stay conscious. She swayed, sweat beading on her brow, her face taking on a green tinge.

I took a step forward, ready to sprint up the aisle and break her fall. This was going to cause the biggest scene, but there was nothing inside me that could let a woman pass out and not attempt to catch her.

She caught herself, sucking in a deep breath, and forcing her lips into something that was probably supposed to be a smile but came out more like a grimace.

I stepped back, shrugging some of the tension out of my shoulders. She needed water. Someone to get her out of the sun. Couldn’t anyone else see how badly she was suffering? This was going to end in disaster, I could just see it. She was going to pass out right as the groom leaned in to kiss his girl.

Wouldn’t that be a romantic moment? Your first kiss as a married couple with a bridesmaid passed out at your feet.

The officiant droned on, announcing the pair man and wife. Cheers erupted around me, the crowd all rushing forward and engulfing the new Mr. and Mrs., their calls of congratulations ringing out across the ranch.

Nobody else seemed to notice the bridesmaid slip away.

My feet were on the move, following, before I’d even registered a decision to go after her.

She stumbled across the patchy, uneven grass, zigzagging for the shade of the prettily decorated barn where the reception was taking place.

It was all too little, too late. She’d made it through the ceremony, but the heat had done a number on her. Horror speared through me as she gave up the fight and tipped toward the ground.

I got my fingers around her upper arm, right before she face-planted into the dirt, and hauled her back up onto her feet. “Shit, you nearly hit the deck.” I steadied her, gripping her shoulders tightly for fear she’d stumble again. “Are you okay?” I ducked my head so I could check her expression.

I would never be able to explain what I felt in that moment.

The wave of pure attraction hit me so hard it was like I’d been struck by lightning.

The pounding of my heart changing from adrenaline to desire.

I didn’t believe in love at first sight, but lust? Absolutely.

Up close, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Big brown eyes stared up at me, blinking rapidly, trying to focus. Her confusion settled on my face for a moment, like she wasn’t quite sure where she was, or why some stranger had her in his arms, but then her gaze cleared.

Just as quickly as lust had overcome me, it filled her eyes too. She studied me, gaze sweeping over my face, my chest, my shoulders. Lingering.

Fuck, that was hot. The way she looked at me was everything.

“I’m fine. I think. Maybe.” She wobbled slightly again.

Fine, my ass. “You were standing in that sun for the best part of an hour. Come ’ere. You need to sit.” I couldn’t seem to remove my hand from her arm. I told myself it was purely to be sure she didn’t fall, but the truth was, an electricity pulsed between us, one I didn’t want to stop.

She was going to think I was some creep, if I kept staring at her the way I was. I took my jacket off and laid it out on the grass at our feet.

“Oh no,” she protested, watching me place it down carefully. “I don’t want to get your jacket all dirty.”

The jacket had been stifling in the heat anyway. “You’re doing me a favor. I was roasting. Sit.”

She did, slowly sinking onto my jacket and smoothing her dress around her knees.

I couldn’t walk away. I was glad she could no longer fall, but she’d nearly passed out twice. “Mind if I sit with you?”

She gazed up at me, already looking better for sitting in the shade. “I’m on your jacket, so I think it’d be pretty rude if I said no.”

I shook my head, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. We’d had a moment, or at least I thought we had, but maybe I’d read it wrong. “More than happy to stand six feet away, if you prefer.” God, she was pretty though. The cowboy boots with the crimson-colored dress were sexy as hell. If she wasn’t sick, I’d be thinking about exactly what she was wearing underneath. I really did not want to stand six feet away. I wanted to sit beside her, inhale her scent, ask her name, and if she had a boyfriend.

Fuck. I hoped there was no boyfriend.

She patted the spot beside her. “You can sit.”

I dropped down, sprawling my legs out in front and leaning back on my hands. “I’m Abel, by the way.”

The color was returning to her face rapidly. “Callie. Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Dom’s?”

“No. Actually, I don’t know the couple at all. I’m a bit of a crasher. My brother and his wife dragged me along. I know a few people from the bull riding world, so they thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house and socialize.” Rem had badgered me until I’d agreed. I hadn’t seen our friends—his friends really now, since I hadn’t stayed in touch—in over twenty years. I’d spotted Bowen, Frost, and Johnny in the crowd, all as fit as they had when we’d been on tour together, but with the addition of a few gray hairs.

“Is it? A good idea to socialize?”

A wry grin lifted the corner of my mouth. “Not really. It isn’t really my thing anymore. I leave that up to my brother these days.” It had been a shitty year, and my lackluster attitude had been better kept to myself. I didn’t want to be a burden on anyone.

“Well, I appreciate you turning up, if only to save me the embarrassment of passing out in front of everyone and ending up with a face full of road rash for the rest of the photos. That would not have been a good look.”

I snuck a glance over at her. “I think you’d pull it off. The blood from your broken nose would have matched nicely with that dress.”

She smiled at me curiously. “So you ride?”

In this crowd, she meant bulls, not horses. Though I’d been on the World Bull Riding Association Tour once upon a time, I’d never been a rider, so I shook my head. “Nah. I’ve had a go, back when I was young and dumb. Wasn’t much good. But I worked on the WBRA tour for a few years as a rodeo clown.”

“Bet you were hot in face paint.” As soon as she said it, pink flushed her cheeks, and she coughed. “I mean, everyone looks good with red circles on your cheeks and overdrawn lips, right?”

I laughed. They didn’t even call them rodeo clowns anymore. They were the bullfighters. “Face paint was optional.”

“Did you ever get gored by a bull?”

My fingers ghosted over the old injury to my thigh. “Yeah. Hurts. Leaves a nice scar too. You?”

She grinned. “No, not recently. I know to stay out of their way. Not like you guys who jump right in front of them. You’re all crazy.”

I shrugged a shoulder at her assessment. “It was good fun at the time. Didn’t think too much about the consequences. Too old for that shit now though.”

“What do you do now?”

“Same thing everyone does. Work. Sleep. Eat. Repeat.”

“No wife?”

Interesting question. I liked that she wanted to know. “Not anymore.”

She cringed, glancing down at her hands. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

Music started up in the barn behind us, and the stomp of people on the dance floor rang out. Callie’s gaze lifted and locked with mine. I couldn’t turn away. The draw between us was thick and strong and completely undeniable. Mutual attraction at its finest.

“Do you dance?” she asked.

I raised an eyebrow, the question taking me by surprise when I’d been so lost in memorizing the exact color of her eyes. “Be more specific.”

“You know…” She wriggled her shoulders to the beat floating out on the air. “Dancing. What you do when there’s music playing.”

“There’s a big difference between a waltz and a head bob at the bar when your favorite song comes on the jukebox.”

“How about something in between?”

I cocked my head at her. “You asking me to dance, Callie?” The thought of pulling her onto a dance floor was a big fat hell yes. It was an excuse to take her into my arms again, to feel her close against me. To watch her move and smile up at me while I spun her around the floor, getting braver with every step, closing the distance between us until she was all I could see.

“Don’t think I’m in the headspace for dips and spins, but if you’re up for a slow shuffle…”

Heat flashed in her eyes, a promise there I so wanted to take up.

It spoke of getting too close in a darkened corner. Of taking her lips with mine. Of finding somewhere private, where I could get to know her better. With our clothes on.

Fuck, she was a siren with those big doe eyes and a body made for sin. Too fucking tempting.

I got to my feet and held my hand out. “I think I can handle a slow shuffle.”

It took no coaxing to get her in my arms. She came so willingly it was nearly impossible not to sweep her right off her feet and go find somewhere to be alone.

I wanted to kiss her. To know what she tasted like. To run my hands over every inch of her naked body and to lick between her thighs.

Like she could read my mind, her eyes practically begged me to do it. She pressed herself against me, hardened, turned-on nipples against my chest.

“Callie!”

The two of us jumped apart like we’d been caught in the act of something debaucherous.

Frost had been a good, solid, loyal, and dependable friend when we’d been on tour. He strode over, his face serious, as it always was. But he only had eyes for Callie, his expression full of concern. “Are you okay? You didn’t seem well during the ceremony and then you disappeared. I’ve been searching for you.”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

The world slowed down, to where that was all I could hear. I choked on the word. “Dad? You’re her dad, Frost?”

Horror over every dirty thought I’d just had flooded me. My palms burned from where I’d been touching her.

Frost put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “You two didn’t meet yet? Callie’s my middle daughter. I’m not even sure we’d had the twins the last time I saw you?” He turned to me. “Abel was on the tour with me, once upon a time. He’s your uncle Rem’s brother.”

“Uncle…” I was sure I was as green as she had been earlier. Obviously, she wasn’t blood related to my brother. I would have known about her if that were the case, but fuck, did it even matter? She was my friend’s daughter, and clearly younger than I’d thought. I’d assumed she was late twenties, but doing the math in my head, she had to be younger. More like twenty-three, maybe? At best. I wiped the sweat from my palms on the back of my jeans.

Frost motioned Callie to go into the barn. “Cal, we need to go inside. You’re needed for a family photo.”

She nodded at her father, then turned back to me. “Thanks for that.” She held my jacket out.

Her voice was suddenly polite and distant, where moments before it had been deep and husky with need. I wasn’t sure I could do the same. Just flick that attraction off like it had a switch. I nodded without making eye contact and reached for the jacket.

Our fingers touched.

That electricity between us was undeniable. Sparks may as well have exploded.

I stared at her, eyes wide, matching hers.

She’d felt it too.

But her family was waiting. Without another word, she followed her father into the barn.

I ran out of the wedding like my ass was on fire.

The summer night air was still too warm for my liking, or maybe that was the flames of Hell lapping at me, because that was definitely where I was headed. Straight down to see the Devil.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” I muttered to myself, crunching over dry grass and weaving my way between the array of pickup trucks parked around the Hunts’ yard. The soft, romantic music playing inside the barn where the reception was taking place followed, each note reminding me I’d very nearly taken Callie Hunt into my arms and swayed around a dance floor with her.

Twenty-something-year-old Callie Hunt who I had most definitely not recognized as one of my oldest friend’s daughters.

Until she’d gone and called him “Dad” right in front of me.

Asshole really didn’t even come close to how bad I’d just fucked up.

I found my pickup in the sea of similar vehicles and slid behind the steering wheel. For a moment, I just sat there, letting the darkness engulf me while my entire body burned. I wished I could have written it off as embarrassment.

But the fact was, even hearing her call him Dad hadn’t done anything to extinguish the heat inside me.

I’d never experienced an instant attraction like that.

Hell, I’d once married a woman I felt less for than when Callie had turned big brown eyes on me and quirked her lips in a small smile.

I needed to leave before I did something stupid. Like walk back in there, throwing all care to the wind, just so I could hold her hand.

Instead, I shoved my key into the ignition and turned it so sharply I was surprised it didn’t snap. Sliding the gearshift into first, I made myself steer the truck along the gravel drive and out onto the road.

Every inch of my body wanted to do anything but. My every instinct was to spin the car around and storm back through the wedding to find her. To finish what we’d started.

She’d felt it. I swear, the whole ranch had to have felt it.

I pushed my foot down harder on the accelerator, racing along the quiet country roads, putting distance between me and a woman who would never be mine.

Not for a night. Not for an hour. Not even for a moment.

Callie Hunt was temptation wrapped up in the prettiest of packages.

With a label clearly written for someone else.

2

ABEL

Irolled over in my hotel bed, hands absentmindedly groping around the white sheets for her. Her long dark hair, those gorgeous eyes, and the scent of her perfume so sweet and perfect.

My bed was empty. The other side still neatly tucked in; pillows stacked from when housekeeping had been here earlier.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that she’d occupied my dreams for the third night in a row.

My dick was definitely disappointed. Just like I had the last two mornings, I dragged myself to the shower and put my hand around an aching erection that wouldn’t go away until I did something about it.

The water cascaded down over my shoulders, and I leaned one arm heavily on the white tiled wall, dropping my head as the images of the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen played on repeat through my head.

I’d done everything I could not to think about her. But it was all to no use. I pumped my cock, hating myself with every stroke but completely powerless to do anything about it.

It would fade. It was a temporary infatuation, a wholly inappropriate one, but it would dim.

It had to.

I came with a groan of dissatisfaction. The release was needed, but it was barely enjoyable compared to the images my damn brain kept conjuring up at all hours of the night and day.

Wrapping a threadbare white towel around my waist, I padded barefoot back into the carpeted main room and perched on the edge of my hotel bed. I needed to get out of here. But I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. I’d been hoping to pick up some work on the Hunts’ ranch, but now that was absolutely out of the question.

My phone rang on the bedside table, and I reached across to grab it. The caller display flashed up a photo of my brother, Rem, that I’d taken two decades before when we’d both been working on the pro bull riding tour. It had always been one of my favorites, and every time I’d gotten a new phone, one of the first things I did was update his image.

I hit the answer button. “Bit early for you, isn’t it?”

Rem scoffed into the phone. “Says the man who’s been sleeping off a hangover for two days.”

It was the excuse I’d given him when he’d asked where I’d disappeared to during the wedding. I’d made up some bullshit about finding a bar and getting so drunk I’d needed two days to recover.

Really, I’d just needed some time out to get my head on straight. Apparently, I hadn’t had enough because I was still thinking about her. It was clearly time to change tactics. “What are you doing today?”

“That’s why I’m calling. We’re getting on a plane to head home tonight, but I want to see you before I go. Breakfast at that bakery in town? They do hot meals as well.”

My stomach gave a grumble. I’d been living on rubbish hotel room service meals that were barely food, and a proper hot breakfast sounded like heaven. “Perfect.”

“See you there in thirty.”

I put on deodorant, brushed my teeth, and found a clean pair of jeans in the duffel bag that held all my worldly possessions. It was a sad little collection of things, but it was all I really needed. I’d had the pretty house filled with useless shit. I’d lost it all, but it hadn’t bothered me much.

The only thing I really missed from my old life was my dog.

Which probably said a lot about the state of my marriage.

I found the bakery easily, since it was the only one on the main street of town, and pulled open the door, a quaint bell above it tinkling as I walked inside. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, and I blinked, trying to clear the bright spots caused by the sun outside.

“Abel.”

I spun around, my stomach dropping at the man who raised his hand in my direction.

Kai ‘Frost’ Hunt gave me one of his rare smiles and waved me over to a big table he sat at with his wife, Addie, and some old friends of ours from tour days. I’d lost contact with them over the years, but there was no missing Bowen Barclay, Australian champion, and his wife, Paisley. They sat with Johnny and Isabel West, whose son, Dominic, had been the one marrying Kai’s other daughter, Summer, a few nights ago.

There were three seats left at the table, presumably for me, Rem, and his wife, Whitney.

I had not realized when Rem invited me out for breakfast that this was a group outing.

If I’d known I was going to have to face Callie’s parents, I probably would have declined the invitation. Said I was still hungover or something equally lame.

But there was no getting out of it now.

I walked over slowly, unable to even look Frost in the eye after what I’d done that morning while thinking of his beautiful adult daughter. I’d honestly thought she was at least close to thirty, which still left a decent age gap between us, but one that would have been respectable.

It had been a long time since Kai and I had worked together, and he definitely hadn’t had a daughter then. But there was no way Callie was any older than twenty-five.

I was so going to Hell.

I avoided the open seat next to Kai, who was deep in conversation with Johnny, and instead took the one next to Bowen.

He turned to me and gave me a slow grin. “Fuck, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. Was hoping to catch up at the wedding, but you disappeared so quick, none of us even got to say hello. How are you?”

Twisted up over a woman I only spoke to for ten minutes. Jacking off twice a day like a fucking teenager because I can’t get her out of my head.

“Fine. Good. Same old thing, different day.” It wasn’t true at all, but it was the sort of thing that didn’t invite further questions.

Bowen didn’t seem to get that message. He leaned an elbow on the table and studied me. “What are you doing for work these days?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Not a lot, honestly. You heard my wife left me?”

Bowen blanched. “Shit. Don’t think I even knew you were married. Sorry, man.”

I grabbed a sugar packet from a container in the middle of the table and played with the edges absently, so I had something to do with my fingers. “It’s fine. But shit went down, and I decided it wasn’t worth sticking around and dealing with the gossip. So now I’m just floating around until I figure out what’s next. Seeing a bit of the country. Picking up whatever work is around where I can along the way.”

Bowen sat back and crossed his arms over his broad chest. He grinned. “So you’re reliving the touring days? All fancy free and no responsibilities? You sure you aren’t having a midlife crisis?”

I was barely forty, so that seemed a little premature. But then I thought about how badly I’d wanted to take Callie to bed a few nights ago and realized that going after a woman almost half my age made me the stereotypical midlife crisis in a nutshell. “I think I might be,” I confessed to Bowen.

He laughed and slapped me on the shoulder, clearly taking it as a joke, even though I wasn’t quite sure I’d meant it as one. “Aren’t we all? This getting older thing is bullshit.”

Bowen barely looked a day older than the last time I’d seen him, but I would take his word for it.

He cracked his neck, as if to emphasize his point. “We’re swamped back home and can’t get anyone who wants that sort of work. We almost didn’t make it here at all because we have so few staff members we can leave in charge of the place. We think about selling it sometimes…”

Kai overheard and glanced at him sharply. “You wouldn’t? You love that place. It’s your entire legacy.”

Bowen shrugged. “I do, but I’m getting older. The boys—”

Paisley rolled her eyes. “You have to stop calling them that. Henry and Aiden are both over thirty. They’re hardly boys. Even Creed is over eighteen.”

“Fine. Our sons,” Bowen corrected himself, “want to take over the place, but sometimes I feel like I’m just handing them over a lifetime of hard work and heartbreak.”

Paisley rubbed a soothing hand down his back and glanced between me and Kai. “Drought has been rough the last few years. Everyone back home is feeling it.”

I nodded, sorry for them. “Ranching is a tough life.”

Bowen straightened in his seat, pulling his shoulders back. “It is, but at the same time, what else would I do? I don’t know anything but bulls and five a.m starts.” He glanced over at me. “If you ever get bored of traveling around here, jump on a plane and come over for a few months. We can get you a work visa, no problem, because of how rural we are. There are special allowances for how desperate we are out there.”

I laughed at the idea of traveling halfway around the world to work, like I was a teenager on a gap year, but the sound died on my lips when the tinkling bell above the door rang again, admitting a group of young women. I didn’t recognize the first two, one tall and blond, the other curvy and brunette. But behind them was my niece, Avalon, Rem and Whitney’s daughter.

With her arm linked through Callie’s.

Callie stopped abruptly when she spotted me, and my gaze slammed into hers.

That same rush of attraction hit me like a freight train, running right over the top of me. A physical need so strong there was no denying it. I clamped my fingers so hard around the sugar packet it punctured, spilling a little pile of white sugar all over the tabletop.

“Fuck.” I jumped, shoving my chair back a few inches and dragging my gaze away from Callie’s. I brushed the sugar crystals into my palm, but nothing could stop me watching as Callie moved through the room with my niece and her other friends, taking up a table just across from ours.

She was friends with my niece.

My eighteen-year-old niece, for fuck’s sake. This just kept getting worse.

Through lowered eyelashes, Callie glanced my way.

I could barely contain my groan of need.

I had no idea what it was about her. But just like when we’d met, the urge to be near her was overwhelming.

I had the sudden realization that this sort of attraction didn’t come along every day.

And that it was the sort of thing that would ruin me.

Ruin her.

Bowen nudged me with an elbow. “You good?”

I forced myself to breathe normally and nod. “Were you serious about that job? Because I think a change of pace might be exactly what I need.”

That, and being half a world away from Callie Hunt.

3

CALLIE

Abel James was even better-looking in old jeans and white T-shirt than he’d been in fancy wedding clothes. His brown forearms were corded with muscle and had no business being all out on display like they wouldn’t turn any woman’s eye.

I sat heavily in my seat, then immediately adjusted it so I could peek over Avalon’s shoulder at her uncle.

Her uncle. Sweet baby Jesus.

I still couldn’t come to grips with the idea the man I’d met at my sister’s wedding was also in my parents’ friendship group. Never once had any of my father’s bull riding friends turned my head. It would be like crushing on a family member.

But Abel hadn’t been around my entire life, putting me on his shoulders like Rem and Bowen and Johnny had. He’d never once sent me a birthday card with five bucks in it or been roped into attending a school musical or family vacation at a theme park.

Maybe if I’d first been introduced to him as my dad’s friend, this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe we both would have just politely said hello and gone on with our lives, none the wiser to whatever the hell it was I’d felt when I’d looked into this man’s eyes a few nights earlier.

I’d had full intentions of going home with him.

Brought to a crashing halt when he’d realized who I was.

I’d downplayed the entire thing in my mind over the last few days, letting myself get swept away with helping Summer pack for her honeymoon, and hanging out with Avalon and Lily while their families were still in town. My twin, Lennon, was caught up in her own romance, but at least I’d managed to pull her out of her love nest in order to come to breakfast with me, Avalon, and Lily this morning.

I’d assumed Abel had left town after he’d hightailed it out of the wedding.

If I’d known he was still hanging around, I might have accidentally shown up at his hotel.

My cheeks flamed at the very thought of where that could have led. Just me and him. Alone in a hotel room. No family judging us for being two consenting adults, even if there was a hefty age gap between us.

I bit my lip watching him now. I was barely subtle about it, nodding every now and then while the other women talked, but watching Abel over Avalon’s shoulder the entire time.

Lily snapped her fingers in front of my face, jolting me out of my own head. “Hey, pretty lady. What you thinking about? You aren’t even on the planet this morning.”

I shook my head, focusing on her fully, despite the overwhelming urge to keep glancing back at Abel. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

Lily swatted me with a laminated menu. “I was trying to tell you about the new guest cabins I’m building at home. Two are already done, but two are still in the works. I’m going to rent them out as Airbnbs…or as bed and breakfasts. Something like that.” Lily was almost thirty, but she bounced on her chair like an overexcited child. “It was my idea.” She glanced over her shoulder at her parents sitting with mine.

Paisley caught her daughter’s eye and blew her a kiss across the restaurant.

Lily blew one back, then turned to us, dropping her voice. “They think I don’t know they’re considering selling our property.”

My mouth dropped open. It had been a long time since I’d been there, but Lily’s family property was as beloved to their family as Hunts’ Bull Riding School and Ranch was to mine. “They can’t sell it!”

Lily nodded in agreement, her blond ponytail bobbing. “I know. But my dad keeps talking about how hard it’s getting to make a living off the land. The property would be worth a lot, just for how big it is.”

I frowned. “So, what? You sell it and then go live in the city? I can’t see you doing that.”

She shook her head unhappily. “Me neither. Which is why I’m pushing for us to supplement our income in other ways. Dad is so old-school. Cattle and sheep. Sheep and cattle. But I can see other areas of potential. If we had enough accommodations, we could do destination weddings out there.”

Lennon clapped her hands together. “That sounds amazing. It would be so beautiful. And you could officiate them! You can get ordained online.”

Avalon pointed at her phone, wrapped in a hot-pink case. She was the youngest of all of us at eighteen. “You could have the best Instagram account. And TikTok. That stuff goes viral all the time. It could bring in so many new guests for you.”

“Yes!” Lily thumped her closed fist on the tabletop in excitement, drawing curious glances in our direction, which she ignored. “That’s what I’m talking about! Nobody else seems to agree with me, but I think we have to start looking outside of the cattle and sheep box if we’re going to survive. My brothers are just as bad as Dad. Right now, I’m pretty sure they’re all just humoring me.”

I picked up her hand and squeezed her fingers. “They’ll come around when they see how wildly successful it is.”

“You think?” Lily asked hopefully, glancing back over at her parents.

I used the opportunity to sneak a glance at Abel.

Bucking hell. He was talking to my father. Kill me now.

I focused on Lily instead, musing over her plans. I admired her ambition and the clear direction she had for herself. Lennon had that too. She’d always wanted to be in a medical field, and she’d just been accepted into a paramedic’s course in the city. She wasn’t even bothered by the commute because she was that excited about her future career.

Even Avalon knew where she was headed, enrolled for her freshman year at University of Michigan.

And then there was me. College dropout. Sweeping the floor at the local hair salon when they needed an extra set of hands. Zero direction nor any idea what she wanted to do with her life.

And now I had ‘knocked up by the local cowboy who didn’t give a shit’ to add to my list of stellar accomplishments.

They may as well have spray-painted me black and tossed me out into the fields at Lily’s place. I was the proverbial black sheep amongst a family of overachievers, and there was no denying it.

I pushed the thoughts away. I’d been doing that a lot lately. Living in denial felt easier than living my truth.

That truth would be placed into my arms in six months’ time. I’d have no choice but to face it then. But in the meantime, especially since my morning sickness seemed to have magically cleared up in the last few days after I’d hit the second trimester mark, I was going to pretend everything was just peachy.

“I’d love to go back to Australia,” I mused. “We haven’t been in years. It’s been forever since we’ve seen family on Mom’s side.”

Lily’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, I always forget your mom is Australian. She doesn’t sound it anymore.”

Lennon laughed. “Living here over half her life has definitely dulled her accent, but every now and then she’ll call someone ‘mate’ and then you hear it. I swear it resurfaces when your family visits.”

Lily grinned and leaned back so a waitress could set a steaming mug of coffee in front of her. “You guys should definitely come over soon. You can be the first guests in the new cabins! The weather is nice right now. Not too hot yet.”

Lennon let out a sigh of displeasure. “As much as I’d love to, school starts again soon.”

“Me too,” Avalon said, scrunching her pert nose. “Most disgusting.”

Lily peered at me. “What about you?”

I laughed and shook my head, but then something occurred to me.

I would soon be very noticeably pregnant. You couldn’t fly in your third trimester, so that ruled out any sort of travel after the end of the year. Which would have been fine, except…I’d then have a newborn. Nobody wanted to travel with a brand-new baby. Especially not all the way to Australia. That was at least fifteen hours on a plane, plus another however many hours of shuffling through airports, and then a very long car drive out to Bowen and Paisley’s place. You couldn’t do that with a baby.

Then I’d have a toddler…and they seemed even worse to fly with. How did you keep a squirming two-year-old entertained for that long? I had no idea, and I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.

So what? It would be five years before I could travel to see Lily’s new business venture? Five years before I could go and see my grandparents and aunts and cousins on my mother’s side? We lived on opposite sides of the world, but we FaceTimed regularly. I didn’t want to wait half a decade to see them in person.

What did I have keeping me here? Jeremy had made it perfectly clear he didn’t want anything to do with the baby.

There was only one thing stopping me. “I don’t have the money for a ticket.”

Lennon glanced at me sharply.

She was giving me that annoying ‘older sister disapproves’ look. Even though she was younger by a few minutes. I knew why. She and her boyfriend, Preston, were the only people who knew about the baby.

Lily’s eyes widened, and she paused with her coffee halfway to her mouth. “Is that honestly the only thing stopping you?”

I ignored Lennon’s big-eyed glares that clearly tried to convey the words she couldn’t say. “Well, I don’t have school or a boyfriend or a job I wouldn’t leave.”

Lily reached across the table and clutched my hand with a low squeal of excitement. “If I can get you a ticket, will you do it? You’ve got dual citizenship because of your mom, right? You can legally work so we could pay you once you get there.”

“After you dock me for my ticket costs.”

Lily let out another squeal. “Is that a yes?”

Lennon pinched my leg beneath the table. “Callie!” she hissed.

She always was the responsible twin. Normally I ignored her straitlaced advice, or worse, rolled my eyes at it. I’d even been known to make fun of her, back in my teenage days when I’d truly been awful to her. But we’d only just mended our relationship, and now I saw her objections for what they really were.

Concern. Worry. Fear over what could happen to me and the baby when I was so far away.

I squeezed her leg in response to her pinch. “Three months. I’ll be back for Christmas.”

Lennon pressed her top teeth into her pink bottom lip. “If you don’t come back, I’ll come over there and drag you back by your ear.”

Lily clapped her hands in excitement, and I leaned in to kiss Lennon’s cheek. “I’ll be fine, little sister. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Lennon sighed. “We both know I will anyway. I mean it, Cal. Home by Christmas.”

I nodded happily. I didn’t need her permission or support. But I wanted it.

My gaze slid over to Abel and my dad, deep in conversation. Abel would be flying out with Avalon and Rem and the rest of their family this afternoon probably.

I doubted I’d ever see him again.

I truly didn’t understand why that thought left me feeling quite so hollow.

4

CALLIE

The phone in my pocket buzzed again, its shrill message tone grating through my already nervous body. I tucked my mother’s going-away present—a thick encyclopedia style book titled Surviving Australia—beneath my arm. My father’s going-away present—a new camera—got slung into my carry-on bag. Then I fished out my phone.

Lily

Where the hell are you? We’re already at the gate. We’re going to start boarding any minute now!

I pressed my teeth together and peered around the line of people still waiting to check their luggage. Lily’s frantic message unfortunately did not make the line move any quicker.

“What the hell is taking them so long?” Dad grumbled, glancing at his watch. “You’re going to miss your flight.”

“That wouldn’t have anything to do with you driving here at a snail’s pace now, would it?”

He refused to look down at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “I drove at the speed limit.”

“More like ten under!”

He finally glanced down at me. “Fine. Perhaps I have some reservations about sending my baby halfway around the globe.”

I sighed, my hand drifting toward my belly, before I realized what I was doing and let it drop to my side. “Not your little girl anymore, Dad.”

“Always my little girl,” he insisted. “You’ll understand one day when you have kids of your own.”

I froze, but when I inspected his expression, he was simply glaring at the backs of other peoples heads, like that might help us get to the front of the line quicker.

My phone buzzed again.

Lily

Seriously, girl, we’re boarding! Hurry!

There were only two people in front of us now. We were going to have to run and hope the line to get through security was short, but we’d make it.

Callie

Get on. I’ll probably be the last one on the plane, but I will be on it.

I wasn’t missing that flight. If I did, I wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure my dad wouldn’t talk me out of going entirely.

“Excuse me.” I tapped the woman in front of me on the shoulder. She turned around, and I flashed a sweet smile at her. “I’m going on my first big solo trip, and I’m very close to missing my flight because my father here still thinks I’m five years old. Would you mind if I snuck in front of you?”

The woman turned around fully to face me, and then her gaze slid to my father. Her eyes widened. “You’re Frost Hunt!”

My father’s cheeks went red. “Yes, ma’am. I am.”

“How about that! I saw you ride at Madison Square Garden back when you were the rookie whiz kid every bull rider was scared of.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. This wasn’t the first time my father had been recognized. He was well loved in rodeo and bull riding circles, even now, years after a knee injury had taken him out.

“And your daughter, Summer! What a prodigy she is! Rides just like you! That fall she took, I’ve never seen anything like it. But what a comeback—”

I cleared my throat. “Ma’am, if you wouldn’t mind…”

The woman stepped aside. “Oh goodness, of course. Go on through. I’m just so thrilled I got to meet y’all…”

I didn’t hear the rest of her rambling. I was too busy hurrying to drop off my bags and then running down the hall to security, with my father’s long legs easily keeping up beside me. “Oh, Frost,” I teased. “I love you so much!”

“On second thoughts, I don’t think I mind that you’re leaving us for three months,” he grumbled. But he was laughing, too.

We got to security, me breathing a lot heavier than my father was. Goddamn him for still being so fit. I clutched my carry-on bag to my chest and turned to my dad, suddenly sobering because I knew he couldn’t come any further. “Thanks for driving me.”

He lifted one shoulder. “You know your mother would have cried if she’d come. Lennon wouldn’t have been much better.”

The corner of my lips flickered upward, because I was pretty sure I saw some moisture welling in my old man’s eyes too. For all I teased him, and for all he sometimes drove me insane with his overprotectiveness, it also reminded me that he’d been the only man who’d loved me unconditionally. So maybe I’d indulge him when he looked at me and still saw the little girl with pigtails. I pressed up onto my toes and kissed his stubbled cheek. “I love you.”

He wrapped strong arms around me and held me tight. “You too, kid. You come home for Christmas, okay? Those Australian’s don’t do it right. Christmas should not be celebrated in a swimming pool.”

I sniggered and promised I’d be back for sweaters and tree chopping and our annual Christmas Eve party in the barn. Then there was nothing left to do but walk through the metal detectors, run for the gate, and enter the tunnel that connected me to the plane. My heart rate picked up with every step I took, and I found myself clutching my stomach. “Just you and me, baby girl,” I whispered. “One last adventure before I work out what the hell I’m doing with my life.”

I honestly had no idea whether to be thrilled or terrified. I was pretty sure I was both.

The attendant at the end of the aisle gave me a dirty look, and I apologized profusely for being late. Ignoring the man’s quiet grumbles, I hurried through the plane door and down the aisle, searching for row twelve.

“Callie! You made it!” Lily’s head poked out over the top of the seats as she stood to wave me down.

I rushed toward her with a huge grin and gave her a quick hug. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“I can’t believe you nearly missed the plane. Quick, give me your stuff and I’ll put it in the overhead locker before the flight attendants give us the evil eye again. You’re here, in the middle seat.” She grabbed my carry-on luggage, leaving me with my purse, and I squeezed past her to my middle seat, sinking down into it with relief.

The man next to me flinched, and I glanced over at him. “Oh, sorry! Did I knock you…”

The words fell away as I properly took in my seatmate, his face half hidden beneath a battered baseball cap.

Abel’s blue eyes were the most beautiful color I’d ever seen. Not frosty like my dad’s but a warm ocean blue that reminded me of tropical islands and long days in the sun.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed low beneath his breath.

I widened my eyes. “What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Aren’t you on the wrong plane? I thought you were going back with Uncle Rem and Aunt Whitney?”

Abel turned a distinct shade of green and grimaced like he was in physical pain. “You call them Uncle and Aunt? Shit, could this get any worse?” He twisted in his seat, staring back down the plane toward the exits like he was forming an escape plan. “I should go.”

On instinct, I dug my fingernails into his forearm, trying to ignore the spark of electricity that zapped between us with my skin touching his. It was probably static that caused the tingling in my fingertips, not the fact his forearm was solid and veined with strong muscle. “You can’t. Everyone will know there’s something going on with us if you do.”

Abel pulled his arm away sharply. “There’s nothing going on with us. You’re a child.”

I jerked back. “Excuse me?”

He trained his eyes forward, staring at the back of the seat in front of him. “You know what I mean. Compared to me.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to blurt out that I was anything but a child. I was a woman, carrying a child of my own. But I bit down on my lip because he didn’t get to know that information.

No matter how gorgeous his eyes were.

I edged over as close to Lily as I could. She already had her headphones on and was engrossed in a movie on her iPad. She didn’t seem to have noticed the awkward exchange between me and Abel, and I was glad for it. Because I had no idea how to explain it.

I shoved my own headphones on and slunk down in my seat. I’d been too excited to sleep last night, and I was feeling it today. I closed my eyes, knowing the flight was long and I wasn’t going to make it through without a nap.

Maybe when I woke up, Abel would be the gentleman I’d met at the wedding once more, and not the grumpy asshole who only saw me as his friend’s daughter.

5

ABEL

Last week, if someone had asked the best way to torture me, I probably would have said sleep deprivation. I could take physical pain. It was what had made me a good bullfighter. You had to be able to take the hits, and you had to have no fear to throw yourself in the way of a charging, pissed-off bull.

But now I knew better.

The best way to torture me was to not only put me on a twenty-one-hour flight with Callie Hunt, but to have her fall asleep with her head on my shoulder.

I’d sat frozen, watching her from the corner of my eye while she grumpily yanked on headphones and wriggled around, trying to get comfortable. I’d been grateful when she’d closed her eyes because it meant there was no chance of her busting me every time I looked in her direction. Which was every few seconds, because the woman was like a magnet, the force of her too strong to fight.

Fuck, she was beautiful. Her nose was cute as hell, turning up at the end, and with a smattering of freckles that she probably got from Frost, despite her warm brown skin she definitely got from her mother. After some shifting around in her seat, all of it keeping a good distance between us, her breathing finally evened out, slowing down as sleep took her. Her lips went soft, and the tension lines on her forehead smoothed.

Moment by moment, I relaxed too.

Until she shifted in her seat, her head falling against my shoulder.

“Fuck,” I murmured.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Just push her back onto her own side?

That probably would have been the smart idea. My brain said to do it. She could be asleep on my shoulder for hours otherwise.

Except my body refused to listen.

In fact, I had to forcibly stop myself from putting my arm around her and drawing her even closer, just so I could smell her hair.

From across the airplane aisle, Paisley glanced my way and then smiled at Callie’s sleeping form. “She’s going to be mortified when she wakes up.”

I shook my head on instinct. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Understatement of the century. I more than didn’t mind. I flat-out liked it.

“What is she doing here?” I asked Paisley in a whisper. Nobody had said anything about her coming with us, though clearly nobody had told her I was coming either. I’d let Bowen book my ticket, since he’d been booking for his family anyway. He hadn’t mentioned anything about Callie when he’d forwarded me the flight details.

Paisley smiled fondly at the sleeping woman on my left, before dragging her gaze back up to meet mine. “She’s always been Kai and Addie’s wild child. Always up for an adventure. It didn’t surprise me at all when Lily said Callie was coming back with us for a few months.”

“She does things like this often?”

Paisley shrugged. “She’s always been impulsive and a free spirit. It’s one of the things I love about her.” She smiled at me. “You two have that in common, I guess. Pretty impulsive for you to just drop everything and come to Australia too.”

I turned away. The thing was, this entire trip was completely out of character for me. I’d spent the last decade of my life married, living in a suburban house, with a set of friends my wife had introduced me to when we’d met. I’d worked boring jobs on construction sites because the stable income was what a husband with a wife to support did. We’d planned our future—three kids and a dog. Private school. Sunday family days.

I’d let myself believe we were happy. I’d been content, at the very least. Happy with my lot in life, even if it was quiet compared to the days I’d spent traveling around with the WBRA.

I’d never thought of straying. I would have stayed with her until the day I died, just out of loyalty, even though the love between us had never felt all that strong.

Until the day I’d found her sleeping with my best friend.

I pressed my molars together, remembering the fallout. I’d expected our friends to have my back. To see that I was the innocent bystander in the entire situation.

I’d gotten the complete opposite.

They’d welcomed the new couple with open arms, taking them in and casting me out.

In a matter of days, it had become startlingly obvious they had never been my friends at all. Always hers.

That had been a bitter pill to swallow. A decade of my life wasted on the wrong people.

I’d wandered around for months, until I’d found myself camped out on Rem’s couch. Overhearing his plans to meet up with the old WBRA crew, it had hit me again how royally I’d messed up. He still had true friends. They were spread out all across the globe, and yet when one called, the others all showed up, even if it took them hours or days of travel.

Rem had convinced me to tag along and catch up with everyone. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. A first step in repairing friendships I’d long neglected.

They’d welcomed me back with open arms.

That warm welcome would turn stone-cold if they realized how I was thinking about the woman sleeping on my shoulder.

If they knew how her soft warmth spread through my arm and right through my entire body.

If they knew about the way I’d spent the last hour trying not to think about dragging her down the plane aisle, locking her in the bathroom, and taking her hard and fast because I was so damn turned on just from being around her.

Bowen leaned across his wife and started a conversation with me about cattle prices. I nodded, mentally storing away information. I was excited about this opportunity. Both to work someplace new and to prove myself.

I suspected my brother had put Bowen up to offering me this job, and even if that were true, I didn’t care.

I needed to prove I was still the man I thought I was. That I wasn’t unworthy of respect and friendship.

That man wasn’t going to be the asshole hitting on his friend’s daughter.

Even if I did crave her with every inch of my damn body.

6

CALLIE

Voices swirled around me, low and dull beneath the drone of the plane’s engine. I shifted, snuggling against the warm body next to me, before I froze, comprehending that fact.

“She’s always been Kai and Addie’s wild child. Always up for an adventure. It didn’t surprise me at all when Lily said Callie was coming back with us for a few months.”

I recognized Aunt Paisley’s voice instantly.

What I didn’t recognize was the warm arm I was sleeping against. But I had a pretty good suspicion who it was.

Without moving, I peered through my eyelashes, fighting the urge to groan when I confirmed that I was indeed correct. I’d been sleeping against Abel.

Stupid traitorous body. My subconscious had completely betrayed me, pushing me in his direction when I could have just as easily fallen the opposite way to drool all over Lily’s shoulder.

Oh my God. Had I drooled on his shoulder?

I didn’t dare move. I’d just fake sleep for a little longer, subtly shift myself off him, and then wake up like nothing had happened.

It was all about saving embarrassment and awkward conversation.

Staying here had nothing to do with how good he felt.

“She does things like this often?”

His voice was so deep it vibrated right through me, settling in a place wholly inappropriate for where we were.

“She’s always been impulsive and a free spirit. It’s one of the things I love about her. You two have that in common, I guess. Pretty impulsive for you to just drop everything and come to Australia too.”

A stab of hurt rolled through me. I knew Paisley didn’t mean anything malicious by her comment, but it rubbed an old wound and proved once again what my family thought of me.

Wild child. Impulsive. Reckless. They were never words said in the same sentence as Lennon’s and Summer’s names. Lennon was always hardworking and dedicated. Summer was athletic and talented.

Paisley had just confirmed everything I already thought about myself. None of it I liked.

An impulsive, flighty, college dropout with zero plans for the future wasn’t what this baby needed in a mother. Especially when her father didn’t want anything to do with her. I’d already done this kid wrong by picking a man so badly he could just walk away when I’d told him about my pregnancy. Was I really going to continue to do her wrong by trying to raise her by myself?

Not for the first time, the idea of asking Summer and Dominic to adopt her crossed my mind. They were committed. Stable. Sure, they traveled a lot with the WBRA, but I was sure they were only putting off babies because Summer couldn’t ride while pregnant.

They’d be great parents.

But I instantly hated the idea. It curdled in my stomach, until bile rose in my throat.

I already loved this baby. I had from the moment I’d found out. But that love was big enough to want what was best for her. If I had to give her up, I would. Even if it killed me.

I still had six months. Maybe this was my chance to turn things around. I could prove myself in Australia. Both to Bowen and Paisley, and to myself.

I’d fallen into a role I no longer wanted. It was fine to be the fun-loving, impulsive twin when we were teenagers and had no responsibilities, but I’d taken it too far. It was really no wonder Abel saw me as a child. It wasn’t just because of the age gap or who my father was. It was the way I acted.

That stopped now.

On Australian soil, I’d be whoever the hell I wanted to be. The adultiest adult around. Responsible. Caring. Someone who thought through the repercussions before making a decision.

I could at least try.

I shifted away from Abel’s arm, twisting in my seat so I was closer to Lily, asleep with her mouth open on the other side of me.

This was time to focus on me. To grow and change and become the woman I needed to be for my daughter.

That woman didn’t need any man.

Not even one as tempting as Abel James.

7

ABEL

The Barclays thankfully had two cars parked at the airport, since there were too many of them to fit in a single five-seater car. I piled in with Bowen, Paisley, and their youngest son, Creed, while Lily and Callie got into the back seat of Henry’s four-wheel drive. We quickly lost each other in the city traffic, and for the first time since we’d left the U.S., I relaxed enough to sleep.

When I woke, it was to the jarring jolts of Bowen’s truck—or ute, as he called it—bouncing down a dirt road. I rubbed grit from my eyes and peered out the window into the darkness. “Where are we?”

“Home,” Bowen answered, twisting to glance at me over his shoulder.

I straightened. “I was out for that long?”

“About seven hours.”

I swore softly beneath my breath, then quickly apologized, since Paisley was in the car.

She laughed. “No need to apologize on my behalf. No woman out here is that sensitive.”

But I felt bad anyway. I’d planned on offering to drive part of the way. I wasn’t the only one tired from a long flight, but I’d selfishly slept through the entire thing. Not a great start to my plans for trying to rebuild my relationships. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t realize how tired I was. You should have woken me.”

“You’ll probably wish I had when you can’t get to sleep tonight. But too late now because we’re here.” Bowen parked the truck outside a sprawling country-style ranch house with a circle drive, illuminated by the headlights.

“Is this even the same house you had when I was here last?” I opened my door and slid off my seat. My entire body was stiff from sitting in uncomfortable places for the best part of two days, and I reached my hands over my head, interlacing my fingers to stretch out all the kinks in my back.

Bowen, Paisley, and even Creed did the same.

“So good to be home.” Paisley patted me on the arm. “It’s changed a bit since you were last here. We built an extension when Lily, Aiden, and I moved in, and then more additions were made when Creed came along to surprise us all.”

Creed rolled his eyes at his mother. “Yeah, yeah. We all know I’m the surprise baby. Though with the way you and Dad still slobber all over each other, I still don’t see how I was all that much of a shock.”

Bowen tossed him a backpack as the other car pulled in. “And we hope that one day, you’ll be slobbering all over you wife instead of any random woman you find at the bar.”

Creed winked at him. “Got wild oats to sew first, old man. Speaking of, I’m dumping this stuff, having a shower, and then heading into town.”

Bowen gaped. “You’ve been traveling for two days. And it’s already ten.”

Creed grinned. “Might have picked up an accent while I was over there. Gotta go test it out at the bar before I lose it.” He glanced at me. “You should come. You’d get laid for sure, sounding like you do.”

My mouth dropped open, and Paisley slapped her youngest son on the arm. “Creed!”

Bowen just shook his head, then glanced at me with a shrug. “He’s not wrong though.”

I widened my eyes at him.

Paisley threw up her hands. “There’s too much testosterone around here.”

“I’m not trying to get laid,” I assured her. I didn’t want her thinking I’d be bringing random women back to their home.

Bowen and Creed both stared at me incredulously.

“What?” I protested. “I’m here to work.”

Bowen passed me my duffel bag from the back of his truck. “Yeah, but nobody expects you to be a monk, brother. Not saying you should go hang out with Creed and his friends, but try to have some fun while you’re here, yeah? I can introduce you to some people. Paisley has a couple single friends…”

Paisley grabbed my arm. “Oh, yes! I know the perfect woman for you! The two of you would have a great time together.”

I shook my head. “Work is my fun.”

But even I didn’t believe myself.

Paisley shoved me toward the house. “Nonsense. You’ve been split from your wife for ages, right?”

“A year almost,” I admitted.

“A year! You definitely need to get back on the horse then. I’ll set everything up.” She glanced over at the other car. “Oh, Callie, sweetheart. That suitcase is way too heavy for you, and the wheels will sink right into the gravel. Wait for one of the boys to help.”

“I’ll get it,” I said on instinct, Southern manners that had been drilled into me as a kid kicking into autopilot.

“I’m fine,” she said stubbornly, yanking at the handle.

Great. She was clearly still annoyed with me.

But as Paisley had predicted, the large case barely budged an inch on the rocky drive.

Callie gave it another tug, but the case really was ginormous.

“Please let me,” I said to her quietly.

She gazed up at me, and the determination in her eyes faltered. “I can do it.”

“Or you could just let me be a gentleman and carry it for you.”

I somehow instinctively knew that pushing her would only result in her pushing back. Paisley hadn’t been wrong when she’d described Callie as wild. I could see it in her eyes now. A fierce determination and independence.

I liked it. But we were going to be standing out here all night in the dark if I didn’t get her to give up her bag. “My mama would have my hide if I watch you try to lug that thing yourself.”

I saw the moment she softened and offered the handle in my direction. “Fine. Thank you.”

I took it from her, exceptionally careful not to touch her fingers. I was all too aware what it felt like when I touched her skin, and right now, despite the darkness, we were surrounded by other people. I didn’t think either of us wanted anyone seeing the physical reaction that seemed to happen every time the two of us were near.

I was still kind of hoping it was some weird American thing that might have disappeared now that we were on international soil.

With my duffel slung over one shoulder, I hoisted her suitcase into my arms with a grunt. “Holy shit,” I murmured. “Did you pack your entire bookshelf?”

She pulled her much smaller carry-on suitcase out of the back of Henry’s four-wheel drive, and I fought the urge to take that from her as well.

A tiny smile played at the corner of her mouth, barely visible in the night, but just enough reflected light from the car’s interior to make out the way it curved her lips. “Rocks actually. Big ones.” She let out an overtired laugh. “Practically boulders.”

Her laugh did things to my insides, and I had a sudden case of dry mouth that had me stumbling over my words. “I’m sure you’ll get a lot of use out of them here.”

It was a poor attempt at humor, but she laughed anyway.

I tried not to close my eyes and bask in the sound of it.

“Come on, you two,” Paisley called. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”

I followed through the thick wooden doorway and into a huge living area with a stone fireplace. At the other end of the open space was a massive dining table, clearly bought for entertaining because there were twelve seats around it.

Paisley noticed my line of sight and smiled softly. “We bought that a long time ago, thinking to the future when the kids would all bring partners home…”

Aiden groaned. “Yeah, Mum. We know. We’ve ruined all your plans for grandchildren by being eternal bachelors.”

She scowled at him. “You know that’s not what I meant. I don’t care if I never have grandchildren. But I do hope you all find someone to love.”

“I love my horse,” Henry offered with a shrug. “That’s enough.”

Aiden snickered and dumped his sister’s bags in the entranceway. “Let’s go before Mum starts cycling through her list of friends’ daughters.” He turned to me. “If her matchmaking gets too much, Henry and I have a house on the west side of the property. We have beer. And we won’t try to marry you off to anyone.”

“You wouldn’t go out at all if I didn’t meddle, Aiden!” she called after him. “I know you secretly love my matchmaking!”

Aiden blew his mother a kiss, and through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, she watched the two men drive away, their car slightly less loaded now that Callie and Lily and their numerous bags had been dropped off.

“Be grateful you never had kids, Abel,” Paisley said, picking up her tour of the house once more. “They never stop with the sass, even when they’re grown adults.”

“I heard that!” Lily yelled from the hallway on our left. She dragged a suitcase as large as the one I held for Callie. “Cal, see you tomorrow?”

Callie nodded. “I’ll be here.”

I thought I heard a slight wobble in her voice, but when I glanced at her, her face didn’t show it. Even still, I couldn’t help myself from quietly asking, “Are you okay?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She gave me a sharp look and lowered her voice. “I’m not a child, Abel. Despite what you might think.”

Ouch. It was a sharp detour from the laughter I’d heard from her a minute ago, and I’d clearly reminded her of what I’d said on the plane. I deserved it though. I’d been out of line, but her showing up had taken me completely by surprise. And then she’d touched me…

I let the moment go, because Paisley was getting ahead of us, chatting so animatedly that it could only be explained by exhaustion.

The hallway led us in the opposite direction to where Lily and Creed had disappeared. I walked slowly, taking in the array of family photos on the wall, each one adding to the story of the Barclays’ lives, both before Paisley and Bowen had met, and the family they’d created after. I paused at a group photo, scanning the smiling faces, familiar to me now because I’d spent the last week with most of them.

Bowen glanced over “That was when we had a meet-up at Johnny and Isabel’s place for Christmas a couple years ago. Johnny has this weird obsession with the holidays and goes all out decorating the place. Was chaos with everyone hanging out amongst his reindeer lawn decorations and twelve-foot inflatable Santas.”

It seemed like happy chaos, though.

Yet another reminder I was alone.

Paisley was still in tour guide mode. “Mine and Bowen’s room is at the end of the hall, and my bed is calling me, but there’s two guest rooms here that you can take your pick of. We’ll see you in the morning.”

Like the energy had suddenly drained from her now that she was in sight of her bed, Paisley linked her fingers through Bowen’s and tugged him toward their room.

Leaving Callie and I alone for the first time since the wedding.

I swallowed thickly and flicked my head toward the two bedrooms we’d been offered. “I’ll take whichever you don’t want.”

She poked her head inside the closest one. “This one is perfect. Wow. This place is massive.”

It seriously was. Bowen had made a lot of money being world champ, and it showed in his house. Whatever financial troubles the property had brought them in recent years had clearly not always been the case.

Callie held the door open for me.

I slid past with her ginormous case. “Where do you want this?”

“On the bed, please. I dozed in the car on the way here, and on the plane, so I’m going to unpack first before I try sleeping again.”

I crossed the room, placing her case down on the king-size bed. The mattress bounced a little under the weight, the frame giving a slight squeak of protest.

Instantly, my brain filled in the scene.

This scenario was exactly what I’d been dreaming about every night since the wedding. Having her locked away in a room by ourselves, her gazing at me with unconcealed lust…

I shoved my hands in my pockets and dug my nails into the flesh of my thighs, reminding myself why that wasn’t going to happen. I turned away and caught sight of another wide-open door. “Looks like you’ve got your own bathroom.”

Callie, seemingly completely unaffected by the fact we were alone, walked through the bathroom doorway and returned a moment later. “Not my own. There’s another door on the other side that opens into your room.”

I widened my eyes at her. “Really?” I stuck my head in to find she was right. The door on the other side was also open, and beyond was another bedroom, clearly made up as a guest room since there was nothing personal about it.

I turned back to Callie. “Are you okay with that?”

She frowned. “I’m not such a princess I can’t share a bathroom with someone, Abel. I didn’t come here expecting my own.”

I shook my head quickly. “That’s not what I meant…”

“It’s what you said.”

I pressed my lips together. It didn’t seem to matter what I said to her. It always came out wrong. I shifted my duffel bag onto my back and edged toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

She nodded stiffly, staring down at the floor. “See you around, I guess.”

She would. There was no denying it. This place might be huge, but there’d be no hiding from each other when our rooms were this close together. I could only hope the awkward tension between us would disappear with time. Before anyone else noticed and asked what the hell was going on.

8

CALLIE

Ishouldn’t have slept on the car ride home. But I’d been so exhausted, I couldn’t help it. Faking sleep on the plane hadn’t actually been as restful as one might have hoped, especially when every brush of my arm brought me in contact with Abel’s.

But now I’d unpacked my bags, stowing the cases away in the built-in wardrobe of my pretty room. It was after midnight local time, and I was completely wired. It was the middle of the day, U.S. time. I’d already called Lennon and my mom, letting them both know we’d made it back to the Barclays’ property safely, but now it was just me and my own company until the sun rose.

I tried lying down and sleeping, but my skin felt odd. Like it was too hot, tight, and even vaguely itchy. It was no use. I’d been avoiding the bathroom ever since we’d worked out it connected mine and Abel’s rooms, but it was clear I wasn’t getting any rest until I washed the traveling grime off. I listened for a moment, but hearing nothing from Abel’s side of the space, I collected my toiletry bag and pulled open the bathroom door.

Abel froze on the other side, his shirt already off, a towel slung over his shoulder. He had his arm outstretched for my door, like he’d been in the process of trying to lock it.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” I squeaked.

I should have spun around and walked straight back into my room. At the very least, I should have clapped a hand over my eyes, respecting that the man was already half undressed.

Instead, I stood stock-still and let my gaze slide down his body.

My mouth went dry at the sight of him. His broad shoulders sloped down into defined pecs and abs I could wash clothes on. I was well used to men who were physically fit, it came with the territory when you lived on a ranch.

I’d thought I’d become immune to rippling abdominal muscles and chiseled chests.

But I realized now I’d only become immune to ones I didn’t find attractive.

Abel was a different story altogether.

My fingers itched to reach out and touch the dusting of light-colored hair across his chest and then trail down to the low-slung jeans that hung off his narrow hips.

“Callie.” His voice was deep and gravelly.

But it drew my gaze back up to his face.

I was sure I was blushing. My cheeks went hot. “You were here first. I’ll come back later.”

I backed out of the room, trying to close the door behind me, but he caught it with one hand.

Oh, bucking hell. The movement popped his biceps. It was entirely too distracting, but he stood there like he had no problem in the world being half naked in front of me. “Wait. We need to talk.”

I squinted at him, forcing my gaze to stay on his face and not roam all over his perfect freaking body like a pervert. “We do?”

He sighed. “I want to clear the air. I owe you an apology.”

Blinded by his tanned skin and perfectly sculpted chest, I couldn’t imagine what for. Abel had zero to apologize for, unless it was to the female species for being unfairly attractive. “You do?” I was well aware I was starting to sound like a dumb parrot.

He ran a hand through his short hair, and for the first time, I noticed the gray flecks at his temples. It was easy to miss because his hair wasn’t that dark to begin with.

“What I said on the plane…”

“Oh.” Yeah, that. The entire reason I was annoyed with him. I’d managed to forget temporarily because his abs would make any woman lose brain cells.

“I was out of line. Finding out you were Kai’s daughter took me by surprise.”

“I got that.”

His hand moved to the back of his neck, clamping on to it. Did he seriously not realize what he was doing to me, standing there like that? He didn’t seem the show-pony type. If it had been Jeremy—asshole baby daddy—I would have instantly put it down to posing, but Abel was a different breed.

He had no idea the affect his half-naked body was having on me. If I was going to continue keeping my hands to myself, I really needed him to go back on his side of the door. “It’s fine,” I assured him hastily. “Don’t worry about it.”

He shook his head. “No, I was an asshole. I know you aren’t a child.”

For the briefest of seconds, his gaze dipped from my face and down my body.

I sucked in a breath.

It was remnant of the look he’d given me that night at the wedding when I’d been so sure I knew where we were heading.

I still wanted it to happen. I knew I shouldn’t, but there was an attraction between us that was undeniable. It didn’t give a buck that he was older. “Apology accepted,” I murmured.

He nodded stiffly. “You can have the bathroom first.”

“No, you were already there.” It was a half-assed reply, because what I really wanted to say was, “How about I join you in it?”

He tossed me the towel from over his shoulder. “Ladies first. Always.”

And with that, he turned and went back into his room, closing the door behind him.

“Lock the door, Callie,” he said from the other side a moment later.

“Or what?” I whispered back.

If he’d heard, he didn’t answer. I buried my face in the towel he’d tossed to me and groaned. It smelled distinctly like him. A scent I’d grown to really like as it swirled around my nose for the hours we’d sat together on the plane.

There was no point arguing. I really did need that shower because I definitely didn’t smell as good as he did. I undressed quickly, getting beneath the water.

I didn’t lock the door.

9

ABEL

Listening to the water fall in the bathroom, knowing Callie was in there, completely bare with rivulets flowing over her body, was torture. I lay on my bed, knowing full well she hadn’t locked the door. I’d been waiting for it. The snick of the lock engaging, but it had never come.

The urge to walk back in there and get beneath the spray with her was overwhelming, but instead I waited until the water had been turned off and her sweet voice called through the door, “All yours.”

Some primal part of me longed to hear her say that about more than the bathroom. My dick especially wanted to hear her say that she was mine.

“You’re an asshole,” I muttered for the hundredth time since I’d met her. I’d never been so hard up over any woman. Let alone one I barely knew.

Unlike Callie, I did lock the bathroom door that led to her room. Not because I was worried she would walk in and see me naked, but because I was afraid if she did, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.

I inspected the bodywash on the shower ledge—fruity stuff that smelled way too much like Callie—so I pulled my own bottle from my duffel and lathered the liquid up, scrubbing every inch of myself.

I wondered what she slept in. A matching set of pajamas? A T-shirt and panties? Nothing at all? Fuck, I really wanted to know.

Which was a clear sign I needed to get out of the shower and go to bed, because standing here naked thinking about how she was only on the other side of the door was a recipe for disaster.

I trudged back to my bedroom and got beneath the sheets without bothering to get dressed. What was the point? My erection was so fucking hard, clothes were only going to get in the way of what I knew I was going to do.

I closed my hand around my cock, stroking it up and down the solid length. I was so fucking sick of doing this. I missed having a woman in my bed. In my arms. Not my wife. Fuck, I’d been surprised by how much I hadn’t missed her. But it had been a very long time since I’d gotten to taste a woman. To touch her body, and turn her on, finding every little spot that made her moan until her core tightened around my cock and she came while shouting my name.

I wanted to know what Callie felt like. Would she be soft and pliable in bed, letting me take control, or would she be a wildcat, like the fire in her eyes suggested? I wanted both. To show her how good I could make her feel. To find out what she tasted like between her legs. To have them wrapped around my head and her screams in my ears while she came. Then I wanted to let her ride me. To grab her hips while her tits bounced in my face. To watch her squeeze them or put her hand to her clit and rub it while she impaled herself on me over and over again until we were both in agony.

I came with a jolt of surprise, barely quick enough to grab my T-shirt to catch the mess.

“You gotta stop this bullshit,” I said to the empty room. “This isn’t what you came here for.”

And with that resolve in the air, I put a pillow over my head and tried to sleep.

I lay there like that for hours, until the barest hint of pink-gold light seeped around the window blinds, signaling the morning was finally here.

Longest freaking night of my life. All because of the woman on the other side of the bathroom.

I had months of long nights stretching out in front of me.

This wasn’t going to work. There was only so long I could hold out for until I snapped and went barging into her room and took what I knew we both wanted.

I’d tell Paisley today that I wanted to be set up with her friend. I had no idea how long I was here for. Hell, maybe indefinitely if I liked the place. Maybe some roots weren’t such a bad idea. Meeting some new people would be good for me.

Whatever got Callie Hunt out of my system.

10

CALLIE

Iwoke up early after only being asleep for what felt like an hour. The bed swamped me, way too big for just one person, but the person I wanted to share it with was steadfastly sticking to his side of the wall.

I still couldn’t believe I’d left that bathroom door unlocked last night and he hadn’t acted on it. If that had been Jeremy, he would have been busting the door down, even if I’d had it padlocked.

I was sure Abel’s restraint had nothing to do with a lack of attraction to me. I refused to even let that insidious thought enter my head. I was a whole lot more certain that it was because the man had morals.

Those stupid morals meant not opening the bathroom door, even when the naked woman on the inside had purposely left it that way in the hope he’d get the hint.

I’d been feeling the man since we’d first met. And now, knowing that we were going to be living right next to each other until Christmas, I was supposed to just pretend he didn’t exist?

My second trimester hormones protested loudly at the idea.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, taking out my vibrator. “I hear you.”

There would be no waiting around for Abel to get the idea. My lady parts weren’t having any of that. It had been months since the toy had gotten any use, but now that I wasn’t feeling so sick to my stomach, the idea of catching up on missed time—and orgasms—reared its head.

I didn’t dare turn it on, for fear that he might be able to hear it. Even with a bathroom separating us, the house was deathly silent. Even the rooster hadn’t crowed yet. The last thing I wanted was anyone walking by my bedroom and hearing the hum of me showing myself a good time.

But who needed the vibrate function? I was already halfway to orgasm from the conversation Abel and I’d had in the bathroom during the night. I pulled up my sleep T-shirt, quickly running a hand over my abdomen. There was the tiniest of bumps, but I was confident that nobody would notice but me. My stomach was normally quite flat—influenced by genetics, not exercise—and the gentle slope I had going now could be easily explained away by a big meal or that time of the month, bloating.

I wriggled out of my panties and nudged my clit with my finger.

The explosion of pleasure there took me by surprise. I was so oversensitive; I knew this wouldn’t take long.

I dragged my fingers lower, swiping through the wet arousal that had been pooling at my core all night while I’d relived Abel’s half-naked body. I went back to my clit, rubbing it slowly, soaking it with my arousal so my fingers glided over the little nub with ease.

It throbbed, begging for more.

I kept up the pace, fighting the urge to be frustrated over the fact it wasn’t Abel doing this for me.

He’d be good in bed. There was absolutely no doubt about it in my mind. Despite his protests about not being able to dance, the man had rhythm. I could tell just by the swagger in his walk. He rolled his hips in a way most men didn’t, and all of it screamed, “Fuck me, I’m experienced.”

Okay, fine, maybe that’s just what I wanted him to scream. But if Abel James was a dud in bed, I’d eat my father’s cowboy hat.

I brought the vibrator—or dildo, I guessed, since I wasn’t using the buzz function—between my thighs. With a constant pressure on my clit, and the dildo nudging my entrance, I let my eyes close so I could picture his face.

How he’d look hovering over me, muscles in his arms and shoulders popping so he didn’t crush me. How I’d pull him down on top of me anyway, so everything lined up perfect, his dick right at my core, ready to plunge inside.

I pressed the dildo inside me, easing the ache I felt there, and a desperate need to be filled. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I knew what I liked. I worked my clit and the dildo in unison, building myself up, taking me higher and higher with every jerk of my wrist.

I writhed against the sheets, chasing down an orgasm that would have been so much better given by the man asleep on the other side of the bathroom, but one I wasn’t about to give up, because I needed the release so badly. My hips rose in time with the action of my wrist, until I turned my head, burying my face into a fluffy pillow to muffle my voice as I came.

My insides liquified, swirling and storming and raging together to form the orgasm that bore down on me. I came hard and strong, clenching around the dildo, like I had every time I’d been solo, as well as plenty of times when I hadn’t.

Jeremy had never been able to get me over the line. It probably should have been a warning to dump him then and there.

But I hadn’t. Instead, I’d just finished myself off after he’d rolled over and gone to sleep. And look where that had got me?

With a tiny baby in my belly and masturbating over a man who didn’t even try to sneak a peek when I left the bathroom door open.

I sighed, the orgasm fading quickly without a partner trying to prolong it. Was I seriously going to do this for the next three months? Making yourself come was all fine and dandy when there was no other option.

But I had other options.

If those other options wanted me too.

I got out of bed and cleaned up. Then I got dressed and made my way to the kitchen. Trying to fight an attraction to a grown adult who wanted you back was stupid.

I just needed to make Abel see that.

11

ABEL

Iwas dressed by five thirty and though I was tired again, I refused to let jet lag get the better of me. I’d made a fool of myself yesterday by falling asleep in the car and not pulling my weight and I was damned if I was going to let that happen today. I tugged on my boots and quietly cracked open the door to the hallway. Everything was quiet and dark. I paused outside Callie’s room but then forced myself to keep walking with a sharp shake of my head. It was quiet anyway. She would probably be sound asleep for hours.

Paisley and Bowen hadn’t shown me where the kitchen was on our brief tour of the house last night, but it wasn’t hard to find. As I approached, the clatter of plates and the sizzle of something cooking on the stove floated through the air. My heart fell. I’d really wanted to beat Bowen and Paisley in here and have a meal ready for everyone when they woke up.

It wasn’t Paisley or Bowen in the kitchen.

It was Callie.

Her long dark hair was piled up into a messy topknot, wispy pieces falling around her face. She’d rolled up the sleeves on her flannel shirt, and a pair of cutoff shorts hugged her ass. They showed off her long legs perfectly.

I stood in the doorway, staring as she moved about the kitchen with her back to me, completely unaware I was standing there stunned silent.

Eventually, I cleared my throat. “Uh, hey. Morning.”

She spun around, spatula in her hand. “Buck! Where did you come from? I thought everyone was still asleep.”

I put a hand out to steady her, though stopped short of actually touching. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I think everyone else is still dead to the world. I got up to make breakfast…”

She pointed her spatula at the eggs frying in a pan. “Beat you to it.” Her gaze flickered over me for a moment, before lifting to my face again. “Sit. Most of it is ready. What do you like?”

You.

So inappropriate.

I edged toward a stool at the big island counter and dragged it out. She had food everywhere. The entire surface was covered with everything from knives and chopping boards to vegetables and eggshells. She whirled around in the middle of it all, tending to eggs in one pan, potatoes and sausages in another, bacon in the oven, and a pile of bread next to a toaster. I busied myself with making toast so she wouldn’t notice the small, amused smile growing on my face.

She saw it anyway. “What’s funny?”

I pushed down the lever on the toaster to start it up. “You’re a messy cook.”

“Hey!” She picked up an eggshell from the countertop and threw it at me. “It’s a creative pursuit. All creative pursuits get messy.”

I plucked the eggshell from where it had fallen and pointedly placed it in the garbage.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a neat cook then, I guess? You wipe down countertops and wash dishes as you go?” She cocked her head to one side. “Yeah, that checks.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

She prodded at her eggs, with one hand on her hip while she considered her answer. “You give off an air of being very…proper.”

“Proper?”

“Yeah, you know…” She waved a hand around at me. “Serious. Straight. Organized.”

I was sure my eyebrows had completely knit together. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”

She dug her eggs out of the pan, placing them all onto a large round plate. “My sister would take it as one. She lives for being organized.”

“You don’t?”

She lifted one shoulder. “It doesn’t get me off, no.”

Heat flushed my face, remembering that just last night, I’d been wondering exactly what did.

She slid a plate piled high with food in my direction. “You’re blushing, Abel.”

I shook my head. “I’m not. It’s just warm in here with the oven and frying pans all going.”

“Mmm-hmm. Sure.” She paused for a moment, watching me shovel food into my mouth. “We ever going to talk about what happened?”

I swallowed thickly. “Nothing happened.”

She folded her arms beneath her breasts and glared at me with a whole lot of sass. “Only because you realized who my father was. Not because you don’t want me.”

I choked on the mouthful of food, spluttering as it lodged in my throat.

Callie poured a glass of water which she put in my hand. “Bucking hell, you don’t need to choke to get out of the conversation.”

I put the glass to my lips and gratefully chugged down half the contents. The food dislodged itself so I could speak again. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Choke? Or be attracted to me?”

I coughed again. Then answered truthfully. “Both.”

A smirk curved her mouth. “So you admit, you are attracted to me.”

I took another bite of sausage, chewing it carefully and thoroughly before swallowing it. “You’re gorgeous, Callie. I’m sure every man you’ve ever met has told you so.”

She picked up a pair of tongs and snagged a pile of potatoes for her plate. “Some, but not normally my father’s friends.”

I groaned, glancing over my shoulder. It would be just my luck to have Bowen and Paisley walk down the hallway at that very moment. “Please don’t say that out loud.”

She leaned in, elbows on the countertop. “What? That I spent my sister’s entire wedding thinking about going to bed with my father’s bestie?”

My fingers clenched the fork so hard the thin metal slowly warped. I had to put it down so I didn’t destroy the Barclays’ cutlery set. “What’s gotten into you today?”

She hadn’t been like this yesterday, or on the plane. I thought we’d both been on the same page about completely forgetting we’d had a moment.

A couple of moments, really.

She shrugged. “I get why you don’t want anyone to know. But what’s the point in denying it between the two of us? It just makes things awkward where it doesn’t need to be.”

She had a point, but she wasn’t seeing the bigger problem. “If we start talking about it, we might start acting on it.”

She winked at me. “Would that truly be so bad?”

“Yes.”

She crinkled her cute-as-fuck nose. “I’m offended. I’ll have you know that nothing about me is bad when I’m naked and horizontal.”

My dick liked the sound of that. My brain was trying real hard to keep the rest of me in check. So I changed the subject. “What’s with all the creative swearing?”

She frowned. “The what now?”

I pointed at her. “You’ve said buck instead of…you know what, a bunch of times now.”

Understanding dawned in her eyes. “Oh. That’s a thing Summer’s best friend, Hallie, started years ago. I think when she was babysitting her niece? She couldn’t swear, and buck was fitting, seeing as she worked at our bull riding school and was dating a cowboy. Summer picked it up from her, then Lennon and I picked it up from Summer. Pretty sure the entire ranch says it now.”

“That’s cute.”

She grinned. “So am I.”

I started to answer, but Bowen came striding into the kitchen, and I snapped my mouth closed, jerking away from Callie like she’d burned me.

“Morning!” I said a little too loudly.

Bowen glanced over at me from the coffee pot Callie had already run. He held up a hand in a stop motion and chugged half a mug of steaming liquid before he answered. “Sorry. I needed that so bad. This jet lag is a killer.”

“So is the weather that’s coming in,” a voice said from a door that led to the back of the house.

Henry and Aiden stomped in, not bothering to take their boots off.

Bowen squinted at his oldest sons. Henry looked just like Bowen when I’d first met him. The resemblance was uncanny. Aiden had Paisley’s coloring, but I assumed he was more like his biological father. He’d been ten, Lily five, back when Paisley and Bowen had gotten together. I still remembered them as little kids, sitting in the stands, watching Bowen ride, while I’d been a cocky teenager, getting cheap thrills by jumping in front of bulls while screaming crowds cheered.

Callie hadn’t even been born.

Buck indeed.

“You check the forecast yet?” Aiden asked Bowen and then snatched up a piece of bacon. He hovered it over his mouth while he talked. “Big rain front is coming in. Supposed to last days.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” I asked. “You said it was too dry…”

Bowen nodded. “It is. The rain is welcome, just not right now. We’re supposed to be shearing this week.”

Despite working on a lot of ranches over the years, as well as in the WBRA before that, I really had next to no experience with livestock. Bulls, sure. As long as I could outrun them, I was pretty safe. But actually working with them in a ranch setting? Along with sheep and cows? That was a whole different ballgame.

“We don’t like to shear when the animals are wet,” Bowen explained. “Not only are they twice as heavy to lug around, but you end up soaked and uncomfortable, and their wool then has to be dried or it’ll rot. Can’t sell wet wool.” He turned to Henry. “Can we push shearing back a week or two? Give the animals time to dry out?”

Henry shook his head. “Spoke to Shaun this morning after I saw the report. He said he can come early with a skeleton staff, cos half his guys are on other jobs. Or we’re waiting ’til December.”

“December!” Bowen shouted. “The sheep will have sweated to death by that point.” He swore low under his breath and shook his head. “What did you tell Shaun?”

Aiden crunched on another bit of bacon. “What do you think? Can’t have the sheep dying of dehydration cos they’ve still got their coats on in the middle of summer. We told him we’d start tomorrow. And that we’d supply the extra hands Shaun will need.”

Bowen groaned. “Fuck.”

“Why is that bad?” Callie took an empty frying pan from the stovetop and let it slide into hot, soapy water.

But I had a pretty good idea. It was part of the reason I was here. “You can’t get staff in that quickly, right?”

Henry shook his head. “Nope. Not to mention we need to get all the sheep actually into the shearing paddocks. Most of them are way down the back of the property. We moved them down there before we headed over to the States because those paddocks were the only ones with enough grass left to get them through our entire trip.”

Bowen sighed heavily. “This is why we should talk seriously about getting out of the game. This shit happens too often lately.”

For all that Henry seemed like a laid-back kind of guy, more so than Aiden was anyway, his eyes blazed now. “Stop fucking saying that. We aren’t selling.”

He spun on his heel and stormed out of the kitchen.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Bowen just watched his son go, making no move to go after him.

It gave me the idea that this was not the first time they’d argued over this topic.

Aiden picked up his third piece of bacon and sighed. “I’ll talk to him.”

Bowen nodded. “Thank you. I’ll get the others up and tell them we need all-hands-on-deck for a muster.”

“That include me?” I asked.

“Hell, yes. If you can ride a bike or a horse, or hell, even drive a car, we need you.”

“I can ride a bike and drive a car,” Callie offered.

Bowen nodded at her. “Good. Cos ain’t nobody getting off lightly today. Pack some shit. It’s a two-day job, so we’ll be sleeping under the stars tonight.”

12

CALLIE

It was green of me, I knew, but I was excited about the muster. I understood the concept. Go out and collect a bunch of animals and bring them back to the pastures closest to the house and shearing sheds. But I’d never been on one. My family property was more about bucking bulls than other livestock. Almost everything we did there was centered on the few acres closest to the cowboys’ cabins and the training rings. None of the animals were ever more than a few miles away, and we didn’t keep anywhere near the sort of numbers the Barclays did.

The muster felt like an adventure and experience I couldn’t get elsewhere.

But I was clearly the only one excited by the idea. I whirled around my bedroom, packing what I’d need for the overnight trip, then met Lily in the hallway, both of us with overstuffed backpacks.

She grumpily yanked two sleeping bags from the top of a closet filled with sheets, pillowcases, and towels. “Goddamn weather,” she grumbled. “I don’t have time for this. I’d planned on painting the cabins over the next two days.”

I gave her a quick hug, hating that she was disappointed. “I’ll help you when we get back.”

“The outside of the cabins, Cal. It’ll be raining.”

“Oh.” I elbowed her. “Hey, cheer up. This is Australia. It’ll be back to sunshine and sweltering heat in no time, right?”

She shrugged dejectedly. “I know.” She glanced around to see if anyone else was in earshot, but when they weren’t, she quietly said, “I know I’m acting like a brat who doesn’t want to do her chores. It’s not that. I swear. I don’t mind doing whatever needs doing around here. I just really want to show everyone that the wedding and accommodation idea can be a success. I feel like they’re all expecting me to fail.”

“They’re not,” I promised her without even hesitating. I knew what that sentiment felt like though. It was why I’d effectively run away from home. I knew my family loved me, but it was hard when they were all successful and I was just…me.

Lily nodded. “Let’s get all this stuff out to the four-wheel drive. You’re so lucky, getting to drive the supplies. My ass will be numb from the saddle before we’re even out of the home paddock.” She glanced at me curiously. “How did you grow up with Frost as your father and never learn how to ride a horse?”

I shrugged. “He’s more of a bull guy. But I can’t ride those either. Lennon and I always left that to Dad and Summer.”

“Well, thank yourself lucky, cos musters are a pain in the ass. Literally.”

I smothered a laugh and followed her outside, where a small group had gathered in record time. Henry and Aiden stood with two other guys, all four of them with cowboy hats firmly perched on their heads. Creed stood with his horse’s reins in one hand, his cell phone in the other, looking like the stereotypical bored teenager.

Paisley, Bowen, and Abel all stood in a semi-circle, Bowen explaining something with a lot of gesturing of hands. Abel glanced my way.

I winked at him.

I swore I could see the blush beneath his deep tan. I definitely saw the tiny shake of his head and the amused smile.

“Uh, what was that?” Lily asked.

I dragged my gaze off the too-sexy-for-his-own-good cowboy and onto my friend. “What?”

She yanked my arm, pulling me around to the far side of the four-wheel drive. “Don’t what me, lady. That look you just shared with Abel!”

I cringed internally but tried to play it cool. “Your dad’s friend? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But Lily wagged a finger in my face. “Nuh-uh. That was straight-up flirty, Callie Hunt. Spill it.”

I grabbed her finger and shushed her. Lily wasn’t exactly known for her discreetness. She was outgoing and loud, even when she didn’t mean to be. Even her regular speaking volume would have the entire group knowing all my business if she didn’t drop it. “Keep your voice down. Fine. It was flirty. But that’s really all there is to it.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “You like him. Callie, bucking hell. You can’t!”

I laughed at her. “You said bucking hell. I’m rubbing off on you.”

Lily shook her head. “Stop changing the subject.”

I lifted a shoulder in defeat. “Fine. I like him. We met at Summer’s wedding before either of us realized who the other was. But now we know, and that’s that. Nothing happened.”

Lily nodded. “Okay, well, I guess that’s understandable.” She glanced over at him. “He’s hot. I get it.”

I grabbed her arm, fighting down a squeal. “Right? Damn. I’m actually so glad you know because I’ve been dying to talk to someone about it. I walked in on him in the bathroom last night…”

Lily’s eyes went big. “I don’t know whether to beg for details or be horrified.”

I smothered my laughter. “I didn’t see anything. Except his chest. Abs. Shoulders…” I sighed, remembering the perfection that was Abel without his shirt on.

“Should I be worried about you? I know you’re a grown woman and you can do what you want. But, Cal. You sound really smitten. Your dad would have a conniption. So would mine. He’d probably fire Abel.”

I glanced at her sharply. “What?”

She shrugged. “You might be a grown woman, but you think he doesn’t see you as a daughter? Hell, he’s probably going to be even more protective of you than of me, because he’ll feel responsible for your safety while you’re here. Pretty sure your dad will have mine’s hide if anything happens to you on his watch.”

I chewed my bottom lip. “I never even thought of that. I don’t want to cause a drama.” I didn’t want to cause a rift between my dad and his friends. I certainly didn’t want Abel to lose his job because I couldn’t stop drooling over him.

Lily patted me on the back. “You said nothing had happened between the two of you, right? So no harm, no foul. Just try not to drool over him today, and no one will be any the wiser.”

Henry approached with Lily’s horse, and Lily started packing things into her saddle bags.

I glanced over at Abel to find him watching me again.

This time it was me who turned away.

Though it took everything in me to do it.

13

ABEL

Icouldn’t stop watching her. In the midmorning sun, she was like some goddess, with light glinting off her shiny dark hair. While the rest of us wore jeans and long-sleeved shirts to protect against the elements, Callie still wore her cutoffs and a top that showed off her arms. She got behind the wheel of Bowen’s truck, waiting while everybody else finished loading up the back with their belongings.

I’d been given a horse, a sweet mare, who seemed pleased to be out amongst the action. I patted her neck, but my attention always drew back to the woman in the truck.

The horse wandered toward it, and I followed, giving her enough lead to let her go where she wanted. As long as that direction was toward Callie.

“You dragging that horse over here just so you can talk to me?” Callie asked quietly out the window.

I shook my head, but it was pretty obvious I had. “I can’t help that you’re parked on a sweet-looking patch of grass. Sugar wants what she wants.”

Sugar wasn’t the only one who had wants. Needs. Painfully obvious desires. Mine were a whole lot more sinful that a few blades of fresh spring grass.

Callie didn’t smile. In fact, she turned away, staring straight ahead through the windshield.

I didn’t like her suddenly serious expression. I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if I’d said or done something out of line. She’d been openly flirty this morning. But now it was the complete opposite.

I leaned on the frame of the truck and ducked a little, so we were eye height. “Did I do something?”

She glanced at me, guilt playing out all over her face as she shook her head. “No. It’s not you.”

Relief filled me that I hadn’t made her uncomfortable, but the worry didn’t lift from her face. “What then?”

“Lily pointed out that Bowen could fire you if he finds out about… Well, if I keep flirting with you.”

I frowned. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Callie raised an eyebrow. “Yet.”

I didn’t bother denying it. I’d been thinking about doing all sorts of wrong things with her for days. “We’re both legal adults…”

But she was right, and we both knew it. Legal ages or not, nobody would accept any sort of romantic relationship between me and her. “Wait, Lily knows?”

Callie’s mouth pulled into a line. “She won’t tell anyone.”

I read between the lines. “She wasn’t happy, though, right?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the most supportive I’ve ever seen her.” The corner of her mouth lifted slightly. “She did say you were hot though.”

I turned away. “She’s not the woman I want to hear that from, Callie.”

She went quiet.

I couldn’t even face her.

Her fingertips grazed over the back of my hand so slightly it could have been a breeze if I weren’t so hyperaware of her.

“I’m so fucking attracted to you,” I admitted in a voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Feeling is mutual. It’s not enough though, is it? To potentially buck up a good thing…”

I wasn’t sure I agreed. But I didn’t get to voice it because a commotion kicked up at the front gate.

Callie raised her hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun. A slow smile crept across her face. “Stacey and Deacon are here.”

I followed her line of sight and grinned at the crazy-haired blonde hanging out the side of the truck. Her tight curls waved about her head, and she whooped from the passenger seat. “Who’s ready for an impromptu muster?”

The truck came to a halt in the front of our group, and three of the four doors opened. Deacon, Bowen’s best friend, came striding over and threw his arms around me. “Get the fuck outta town. Look what the cat dragged in! Bowen said you were coming back with him, and I didn’t believe it. Thought you’d fallen straight off the edge of the planet.”

I shoved him off me with an affectionate slap on the back. “Been a long time.”

“Too fucking long. You remember Stacey?”

The woman shoved him out of the way. “He’d better.”

I grinned at her. “Stacey? That your name?”

She elbowed me and gave me a warm hug. “Good to see you back here—” She cut herself off with a squeal. “Callie Hunt? Where did you come from!”

Stacey grabbed for the handle and yanked Callie out and into her arms. She hugged her tight, rocking her side to side rapidly while Callie laughed.

“Best day ever!” Stacey shouted.

Bowen frowned at her. “Don’t think anyone has ever said that about muster, but okay then, are we all here? Can we get going?”

“Yep,” Paisley answered. “But not everyone knows Laura.”

A tall, auburn-haired woman raised a hand. She’d been the third person in Deacon and Stacey’s truck, but I didn’t recognize her.

“Laura is from the Gundalla property. They’re our closest neighbor.”

Henry grinned at her. “How’d Mum rope you into helping today?”

Laura winked at him. “I’m easily bought with the promise of beers and bonfires.”

Paisley sidled up beside me, digging her elbow into my side. “Beers, bonfires, and the promise of a handsome, eligible bachelor.” She dropped her voice. “She’s the one I was telling you about last night.”

I stared at her in alarm. “What?”

On my other side, Callie was listening.

But Paisley carried on like she didn’t have a care in the world. “She’s perfect for you. Tall. Hardworking. She even rode bulls once upon a time.” She glanced over at Callie. “Not like Summer does, of course.”

“Nobody but Summer rides bulls like Summer,” Callie agreed idly, studying the newcomer who was busy saddling up a horse Bowen had brought out for her.

“She’s pretty, don’t you think?” Paisley asked us. “And so sweet. She’s had such a hard time out here since her father died. It’s so much work to run a property the size of hers alone. She’s really quite remarkable. I think you’re going to like her, Abel. You should go talk to her.”

This was terrible freaking timing. Just last night I’d thought maybe Paisley was right. And that I should try to meet people and put down some roots. I didn’t want to be a bachelor sleeping on my friends’ couches forever. That was a sad future.

But it had only taken minutes with Callie this morning to tell me that anybody else was completely off the table while she was around. That flirty little wink she’d sent me very nearly had me storming across the paddock and laying her out on the back seat of that truck.

“I don’t know about that, Paisley…”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Callie butted in. “She’s gorgeous, Abel. You should go talk to her.”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know her.”

Paisley gave me a shove in Laura’s direction. “That’s generally how meeting a woman works. You don’t know each other. You go introduce yourself. You talk. And then you do know each other.” Paisley walked backward. “Maybe you do some kissing in the middle there…”

She spun around in her cowboy boots and went off to join her friend while the back of my neck blazed with embarrassment.

“Sorry,” I said to Callie. “I didn’t know she was going to do this today…”

Callie looked up with those dark-brown eyes. “No need to apologize to me. She’s gorgeous. You should definitely go talk to her.”

I shook my head quickly.

But Callie dropped her voice. “Dating her won’t lose you your job. Or cause a rift with your friends.” She got back into the truck and closed the door. “She’s the sensible choice, Abel. We both know it.”

Despite the fact nobody had said we were moving out, Callie cranked over the engine, revving it hard so it roared to life.

Sugar edged away from the noise, and I had no choice but to follow her.

Laura might have been the logical choice. The smarter choice even.

But Laura did nothing for me. No woman would while Callie was around.

14

CALLIE

It turned out, musters were actually pretty boring. I followed along at the back of the pack like Bowen had instructed, while the others spread out in front of me on their horses.

Bowen and Paisley rode together, with Deacon and Stacey flanking them either side so the four best friends could chat while they rode. Henry, Aiden, Lily, Creed, and the other two station hands whose names I hadn’t yet caught, wandered along next in the line.

And on the end, Laura very strategically placed herself next to Abel.

I’d never been more jealous in my life, and it was making me crazy. What right did I have to be feeling like that? I had no claim on Abel. Hell, I’d flat-out told him to go after the woman. Then I sat here watching them, silently cursing their firstborn child? Because they’d have gorgeous babies, and Laura was probably still young enough that she might want them. Would he?

I gripped the steering wheel tighter and banged my head lightly against it. “What are you doing, Callie? This is ridiculous.” I stopped the truck for a moment, knowing I could easily catch up, and connected my phone to the Bluetooth stereo system. Since I had no one to talk to, and zero phone reception out here to make a call, it was on me to entertain myself for the next however many hours until we got to the back of the Barclays’ property where a thousand sheep munched on grass, waiting for us to round them up.

Lennon had commandeered my phone before I’d left, downloading a bunch of audiobooks for me. She’d said they were for the plane, but I’d been too distracted by Abel to start any of them yet. Listening to the deep gravel of his voice had been a whole lot sexier than any narrator.

I glared at him and Laura, chatting happily like they were best buddies. Now she was the one getting the flutters from his voice.

It wasn’t reasonable to dislike the woman just because she got to listen to him talk right now and I didn’t. But I wasn’t feeling all that reasonable in the moment.

Distraction was definitely required.

I hit ‘play’ on the first audiobook on the list and sat back in my seat while another man’s voice filled my ear.

He didn’t sound as good as Abel. But he would do.

For the next couple of hours, I refused to look in their direction. I forced the truck to follow right behind Bowen, Paisley, and their crew, because they were a reminder of what Abel could lose if I continued pursuing him.

It wasn’t fair to do that, when at most, all we could ever be was a fling.

Someone to fill a physical need and my unfortunate second trimester cravings.

I could do that myself, with the help of vibrators and sexy-voiced men in audiobooks.

The narrator launched into a sex scene, and I wound the window up, despite how warm it was in the cab. I doubted anyone could hear the spicy sentences over the engine and the breeze and the neighing of horses. But there was no point risking embarrassment either. Creed would never let me live it down if he knew I was back here listening to the smuttiest book I’d ever heard.

I needed to have a word with Lennon. She had not warned me about the heat level.

Not that I minded.

I could happily imagine the two lead characters to be myself and Abel.

We traveled along like that for hours, and I got more and more sucked in by the romance.

Okay, fine. I got sucked in by the sex.

I was so distracted I missed Henry approaching on his horse. By the time I caught sight of him, he was almost at the car’s window, and I had to dive for the stop button.

He made a motion for me to lower the glass so he could talk to me. “We’re stopping to make camp. Sheep are just over the hill.”

“Roger that.” I saluted him like he was a general.

He gave me a quizzical look. “You okay? You’re flushed.”

Because I was listening to the smuttiest of smut books. “I’m fine. It’s warm in here. I’m glad we’re stopping. I need some fresh air.”

By the time I got out of the car, everyone was off their horses and stretching out stiff muscles. Laura, of course, was right by Abel’s side.

Like she hadn’t had enough of him during the hours they’d been on horseback.

I grumpily helped unload the truck, pulling off a couple of old two-man tents as well as something Lily called swags, which seemed to be nothing more than a camping stretcher inside a very low tent. Could they even sit up in there? It was like an oversized pencil case.

Darkness fell around us, and in the last rays of light, Lily and I went searching for firewood. She chattered about the paint samples she’d picked for the cabins, while I found a long stick, stomping on it with my boot so it broke in half with a satisfying snap. I destroyed several more, quite viciously.

Lily poked me with the end of one she’d found. “What did the sticks do to you?”

“Nothing.” I glanced around, but nobody else was in earshot. “I just wasn’t prepared for your gorgeous neighbor.”

Lily squinted. “Laura?”

“How many other gorgeous neighbors do you have?”

Lily shook her head slowly. “You don’t even want to know.”

Judging by the expression on her face, maybe I actually did. Sounded like there was a story there. But she pushed the topic back to me too quickly.

“What’s your beef with Laura?” She grinned. “Was her ponytail too swishy from where you were living the life of luxury in the ute?”

I shook my head. “No. Her ponytail is fine. Lovely even.”

Everything about her was annoyingly perfect. Even right now, she stood brushing down her horse’s coat, the picture of the perfect country woman. Total wife material.

Not like me, who didn’t know one end of the horse from the other, despite growing up on a ranch.

Lily nodded in understanding. “She likes Abel too.”

“Can’t blame her. He’s probably just spent hours charming the pants off her.” I grabbed Lily’s arm. “Do you think he’s literally charmed her pants off? This would be the perfect place for it, wouldn’t it? What else do they have to do out here in the middle of nowhere? Our tent can’t be anywhere near theirs, okay? I do not want to hear the sounds of them going at it all night long.”

For all that I was being overdramatic and laughing on the outside, I really would die if that happened.

Lily linked her arm through mine and tugged me back toward camp. Her free arm was full of kindling.

I’d added a few bits and pieces but mostly I’d just moaned.

Lily pointed at her brothers, and then the station hands, chopping wood with an axe I’d seen in the back of the truck. “There are plenty of men here. My brothers, as much as I think they’re disgusting, are generally acknowledged to be conventionally handsome. At least that’s what I was told all through high school and at every bar since. And there’s Todd and Simon. They’re both single.”

I gazed over the group of men. While I could see where Lily was coming from, none of them had even the remotest of effects on me. Especially not her brothers. They were as familiar to me as if they were my own flesh and blood. “I don’t think we’re going to end up sisters-in-law, Lil.”

She pouted. “You’re my last shot! Summer went and married Dom. Lennon is shacked up with Preston.”

“Would be a bit incestuous, really. Henry and Aiden have seen me running around with a garden hose in nothing but a diaper. Sure, I was two at the time, but the photo evidence exists. I’m not sure they can see me like that and then years later, find me desirable.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Lily agreed. “Going to have to hope that I get a sister one day. But they’re all so hopeless with women.”

“Maybe they’re gay?”

Lily shook her head. “No. I should rephrase. They’re great with women, until it turns into a relationship. And then they’re hopeless.” She pulled a packet of matches from her pocket and knelt to light the kindling. “Not that I can talk. I’m no better with men.”

With the fire under control, I went searching for something to do to keep me busy until it was a respectful hour to go hide in my tent.

I joined Deacon, Paisley, and Creed who seemed to have found themselves on cooking duty, and when that was done, I cleaned up as best I could without running water. I was the last to collapse down onto the logs that had already been here from previous musters, and the conversation around me was in full swing. As were the drinks being handed about. I took a can of something sweet and bubbly from Lily, who swore they were delicious. I cracked the top on it and had it halfway to my mouth before I remembered I was pregnant and couldn’t drink anything alcoholic.

“Shit,” I said softly, lowering the can and hoping nobody had noticed.

I got rid of the entire drink twenty minutes later when I claimed I needed a bathroom break.

By the time I came back, a guitar had been produced, and Creed was quite badly strumming something that might have been chords.

I’d been trying to avoid looking in Abel’s direction all night, because Laura was sitting next to him and gazing at him with lovesick eyes. But when Creed abandoned the guitar in favor of watching something on his phone, Abel leaned across to grasp the instrument by its neck.

“May I?”

Creed gave a jerk of his head. “You know how to play?”

Abel pulled the guitar across his lap and strummed it softly. I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who sat up a little straighter to pay attention. Abel gazed down at the strings his fingers pressed, with firelight flickering all over his face.

The tune changed into something recognizable, as the first few bars of “Hotel California” by the Eagles drifted up from the instrument.

Lily inched closer and twisted to whisper in my ear, “It’s okay. If he starts singing, I’ll hold you back.”

I grinned at her in the darkness, because there was a good chance I might need her to. His playing was perfect, and surrounded by darkness, stars overhead, the moment was something out of a small-town romance movie.

This was the bit where he’d look across the fire and see me. His fingers would fall away from the guitar, and he’d stop playing. Then he’d push to his feet, cross the campfire circle to where I was sitting. He’d lift me to my feet, and I’d say, “What are you doing?” in a hissed whisper.

He’d of course respond with, “I can’t keep sitting over there just watching you, Callie.”

It was the, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” moment.

I’d clearly listened to too many romance novels that day, because my breath actually hitched as I waited for it to happen.

Instead, Laura opened her beautiful, perfect lips and sang the opening lines of the song.

You could have slapped me in the face with a cold, dead fish and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

Abel joined in on the second line, the two of them singing while they smiled at each other like they were goddamn Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born.

“Damn,” Lily whispered. “I didn’t even know Laura could sing. They sound amazing.”

“I’m going to bed.” I couldn’t sit here watching them any longer. It was late anyway, and we all needed to be up when the sun rose.

“Cal…” Lily called softly after me.

I ignored her, murmuring goodnights as I made my way around the outside of the circle.

It was fine. I wasn’t sulking, but there was also no point torturing myself either.

I crawled into my sleeping bag and listened to the impromptu party going on outside it. But it wasn’t long before footsteps passed the tent and low whispers of “See you in the morning,” filtered through the thin nylon walls.

I’d been tossing and turning for a while when the zipper on my tent finally opened with a creak. For the stupidest moment, I hoped it was Abel.

Lily stumbled through and flopped down on her bed.

I raised an amused eyebrow, even though she wouldn’t have seen it in the darkness. “How much did you drink after I went to bed?”

“Enough I’m going to regret it in the morning, probably. Have you ever noticed how cute Todd is? Night.”

Her deep breaths and soft snores rang out a moment later, and within the next hour, the same noises came from the rest of the surrounding tents.

It was lovely that everyone else could sleep. I’d been the first one to retire, but it seemed I’d be the last one to actually get some shut-eye.

The snores were kind of peaceful though, mixed in with the night sounds of the open land around us. I wondered if one of the snorers was Abel.

I was just beginning to doze off when a soft moan sounded in between frog calls and snores. I froze, listening harder, until it came again.

“Kill me now,” I whispered, completely mortified. I shoved my pillow over my head, but there was no unhearing it. It was Laura for sure. And judging by the increasingly loud sex noises, she was having a great time.

My core throbbed at the thought of the two of them writhing around on the floor of his tent. Him taking handfuls of her breasts while she rode his cock.

Hadn’t she had enough freaking riding today?

I couldn’t stand it. It was one thing to imagine how good Abel would be in bed, with years of experience on any of the men I’d dated before. It was another thing entirely to have it proved in an audio soundtrack.

As Laura’s moans turned into “Oh, oh, OH’s!” I unzipped the tent quietly and snuck out. Anything to avoid hearing that.

Just freaking come already and go to sleep so the rest of us could do the same.

I didn’t want to go too far for fear of getting lost in the dark, but I tiptoed past the rest of the tents and wandered toward where I’d left the truck.

It wasn’t far enough to block out Laura’s enjoyment, but at least I could sit in the back and stare at the stars. Hopefully Abel would slap a hand over her mouth soon.

I rounded the front of the truck, grumbling softly beneath my breath.

“Hey.”

I snapped my head up, my grumbles cutting off mid-sentence. “What are you doing here?”

Abel’s long legs swung gently over the flattened tailgate. “We seem to ask each other that a lot.” He pointed in the direction of the tents. “My tent is next to Todd’s. It’s kind of noisy over there. I’m sure you noticed.”

My mouth dropped open. “That’s Laura and Todd?”

Abel grinned, and damn if he didn’t have a dimple in one cheek. “Who’d you think it was?”

Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I wasn’t about to admit to Abel I’d thought it was him. “Laura and Henry,” I lied.

But he gave me a knowing look. “Mmm-hmm. That why you ran off so quick tonight? Because you were jealous over Laura and Henry?”

I glared at him. He clearly knew exactly who I was jealous over, and we both knew it wasn’t Henry.

He chuckled and patted the tailgate beside him. “You want to sit for a bit until the show is over?”

My heart picked up the pace at the invitation to be close to him. I shouldn’t have taken it. It was already torture being this far away, but I did. I slid next to him, an inch or two closer than I absolutely had to, because I couldn’t help it. My arm brushed his, but he didn’t move away.

“That’s the Southern Cross, up there.” Abel pointed into the clear, inky night sky.

“You know stars?””

He lifted a shoulder. “Some. They’ve always kind of fascinated me.” He shifted his outstretched hand slightly to the right. “See that big one there? That’s part of Orion the Hunter. That one is his right shoulder. See?”

I squinted. “Not really,” I said truthfully. The sky full of stars were all pretty much the same to me.

He leaned in closer. “Those three in a straight line make up his belt.”

“Oh! I can see that!” I swung my legs gently, amusement filling me. “So, you’re a space cowboy then, huh?”

He chuckled, then softly sang the opening line to the song beneath his breath in his deep, perfectly pitched voice.

The man was killing me. “You’re a good singer.”

“I’m not. You know that song isn’t even called ‘Space Cowboy?’ It’s called ‘The Joker.’” He shook his head. “Of course you don’t know. That song is probably twenty years older than you.”

I faked hurt. “Insulting! I know it.”

“Because your parents play it?”

I shoved his arm. “Because it’s a classic! And stop trying to make my age a thing. We’ve already established I’m plenty old enough to be sitting out here with you right now, talking about songs from decades long, long ago, when dinosaurs—and you, apparently—roamed the earth…”

He laughed, and I laughed with him. We sat like that, side by side in the darkness, with Laura and Todd’s sex show for background music, and stared up at the stars.

Eventually, I nudged him. “Ever had sex in a tent?”

He glanced over at me. “No. My wife wasn’t exactly the outdoorsy type.”

Wife. Wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. “You gonna ask me if I have?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

I waited for him to say that it was inappropriate and that I was his friend’s daughter and blah blah blah.

He turned away. “Because I don’t want to think about you with someone else.”

My breath hitched. “I went to bed early tonight because I couldn’t stand watching Laura make eyes at you.”

He snorted. “She wasn’t making eyes at me. I could barely get a word out of her on the ride here because she kept getting distracted by Todd.”

“Oh.” I suddenly saw the entire day through different eyes. Laura had ridden right between Abel and Todd. I’d simply assumed she was after Abel because out of the two men, there was no doubt in my mind Abel was the one I would have gone after.

But each to their own, clearly.

I nudged him. “If it makes you feel better, I think she has poor taste in men.”

Though I was absolutely certain that with my track record, and the man I currently wanted, the same could be said about me.

“So there’s no danger of finding you in Todd’s tent tomorrow night?” Abel teased.

“There’s only one man’s tent I want to be in,” I said softly. “And it’s not Todd’s.”

Abel let out a sigh. “I shouldn’t like hearing you say that.”

“But you do.” It wasn’t a question.

His arm brushed mine. Slowly. Deliberately. Testing the space between us.

I inched closer.

He dropped his head back onto his shoulders and stared at the inky night. “I want to go back to that night at the wedding.”

I reached out a pinky finger and ran it over the thigh seam in his jeans. “Because you missed out on cake?”

He didn’t stop me. Instead, his hand covered mine, tucking my fingers into a ball that he engulfed with his large hand. “Because I missed out on you.”

“I wanted to go home with you that night.”

“I know. I wanted it too.”

“I still want it.”

He glanced over at me. “Don’t say that.”

I needed to touch him. The overwhelming urge was too powerful not to. I brought one hand up to the side of his face. “I want to kiss you.” His jawline was stubbled but sharp and strong beneath it.

He caught my hand, stopping me from touching him any further.

But it didn’t matter, because his words seared me. “I can’t. If I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop.”

I swallowed thickly. “Is that a promise?”

The fire in his eyes said it very much was.

“Go to bed.” His voice sounded strained. “Please.”

I didn’t move.

He finally dragged his gaze back up to me. “The first time I fuck you isn’t going to be here in the back of this truck bed, Callie. I’m not going to just yank your pants down and shove my dick in.”

I squeezed my thighs together. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had done that. I wasn’t a princess. I could take rough-and-ready sex. “I wouldn’t care. If that’s the only way I can have you, I’m okay with that.”

“What?” he asked sharply, recoiling like I’d bitten him. “Who taught you that a quick fuck on the back of a truck is all you deserve?”

I blinked.

I’d never thought of it like that. Jeremy had never cared for romance. That wasn’t what we were, and I’d agreed to it because he was handsome and turned me on. Even the men before him…not one of them would have held back the way Abel was. They would have had me flat on my back, taking what they wanted, no care given to my pleasure. When they didn’t call in the morning, I’d be disappointed but not surprised.

Nobody had ever held back because they thought I deserved more than what I was offering. The thought floored me.

Abel rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip and whispered, “Go to bed, Callie. I’m done pretending this isn’t going to happen, but it’s not going to be like this.”

15

ABEL

After a two-day muster, and then a week of shearing while the rain poured outside the sheds, every muscle in my body ached. I never wanted to see another sheep again. Even though it was only spring, the inside of those shearing sheds felt like saunas, the rain only making the air humid, and it had been a week of dirty, sweaty, backbreaking work.

But the sense of accomplishment that washed over me when that last sheep ran off down the runway, all skinny and light after pounds of wool had been clipped from its body, was one of the best feelings I’d ever had. It reminded me how much I’d once loved working around animals. It might not have given the adrenaline rush that throwing myself in front of a bull did, but the sense of pride was one I’d been missing for longer than I cared to admit.

The feeling almost came close to sitting on the back of that tailgate with Callie, the dark night around us, while I whispered that at some point, before she left to go back home, I was going to have her.

Hell would be waiting for me with open arms, but I couldn’t see any other way around it. The attraction between us would bubble and explode at some point, it was just a matter of when.

I refused to take advantage.

So when the bubble popped, it would only be after I’d proved to her that she was worth more than the quick screw she’d been offering.

I dragged myself back to the main house, my body covered in grime, and in desperate need of a shower. I dropped my hat and boots just inside the door and padded the rest of the way to my room in bare feet. I pulled my dirty wifebeater shirt off and tossed it toward the laundry basket by the bathroom door.

It missed, but I didn’t have the energy to care. I washed up, too tired to actually have a full shower, then threw myself down on the bed, the mattress squeaking beneath me.

“You weren’t even close to your basket.” Callie stepped into my space from the bathroom, holding my sweat- and grime-soaked shirt between two fingers. She wrinkled her nose adorably at the offending garment. “This is truly disgusting. Did you wear this the entire time we were shearing?”

Fuck, she was cute. I’d seen her down in the sheds while we were helping the shearers. She’d been as dirty and sweaty as the rest of us, which had done nothing to put a dampener on the rising need I felt every time I looked in her direction. But we’d had no time to talk or even do more than glance at each other across the room. I’d fallen into bed early each night and gotten up before the sun, determined to earn my keep and the respect of the other people in the shed. I might not have had any experience, but I made up for it in working my ass off.

As much as I wanted her, I hadn’t let that distract me.

Until now.

I sat up and snatched the dirty shirt from her fingertips. “I’ll be more careful next time.” I stood and crossed the room, moving past her closer than I really needed to, and purposefully put the offending garment into the basket this time.

I turned around only to catch Callie’s gaze wandering all over my chest and abs.

I liked the expression on her face. I’d been so busy the last week, that what had been said between us needed to be pushed aside. I was here to work, and I wouldn’t let my attraction to her get in the way of that, but now it came roaring back.

But my gaze narrowed in on the snake-shaped sack around her neck. Before I could stop myself, I stepped in closer, picking up one end to inspect it. “Is that a heat pack?”

Callie glanced up at me, confusion in her eyes, like she hadn’t quite been paying attention. “What?”

I tapped the bag again.

“Oh, right. Paisley gave it to me. I did something to my neck out there yesterday. It’s been sore ever since.” She bit her lip at my frown. “It’s fine. No big deal. Everybody is stiff and sore, right? Nothing a bit of Tylenol won’t fix… Though, it’s not called that here, is it? Paisley gave me something similar. It helped. A bit.”

“Get on the bed.”

Her smile turned into a smirk. “Making good on that promise you made me out on the back of the truck?”

So she’d been thinking about it too. The thought was tempting, since my dick had been severely neglected for over a week. On top of the physical work, only getting a glimpse of Callie once or twice a day had me wanting to make good on that promise over and over again.

But I didn’t like that she was hurt. I led her to the bed and sat her down on the end, so she was facing the full-length mirror on the built-in closet. “Sit, Callie.”

She didn’t argue. I got on the bed, kneeling behind her, and peeled away the heat pack. Beneath it, her skin was warm to the touch, and I dug my fingers into the fleshy part where her neck met her shoulder.

“Ouch,” Callie yelped.

I froze. “That’s painful?”

“Well, yeah. A bit! That’s why I said ouch.” She laughed. “You qualified for this job?”

I could literally feel the ball of too-tight muscle beneath her skin and slowly pressed in, each stroke of my fingers kneading over it. “It’ll hurt a bit at first, but push through, okay? It’ll feel better if you let me really get to it.”

She nodded, letting her head loll to one side, putting her trust in me. Her skin was already slippery with some sort of sweet-smelling moisturizer, and I rubbed it in, taking away the bunched-up muscle with it.

“Mmm,” she murmured, letting her eyes flutter closed. The tension dropped out of her frame. “Okay, I revise my earlier question. You’re definitely qualified.”

The knot in her shoulder had all but disappeared.

It was when I should have stepped aside and let her go.

I didn’t. I tugged her wide-neck shirt to one side, pulling it down off her shoulder. I kept up the massage, taking her bra strap with me as I worked my way down her arm.

I waited for her to stop me.

She didn’t.

She did the complete opposite, relaxing against me so her back was to my chest.

For fuck’s sake. This was a terrible idea. But one I couldn’t stop now, even if I wanted to.

A tiny moan of pleasure slipped from her lips, and damn if I didn’t want that moan to be from more than a massage.

I put my lips to her neck.

She gasped, and her eyes flew open, watching me in the mirror.

I didn’t stop. The urge to taste her was too strong, and I let the kisses turn open-mouthed, my tongue darting out to touch her skin.

She moaned again, the sound going straight to my dick. I was sure she could feel it at her back, and it was confirmed when she reached one arm behind to stroke her fingers along the waistband of my jeans, then higher, her fingers dancing along the lower ridges of my abs.

I let out a noise that was halfway between a hiss and a groan of need.

I sucked the skin of her neck, my other hand circling the front to rest on her throat while I ground against her back.

“Abel,” she gasped, fingers slipping lower, dipping beneath the waistband of my jeans.

I stopped her, catching her delicate wrist with my fingers, and dragged my mouth away from her neck.

Her gaze met mine in the mirror. I’d expected to see hazy desire in her eyes, but it was the complete opposite.

Her gaze was full of regrets, her brow furrowed into tense lines. “Did I do something wrong?”

Shock punched through me. “What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

She twisted so she was on her knees and reached for the waistband of my jeans again. “I give good head.”

I grabbed her hands again. “Callie, stop.”

She froze, and I could see the worry all over her gorgeous face. She opened her mouth to speak again.

I cut her off. “You aren’t sucking my dick when I haven’t even kissed you.”

She looked so confused. Completely baffled that I was turning her down.

I was fucking horrified. “What the hell kinda guys are you hanging out with?”

“Ones who like getting their dicks sucked?”

I laughed at the honest response. “Who doesn’t?”

“Then why…”

My first instinct had been right. This was a woman who needed to be shown that not all men were made equal. That we weren’t all douchebags who only wanted one thing. It was my fault. I’d given her the idea I was one of them too. Fuck, maybe I had been, that night at the wedding. I’d wanted her so bad.

But that wasn’t who I was at heart. I wasn’t a player. I liked relationships.

Which was why I’d stayed married longer than I should have.

It was why I shouldn’t go after Callie Hunt because this could never be anything long term.

But it didn’t have to be one night either. She wasn’t due back in the States for months. “Grab your purse.”

She twisted. “What for?”

“Because next time you ask to suck my dick, I want to be able to let you. Contrary to popular belief, I do like blow jobs. But freaking hell, Callie. I want more than just your mouth around my cock. So get your purse and let’s go.”

The beaming smile she graced me with told me what I already knew.

She wanted more than she was used to from guys.

I might only get to have her for a few months, and maybe it would only ever be in secret, but I’d build this woman up, show her everything she’d been missing out on.

And then I’d set her free, knowing she deserved more than the scumbag assholes she’d been allowing into her bed.

16

CALLIE

My heart fluttered wildly as I followed Abel out of his bedroom and down the hallway. We were way too close together. He’d put on a T-shirt, but our bare arms brushed, that spark of attraction dragging me closer every time our skin touched until I was fighting the urge to slip my fingers through his.

You cannot hold the man’s hand, Callie. Not here in this house. Even if he did just have his lips on your neck while his erection ground against your back.

My nipples tightened at how hard and thick he’d been. At the pained groans of need he’d made when his mouth was on my skin.

I hated that he’d stopped. My libido had been ready to rip his clothes off and jump him. But it had quickly been replaced by curiosity and excitement over whatever it was we were doing now.

It was broad daylight, and the man wanted to take me somewhere.

I wasn’t sure that had ever happened before. I ran through every experience I’d ever had with men and came to the stark realization that I’d never been on a date. All my experiences boiled down to flirting, sex, and then dismissals.

It was a bleak thought, and one that made my heart ache a little bit. How had I not even realized? Had I not cared at all that the men in my past had only seen me as a good-time girl?

I was carrying this baby around, and even though I hadn’t met her, and wasn’t even sure if I would get to keep her, the idea of some man treating her the way I’d let myself be treated was horrifying.

I’d never walked down a hall with a man, with just our fingers brushing. Anytime I was this close to one, he was normally grabbing at me, dragging me somewhere private where he could touch me a whole lot more. I’d had no idea how much of a turn-on barely touching could be.

“Where are you two off to?” a voice asked from behind us.

Abel and I sprang apart as if we’d had our tongues down each other’s throats, making out like horny teenagers. I jumped so far away from him my shoulder crashed into the drywall, wobbling the wall full of glass-fronted picture frames.

Bowen reached for a frame ready to crash down.

Abel reached for me.

His hand wrapped around my waist, steadying me, drawing me into his side.

I was completely powerless to pull away.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

I nodded, pushing at him a little so he’d let me go before Bowen noticed.

Too late. With the frames all in their rightful places, Bowen looked between the two of us.

We stared dumbly back, nobody saying a word.

Bowen raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

I let out a laugh that did not sound remotely natural. “That’s okay.”

Abel finally let me go and shoved his hands into his pockets while clearing his throat. “Actually, I was searching for you. Could I borrow your truck—ah, ute?”

Bowen pointed to the key rack by the door. “Sure thing. Where you off to?”

I dropped my gaze to the floor, disappointment flooding me. Because now, whatever Abel had planned, wouldn’t happen. He could hardly say he was taking me out somewhere because things had gotten a bit too heated in the bedroom, and he was a gentleman who was trying to slow it down.

I backed up a couple of steps. “I should go find Lil—”

But Abel grabbed my arm. “Henry told me that there’s wildflowers growing around the watering hole. If you don’t need me, I thought I’d go check it out before it gets too dark. Callie wanted to come. She’s got that camera and hasn’t even used it yet.” He glanced down at me. “Right?”

I nodded dumbly, then patted my purse. The camera was actually inside, though I hadn’t given it a second thought since Dad had given it to me at the airport.

Understanding crossed Bowen’s face, and he smiled at me. “Of course. Go. Have fun. I’m sorry you haven’t had much free time since you’ve been here, but it’s like that sometimes. Grab the time while you can. Watch the mud though. All that rain last week created a hell of a bog in some spots.” He clapped Abel on the shoulder as he passed. “If you aren’t back by dinner, we’ll send a search party. You wouldn’t be the first one to get stuck in it.”

Abel laughed, and it sounded a whole lot more natural than when I had. “Good to know. But we’ll be back before then. I don’t miss home-cooked meals.”

Bowen disappeared into the kitchen, and I let Abel tow me to the front door. He snatched the ute keys from the holder on the wall and kept going, the screen door slamming closed behind us.

He didn’t let go of my hand until we got to Bowen’s ride.

I couldn’t stop staring at the way Abel held my fingers tight in his. It was a dangerous game to play. If Bowen had glanced out the window, or someone else had come wandering by, it would have been impossible to explain.

And yet, neither of us let go.

Not until he opened the passenger-side door for me. “After you.”

“Thank you,” I murmured. Damn, he smelled good. Not his clean, straight-out-of-the-shower smell that I also really enjoyed. Right now, he was all man in clean clothes and fresh deodorant but still with traces of dirt and sweat on his skin.

I had to fight the urge to bury my face in his neck and see if he tasted just as good.

With a look that lingered longer and hotter than it should have, he closed the door and jogged around the front of the truck to the driver’s side, and then slid behind the wheel. He thrust the keys into the ignition of the four-wheel drive I’d gotten very acquainted with after spending hours in it during the muster.

The engine roared to life, and I let out a relieved breath. As Abel steered the ute toward the dirt road that wound in various directions around the property, I twisted to glance through the back windshield at the big house. “Do you think he suspected we were…” I shrugged. “Probably not, right? You seriously played that cool—”

“Okay. I’ll play that now,” Siri piped up.

Abel glanced at me, and I groaned, grabbing for my purse. “Sorry. My phone does this all the time. Every time I say ‘seriously’ it thinks I’m saying Siri, and—”

“His fingers tightened in the back of my hair, pulling my head back so my face was upturned to his. Fire blazed in his eyes as he leaned in and whispered—”

“Oh my God,” I yelped, fumbling for the phone. “Siri! Don’t play! Abort! Shut up!”

But of course, Siri only listened when I hadn’t actually told her to do anything. My damn phone had automatically connected to the ute’s Bluetooth stereo system since it was the last one I’d used, and now it was blaring the spicy audiobook all through the truck.

With Abel wide-eyed in the driver’s seat.

“I’m going to fuck you, Clara. In every way possible. Your mouth. Your tight little pussy. They belong to me.”

A fire wasn’t only blazing in the hero’s eyes. It was blazing behind my cheeks. I gave up trying to find my damn phone to turn the stupid audiobook off and instead hit the mute button on the stereo.

But the damage had well and truly been done.

Abel’s grin was wider than I’d ever seen it, and his shoulders shook with silent laughter. He kept his gaze concentrated on the road, and thank God, because I could not look at the man.

“Stop,” I wailed. “Lennon downloaded it for me, and I don’t normally listen to audiobooks but I got bored during the muster, and it’s not like there’s any internet reception out there, so I had to listen to whatever was saved to my phone…”

“And it just happened to be porn?”

“It’s not porn!” I protested. But then a laugh bubbled up in my throat. “It was really dirty though.”

He finally glanced at me. “You like it? The way he spoke to her?”

I shrugged, but I knew the answer. I really kind of did. It was hot. And much too easy to put myself in the heroine’s shoes, while imagining the hero was Abel.

“Turn it back on.”

“So you can tease me? I don’t think so.”

“Maybe I want some tips.”

I gave him a deadpan stare. “I doubt you need any tips, Abel.”

He twisted the steering wheel, maneuvering around a pothole still filled with water from the storm. “I could be a complete dud in bed.”

The fact he was secure enough in himself to even make a joke about it told me he was very much not a dud in bed. Jeremy would have been loudly proclaiming to everyone about how big his dick was, or how he could make women come just by staring at them. Which, for the record, he most definitely could not. His bravado was his thing. He was a show pony in the rodeo ring and out of it. He liked to win and for everyone to watch him.

Abel was the complete opposite. His job as a bullfighter might have had him out there in the ring too, but it wasn’t a glory role.

It was a protector position, one that saved lives and reduced injuries, all while putting himself in danger for riders he didn’t even know. Then he stepped back into the shadows and let the rider take the limelight.

“You are not a dud in bed, Abel,” I said with complete certainty.

He didn’t argue, telling me we both knew I was right.

But I put the audiobook back on anyway.

“He spread my legs, yanking my panties to the side with practiced fingers, and circled my clit, rubbing the little bundle of nerves until he inhaled sharply. ‘You’re wet for me.’”

I was. So wet.

“And when he notched his dick at my entrance, having him inside me was all I could think about. ‘Please,’ I begged. ‘I need to come.’”

Abel stopped the car abruptly, turning it off so the audiobook went silent. But I was too busy gasping at the sight outside the windows. There was a large swimming hole, almost a perfect oval in shape, with thick green spring grass growing around the edges. Dotted throughout, in the most stunning display of natural beauty I think I’d ever seen, was a sea of color. Little dots of pink, purple, yellow, and white grew up through the grass. “Oh wow! There really are wildflowers everywhere! Abel, this is—”

He grabbed my chin and twisted my head to face him.

All thoughts of wildflowers fell away.

I sucked in a deep breath at the way he gazed at me.

Like I was a thousand times more beautiful than the scene outside the windows.

“Then he leaned in and kissed her,” I narrated, in the same tone as the audiobook. “He kissed her soft and sweet, but with a heat that made her thighs tremble. He kissed her with a passion that she’d never felt before, not from any man who’d ever glanced her way. He kissed her until she begged him for more.”

His fingers slid to the nape of my neck, and he hauled me in. His lips landed on mine, and within seconds, I knew all my assumptions about Abel were true.

His experience shone in the way he held me. In the way he wrapped his arms around me, delving his fingers into my hair as he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along the seam of my lips and searching for entry.

I gave it up willingly, desperate to be closer to him. Our tongues stroked together, no uncertainty from either of us; it was clear in that kiss how much we’d both wanted this.

There was nothing frantic about it. He took his time, exploring my lips and my mouth, pulling away to trail kisses across my jaw and neck before returning like he couldn’t get enough of my taste.

When he growled low in his chest and dragged me across the gearshift to straddle his lap, I went willingly.

His legs were long enough that he already had the seat back as far as it could go, leaving enough room for me to squeeze between him and the wheel. It was tight, but it gave me an excuse to plaster myself to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him like he was the air I needed to breathe.

“I’ve wanted to do this for weeks,” he murmured against my skin. “Fuck, I can’t stop thinking about you, Callie. Don’t stop.”

I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. He was thick and hard beneath me. My nipples desperately beaded. My skin ached for him to take my clothes off so he could touch me properly. But neither of us made that move.

Instead, we kissed. And kissed some more. We kissed until my lips were swollen with his stubble and he was so hard it felt like stone beneath me. We kissed until time meant nothing, and minutes or maybe hours passed, but all I could think about was the way he held me, the way my heart thumped erratically, and the way my entire body tingled, just with the knowledge he wanted me.

Eventually, he pulled away, breathing hard. He closed his eyes, pressing his lips to the fabric of my T-shirt, just above my heart. “If we don’t stop now, I’m going to do things I’m not proud of.”

A thrill shot through me. “Do them.” I rocked myself over his erection. There were way too many layers of clothes between us.

But he shook his head and groaned. “Not yet, Callie. Fuck, I will. But not yet.”

With that, he deposited me back on my seat and started up the truck again. To my surprise, I realized it was almost completely dark outside. How long had we sat in the car kissing? Just kissing.

I wrapped my arms around myself, happiness building from somewhere deep inside me and eventually expressing itself in a soft smile.

I stared out the window into the darkness, not wanting him to know exactly how much the last hour had meant to me. Sure, I was a horny ball of throbbing clit, and my panties were so wet with arousal that I was absolutely going home to finish myself off, but I’d missed this step with every other guy. I’d missed this slow, delicious buildup, and I realized now exactly how much I’d been missing by skipping straight to dessert.

We made it back to the house without getting stuck in the mud. We walked inside without saying anything, but his arm brushed mine the entire time, like he wanted to be close to me.

I couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off my face.

Inside the house was a warm bustle of gentle lights and bodies moving around. Lily set the long table for dinner. Creed and Henry made trips back and forth from the kitchen, their arms loaded up with bowls and platters of food.

Bowen waved at us and jerked his head toward Abel. “Come help me get some beers, yeah?”

Abel’s pinky finger grazed the back of my hand as he nodded at Bowen and then strode after him.

Paisley found me standing there and waved her hand toward the table. “Sit! Let’s eat.”

We all settled into seats, Abel right up the other end of the table from me, which was probably a good thing so I couldn’t play footsie with him underneath it.

Paisley smiled in a motherly way and rubbed a hand up and down my bare arm affectionately. “How were the wildflowers? Did you get some amazing shots? Show me! I’m a terrible photographer, I’d love copies if you got some good ones.”

It was only then I realized I hadn’t even taken my camera out.

I’d been too busy kissing.

Just kissing.

And a little dry humping, but that wasn’t the point.

I had nothing to show for the hours we’d been out there.

I was clearly no good at coming up with excuses quickly.

“Did you not charge the battery?” Lily asked me with a kick to my ankle beneath the table.

I was grateful for the bone she threw me. “So stupid. I didn’t even check it. I was so excited to get out there. But gosh, it was beautiful. I’m definitely going to charge the battery and try again.”

Paisley smiled happily, clearly glad I was having a good time, before Creed sucked her into a discussion about his upcoming bull riding competition.

I shot Lily a thank you look.

She just shook her head, dropping her voice so only I could hear. “I’m gonna pretend I don’t know exactly why you don’t have any photos, lady.”

But when she noticed my happy grin, her disapproving surrogate big sister routine softened. “You’ll tell me everything later.”

I would. But there wasn’t really much to tell.

And that was the most beautiful thing about it.

17

CALLIE

After we’d all eaten our fill and stacked our dinner plates in the dishwasher, Bowen and Abel disappeared out onto the porch that wrapped around the entire house with beers clutched in their fingers. I watched the screen door bang closed after them, and a moment later, their warm laughter floated back through.

“Anyone want to play Scrabble?” Paisley asked with a hopeful look in her grown children’s directions.

Creed groaned.

Henry elbowed him sharply. “We’d love to, Mum.”

Creed nodded, following his older brother’s cue, and he and Lily traipsed over to a cupboard filled with board games.

Paisley hid a smile as she linked her arm through mine. “I know they only say yes to make me happy,” she whispered conspiratorially, “but I like being around them and I’m not above using mum guilt to get some quality time.”

“Pretty sure they don’t actually mind indulging you,” I replied with a soft grin.

Lily and Creed were already starting up the smack talk about who was going to win, and Henry and Aiden were diligently setting up the tile holders. None of them really seemed all that put out, despite Creed’s weak protests.

“I bet your mum and dad are missing this sort of thing,” Paisley mused. “With you and Summer both away. And Lennon busy with Preston and school.”

I bit my lip, realizing I hadn’t really thought of it from my parents’ point of view.

But Paisley went on before I could say anything. “They’re so proud of you all.” Her smile faltered into something resembling concern. “I worry about my four. Lily and Creed still have plenty of time to find their feet. But Henry and Aiden are both so committed to this ranch, all they do is work. They never get out and meet people…women in particular…” She squeezed my hand and schooled her features back into her regular sunny expression. “Shame they’re too old for you.”

I swallowed thickly. Aiden and Henry were probably a decade younger than Abel was.

But Paisley continued on, oblivious to my rising discomfort. “Don’t tell them I said that. They hate when I nag them about their love lives. They think it’s because I want grandchildren, which is absolutely not the case. I just don’t want them to waste their youth on cows and bulls. Did your mother ever tell you about what a sad, recluse, widower Bowen was before I met him?”

I shook my head. “I can’t really imagine that.” My memories of Bowen were all of him with a smile for his gorgeous wife and the children he adored.

She shrugged. “We met playing Henry and Aiden’s video games, so I suppose I really wasn’t much better. But that’s why I want more for our boys. Careers and friendships are so important. Don’t get me wrong. But finding love…having a family of your own… That’s special too.”

My hand drifted toward my belly, and I quickly forced it away.

Paisley changed the subject and tugged me toward the table that was full with her adult children and their good-natured sibling rivalry. “You’re going to play too, right?”

“Yeah, come on, Cal,” Aiden called. “I need some new competition. I’m sick of obliterating this lot.”

That, of course, was met with shouts of denial and arguments from the rest of the family.

But I pulled my arm from Paisley’s grasp. “Actually, there’s something I need to do. I’ll leave you to your family bonding.”

I could feel her concern chasing me down the hallway, but her words had sparked a need inside me.

I’d told Jeremy about the baby already, weeks ago when I’d first found out. And it had ended in an argument for the record books. He’d accused me of sleeping around and trying to pin him down with a baby that probably wasn’t even his. My blood had boiled. I should have just walked away then and there, but I’d stayed and argued, until I’d cried angry, frustrated tears of realization. It wasn’t his hurtful words that had pierced through my armor. It was the knowledge that this entire thing was my fault. I hadn’t been careful. And worse, I hadn’t been careful with a man who could so callously say those things to the mother of his child.

But this baby girl only had one father, and I owed it to her to be sure that he really didn’t want her. Neither of us were ready for a baby. We weren’t even in a relationship, but I needed to try again. He’d had weeks to let the news sink in, and though I’d hoped he’d reach out, for her sake, not mine, because Jeremy and I were so over, he hadn’t.

I needed to be able to sleep at night. Knowing I’d done everything I could for this baby was my number one priority.

So I hurried to my bedroom, locking the door behind me, and sat on the edge of my bed, nerves flooding my system. It wasn’t even remotely cold, but suddenly my skin was pebbled with goosebumps. I pulled on the blanket that had been draped over the end of the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders, needing the fluffy, familiar comfort more than the actual warmth. With nervous fingers, I typed in a message to the man I’d once gotten butterflies over.

Callie

Can we talk?

I stood and paced back and forth, too nervous about initiating contact again to sit still. Since there was no one else around to see, I let my fingers run over my belly that still showed very little sign that my daughter was growing inside. It was one of the few times I’d let myself connect with her, but I needed her to know I was trying. Not for me, because as far as I was concerned, Jeremy could take a long walk off a short cliff, but she had the right to know him, and he had a right to know her.

My phone buzzed.

Jeremy

I’d rather fuck.

I stared blankly at the message for the longest time, my heart sinking with disappointment. Eventually, I typed a reply.

Callie

I meant about your daughter.

Jeremy’s reply was almost instant.

Jeremy

What the fuck, Callie? Didn’t you get rid of that? Don’t fucking text me shit like that baby belongs to me. Any baby in your belly ain’t my problem. I’m not taking care of some other guy’s mistake.

A silent tear clouded my vision, then spilled over, rolling down my face. And then another. And another. The hurt welled up inside me, sharp as a knife, and cut through all the walls I’d built up around myself. Contacting Jeremy had been a mistake. Nothing had changed with him, and it never would. But his cruel words, and his rejection of his daughter, hurt worse than I ever could have imagined. The fear I’d been battling ever since I’d seen the positive sign on the pregnancy test mixed in with the pain, all of it swirling around me until my chest constricted, cutting off my air.

I gasped for breath, panic clawing up my throat, my logical mind knowing I was having a panic attack but unable to control it.

A soft knock came at my door, but I shoved the ends of my blanket into my mouth to stifle my gasping sobs and rushed into the bathroom. It would be Lily, probably ducking out of her Scrabble game to ask for the gossip. I couldn’t let her see me like this. Now wasn’t the time to tell anyone how royally I’d screwed up not only my own life, but this baby’s. I checked the door to Abel’s room was locked and then I sank down onto the bathroom mat, tucked my legs up to my chest, and wrapped my arms around them. This had become a familiar position for me over the last few months. With the constant morning sickness, I’d spent a lot of time on the bathroom floor feeling sorry for myself, but this ached in a whole new way.

A knock came at Abel’s bathroom door. “Callie?”

Oh Jesus Christ. I wiped frantically at my eyes. “Yeah, I’m in here. I won’t be long!”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine!” I yelped, standing and scrubbing at my eyes in the mirror, trying to wipe away the running mascara. “I won’t be a second.”

“You don’t sound fine.” Abel’s voice, laced with deep concern, came back muffled through the door. “Open up.”

“No, no, I’m fine, really. Just give me a moment—”

The door swung open, and I squealed, spinning around in fright at the unexpected movement. “Abel! I could have been naked!”

“You aren’t though.” His gaze stayed permanently fixed on my face. “And you’re crying.”

I ignored his accusation because it was mortifying to have him see me like this. “How did you even get in? That door was locked.”

“It’s hardly a deadbolt. Stop changing the subject. What’s wrong?”

“I told you, I’m fine. Now can I please go back to removing my makeup?” I couldn’t look at him, it was too embarrassing. I just wanted him to go away.

“Crying it off, you mean. Are you homesick?”

“What?” I stared at him sharply. “I’m not five and missing my parents, Abel.”

He sighed heavily, leaning on the doorway. “That’s not what I was implying. Fuck, trust me, the last thing I want is to think of you as any younger than you actually are. But you are allowed to miss your family.”

“It’s not that.” I rifled through the top drawer of the bathroom we shared and found my makeup-removing wipes. Taking one from the packet, I dabbed beneath my eyes.

He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Listen, if I went too far earlier…kissing you, I mean…”

I froze, but my gaze flickered in the mirror so I could see his expression.

It was racked with guilt.

I swallowed thickly, my worries over Jeremy and the baby disintegrating into a new concern.

That Abel was going to end this thing between us before it had even really started.

I abandoned the makeup wipes, not caring that I probably still resembled a panda. Turning to face him, I eliminated the gap between us. We were so close, not touching, but near enough that I had to tilt my head back to see his face. “I practically instructed you to do it.”

His body tensed at how near I was, but he didn’t move away. Instead, he breathed out softly and then lifted a hand to brush a tendril of hair from my face. “If you hadn’t, I would have kissed you anyway.”

I needed to feel something other than the cold, empty, hollowness Jeremy’s words had created inside me. I dug my fingers into Abel’s shirt, twisting them in the soft fabric and drawing him closer.

He lowered his head, so his lips hovered just over mine. “I hate that you’ve been crying.”

“Kiss me and make it better then.”

He resisted, searching my eyes for something, but probably only finding my desperate need to be in his arms. When I pushed up on my toes, I was still not tall enough to close the distance between us.

It was Abel who did that.

His lips landed on mine, gently and tentatively, as if he wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure he should be doing this.

But I was. I needed him. This man with his strong shoulders and deep concern for what was good and what was right. I appreciated those qualities, was drawn to them, even if it was what was keeping us from the thing we clearly both wanted.

I moaned into his mouth and lit up inside when he dragged me closer, locking his arms around me so I couldn’t escape.

Not that I wanted to.

I held on to him, falling into the kiss, the fact we shouldn’t be kissing at all only making me want to do it more. Everything about Abel was good and strong and solid and dependable. He was quiet and unassuming, the complete and utter opposite of Jeremy, which was exactly what I needed.

His hands flattened on my back, one between my shoulder blade, the other sliding down until he cupped my ass through my cutoff jean shorts. When the hand between my shoulder blades slid up into my hair, fisting in the long strands and holding me in place, it was all I could do not to self-combust in his embrace.

Every nerve ending in my scalp lit up with little prickles of pleasure that quickly spread their way through the rest of my body. My nipples beaded against his solid chest, and heat bloomed between my thighs as his strong fingers massaged the globes of my ass.

Heat bloomed at my core, wet and needy, and screaming at me to take this further.

“Take me to bed,” I whispered. “Abel, please.”

He groaned and pulled away, his gaze full of lust and the erection straining behind his jeans telling me exactly how hard it was for him to stop. But he shook his head. “Can’t.”

I clutched him closer. “You can.”

His lips brushed mine again, so softly it was torture. “It’s not in my nature to take advantage of you when you’re clearly upset.”

I groaned and thunked my forehead against Abel’s solid chest. “You can’t kiss me like that, then leave me hanging. A girl has needs, you know.”

He chuckled. “I bet you do. And trust me, I desperately want to take care of them. I would, in a heartbeat, if I was one-hundred-percent sure that you wouldn’t wake up tomorrow and regret letting me.”

“I wouldn’t,” I assured him.

His expression was kind. “It would be a lot easier for me to believe that if your eyes weren’t still red from crying.”

“They could be red for some other reason. Hay fever perhaps? How do you know they aren’t red because I was getting high?” I sassed him.

He chuckled. “Then I would say you probably need an antihistamine for your hay fever and some Doritos for the munchies. Not sex.”

Argh, the man was infuriating. Who turned down sex when it was offered on a platter?

His hand found the back of my head and drew me in again. For the tiniest of seconds, hope sprouted that he’d changed his mind. But then he pressed his lips to my forehead, kissing me gently, and then stepped back into his bedroom. “We’ll talk about why you’re crying tomorrow, okay?”

I frowned at him. “Will that be before or after you finally give in and have sex with me?”

He shook his head with a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Go to bed, Callie.”

He closed the door before I could try to persuade him any further.

I blew out a frustrated breath at the closed door. I was horny and sad and angry and a myriad of other emotions all at once.

But deep down, the biggest feeling was a slow warmth that wrapped its way around my heart. It beat out a little rhythm of its own.

It felt a lot like respect.

18

ABEL

Iwas a fucking idiot.

Closing that bathroom door after standing there, kissing Callie ’til my damn head spun was possibly the hardest thing I’d ever done.

It would have been so easy to grip her perfect hips and hoist her into my arms, walk us both into my bedroom, and lay her out on my bed. I could have had her in here right now, stripped naked, my head between her brown thighs, my tongue on her clit, taking care of her the way I so desperately wanted.

If she’d been older, or if I hadn’t cared as much, fuck, maybe I would have.

But alarm bells rang in my head when I looked at her tearstained face and red-rimmed eyes. She wouldn’t talk to me about why she’d been crying, and a nagging voice in the back of my head wouldn’t let that go.

I couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to do while there was any doubt in my head that she might not really want them. As much as it killed me to walk away, I needed to know I wasn’t making things worse for her, even if they felt damn good in the moment.

Because kissing Callie, holding her against my chest, touching her curves and her skin… Nothing had felt like that in a very long time. If ever.

I slumped down on my bed, staring at the bathroom door, tortured by the knowledge she was only on the other side of it. I flopped back with a groan of frustration that echoed around my room, letting the soft white comforter and springy mattress catch my weight.

My dick hurt for wanting her. I was bone-hard and couldn’t even go take a cold shower because I was pretty sure she was still in the bathroom.

I slung an arm over my eyes and tried to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, distracting myself from the erection that demanded I throw my morals out the window and storm back into the bathroom, strip those tiny shorts from Callie’s body, and thrust inside her ’til she screamed my name loud enough for the entire house to hear, repercussions be damned.

A tiny moan from the bathroom had me sitting bolt upright and staring at the door as if I had the superpowers to see through it. “Callie? Are you okay?”

It was the second time that night I’d asked her that. But the first time I’d asked, I’d known she was crying. Her muffled sobs came through the door.

This noise had been entirely different.

Another little moan was the only answer I got.

Like a moth to a flame, I found myself on my feet and standing at the bathroom door again.

“I didn’t lock the door, Abel,” Callie said between breathy moans. “Though you’ve made it pretty clear you could pick it even if I had.”

Oh, fuck me sideways. I didn’t need to know that.

I slid down the bathroom door until I was sitting on the thick carpet. “Tell me what you’re doing,” I said, voice thick with need.

“I think you know,” came the reply from the other side.

I undid the fly on my jeans, pulling out my heavy cock, hard and throbbing. Of course I knew. “Tell me anyway, Callie,” I demanded. “In detail.”

Her sharp inhale of breath went straight to my dick.

“My shorts are off. My hand is in my panties.”

I closed my eyes, picturing her on the other side, her long, slender fingers sliding beneath the silky material of her underwear.

“What else do you have on?” I muttered, needing to see the full scene in my head.

“Nothing. I took my shirt and bra off so I could play with my nipples.”

Oh, sweet baby Jesus. Precum leaked from my tip. “Touch them now,” I demanded. “Take a handful of your breast and squeeze the tips. Hard, Callie. Pretend it’s my hand.”

The order fell from my lips before I could stop it, but I didn’t want to take it back, and when she let out a breathy, “Yes,” pleasure surged through me at her submission.

“What else?”

I stroked a hand over my erection, spreading the liquid over the solid length. “Tell me what you feel.”

She let out a little noise of need, and I imagined her playing with her nipples, rolling them and tweaking them until they went hard, her breasts heaving and aching for my mouth.

“I’m wet.” Her voice was so fucking sexy, deep and raspy in a way it wasn’t normally. She was turned on, and all I’d done was kiss her. Fuck, that made me feel good, after years of my wife’s indifference. Of course, I knew now she was getting everything she needed from someone else, but that was beside the point. Callie was the only woman I cared about turning on in the moment.

“Touch your clit, gorgeous. Slow and steady. Tease it, like I would be doing if I was on that side of the door.”

“I wish you were.”

I did too, but this was also more than I’d hoped for, and somehow felt a whole lot safer than letting myself into the bathroom. “Touch your clit, Callie. What does it feel like?”

“Good,” she murmured. “So good.”

I gripped my cock harder, stroking it up and down, imagining it was her hand wrapped around me.

“Tell me what you’re doing too.”

“I’m hard for you,” I admitted. “Wishing I had the balls to open the door and do something about it.”

“I don’t think it’s balls stopping you.”

She was right. It was the fact I respected the hell out of her, and her family, and I wanted to take it slow so I didn’t fuck any of it up.

“You still touching your clit?”

“Mmm,” she moaned. “I need more.”

Fuck. I wanted to barge in, grab her by the hips, and slam her down on my erection. Stretch her tight little pussy around my cock and feel it throb and clench around me when she came.

“Two fingers, Callie. Take your panties off and finger your pussy.”

Her moan was completely indecent, and I nearly came on the spot just from the sound.

“Keep talking,” she groaned.

“Use your other hand to work your clit. Get your knees up and spread them wide. Imagine me watching you, watching your fingers slick with arousal, plunging into your body.”

Rustling came from the other side of the door, and needy panting that told me she was getting closer to orgasm with every dive of her fingers.

I slid my hand up and down my dick fast now, trying to match the speed and stage Callie was at. Pleasure curled around the base of my spine, then lower, pressure building in my balls until the entire area ached for release.

I stubbornly wouldn’t let go until she’d come.

“Faster, Callie,” I groaned. “Need to hear you come, gorgeous.”

The pants became a series of “Oh, oh, ohs,” and then finally, there was a thump against the door, and a muffled shout of ecstasy that sounded an awful lot like my name. “Oh God! I’m coming!”

I lifted my hips from the floor, leaning against the door for support and thrusting into my hand. It didn’t come close to being with a woman, especially not one I wanted as much as her, but it was so needed. My balls clenched and spasmed, drawing up and emptying their contents all over my lower stomach.

I didn’t care about the mess.

I jerked myself, murmuring dirty things through the door, about how much she turned me on and how hard I was for her.

We finished together, both of us falling silent as our orgasms faded and the real world rushed back in.

A little laugh came from Callie’s side of the door.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, completely spent and blissed out, too tired to move even though I really needed to clean up.

“I’m just imagining that you might need this bathroom more than I do right now.”

I gazed at the ceiling in the dimly lit room and let my head rest back against the door. “I could definitely use a shower.”

There was silence for a moment, and then she said quietly, “As good as door sex… Is that what we just had? Anyway, as good as whatever we just did was, I’m completely sane and sober when I say this isn’t enough for me, Abel.”

I sighed.

“Is it enough for you?”

I shook my head. I didn’t say anything verbally, but she somehow seemed to know.

“I didn’t think so. You need me to sign a waiver of some sort? A contract that I want this, and that it’s completely consensual?” She laughed. “I’ll do it, Abel. I swear. I’ll march down to the only lawyer in town and tell him I need a sex contract drawn up because the guy I like won’t screw me without one.”

I snorted on a laugh. “You know, this is a small town. If you did that, I could almost guarantee that Bowen and Paisley would know the guy.”

“So maybe you could just screw me because you want to?”

“You gonna tell me why you were crying earlier?”

She went silent, then said, “Goodnight, Abel. Bathroom is all yours.” There was a pause before she added, “And so am I, if you ever decide you want me back.”

19

CALLIE

Iwoke up feeling good. My body hummed pleasantly, mostly satisfied from the orgasm I’d self-administered last night, guided by Abel. As much as I’d wanted and hoped he’d cave in, throw the door open, and take over what I’d started, there’d also been something incredibly hot about his voice in my ear, and knowing he was so close, yet completely untouchable.

The noises he’d made when he’d come were delicious. They’d played over and over in my head all night, and I’d woken with a smile, got dressed, and practically skipped down to the kitchen, grabbing a banana for breakfast while I tried to find Bowen or Paisley or one of their two older sons so someone could give me a job to do.

I found Paisley and Lily already in the garden that edged the new constructions Lily had commissioned for her bed-and-breakfast idea. They were four identical cabin-style buildings, built within eyesight of the main house, but facing the fields beyond. I wandered in their direction and leaned on the truck that had a tray full of cute pansies and petunias, waiting to be planted. “Can I help?”

“Absolutely. If you hadn’t surfaced in the next thirty minutes, I was coming to find you. I picked these up early in town and I need to get them in the ground before the sun really wakes up and fries them to a crisp.”

I rolled up my sleeves as boots crunched over the dry grass behind me.

“Morning.”

Abel’s deep voice rumbled through me, even though he stood a respectable distance away, which I hoped was only for Lily’s and Paisley’s benefit, and not because he had second thoughts over what we’d done last night.

I couldn’t help it.

I glanced over my shoulder at him.

I almost wished I hadn’t because it was incredibly hard to keep myself from running at him, throwing myself into his arms, and letting him carry me back to bed.

No man should have ever looked as good as Abel did with his usual dirty-blue jeans, clean white singlet, and red-and-black checked shirt. He had the sleeves rolled up enough to show off his tanned, muscled forearms.

His gaze flickered to mine, sweeping my body so quickly you could have blinked and missed it. But I felt it on every inch of my skin, like he’d dripped hot molasses all over my body.

The heat between us singed the cool morning air, and it was completely incomprehensible to me that Paisley and Lily didn’t say a word.

Because that look…that look said that the minute we were alone, it was on.

I pressed my thighs together in anticipation.

“Excellent!” Lily exclaimed. “Another victim! I mean, another pair of hands. Gloves over there. Gardening tools by the ute. Now we’re going for a very specific aesthetic, so make sure you only plant in the order I tell you. Purple petunias, yellow daisies…”

I tuned out, too lost in Abel’s eyes to follow my friend’s instructions.

Abel clearly had a tighter grip on his libido. Lucky him to not have pregnancy hormones exacerbating the situation. He nodded a few times at Lily’s bossy instructions and then set his coffee mug down on the back of the truck and grabbed a pair of gardening gloves.

“Here,” he called, tossing a pair in my direction. “Petunias need a-planting.”

The gloves fell at my feet, snapping me out of my Abel daze. I bent and gathered them up, pulling them over my fingers. As soon as I lowered my arm, they fell straight back off.

Paisley frowned at me. “They’re Creed’s gloves. Sorry they’re way too big for you. I don’t have any spares that would fit your little hands, unfortunately. It’s not very often we have help out here so we have very little need for spare equipment. But we’ll get some more when we’re in town next.”

“That’s okay, I’m fine without. I don’t mind a bit of dirt under my nails. I kind of like it actually.” I grabbed a little plant from the back of the ute and then gathered up a couple more, along with a small spade. I kneeled next to where Abel was planting, shooting him a secretive smile, our antics from the night before still on repeat in my head.

“Dig the hole, Callie,” he deadpanned quietly, when Paisley and Lily fell into a conversation about the first guests that had been booked in.

“And if I’d rather watch your muscles flex while you dig a hole?”

He grinned down at the dirt and shook his head. “I can’t handle you.”

“You handled me just fine last night.”

His gaze darted toward Lily and Paisley, but they were far enough away they couldn’t hear me tease him.

Even still, he went back to his work. “Dig. We’re here to work.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tease him about all work and no play being very dull, but I could also see that his job here was important to him. He’d been busting his balls ever since we’d arrived, and day by day, his mood improved with the backbreaking work.

I got it.

It felt good to be needed. To do an honest day’s work. To be out in nature.

So I reined in my flirting and got to digging.

The dirt here was warm from the morning sun, and Lily had clearly already primed it for the plants we were putting in that morning because the loose soil ran easily through my fingers. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d worked in a garden like this. We didn’t really have them at our property. We were more focused on bull riding and training than actual farming, and my mother claimed to have a black thumb, so we didn’t even have so much as a veggie garden.

But I liked the dirt beneath my fingers, and Lily had bought enough plants to start up a nursery, so there was more than enough work to keep the four of us busy for hours. I found myself falling into a quiet rhythm of digging out little holes, pulling cute plants from their holders, and then gently patting them into the ground, along with a Lily-specified mix of potting nutrients. The Australian sun heated quickly, and by mid-morning, it was beating down on my shoulders. I was grateful for the wide-brimmed cowboy hat keeping the sun off my face.

With the four of us all working together, Lily’s garden vision eventually came together in a stunning array of flower colors and plant heights. She surveyed our work with a critical eye, but the smile creeping across her lips told us she was pleased.

“It looks amazing.” I pushed to my feet, brushing my hands off on the back of my jeans. “The colors you picked are—”

A sudden and completely unexpected rush of nausea overwhelmed me. It was so strong and took me by such surprise that I didn’t have a chance to hide it. I doubled over, hands to my knees, knocking my hat off in the process, and puked up the banana and half a cup of tea I’d consumed hours earlier.

“Holy shit! Are you all right?” Lily yelped and jumped clear of the splash zone, grabbing my hat before it could be destroyed by vomit.

A heavy hand landed on my back, smoothing between my shoulder blades in slow, comforting circles while I gagged and spluttered, succumbing to another wave of the sick feeling.

My hair was already pulled back in a ponytail, but Abel held it out of the way so it didn’t hang around my face, and smoothed back the loose tendrils that had escaped.

“I’m so sorry.” I wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand while tears filled my eyes. Not only did I cry when I was angry, but I cried when I vomited, too. God, this was mortifying. My cheeks blazed with embarrassment.

“I’m going to get you some water.” Paisley rushed to the bottles sitting in the shade and poured one into a mug that had probably had coffee in it earlier. She swished the water around, confirming my suspicions, before dumping it out and refilling it.

I shook my head miserably, the thought of vaguely coffee-flavored water repulsive. “I can’t.”

Abel’s body beside me was tight with tension, the way he touched me overly familiar. I couldn’t imagine Bowen comforting me the way Abel was. Bowen would have been concerned, of course. But he probably would have given me an awkward pat on the back and told me I’d “be right.”

Abel had me tucked beneath his arm like I needed protecting from the world, and I leaned into him, drawing comfort from his strength.

When the awful feeling in my stomach subsided, I lifted my head wearily, feeling like I’d gone several rounds in a boxing ring. I tried to keep a straight face, but inside my head, panic reigned. I’d spent months feeling like this. Miserable and sad, with my head over the toilet at all hours of the day and night. I’d gotten good at hiding it, because I’d expected it. When the morning sickness had finally subsided, it had been the biggest relief.

Now I was terrified I was right back there, in the grips of it all again.

I didn’t think I could do it. It was too much.

Paisley watched the two of us quietly, her brow furrowed. The panic increased. Was that frown because she was concerned about me? Or concerned that her husband’s friend had his arm around me like he’d done it a million times before?

I tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t be budged.

“We should take you to a doctor,” Abel said when he pulled me to my feet, steadying me as I wobbled.

I shook my head, stepping away from him because the way Abel was looking at me was going to give us away if he didn’t get himself under control. “I’m fine. Truly. Probably just something I ate.” I forced a laugh in Lily’s direction. “Sorry about the mess in your flower garden.”

She shoveled some soil on top with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Don’t be silly. The plants will love it. Are you sure you’re okay though?”

I gave her a weak smile. “I’m good. Probably just too much sun.”

“Are the keys for the truck in the ignition? I’ll drive you into town.”

I shook my head at him. “No, honestly, I’m fine.”

He pointed at my bare hands, the dirt I’d been digging in clinging to my skin and beneath my nails. “You could have been bitten by something. You didn’t have gloves on.”

Lily laughed. “You Americans are always so worried about our creepy crawlies. You’d know if you were bit by something.”

Paisley’s teeth sank into her bottom lip and she gave Abel a nod. “Sorry, but I’m with Abel on this one. You were fine, and then you weren’t. That’s not normal.”

Her gaze hovered over me, and I could almost see the pieces whirling around in her head.

She’d had three babies of her own. And she was staring at me like a woman who’d been there, done that.

I quickly averted my gaze. “Okay.” I let Abel steer me toward the truck. “Can’t hurt to just get checked over, right?” I needed to find a doctor while I was here anyway, so I could make sure I was getting prenatal care. I’d been putting it off since we’d arrived, because I had a stash of prenatal vitamins I’d brought over with me, but this baby would need more care as she grew. Scans and measurements. All the things.

Not that Abel would have taken no for an answer, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. He bundled me into the truck like I was precious cargo, clipping my seat belt on for me before closing the passenger-side door and making his way over to the driver’s side. He waited until Paisley and Lily were out of earshot, before his hand landed on my thigh, squeezing it gently.

“How are you feeling now?”

Like typical morning sickness, I felt completely fine now that I’d puked my guts up. That was a relief at least. The all-day lingering nausea seemed not to have returned, so that was something. “I feel good, actually. Wouldn’t mind a mint…”

He stopped at the house and ran inside to get my purse, which thankfully held a package of chewing gum. Then he got us on the road into town, my phone beeping with a text message from Paisley with her doctor’s address and strict instructions to call if it was anything serious.

“Are you sure you don’t have any bite marks on your hands? Or hell, anywhere else? I’ve heard those spiders can get inside your clothes and boots.”

I shook my head. “Pretty sure I’m bite-free. Honestly, I feel good.”

His hand was on my thigh again, he’d only removed it to get my purse from the house, but when he’d returned it had gone right back, like that was its rightful spot. I eyed it now, loving the way it felt to have someone touch me with care. If I was being honest, having a man fuss over me felt pretty damn nice.

Tentatively, I traced the back of his hand with my fingertips and then slid my fingers between his.

He let go of my leg and switched his hand around, so he was holding my hand.

It was the stupidest, smallest thing. And yet it somehow meant a lot.

We traveled the rest of the way into town like that, holding hands, a quiet comfort between us, neither of us had been expecting.

When the little town of Erraville came into sight, I leaned forward, peering out the window eagerly. “They already have Christmas decorations up! Gosh, that’s so weird when it’s this hot.” I pulled up the map function on my phone and typed in the address Paisley had given me. Then laughed when I realized that the doctor’s office was on the main road, as was pretty much everything else this town had to offer. “Just like home,” I said about the little shops passing by outside. “But possibly even cuter.”

Abel nodded. “Nothing much has changed since I was last here. From memory, the school Lily and the boys went to is on the street behind this one. I remember them catching the bus. There’s a big showground just on the other side of town, where they hold rodeos. I watched Bowen ride there once, back in his glory days.”

We paused at a stop sign, and I pointed to a flyer taped to the pole. “Looks like there’s a rodeo out there next weekend.”

Abel nodded. “I think Creed is competing. I heard him talking about a rodeo anyway. I assume it’s that one.” Abel paused, then glanced over at me. “We should go.”

I glanced at him. “Like, a date?”

He shrugged. “Pretty sure everyone will go if Creed is riding.”

Disappointment flooded me. “Right. Of course. We should definitely go too. To be supportive.”

“And if we just happen to be sitting next to each other…” Abel prompted with a squeeze of my fingers.

“You sure you’d be able to refrain from holding my hand? You weren’t exactly discreet back there when I was sick, you know. I think Paisley might suspect something is going on.”

Abel parked the truck, and we both got out. He immediately picked my hand up, lacing his fingers through mine again, the same way we had on the drive in. “Better get my fill now then. That okay?”

It was more than okay. I understood why we couldn’t just come out to everyone. That was as much my decision as it was his. But I couldn’t deny the need to be near him. To touch him. I wanted a whole lot more than holding his hand, but I’d take what I could get.

We strolled along the main street like we were a couple with nothing to lose, just enjoying the sunshine. Delighted by the early decorations, I tugged him toward a Christmas display in the window of a store. “Oooh. Look at those ornaments on the tree. So pretty.”

He glanced over at me. “You like Christmas? That’s the second time you’ve commented on it since we got here.”

“I do enjoy it. My parents have a big Christmas Eve party, and we all hang our ornaments on the tree.” I pointed out an angel with glittery wings. “Mine’s a little like that. But with my name on it. Every Christmas Eve my mom makes a big deal out of placing them all on the tree together at the start of the party. Dominic got one last year after he and Summer got together, and Lennon will no doubt have one for Preston this year. Those two are so endgame.”

Abel’s face turned wistful. “It’s nice you have traditions. My wife and I never really did much for Christmas. No kids to make it special, and with just the two of us, there didn’t really seem to be much point in going all out. We didn’t even put up a tree.”

I squeezed his hand. “It’ll be different for you this year. You’ll be surrounded by the Barclays. I’ve spent Christmas morning with them in the past. Be prepared for copious amounts of gifts and food and a backyard cricket game. It’s weird because it’s so hot, but you’ll love it.”

He smiled softly. “Sounds nice, really. I’ve pretty much forgotten what holidays with a big group of family feels like. I never like to intrude on Rem and his family, though I always send them gifts. And I won’t miss the snow. This weather speaks to my soul.”

I nodded, and we resumed walking, side by side, our fingers entwined.

I liked it all too much and really had to rein in the wayward thoughts that imagined us doing this for years to come, with a growing girl by our feet. An image of Abel lifting our daughter to place her own special ornament on the tree, right by his and mine, flooded my brain. The image was so sharp and vibrant it was shocking.

It was a dangerous idea. One that would destroy me if I let it take hold. Before the end of the year, I was back on a plane to the States, while he stayed here to work.

That would be that. I couldn’t let myself build a holiday fling into more than it was.

Which was all the more reason to keep this thing between us secret. There was no point going through all the turmoil of coming out, of upsetting my family and his friends, over something that would end in a couple months anyway.

If not before. If I started showing soon, I’d have to end it even before I left.

I paused at a shoe store, the window display full of the most amazing boots. “Want to go in?”

“I’m pretty reluctant to say no to anything you want, Callie. As long as you promise I can take you to that doctor right after. I’m well aware you’re stalling.”

I winked at him. “Not sure I can make that promise. Once I go into a shoe store, I’m probably going to want to try them all on… Might be here ’til closing.”

“New boots will make you happy?”

I laughed. “Yes. It will make my bank account sad, but I’ll be very happy.”

He held the door open for me. “Thirty minutes now. As long as you like after you see the doctor.”

That was a deal I could get on board with.

The store smelled of leather and boot polish. It was a delicious scent; one I was well used to but never got tired of. I trailed my fingers over the rows of boots on display. There were so many gorgeous ones.

“Which ones do you like?” he asked, perusing the array of footwear seriously.

“I can’t choose a favorite. That would be like picking a favorite child. All boots should be loved equally.”

He sniggered, then picked up a pair at the end of the row.

I widened my eyes and closed the gap between us to get a better look at them. “They’re space cowboy boots!”

The boots had little moons and stars embroidered all over them with delicate stitches.

“I’ve never seen space cowboy boots.” Abel laughed. “They’re great.”

They reminded me of him, and the night we’d spent sitting on the back of the truck, gazing at the sky. I instantly knew I didn’t even need the full thirty minutes. Those boots were made for me.

“Do you have these in an eight?” I asked the woman working behind the counter.

She nodded and went to a storeroom, emerging a minute later with a shoebox. I plonked myself down on the stool and pulled off the dirty boots I’d spent years breaking in.

The new boots fit like a glove. Without checking the price tag, I told the woman I’d get them. They might cost me my entire week’s paycheck, but I wanted something to remember this adventure by. Every time I wore these boots, I'd think of Australia.

And of Abel.

We left with the shoebox neatly placed in a calico bag. It was all I could do to not rip them out of Abel’s hand and put them on my feet right now.

We found the doctor’s office easily, and Abel held the door open for me like a gentleman. The receptionist glanced up from behind her desk as we entered and smiled warmly at me. “Callie?”

I paused, surprised she knew my name when I was sure we’d never met. “Yes?”

She motioned me over to her with a wave of her hand. “Paisley called and told me to expect you. Though I’m sure I would have recognized you anyway. You look just like your mum! How is Addie?”

It was easy to forget that my mom had grown up in this town. She’d worked for a newspaper and had gone on tour with the pro bull riders, reporting on their antics. That was how she’d met my father.

I grinned at the woman as she handed me a clipboard with papers and a blue pen attached. “She’s good. Great, actually.”

“She must be missing you. I heard you’re staying out here for a few months.” Her gaze flickered to Abel. “Is this your partner?”

I dropped Abel’s hand quickly, realizing our fingers were still interlocked. It was stupid to think we could act like a normal couple in town. Not only did everyone here know Bowen and Paisley, some of them still remembered my own family.

But Abel picked up my hand again, undeterred by my rejection.

And dammit if I didn’t let him.

“She might have been bitten by something. She really needs to see a doctor,” Abel cut in, ignoring her question about who he was to me.

I was grateful because I had no idea how to answer it.

The woman behind the desk nodded. “Any swelling or pain?”

I shook my head.

“Sounds like you probably won’t go into toxic shock in the next few minutes. Should be right to do the paperwork then. Doctor will be with you in a minute. Take a seat.”

We did as we were told, Abel again sitting practically on top of me. “I don’t like how casual everyone is being about this,” he said beneath his breath. “You were really sick.”

I squeezed his leg, ignoring the tight muscle of his thigh that I really wanted to explore further. “You’re acting like a worried boyfriend and you’re going to have the entire town talking about us if you don’t chill out.”

Abel huffed but sat back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest to stare daggers at the doctor’s closed door, like shooting it dirty looks would get me seen faster.

I secretly reveled in it.

He’d make the best boyfriend.

Frustrated by the thought, I turned my attention to the paperwork. It was mostly pretty standard stuff. Name. Date of birth. Address. Next of kin. But then it started asking questions about my medical history. Did I smoke? Drink? I easily made my way through the checklist, mostly ticking the no box, until I froze at the last question on the page.

Are you, or could you be, pregnant?

I glanced at Abel.

He was still glaring at the door.

I quickly put a check mark in the yes column and stood to return the papers to the desk. I swallowed thickly. “This is confidential, right?”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh, of course!”

I nodded and went back to my seat, staring down at my hands nervously. My leg bounced, and I was so distracted by having to check that yes box that I didn’t even hear the doctor’s door open.

“Callie Hunt?”

I sprang to my feet. “Yes, that’s me.”

Abel stood too, and I tugged his arm so he’d sit back down.

“I’ll go in alone,” I assured him. “I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go for a walk, and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

He nodded. “Right. Of course. Sorry. I’m overstepping, aren’t I?”

I wanted to kiss the worried look off his face. “You’re being sweet, but I’m a big girl. I’ll call you later, okay? Go explore.”

That would take all of ten minutes in a town this size, but that was beside the point. I couldn’t have him coming in to talk to the doctor with me.

He hesitated, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. His lips hovered over mine uncertainly, and then changed course, landing softly on my cheek.

“Don’t downplay it,” he whispered. “I’m worried about you.”

His breath tickled my skin, and I closed my eyes for the tiniest of seconds, enjoying the touch of his skin, and his concern for my well-being.

“I won’t,” I promised.

Finally satisfied, he let me go, pulling open the door of the doctor’s office and leaving.

The doctor smiled gently at me and held out a hand, indicating I should walk ahead of her into her office. My belly fluttered, and the sick feeling returned, though this time I was confident it was more to do with nerves than morning sickness.

“I’m Dr. Ristone.” She folded her hands on her desktop and watched me with kind eyes. “I hear you’re a ring-in to town. It’s lovely to meet you.”

“You, too.”

“Would you like to tell me what brought you in today?”

I glanced at the closed door, and like she could read my mind, Dr. Ristone was quick to reassure me. “They’re pretty soundproof. Anything you say is confidential.”

I twisted the small silver ring on my finger nervously. “Thank you. I got sick earlier. A bout of sudden vomiting, and Abel—that’s the man I was with—dragged me in here because he thought I might have been bitten by something.”

The woman wrote something down on a pad of paper. “Any pain? Swelling?”

I shook my head.

She made a note of that and smiled at me. “Despite what you hear about Australia, the spiders mostly do their own thing. If you aren’t in pain, you probably weren’t bitten. But I think you know that, huh?”

I nodded again. “I’m pregnant. I thought I was over the morning sickness but, apparently, I’m not.”

“How far a long are you?”

“Maybe four months?”

The doctor eyed me. “You aren’t sure?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. I saw a doctor at home, but it was too early for a scan. And then I was so busy with my head stuck in a toilet, I didn’t get a chance to go back before I came here.”

The woman nodded, no judgment in her stance, though I was judging myself. I should have known exactly how far along I was, shouldn’t I? Shit. Just another reason I probably wasn’t cut out for parenthood. I had no idea what I was doing.

“I don’t like hearing that you’ve been unwell, but it is a normal part of pregnancy. You seem well hydrated.”

I nodded, trying to win back some brownie points in my own head. “I am. And I’m eating normally again. And taking vitamins.”

She dropped her pen to the table and grabbed a pair of disposable white surgical gloves from a box on her desk. “You’re doing great, mama. I bet that little baby is happy as a pig in mud in there, but how about we have a little peek to see how he or she is doing.”

“She,” I confirmed. “I did the blood test to find out.”

The doctor pointed to the examination table. “Want to hop up on there and raise your shirt for me?”

“You can do all that here?” I stood and moved to the table.

The woman’s laughter tinkled around the little room. She pulled a portable machine over to her side and flipped some buttons. “Oh, I do everything here. That’s ‘small town in the middle of nowhere medicine’ for you. We’re pretty lucky in that we have a hospital nearby, but it’s only a little one. The less I have to send patients that way, the better. I’m no OB/GYN but I know enough to spot a major problem.”

I bit my lip at the idea that there might be something wrong.

She patted my arm as I climbed up on the table. “That’s not to say that there’s a problem, Callie. You’re young, fit, and healthy. The odds of there being something wrong are slim. Lie back and enjoy the sneak peek, okay? Just breathe.”

I couldn’t help it. The butterflies had turned into bats who were having a party inside me. I lifted my shirt to reveal my teeny-tiny baby bump, and the doctor squirted it with a load of cool blue gel.

“Is it bad I don’t have much of a bump?” I asked, voicing just one of my worries.

She shook her head. “Not at all. Some women barely show, even in their last month of pregnancy, especially when it’s your first, which I assume this is?”

“Yes.”

She moved her wand around on my belly, pressing and prodding at it while she stared at the screen. I peered at it too. I’d never had an ultrasound before and had no idea what I was watching for. As the seconds ticked on, my nerves increased. Something had to be wrong. The lines and wiggles on the screen made no sense, and the doctor wasn’t saying anything.

I wanted someone’s hand to hold. Someone to look over at me with complete certainty in their eyes and tell me it was all going to be okay, even though they had no more information than I did.

I wanted Abel.

The thought shocked me a little, because it should have been my mom or my sister, or hell, even Jeremy who I wanted by my side. But it was Abel, with his quiet manner and dependable strength.

I could practically feel the way he would have gripped my hand, so tight and comforting, and brushed my hair off my face while he murmured low about how great I was doing, even though I was just lying here.

But I couldn’t do that. This was Jeremy’s child, and he’d responded with nothing but disgust and rejection. This wasn’t Abel’s baby, as much as I might have hoped it was. He might not be the complete and utter asshole Jeremy had been, but he had no obligations to me. Hell, he barely knew me.

The physical attraction we felt for each other didn’t extend to holding my hand while I got an ultrasound of some other guy’s kid.

I was on my own, whether I liked it or not.

“Is everything okay?” I asked finally, unable to bear the woman’s silence any longer. “Please, just tell me if something is wrong.”

The doctor pushed another button on her machine and then pointed at the screen with a wide smile. “That’s your baby’s head. And down here are her feet. She is definitely a girl, by the way. See here?”

I peered at the screen. “I don’t see anything.”

“Exactly. No penis. Definitely a girl. Oh, and see there? She’s awake and kicking.”

I raised my head in shock at the fluttering in my belly that I’d thought were nerves. “Wait, that’s her? I think I can feel that.”

The doctor smiled at me. “Some women don’t realize with their first. As she gets bigger, you’ll notice stronger kicks, but right now it’s often described as butterfly wings.”

Well, that explained a lot. “She’s healthy though?”

“She looks perfect to me. I’ll take a few more measurements and I’ll refer them to the OB/GYN at the hospital for a second opinion, but I’d say you’re about halfway through a healthy pregnancy. Let me print some of these pictures for you, and we’ll talk next steps once you’re cleaned up.”

The printer on the side of her machine whirred to life and spat out a length of shiny paper with my daughter’s first photos printed on it in black and white. The doctor handed them to me as she finished up her examination, but I watched the screen ’til the very last moment, taking in all of my daughter’s movements, big and small.

I already loved her. That much had been clear to me from the very first day. It was why I’d never considered ending the pregnancy. But love wasn’t always enough. I’d royally screwed up by getting pregnant by a man who didn’t give a shit. I owed my daughter more than to give her a mother who didn’t have her life together.

I tucked the photos of her into my purse, already knowing I’d stare at them a thousand more times before she was born.

I might not get to be with her for the rest of her life, but I had the next few months. If that was all I had, then I’d treasure every minute.

20

ABEL

I’d never liked days off. The feeling had only worsened when I’d been married and spent all my days off following my wife around expensive clothes stores while she racked up a credit card debt we couldn’t afford. In my head, days off had meant no money coming in and a lot of money going out.

Thankfully, days off on Bowen and Paisley’s cattle station were few and far between, just how I liked it. I’d managed to avoid it until now, but it had been a few weeks since Callie and I had arrived, and Paisley had very determinedly told me last night that I had to take today off.

No amount of arguing had swayed her.

Henry had taken pity on me and pointed to a rusted old farm truck that apparently hadn’t run in months. “You any good with cars?”

I’d shrugged. “Decent.”

“Better than me then. If you’re lost for something to do tomorrow, you could try to get it running again. Or at least let me know what parts I need to order.”

“I can do that.”

Hours of fiddling around beneath the hood of a car would keep me busy. Hopefully, the problem was complicated and would take up the whole day.

I let myself sleep thirty minutes past the sunrise, then lay in bed listening to the rest of the household get ready for the day. In our shared bathroom, Callie hummed something sweetly, and I smiled at the ceiling, listening to her.

I’d backed off a little after our trip to town at the start of the week, giving us both some space. Walking through town holding her hand had been a dangerous move. The doctor’s receptionist greeting Callie by name before she’d even introduced herself had shaken me. Everybody knew everybody around here, it seemed. Newcomers were a topic of gossip, and it would inevitably get back to Paisley and Bowen if Callie and I started flaunting our attraction.

I’d foolishly thought that a few days of space might lessen my feelings for her.

If anything, they’d only made the desire for her worse. Her perfume hung in the bathroom for hours after she’d left it. Her jewelry and makeup were all stacked neatly on her side of the vanity, but a constant reminder every time I was in there that she was just on the other side of the door. She’d taken to lingering in the open doorway at night, dressed in nothing but the oversized T-shirts she wore to bed, long, perfectly shaped legs on display. Every night was the same. She’d ask me how my day was, and she’d stand there and listen while I talked, her sole attention on me.

It was a heady feeling after years of indifference from my ex-wife. But it was a two-sided conversation. I talked about my day, then asked her about hers. The conversation flowed easily, her standing there in the doorway, me reclining on my bed watching her. Neither of us crossing the imaginary line that we’d tentatively drawn between us.

The one that kept me from slipping into her room at night and doing all the things I really wanted to do while the rest of the house wasn’t looking.

It was only a matter of time before that line disintegrated completely.

But in the meantime, I was enjoying getting to know her.

With the house quiet, everybody else out and busy with their various chores, I found the truck Henry had told me about. A set of keys sat in the ignition, and somewhat foolishly, since I’d been told the truck didn’t run, I turned the key.

Predictably, nothing happened.

“Had to at least try,” I muttered to myself, rolling up my sleeves and poking through the bag of tools Henry had loaned me for the task.

“Abel!”

I straightened with a wrench clutched in my fingers and turned in the direction of the voice, cupping my free hand around my eyes to shield it from the still low-on-the-horizon, morning sun. “What’s up, Paisley? I thought you were working down the back of the property today?”

“I am. I mean, I’m supposed to be, Bowen and the boys are waiting on me, but Todd isn’t coming in.”

“He sick?”

Paisley shrugged. “Apparently, but I could hear Laura in the background, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re just twisted up in the sheets and don’t want to leave them.”

I chuckled to myself. “You know your matchmaking is to blame for that, don’t you?”

She groaned. “I know, I know. Never again! That did not work out how I planned it at all. Listen, I’m so sorry, but—”

I grinned at her. “You need me to work today?”

“Do you mind? I know I was so insistent about you taking time off. I swear, if these damn fences didn’t need fixing so badly, I wouldn’t bother you and would just do it myself…”

I held up a hand to stop her. “Seriously, I don’t mind at all. I really had nothing to do. Where do you need me?”

“The horses are all in the stalls still, and they need to get out and move around. That’s it. If you can just move them into the top paddock so they can get some fresh grass, then you can go back to your time off.” She frowned at the wrench in my hand. “Which doesn’t exactly seem like taking a break, but whatever floats your boat.”

I dropped the wrench back in the tool bag, knowing that animal well-being always came above fixing up a rusted old truck that probably needed to be retired. “No problem.”

Paisley pressed up on her toes and kissed my cheek. “You’re a saint. The horses and I both thank you.” She hurried away, her boots leaving footprints in the dewy grass, but she turned back suddenly. “If you need a hand, take Callie with you. I gave her the day off too, so she’s around here somewhere. The rest of us will be back for lunch.”

I nodded, but she’d already started jogging for her Land Rover, obviously eager to get out to the back paddocks where everyone else was working today. I wasn’t the only one around here with a work ethic, clearly.

Like they knew we’d been talking about them, the horses in the barn let out a chorus of neighing. I didn’t really need Callie’s help, but I wanted it. I wiped a smudge of grease from my hands and glanced in the direction of the barns. “Cool your jets for a minute, huh?”

I jogged toward the house, but I already knew it was empty, so I skirted around to the front and found Callie sitting on the steps in a patch of warm morning sunlight that bounced off her glossy dark hair. She could have been out of a shampoo commercial for the way it fell over her bare, brown shoulders and down her back. I hadn’t seen it out since the night at the wedding. Long hair while working on a farm was completely impractical. She was stunningly beautiful, her face peaceful as she read a thick paperback.

She looked up, catching me staring at her, and smiled. “Hey, cowboy.”

Fuck. It was all I could do to not storm the steps, sweep her into my arms, and carry her somewhere private. Especially since I knew there was no one else inside. “Horses,” I mumbled.

She closed her book and leaned forward. “What was that?”

I cleared my throat, reminding myself I had a job to do. And that it wasn’t stripping this woman naked, tasting every inch of her skin, and then making her come over and over. “Todd called in sick, and the others are all down in the back paddock dealing with the fences. I need to go let the horses out.”

She immediately pushed to her feet. “I can help.” She tossed the book down on the outdoor couch and jogged lightly down the steps, stopping in front of me.

I didn’t move.

I couldn’t. I knew I should back up and let her pass me by, but this was the closest we’d been since our trip to town. She was well over the invisible line we’d drawn during the week.

“You ready to go?” she asked.

“No,” I mumbled. Her eyes were such a deep brown, and mesmerizing with the way they sparkled with mischief.

“No?”

“Can’t move.”

Her eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, snapping myself out of it. Only hurting for the need to kiss her. “No, I’m being ridiculous. Sorry. Let’s go.”

I jerkily spun around and strode toward the stables, but after a few steps, I glanced over my shoulder for her and realized she wasn’t following. She was still standing in the spot I’d left her. I stopped. “You coming?”

“No,” she said with a laugh.

“No?” I asked, laughing as well because we were repeating the conversation we’d had just a moment ago, only in reverse.

“Can’t move,” she quipped.

Okay, she was definitely teasing me, and it was well deserved. I’d probably just stood in front of her, gaping like someone had slapped me in the face. I stalked back to where I’d been a moment earlier.

“Why can’t you move?” I changed up the script, since I could see that she wasn’t hurt.

She tilted her head back to stare up at me. “Because I’m waiting for you to kiss me. That’s what you wanted to say before, right? Only your bucking moral code wouldn’t let you.”

I couldn’t help but reach out to touch her. My fingers brushed her hip, ever so lightly, but it was enough to draw her closer. “Horses need to be let out. Can’t stand around here all day.”

She shook her head as her hands came to my chest. “No, sir, we cannot. Best get on with it then, huh?”

I wrapped an arm around her and lowered my head, so my lips hovered over hers.

“Don’t say we shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered, straining up.

“I was going to say I’ve been wanting to do this all week.”

I closed the gap between us, pressing my lips to hers.

She sank into my embrace in an instant, kissing me back with everything she had. I delved my tongue into her mouth, searching for her, and she met me with eagerness and a desire that had blood pounding in my ears.

A strong kick to the barn door and a pissed-off whinny echoed back to us, and we both pulled away, looking in the barn’s direction.

Callie stifled a laugh. “When we get down there, we need to have a word with them about the definition of a cockblock. Because that definitely felt like one.”

I groaned, letting her go, my dick stiffening behind my jeans at the word ‘cock’ on her lips. “I’ll definitely be having a stern word in their ears. Come on.” I stopped short of holding her hand again, but we walked in companionable silence from the house to the barns. “What were you reading? I asked. “More of Clara and her lover writhing around in unquenchable lust?”

She shook her head. “I’ve only got that one in audio. And don’t pretend you didn’t like it.”

“I liked it probably too much,” I admitted. “Don’t listen to any more of it without me. I want to know what happens next.”

“You just want to listen to the sex scenes.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets, changing the subject before I admitted I’d rather act them out with her. “So if not a romance, what’s the book about?”

Her arms swung lightly by her sides. “My dad gave it to me at the airport before we left. It was kind of a joke gift, but I’m actually enjoying it. It’s a guide to surviving Australia.”

I snorted on a laugh. “I haven’t read it. Am I doomed?”

She slapped my arm. “You might be! It’s actually pretty interesting to be honest. It’s full of stories about the Aboriginal people who are the traditional custodians of the land. I feel…I don’t know, a connection to that, through my mom. But I know so little about that side of my heritage.”

“Your mom doesn’t talk about it?”

“Not really. She didn’t grow up with her biological family.” She shrugged. “But I’m learning lots of useful tips too. I found out how to treat a spider bite, for instance. After how worried you were about it the other day, perhaps you should read the book too.”

Another horse kicked at his or her stall, displaying their impatience that they hadn’t received their breakfast.

“I’ll add it to my To Be Read list. But right now, I think these guys have had enough of our chitchat.”

She grabbed a handful of leads from hooks on the wall and got busy attaching them to halters. With the two of us working together, and the horses eager to get outside, we made short work of the task. I couldn’t stop watching Callie though. She handled horses like a pro and was even cuter with dirt smudges on her nose and cheek. Once the last horse was out in the paddock, we turned to the bigger job of cleaning and mucking out their stalls.

“Paisley didn’t ask you to do this on your day off, did she?” Callie surveyed the mess with her hands on her hips.

“Nope,” I said, mirroring her position.

“But we’re going to do it anyway, right?”

I grinned at her. “Yep.”

I knew from snippets of conversations I’d heard both here and at the Hunt ranch, Callie considered herself a bit of a black sheep. Her sister and dad were both so into bull riding that I imagined it would be a little difficult to find common ground if you didn’t share that same passion. Even I found it hard to relate to Bowen and Kai when they got really into the nitty-gritty of bull riding. Even though I’d been on the tour with them a million years ago, their jobs had been very different to mine.

But it was clear that Callie had grown up with hard work. That was something we had in common, because she grabbed a pitchfork now, and got to work without a word of complaint or prima donna behavior. I followed her lead, forcing my eyes off her perfect ass clad in denim and onto the task at hand.

Fork into the dirty straw, pitch it into the wheelbarrow, repeat. Do not stare at the gorgeous daughter of one of your oldest friends, while imagining her naked beneath you.

It grew increasingly difficult with every passing minute to keep my mind on the job and not on the woman.

I was so distracted; I didn’t notice the coiled creature hiding beneath the straw until I nearly stabbed him. “Oh Jesus, fuck!” I bellowed, stumbling back from the biggest snake I’d ever seen in my life and crashing into the stall wall. My feet came out from underneath me in my haste to get away from it, and I crashed down into the soiled hay. Though possible horse shit on the back of my jeans was the last thing on my mind.

I hated snakes with every ounce of my being. Despised them to infinity and beyond. I’d heard the horror stories that came out of Australia. Of these things either injecting you with poison that could kill you in seconds or winding themselves around you until every organ in your body was crushed, so they had a nice human minced meat meal to eat at their leisure.

Callie’s head popped over the top of the stall next to me, a puzzled expression on her face as I fought to get back on my feet. “What’s going on—”

“Snake,” I yelped hoarsely. “Big, motherbucking, man-eating snake. Stay over there.”

Callie peered in the direction I was pointing as I backed out of the stall in search of a shovel. A warning Bowen had given me one night while sitting on the porch with a round of beers echoed through my head. “We don’t mess around with snakes out here. See a snake? Walk away. If you can’t? You take a shovel to its head before it can get you.”

I couldn’t just leave this one here for it to bite a horse or the next person who came along. I grasped for a shovel, ready to do what needed to be done.

“Oh my God, don’t!” Callie rushed around from her stall and yanked the shovel from my hand.

The snake just slithered along the wall, searching for an exit. The one that we were blocking, of course. I jumped back another step, dragging her with me.

She looked back and laughed at me. “It’s just a diamond python.”

“A what?” I’d heard her, but the words weren’t computing over my brain screaming, “Danger noodle! Danger noodle!”

Fuck, I really hated snakes.

Callie repeated the animal’s name. It still didn’t make any sense to me, with my heart pounding and my gaze trained on the nope rope.

She got the shovel beneath it and gave it a nudge toward the exit. I scrambled out of the way. “Are you sure? Bowen said we should just kill any snake…”

She shook her head. “I was literally just reading about these guys. They’re really easy to identify because of the diamonds on its scales. They’re constrictor snakes, so non-venomous. Pretty harmless unless you’re a mousie or some other small animal.”

“What if it just looks like the ones you were reading about but is really the most not harmless kind.” I danced away from it, shivers racing down my spine from the adrenaline. “Jesus, fuck, it’s staring at me.”

She laughed, getting in front of me with the shovel and guiding the snake until it slithered outside and away into the grass. She turned back, amusement written all over her face. Her grin was wide, her hair tousled, and the pure confidence she radiated was sexy as hell.

Slowly, my heart beat overtime for a different reason. “You slayed a snake.”

She made a show of brushing off her hands, like it was all in a day’s work. “Without bloodshed too.”

“That was hot.”

She bit her lip. “Shooing a snake out of the barn turns you on?”

I stepped in closer, needing desperately to reclaim some of my masculinity after squealing like a toddler. “You turn me on.”

“I think I saved your life.”

I chuckled. “Despite it being a non-venomous snake, I think you’re right. I owe you now.”

She rubbed her hands together. “Oooh, however shall you pay me back?”

I skimmed the sides of her body with my hands, feeling over the curves of her hips and the indent of her waist. I leaned in slowly, brushing her hair away so I could kiss her neck. “Nobody will be back for hours. I think I can come up with a few ways.”

I pressed my lips to the sensitive spot behind her ear, then dragged my mouth lower, nipping at her skin and sucking at her neck until she went loose and pliable in my arms. I backed her up to the stall wall and pinned her there with my body, loving the way she felt against me.

“This is a good start,” she whispered, dropping her head to one side to give me access. “But I don’t know, Abel. That snake actually might have been a deadly one. I mean, what do I know? I really think you owe me big time.”

I chuckled into her neck, trailing kisses across her collarbone while my hands wandered all over her, finishing up by taking two handfuls of her breasts.

She arched her back into my touch, her eyes closing in enjoyment.

My dick kicked behind my jeans, begging to get in on the action.

I shook my gloves off and cupped the sides of her face, claiming her lips with my own in a deep, plunging kiss, until I drew back, hot, breathless, and so ready to fuck her it hurt. “I definitely owe you.” I flicked the button on her jean shorts and drew down the fly. “This okay?”

She kissed me hard, her tongue plunging deep into my mouth. “I’d have deliberately planted some man-eating snakes to save you from if I’d known you pay out your debts in sexual favors.”

I shook my head softly at her humor. “That wasn’t a yes, Callie.”

She pulled away, studying my eyes. “Oh shit, you actually really thought I might say no?”

“Age gap. I told you; I’m not ever going to take advantage of you. I need to know you’re okay with this. With actual words.”

She grabbed my hand and pressed it to her panties. “I don’t know if I can make this any clearer, Abel. I’m a grown woman. I like orgasms. Frankly, I’m a little tired of you walking around the place like my own personal pinup boy and having to relieve the pressure with my own hand. So if you’re offering, at any time, day, night, or otherwise, I’m accepting.” She kissed me softly, the sass leaving her voice. “I want this.” Her lips were gentle and sweet. “I want you. I have for months. Feel how wet I am for you.”

I groaned. “Fuck, don’t say things like that.”

Except I loved it. Nothing stopped me from moving my hand lower and touching the arousal-soaked fabric of her panties. They were silky smooth, warm from being snug against her body, and it was all too easy to push them to one side.

Her nails dug into my shoulders as I dragged one finger through her folds. She clutched me closer, so responsive to even that tiny touch that I became instantly addicted. I wanted more. I wanted her to dig her nails into my back and leave marks, claiming her territory like the wild cat she was.

But fuck, I needed to taste her too. I rubbed her clit, massaging the little bundle of nerves, building her up before moving lower to press a finger inside her.

She gasped, arching her back on the stall wall and pressing her tits against me.

“I want to see you,” I murmured to her.

She nudged me back a tiny bit, just enough to undo the buttons on her shirt while I soaked a second finger in her core. Her shirt fell open, revealing a plain black bra that pushed her tits up.

“You sure they’re all out in the back paddocks?” she whispered between breathy moans from how I was working her pussy.

I placed a kiss to the swell of her breasts. “One-hundred-percent sure. It’s just you and me out here. Unless the snake has friends.”

But if he did, even though I hated snakes, I didn’t bother looking around for them. I couldn’t take my eyes off Callie in her bra. I reached behind her, unsnapping the clasp between her shoulder blades and pulling the bra away, dropping it to the hay along with her shirt.

Her nipples hardened when the morning air touched them, and I drank in the sight of her bare skin. I ducked my head to suck her nipple into my mouth, nipping at her with my teeth and lapping at her with my tongue.

Her fingers came to my hair, scratching over my scalp and the back of my neck, holding me to her tits while her hips rocked in time with my fingers inside her.

She was warm and wet, and I ached to slam myself inside her.

But I’d made a promise that by the end of our time together, she’d know how a real man should treat her. The way her ex had treated her, the way I’d almost treated her at the wedding that night while high on desire for her, was a nagging reminder in the back of my head to not do any more damage to this woman. I owed her, and her family, that respect. So when I let her go at the end of her trip, it would be in a better state than I’d found her.

That was the only way I could comprehend letting myself touch her like this.

I dragged her shorts down her legs and then tucked my fingers into the side of her panties, making short work of those too.

And then Callie Hunt stood in front of me, in nothing but scuffed-up, brown leather cowboy boots.

I drank her in, every inch of bare, delicious skin. Every curve of her belly and hips and tits.

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Please get naked.”

I shook my head, kissing her again, tweaking one nipple with my fingers and putting the others back on her clit. “If I get naked, I’m going to fuck you.”

“I want you to,” she whispered.

I wanted to as well. So bad it hurt every inch of my body not to. “This is all about you. Besides, I don’t have any condoms out here. Do you?”

She gazed up at me with big eyes. “No, but it doesn’t matter.”

I frowned. What the fuck? “Of course it matters. I’m not going to fuck you bare, Callie. I care about you too much to risk your safety. And your future. You’re barely twenty-three. I’m not saddling you with an accidental pregnancy because I was too lost in how good you feel to pull out.”

She paused, then shook her head. “Right. Of course. We don’t have to have sex right now.”

But I could see I’d lost her attention with the completely unsexy, but necessary conversation. I needed to get it back. Because even though I wasn’t going to have sex with her, I was going to make her come.

I dropped to my knees, nudging her feet apart so I could kneel between them. She gasped when I circled my hands around to her ass, taking two large handfuls of her cheeks and touching a kiss to her mound. She was mostly bare, but there was a short strip of hair that led to exactly where I wanted to be.

I speared my tongue between her folds for the first time, tasting the sweet juices between her legs. I swallowed down her arousal, loving that I was the one who got her wet like this. So wet she’d let me strip her naked in a barn and go down on her.

I was going to make it so worth her while.

I licked her slowly, opening her up with my thumbs and burying my face between her thighs. When that wasn’t enough to satisfy the craving I had for her, I put a hand beneath her breasts, holding her against the wall, and gathered up one leg to sling over my shoulder so I had better access.

She moaned loudly as I tongue-fucked while she leaned against the wall, and I was rewarded for my efforts when she grabbed the back of my head and ground shamelessly on my face like she couldn’t get enough.

“Abel!” she gasped. “Buck! I need to come!”

I slid two thick fingers inside her, stretching her tight pussy around them while my tongue assaulted her clit.

“I’ve never…Abel…don’t stop.”

I wasn’t going to. I plunged my fingers in and out of her core, sucking hard on her clit and giving it the full royal rock-star treatment. Every time her inner walls clenched around my fingers; I backed off just enough that she didn’t fall over the edge.

It drove her mad, and her noises of need grew louder and louder. There was no doubt in my mind that we were alone right now, because if the others had returned, they would have heard her moans from well outside the barn and gone running in the opposite direction.

I refused to stop until I’d given her the best orgasm of her life. Time dragged out while I built her up over and over again, and she drowned my face in arousal.

I would have stayed right there all day, eating her out until she begged for mercy, jaw pain be damned.

“Abel, please!” She shouted at the crest of orgasm. She grabbed my wrist, forcing my fingers in and out of her pussy, not letting me back off. “Please!”

I groaned into her swollen flesh and untangled her fingers from mine. “I got you, baby. Relax and let me watch you come.”

She flopped back on the stall wall in relief, the one leg she had all her weight on trembling as I took her hard. I added a third finger to her core, which slid in with no resistance, and was rewarded with her shout of release.

She gushed with a fresh round of silk, and I licked her clit while she orgasmed.

“Abel, buck!” She clenched, trapping my fingers inside her, her hips moving wildly beneath the tight grip I had on her. She came against my face, but I didn’t stop, even when she begged for mercy. “Abel, I can’t!”

But I knew she could. She already was, I could feel the second orgasm building deep within her. Within moments, she was calling out again, coming with me holding her up, because her legs had completely given out.

With her head lolling back on the wall, her eyes closed in bliss, she pushed my face away from her pussy. “I… I don’t even know. Just…buck.”

“I wish I could take a photo of you right now,” I whispered.

She cracked open an eye. “Kinky.”

I shook my head. “You’re just incredibly beautiful.”

Her skin had come alive, flushing with the blood rushing around her system. She had enough of her dad’s coloring that a rosy glow still showed. Her nipples glistened from when they’d been in my mouth, and her pussy was swollen with good use. She was a mess of arousal between her thighs, and the manly pride that sent through me was enough that I wanted the moment captured forever.

“Take the photo,” she whispered. “I want to see what you did to me.”

It was dirty, and probably wrong, but I pulled my phone from my back pocket and snapped the image of her, blissed out from a thorough tongue fucking and more beautiful than I’d ever seen any woman. I shrugged my shirt off, spreading it on the straw for her to sit on.

I loved that she didn’t get dressed. That she was comfortable enough in her skin and with me to be natural. I handed her the phone while I kissed her neck, unable to get enough of her.

She gazed at the photo of herself, studying it for a long time.

“Do you see what I see?” I asked against her skin, my voice husky from a need I wouldn’t give in to.

She didn’t play coy. “I look happy.”

I nodded.

“I don’t remember the last time I looked like that.”

I hated that, but there was nothing I could do to change her past. It only strengthened my resolve to build this woman up and show her exactly how she should have been treated all along. “I’ll delete the photo.”

But she pushed the phone back into my hand. “Don’t. I trust you.”

I glanced at her in surprise. “You sure?”

She pressed her lips against mine. “I’d like a copy. I look stress free and beautiful, and…confident in my skin. I won’t always be that way. It would be nice to have the reminder.”

I frowned at her. Hating the idea she was already assuming the next man would ruin that confidence and she’d need a reminder of how she felt right now.

“I’ll send you the photo,” I murmured.

What I didn’t say was the promise I so desperately wanted to make.

That she would always feel confident and strong and sexy when she was with me.

And I wanted that to be for more than just a couple of months.

21

CALLIE

Days later, I was still staring at the photo whenever I had the chance. I’d never seen anything like it. It was raw and powerful, and every time I glanced at the image on my screen, it made me feel the same way.

Our time in the barn had been mind-blowing. Completely and utterly, by a million miles, the most intense and pleasurable experience of my life. I’d had orgasms by my own hand but never at someone else’s. Jeremy had never cared enough to make sure I was enjoying myself. He’d never gone down on me for more than the required three licks it took to appear like he was repaying the favor for the blow jobs I’d bestowed upon him.

Abel was an entirely different breed than anyone else I’d ever been with. A league way above the boys I’d been fooling with. There was no doubt in my mind he knew how to work a woman’s body. He’d clearly had a lot of practice. But it was more than that.

A connection between us had deepened. I’d let myself go in front of him. I’d relaxed enough to let him push me over the edge, more than once. I’d never let someone get under my skin as bad as Abel did. Jeremy had never even seen me naked with lights on, and yet here I was with Abel, letting him take photos of me, with absolutely no fear he’d share them.

They were for him and me. And they were beautiful.

I was beautiful when I was with him.

I was so bucking happy I couldn’t contain the skip in my step as I made my way from the main house to Lily’s little cottages.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I grinned, knowing it was probably another message from Abel.

We’d been texting a lot, sending flirty messages from opposite ends of the ranch during the day because we couldn’t wait for the nights. Nothing physical had happened since the barn, but every night I stood in his doorway before I went to bed, the chemistry sizzling between us, with little we could do about it because there was a houseful of people around us, and I just couldn’t have sex with my parents’ friends in the next bedroom.

I knew I had to get over that, and I was sure that once we broke this seal, I wouldn’t be able to get enough. But damn, if I wasn’t loving the unbearable tension and flirting that constantly grew between us.

To my surprise, it wasn’t Abel’s handsome face flashing on my phone, but the pretty brown eyes and sparkling smile of my older sister. “Summer!”

“Hey, little sis. How’s that Aussie accent coming along?”

I laughed into the phone, pausing to lean against the fence post of the training ring. “Not bad, mate.”

She giggled. “That was terrible.”

“I know. Lucky I have a few more months to perfect it, huh?”

“Less than two, Callie Hunt. You promised you’d be back for Christmas.”

I didn’t know where the weeks had gone since I’d been here. Mostly swallowed up by pining over Abel, if I really thought about it. But my plans hadn’t changed. They couldn’t. I needed to be back home to have this baby. “I’ll be back.”

“Good, because I need you to help me plan Hallie’s baby shower.”

I blinked at the mention of Summer’s best friend, who was also pregnant, due around the same time I was. Unlike me, however, Hallie had proudly told everyone that she and her husband, Nate, were starting a family. She’d been a glowing picture of health and pregnancy when I’d left, already a little bump showing on her slight frame while I’d still had my head in a bucket every morning.

I swallowed thickly. “How’s she doing?”

“So great! Oh, wait, I need to show you what I bought. Sending you the photo now.”

My phone beeped in my ear, and I pulled it away from my face to look at the screen.

“It’s a tiny pair of cowboy boots!” she squealed down the line. “If you say they aren’t the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, you’re lying.”

No lying was required. “They’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

They really were. The little baby-sized shoes were embroidered on the sides, and in the background was a pile of other tiny clothes. Summer had clearly gone on a shopping spree.

I put the phone back to my ear. “You’re really excited about this baby, huh?”

“Is it that obvious? I’m so excited, Cal. Hallie is so over me touching her belly. She’s getting so big; you should see her. I’ll send you a photo.”

My phone beeped again, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at the photo. “You’re right there, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Summer asked. “What do you mean—wait, Dom! Put that little cowboy hat back! We already bought one last time we were here, he does not need another.” She focused her attention back on me. “Sorry, what were you saying? Dom is as broody as I am. Maybe worse. He drags me into this store every time we’re in town. Pretty sure we have the entire catalog tucked away, ready for the day Hallie pops this kiddo out.”

I shook my head. “It’s okay. You already answered my question. You and Dom are really just in that whole phase of life, huh? I guess it won’t be long before I’m Aunty Callie?”

It was something I wouldn’t have asked of any other newlywed couple, because it felt rude and intrusive, but I had to feel my sister out. She was the only person I could imagine giving this baby to, and I needed to know how she felt about it.

Summer laughed. “Don’t go giving Dom any ideas.” She dropped her voice. “But just between you and me, I definitely have plans to give Hallie and Nate’s baby a playmate. It’ll have to wait a few years, until I can afford to take a season off from the WBRA tour, but I’ve caught the bug.”

A relief settled over me at her words. She’d be the best mom. And Dom would be the perfect dad. They would raise this little girl to be a fierce bull rider, and they’d love her with every inch of their hearts.

They were perfect for her.

Yet, the thought still left me cold.

But I’d get used to it. I rubbed my practically nonexistent belly. I needed to call a lawyer and get paperwork drawn up. First, for Jeremy to give up all his parental rights. That shouldn’t be hard. He’d made it more than clear he didn’t want a thing to do with this child.

I didn’t have to do the rest of the adoption papers yet. That could wait until I was back home in the States and could talk to Summer and Dom in person.

Until then, until I had to tell everyone about her, this baby was still mine.

22

CALLIE

“Help! Someone! Anyone!”

I dropped my Surviving Australia guidebook onto my bed and stuck my head out into the hallway. “Lily?” I called back. “You okay?”

“No! Not okay at all. SOS! SOS!”

I jogged down the hallway, finding my friend pacing the living room and biting on her thumbnail. She seemed to be in one piece at least. “What’s happened?”

“Are you the only one here?” she wailed, ignoring my question. “I know Mum dragged Creed out to buy new boots for the rodeo on the weekend.”

“Abel went to the sale yards with your dad, Henry, and Aiden.”

“Nooooo.” She dropped her hands into her face in despair.

I grabbed her arms and pulled them down to her sides so I could look her in the eye. “Why so dramatic?”

Her shoulders slumped. “I just got my first booking for the cabins. Or second really, but this one is for earlier dates than the first couple who booked.”

I gave her an excited shake. “Why are you upset about that? That’s amazing! Oh my God, when do they get here?”

“That’s the problem! They’re arriving tomorrow for the rodeo.”

I let go of her. “Oh no.”

“Right? Disaster! The cabins aren’t even close to finished! I haven’t even painted the insides yet!”

I bit my lip. “At the risk of sounding like an asshole, why did you allow bookings this early then?”

She glared at me, though there was no real anger behind it. “I got overexcited, clearly, and overestimated how much I could achieve. It would have been fine if the rain hadn’t brought shearing forward.” She groaned. “I’m going to have to cancel on my very first guests, aren’t I? Oh God, this is going to look so bad on my hostess profile! Nobody will ever give me a shot if the one and only review is that I’m a flaky blonde who can’t schedule her time well.”

She threw herself down on the couch, and I stifled a laugh. I understood Lily and her dramatics, because in my family, I was her. I had the two silently strong, dependable sisters. It was me who got herself into messes that required rescue.

I kinda liked I got to be the rescuer for once. I clapped my hands together, drawing Lily’s attention. “Right. Firstly, you are not going to cancel that booking. There’ll be no one-star reviews on my watch.”

“But the—”

I pressed a finger to her lips. “Nope. Don’t want to hear it. Those cabins have bathrooms, kitchens, and flooring. If we need to move all the furniture from the main house out there for the weekend, then we’ll do it.”

“Actually, I already have a lot of it in one of the storage sheds. I was just waiting for the painting to be done—”

“Even better! Where’s your fighting spirit? We’ve got forty-eight hours, right?”

“More like thirty-six…”

I waved a hand around like the number was irrelevant. “Plenty of time for painting to get done.”

“I thought that too, but if everyone else is away…”

I dragged her up into a sitting position. “Who needs everyone else? We got this.”

She gazed at me with big eyes full of hope. “You sure?”

I wasn’t. It was a lot of work for just the two of us, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. “Of course. Now up off your ass, go get some old clothes on, and find us some paintbrushes.”

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Yes, Mum,” she said with a laugh as she skipped toward the door. “Seriously, Mum would be proud that she’s rubbing off on you. Or does your mom sound exactly like that too?”

I faltered, taken aback by the label she may as well have slapped across my face. For a tiny second, I was sure she knew. Paisley had watched me with knowing eyes when I’d been puking my guts up the other day, and though she hadn’t come right out and said anything, I knew she was watching me. Was Lily as well?

But she was already gone down the hall to her bedroom, presumably to find some old clothes to get paint on. “Meet you at the cabins!” she called out.

I went back to my own room to do the same, still marveling over the fact anyone would find me responsible enough to tease me about sounding like Paisley or my mother. A little glow of warmth lit up inside me at the idea I might be anything like either woman.

My mother and I had our share of arguments over the years, but there was nobody I loved or respected more. It was obvious to me why Paisley was her chosen sister. Paisley was everything that was good and sweet. She was an amazing mother, and the other night, watching her grown children humor her with a game of Scrabble they didn’t really want to play, had shown me the sort of parent I one day hoped to be.

Because I did want children. At least a couple of them.

But when I thought about a future with me as a mom, it was in ten years’ time, and with a man who loved and adored me the way Bowen loved Paisley, or my dad loved my mom.

Not with jackass Jeremy, who was never going to be anything more than a sperm donor. Not when I still lived under my parents’ roof and didn’t even have a way of supporting this child once I got back to the States.

I got changed, dragging on a pair of leggings I hadn’t worn since I’d gotten here, and an oversized T-shirt that would have to be sacrificed to the paint spatter gods. The waistband squeezed a little tighter than I remembered, and I tugged it down so it sat low on my hips, my little belly poking out above it. I pulled my T-shirt from the back, so the material clung to me, and marveled at the changes in my body. “You’re really cute, little girl,” I whispered with a hand on my stomach. “I can’t wait until you’re bigger.”

There was a flutter inside me that took my breath away.

“You moving around in there? I can feel you.”

Another little flutter of tiny baby kicks rewarded me.

“She probably likes your voice.”

I spun around, dropping my shirt to find Paisley in the doorway, watching me quietly. My mouth dropped open. “I…um…”

There was no explaining what I’d been doing, and we both knew it.

I burst into tears. Deep, hysterical sobs that came out of nowhere, with no chance of stopping them.

“Oh, sweet girl.” Paisley stepped into the room and wrapped me in a hug.

I couldn’t stop. I cried into her shoulder, trying to muffle the sounds, but my tears soaked her shirt.

To her credit, she just held me.

“You want to talk about it?” Paisley asked eventually.

I shook my head as I pulled away from her. “I do. I will. But I can’t right now. Lily needs me.”

Paisley patted my arm. “Okay. But just know that when you do want to talk…or if you need any help or have any questions…I’m here.”

That set off a new round of crying that I was sure had to be partially because of pregnancy hormones. “You’re very perceptive,” I said through my tears. It came out as a half laugh, half sob. “Does everyone else know as well? I thought I was doing a good job of keeping it quiet…”

She shook her head. “I don’t think anyone else realizes. But none of them have ever been pregnant three times. Or watched most of their friends have babies.”

“I haven’t told my family yet…no one except Lennon and Preston anyway.”

Paisley nodded, understanding that what I was really saying was: “Will you keep my secret too?”

“It’s your story to tell, sweetheart. I’m only here to have your back.”

I held up a hand when the lump in my throat threatened to choke me. “Please stop saying nice things before I cry again.”

Paisley laughed. “Fine.” She glanced up and down my body. “That yellow T-shirt is a horrible color on you. Good thing it’s about to get covered in paint.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her attempt at being mean. She just didn’t have a mean bone in her body. I kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Aunt Paisley.”

She nodded, letting me past her.

My steps were a little lighter as I made my way out to the cabins. It was a beautiful day, with a hot breeze that made it clear it was almost summer in Australia. The sun warmed through the ugly yellow shirt and into my skin. It was nice to know that back home, it was coming into winter and they’d probably all be getting their scarves and gloves ready.

I’d always been more of a summer lover, so I wasn’t mad about it.

I found Lily in the first cabin, drop cloth already covering the new carpet and tiles that had been laid. She poured paint from a can into a smaller roller tray and wasted no time in giving me instructions. “What took you so long? Time is a-wasting! So I think you take this room, and I’ll take the master bedroom? What do you think?”

I grabbed a roller from the floor and tapped her on the butt with it. “I’m ready to roll…get it?” I spun the dry roller with my finger.

She groaned. “I’m going to need a new painting partner if you’re going to make corny dad jokes like that.”

“Hey,” I said, mock insulted. “Corny mom jokes, I think you mean.”

She glanced at me.

“You know, since you called me mom inside the house?” I waved a hand at her. “Forget it. Put some music on and let’s paint.”

Much more oblivious than her mother, Lily hit ‘play’ on her phone, and music poured through a small portable speaker she’d brought in with her. She disappeared into the bedroom, and I got to work on the main living area.

Wriggling my butt in time with the music, I dunked my roller in paint, then slapped it on the walls. It dried quickly in the nearly summer heat, which was a relief, because the brand-new drywall was thirsty. It sucked in the paint, forcing us to do multiple coats before it stopped looking patchy.

Hours wore on, and it was getting dark before either of us stopped to eat.

“I’m starving,” Lily exclaimed, dropping a cutting-in tool into a bucket. “I’m going to go make us some food. You coming?”

I eyed the wall I was working on. “I want to finish this wall before I stop for a break.”

Lily eyed me with concern. “We’ve been at it for hours. If you want to be done, you can be. I’ll be here all night, but this is my problem to fix, not yours.”

I instantly shook my head. My shoulders ached, and I definitely could have used a shower, but I could see how much work still needed to be done. I wasn’t going to abandon her. “I’m up for an all-nighter if you are. No man left behind and all that.”

She grinned at me. “Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite Hunt sister?”

“No, but it’s pretty obvious.” I winked at her.

She left to go rustle up some dinner, and I groaned at the ache in my arm, pushing on through the fatigue. I had a feeling, once I stopped, it was going to be hard to get going again. But I’d meant what I said. This cabin was going to be beautiful by the time Lily’s first guests arrived in…oh Jesus. It was barely over twenty-four hours left.

Before I could attack the wall with a renewed vigor, my phone, sitting on a drop cloth, buzzed with an incoming call. I paused, glancing over at the screen, my eyes going wide when it was a video call from Abel.

“Shit!” I grabbed the phone from the floor, holding it by the edges to avoid getting paint smeared all over it, and tried to brush my hair back into something that didn’t look like I’d had a paintbrush pushed through my ponytail all day. “Don’t hang up! Don’t hang up!”

I hit the ‘answer’ button before I was really ready to, just because I didn’t want to miss it. “Hey!” I leaned on the kitchen counter, then flinched away from it when I realized I was smudging paint onto it. I rubbed at it with a cloth. “How’s the sale?”

“Long,” he groaned. “But we’re done.”

I peered at him on the little screen. It was dark in the background, making me realize truly how late it had gotten without us noticing. I’d heard Abel and Bowen quietly rustling around the house at three in the morning, getting ready for the long drive with cattle loaded up in the back of the truck. “Did you sell them all?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Bowen said it was a good price too, so that’s a relief. The rest of them are just grabbing some food then we’ll be back on the road to home.”

“You’re calling me instead of getting food?”

Buck, his smile was everything. His teeth were stupidly white, like he was an LA actor, and his true smiles met his eyes, crinkling at the corners of them. “I missed you,” he said softly.

Surprise punched me in the stomach. We weren’t a couple. We weren’t anything to each other, beyond attraction and lust and maybe a tentative friendship. But I’d missed him too. Normally, even if we weren’t working together, we ran into each other a few times a day. I’d spot him across the yard, or we’d eat lunch together, along with everybody else at Paisley and Bowen’s big dining room table.

“I won’t see you tonight when you get back.” The thought was depressing.

He nodded. “Yeah, you’ll be long passed out. We’ll be back late.”

I shook my head. “No, I mean, I won’t be at the house at all. Lily and I are pulling an all-nighter to get the cabins painted before guests arrive tomorrow night.”

“Ah. That explains the paint on your nose.”

I pursed my lips together. Of course I had paint on my face.

“It’s cute,” he assured me. He leaned back against a brick wall. “So freaking cute that if I weren’t surrounded by hundreds of sweaty, dirty, country folk and their bulls, I’d be a whole lot tempted to do something else.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Are you asking me for phone sex right now, Abel James?”

He choked on a laugh. “I was thinking more along the lines of wanting to kiss it off your face, but if you’re offering…”

“Sure you were,” I ribbed him. “And while I would so be down for that normally, because it’s illegal how good you look right now, Lily is going to be back any minute with our food, and then it’s back to painting.”

He went quiet for a minute. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

I flushed with happiness. “Night, Abel. See you tomorrow.”

I hung up without telling him exactly how badly I wanted to see him too. A girl had to play at least a little bit hard to get sometimes.

Lily reappeared out of the darkness a few minutes later and peered at my still half-painted wall. “You didn’t finish it yet?”

I shook my head, holding up my phone. “Got distracted with a call.” I reached for the sandwiches she’d brought out on a tray before she could question who the call was from. She probably had an idea it was Abel, since she knew we were flirting, but she hadn’t yet asked for too many details. Probably on purpose so she wouldn’t have to lie if anyone questioned her.

We ate in silence, and as I’d predicted, a wave of exhaustion hit me now that I was sitting down.

Lily seemed just as sleepy. “Did you suddenly hit a brick wall?”

I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich and forced myself to my feet, holding a hand out so I could pull her up. “Yep, but come on. Just think of the great reviews this place is going to get once the painting is done…and the bad reviews if we don’t finish.”

The music got cranked up again, and we both set about our tasks once more, though with decidedly less enthusiasm than earlier in the day.

There was just so much work to be done. I painted and painted until my eyes crossed and my muscles burned. At one in the morning, I poked a head into the room Lily was working on and found her passed out on the carpet, her mouth open, snoring lightly.

My own mouth dropped open. It was on the tip of my tongue to wake her and tell her off for slacking on the job. But I knew she’d worked as hard as I had today.

And damn, I was so tired that the walk back to the main house felt like a million miles. Why bother when there was nice, thick carpet to take a little nap on.

I crashed down beside Lily and was out like a light in seconds.

I woke to the sound of the front door closing. I blinked a few times at Lily still sleeping next to me, and then at my watch, which lit up to tell me it was four-thirty in the morning.

Who the hell was in our cabin at that time?

My heart picked up the pace, and I nudged the woman sleeping beside me. “Lil!”

She didn’t budge. She was so deeply out she clearly hadn’t heard anything. Maybe I’d imagined it.

But I got up off the floor with a stifled groan of aching muscles and cursed myself for sleeping there. That had not helped any.

I stopped in the middle of the living room—the room I’d only half finished the night before—and gawked.

I’d left the lights on, so there was no missing that the room was now completely finished. All the little edging bits, the annoying, time-consuming part that I’d been avoiding because it was so tedious, were completed. When I stuck my head into the second bedroom, I found it finished as well. The only one that wasn’t was the one Lily and I had been sleeping in.

Someone had been here. Some magical painting fairy who had taken pity on our poor souls and finished the job I’d been too tired to complete.

I opened the door, peering through the darkness at the figure that stopped and turned back at the sound of the door creaking. “Abel?”

He walked a few steps back, into the glow of the light spilling from the cabin. “Oh, hey. Sorry. Did I wake you?”

I closed the door behind me softly, trying not to wake Lily, and jogged down the steps to him. “Well, yeah, technically, but…did you finish the painting?”

It was a stupid question, because he had a smudge of Stormy Night Gray across his cheek.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I stopped by to see how the all-night paint-a-thon was going when we got back from the sales.”

“And you found it had turned into a sleepover?”

He winked. “Something like that.”

A swirl of gratitude and happiness and flat-out respect for the man filled me. I stepped in, putting my arms around his neck and pressing up onto my toes so his lips hovered over mine. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I don’t know why you did that, when you really must have wanted to just go to bed. You’ve been awake for over twenty-four hours.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me closer. His nose ran up the length of my cheek until his lips were at my ear. “Don’t you know I’d do anything for you, Callie?”

I froze, his words sinking in. Maybe they were the words of an exhausted man who’d been awake way longer than he should have been. Maybe my brain was too sleepy to try to pick a hole in that statement.

Either way, I let myself believe it. I let the truth in his words fill me with a comfort I was sure I’d never known. I let him kiss me so deep and slow the entire world spun around me, until he and I were the only things that mattered, and that he was mine to please in the same way he’d done for me.

With my hands on his chest, my lips on his, I walked him away from the cabins and the light spilling out of them. In the shadows, I stopped him and dropped to my knees.

“What are you doing?” His fingers swept through my sleep-tousled hair gently.

I drew down his zipper, all while staring up at him. Desire flooded me, a complete and utter need for the man who’d been so willing to take this thing slow and steady.

I was dying to put my mouth on him.

To watch him come undone.

To feel the need I had for him returned.

I could explain how badly I wanted to thank him for his help in finishing the painting, because the thought of spending another day in the paint fumes was nauseating. But I didn’t. The way I felt about him was so much more than just gratitude because he’d seen a way to help me, with no benefit to himself, and done it anyway.

“Please don’t stop me,” I whispered into the early morning darkness, with my gaze locked on his. “Let me touch you.”

He paused, and for a second, I thought he was going to deny me. A piercing stab of rejection, one that was all too familiar, cut through me.

But then his hand cupped the side of my face, and his thumb rubbed over my lips. “If I let you, there’s no turning back for me, Callie. Because I know how good you’re going to feel. I know how warm and wet your mouth will be, and how fucking beautiful you’re going to look with moonlight in your hair, and your eyes full of lust while you stare up at me.” He breathed out heavily. “I’m already halfway gone with you. I let you touch me, and it’s a slippery, downhill slope into me never letting you go.”

I knew what he was saying. There was an infatuation between us. A pull that was too strong to deny, and one that was going to cause us a hell of a lot of grief once other people found out about it. Especially because it was a relationship that couldn’t continue. For more reasons than he knew.

But his words didn’t scare me away. If anything, they only drew me closer.

I dragged his jeans down, taking his boxer briefs with them, and freed his cock.

Even in the darkness, there was no denying how big he was. Thick and erect, his dick was already hard for me. I wrapped my fingers around his broad base, stroking up and down his length lightly.

His fingers glided over my cheek, his hands rough from hours of manual work, which only turned me on more. Abel was all man. A cowboy through and through.

And I was the woman who got to see him like this. Gentle and sweet, but still dirty enough that my blood pounded with every word and look he sent my way.

I closed my mouth over him, no hesitation, taking him deep on the first plunge. I needed no warmup. I’d been thinking about doing this for too long now.

I hadn’t been lying when I’d told him I gave good head.

“See?” He thrust slightly into my mouth. “Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

I’d had men say the same thing, but from them, it had always felt like a line. From Abel, it was an aphrodisiac of truth.

Not for a second did I believe he was just saying the words.

When Abel said I was beautiful, he meant every syllable.

I set the pace, taking him into my mouth, withdrawing, and then plunging down on him again. The ground was hard beneath my knees, a little rock jabbing at me, but there was nowhere else in the world I wanted to be, and nobody else I could imagine wanting the way I wanted him.

I squeezed my thighs together when the first drops of his precum hit my tongue, salty and sweet, and so distinctly him. My clit ached, turned on from what he was letting me do.

He groaned softly when I licked the vein on the underside of his dick, and I was rewarded with him pulling back and leaning down, taking my lips with his in a kiss that would have blistered the sun.

He drew back so our foreheads rested against each other. “I want you so bad. But I don’t want our first time to be out in the open when anyone could see us, with rocks jabbing you in the back.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” But I already knew what he was going to say, so I rushed to say it before he would. “But I know you won’t.”

He shook his head. “The first time we have sex, Callie, it’ll be when I can lay you out and do it right. It won’t be quick. It won’t be dirty. It’s going to be with me licking every inch of your body, exploring every curve with my tongue, and hearing you scream when I make you come.”

I wanted fast and dirty, and the dangerous, fun sex where anyone might catch us.

But, buck, I wanted what he promised more.

The knowledge it was coming but not knowing when, was the most torturous sort of pleasure.

“I can wait for that.” I pushed him back up to standing. “But not to make you finish.” I took his dick in my mouth again, done with teasing him. I sucked and blew him until his head dropped back, face up to the inky sky and his hand came to the back of my head, holding me in place.

He kept the pressure light, and I almost wished he wasn’t such a gentleman.

Because I was so wet and needy for him, him letting go and fucking my mouth would only bring me closer to orgasm.

The man hadn’t even touched me where it counted and yet I was right on the edge.

“Ride your fingers while you suck me, Callie. I want to come with you.”

I moaned around his cock, panted against his skin, and dipped one hand beneath the band on my leggings and into my underwear. I dragged my fingers between my folds, sliding through my arousal and up inside myself. “Oh!”

Abel’s hips moved sensuously, not jerking against my tongue like every other guy had. His hips rolled in a way that promised he had complete control and rhythm and that every year of his age meant nothing but experience.

His arousal coated my tongue, and I sucked at him harder, desperate for him to come.

For us to come together because I teetered on the edge of my own orgasm.

“Let me taste you.”

For a second, I thought he was going back on his word and was going to lay me out right here and put his mouth between my legs, but then he pulled my hand from beneath my panties. With his gaze locked on mine, he sucked the two fingers that had been inside me into his mouth, tonguing off my arousal.

My legs shook, and it was a good thing I was kneeling, or they probably would have gone right out from under me.

“You taste like the best sort of sin, Callie.”

So did he.

It was wrong, we both knew it. Nobody would ever accept us. But in that moment, it didn’t matter. He was just a man. And I was just a woman who desperately wanted him to let go.

With my fingers back at my clit, building me higher and higher, I let Abel come in my mouth. His dick spasmed with his orgasm. He turned his head into his shoulder to muffle his shouts, while his dick muffled mine.

The orgasm ripped through me, taking away every ache in my body and replacing it with the sweetest feeling of ecstasy. His pleasure was mine. Mine was his. We came together in a way that had me gasping for breath around his cock. After shocks rippled through my body, and exhaustion sank in once more.

When Abel picked me up, cradling me to him like I was something precious, I let him. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his warm, now familiar scent.

He carried me back to the house and put me into my bed. Before I could even beg him to stay, I was out again, lulled to sleep by the orgasm and the pure exhaustion that hadn’t been sated by the few hours of sleep I’d caught on the hard floor in Lily’s cabin.

I dreamed of Abel that night. Of him and me and a little girl by our sides. She didn’t look like him, but she called him Daddy.

A dangerous, unrealistic dream that could never come true.

But I woke with a smile on my face anyway.

23

ABEL

All resistance had up and left the building. The building, in this case, being my body. After letting Callie go down on me in the tiny hours of Friday morning, she was all I’d thought of. It was no longer a matter of if, but when.

The waiting was torture.

After depositing her safely in her own bed, I’d crashed hard in mine. I was too fucking old to stay up all night and just bounce back like I had in my twenties. I slept until Friday afternoon, then cursed myself when I woke up and realized how late it was. I’d joined everybody else in moving furniture into Lily’s cabins, ignoring their good-natured teasing about what time it was.

All I saw was the little looks Callie sent my way, and the spot where she’d dropped to her knees, taken me in her mouth, and given me the best blow job of my life.

Saturday morning was a bustle of activity. It had technically been deemed a day off, since the rodeo was that afternoon and the entire household was going, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t work to be done.

Which was a good thing, because otherwise I might have snuck into Callie’s room and made good on that promise to lay her out and lick every inch of her body.

“Get that bull on the truck,” Bowen shouted to Henry. “It’s not going to fucking walk in by itself and say thanks for the ride.”

Henry frowned at his old man’s sharp tone but did it anyway. Bowen didn’t notice because he was too busy barking questions at Aiden about why the ropes weren’t where they were supposed to be. Aiden gritted his teeth, too respectful to tell his father off, but frankly, he wouldn’t have been out of line in telling Bowen where to go.

They weren’t little boys anymore, and Bowen was being an asshole.

The fence post wobbled as Bowen threw a saddle over the top of it so I could get it from the other side, but I pinned my old friend with a look. “What the hell is wrong with you today?”

His tone and attitude were completely out of character. To be fair, I didn’t know him as well as I once had, but we’d picked up our friendship easily over the last few weeks, and I knew nothing had fundamentally changed with him.

He was a good guy through and through. This snapping at his sons wasn’t like him at all.

Bowen shook his head sharply and lowered his eyes a little, his wide-brimmed hat shielding his eyes from my view. “Nothing. Just gotta get these animals down to the showgrounds so there’s something for people to ride this afternoon.”

I eyed his stiff, jerky movement, knowing there was more to it than that. But if Bowen wasn’t going to talk, then me badgering him wasn’t going to help either. I picked up the saddle and carried it toward the barn to put it away. Being helpful and staying outside the line of fire was probably sensible right now.

Paisley leaned on the barn wall, her arms crossed while she watched her husband and sons in the yard.

“Wouldn’t go over there if I were you,” I confided, pausing by her side. “Bowen is on the warpath.”

She sighed heavily. “He always is before one of Creed’s rodeos. Brings up memories of his accident.”

A chill rolled down my spine. I remembered Bowen’s wreck that had sent him to the hospital. He’d been lucky, but we both knew men who hadn’t been.

“It was why we never encouraged the kids to follow in Bowen’s footsteps, like Kai did with Summer. Bowen just couldn’t bear the thought of them getting hurt…or worse.”

“But Creed has a mind of his own?”

Paisley chuckled. “You noticed he’s our wild child? Not sure how that happened. Aiden and Henry are both so mature and sensible. Lily is a great horse rider but never showed any interest in competing. We kind of thought we were home free in regard to worrying about them competing in dangerous sports.”

“Then you decided to have another baby…”

“Ha, yes. He was wild from day one. Walked at nine months, and as soon as that happened, he was climbing things. Then falling off them. Bowen had no choice but to coach him, because at ten, Creed declared he was going to be the world champ and he’d go train himself if Bowen didn’t help him. He would have, too! Determined little shit.” But her smile was all fondness. “He’s good, though. He was right to force our hand. Wait ’til you see him today. Give him a few more years to mature, and he’ll be beating all of Bowen’s records.”

I had no doubt Creed would be as good as his old man one day. How could he not be, with Bowen training him? He’d be giving Summer a run for her money on the tour in no time. “So Bowen’s way of dealing is to grouchily snap at everyone?”

She patted me on the arm. “Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet. He’ll get worse as the day goes on. They’re making a big deal of him today because it’s the anniversary of his world title win. He hates when they make a fuss and everyone stares at him.”

I shifted the saddle in my arms. “I’ll stay out of his way until it’s over then.”

By midmorning, we’d all gathered around the trailer loaded with a couple of bulls that would be competing today and the cars the rest of us would be driving in. There were a few unfamiliar faces, and Lily introduced us to her guests proudly. She’d offered to be their chauffeur to the rodeo, and after saying hello, they got into the back seats of Lily’s red Jeep.

Callie gave me a half wave of goodbye as she slid into the front passenger seat with her friend. “See you there?”

I nodded. “We’ll be right behind you.”

I hauled myself up into the cab of the livestock truck and drove in stony silence beside Bowen, who stared out the window without saying a word for the entire drive. The anxiety poured off him in waves.

“It’s different,” he said eventually, so far into the trip that it was less than five minutes to our destination. “When we were on tour, I never thought too much about getting hurt. Even after that wreck, I got back on the bull and kept going.”

“But it’s different when it’s someone you love.”

Bowen pulled his hat down to shield his eyes from the sun. “Makes me feel like a jackass for ever competing. The stress it puts on the people who love you…shit. I don’t know. I hate that Paisley had to worry about me the way I now have to worry about Creed. I was a selfish asshole.”

That wasn’t true. Bowen was one of the most decent men I knew. “Do you think Creed a selfish asshole? Or do you just think he has a dream he needs to chase? And that as someone who loves him, you’re going to stand behind him, even if it hurts you to do so?” I glanced over at him. “Kinda the definition of loving someone with everything you got, isn’t it? You’re doing it now for Creed, just like Paisley did for you.”

Bowen made a noise that sounded like a gruff agreement, but I could tell my pep talk hadn’t eased his nerves any.

By the time I’d helped unload the animals, moved the truck, and entered the showground arena, my own nerves had flared. Everything about this place was familiar. Not because I’d worked at this exact arena, but because I’d worked at hundreds of others, and they were all pretty much the same. The sawdust spread out on the arena floor had a scent I would never forget, no matter how long I was away from the place. It was stronger when you were out in the middle, bouncing around lightly on your toes, cracking your neck with anticipation of the gates springing open and the bull and rider kicking their way into the ring. But there was no mistaking it, even from the sidelines.

I peered around the ring, spotting Bowen and some other officials sitting on a raised dais at the far end of the oval-shaped arena. They were the farthest point from the riders and bulls, but that was probably a good thing. If Bowen could hear the talk from behind the gates, and see the bulls tussling around in the chute, it would do nothing good for his mood. The three men and two women talked amongst themselves as a woman took to the microphone.

“Good afternoon, Erraville! Are we all ready for the show? We’ve got a lot of great up-and-coming local bull riders here today, and I know they’re itching to get on with it. While they’re preparing, can we all put our hands together for our guest of honor.”

I hid a smirk as everyone from the ranch jumped out of their seats in the front row and screamed loudly, knowing the announcement was going to be about Bowen. Paisley shouted loudest of all, clapping her hands above her head, while Deacon put two fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing wolf whistle. I headed in their direction, weaving my way through the crowd.

The announcer chuckled into her microphone. “Okay, okay, looks like he’s still no stranger to the fans. But for those of you who are new on the scene, please let me introduce Mr. Bowen Barclay, winner of the prestigious World Bull Riding Association Tour. There haven’t been many Aussie winners before or after him, but I hear his son, Creed, is over in the bucking chutes this afternoon, so I think we’re in for a treat…”

She droned on, talking about all of Bowen’s achievements and the vital role he still played in the bull riding community, but I already knew Bowen’s history, because I’d been there when it had happened. I skirted the fencing that kept the bulls in the arena and the crowd out of it to find myself at the end of the bleacher seats with a host of familiar faces sitting along it. Deacon stood and reached across to shake my hand. Paisley nodded to me from her spot at the other end. She sat next to their neighbor, Laura.

Callie was closest to me, an empty spot right beside her. “Want to sit?” she asked.

It was the only spare spot on the bench.

And yes, I very much did want to sit next to her.

Lily, on Callie’s other side, gaily chatted away with her guests, so I dropped down next to Callie and lowered my voice, even though I doubted anyone was paying us any attention. There was no reason for anyone to question me sitting with the rest of the group. It was hardly my fault the seat next to Callie was the only free one.

But I suspected it might have been deliberate. “You save this spot for me?”

That sass gleamed in her pretty brown eyes. “Couldn’t have you sitting in the nosebleed section when we have the best seats in town.”

She wasn’t wrong. We were in the front row, just to the left-hand side of the bucking chutes. Once they pulled the gates open, the bull and rider would be right in front of us.

“And I’ve just been told our guest of honor’s son is first up this afternoon. Creed Barclay riding Phat Phantom, coming up in just a minute. Let’s make some noise for him!”

The crowd went wild. They’d definitely been hyped up by the announcer’s praises, and I hoped Creed put on a show for them.

But as I settled in, surveying the setup in front of me, irritation prickled at the back of my neck. I leaned back so I could see around the people closer to me. “Deac!”

His head popped back in line with mine. “Yeah?”

“Where’s the other bullfighters? They’re about to pull the gates and there’s only two guys in there.”

Deacon’s gaze raked over the men already down in the ring. There were normally three bullfighters, each one ready to protect the rider if he came off. It was their job to distract the bull, luring it toward them so the rider had time to get back on their feet and scramble out of the ring or up the fences to safety.

Deacon leaned back. “I don’t know. Guess they’re down a man tonight.” He shrugged it off. “Those guys down there are good though. Wait until you see Clay. He does backflips and all sorts of shit. Super entertaining.”

He turned back to the front again, and I did the same.

“You’re worried?” Lily leaned across Callie to ask me. Fear flickered all over her features.

Ah shit. The last thing I wanted to do was worry Creed’s family. Especially after Bowen had already put everyone on edge that morning. I was old-school and probably spoiled by working on the WBRA tour. Little backroads towns like Erraville didn’t always have the same amount of staff that a big tour like the WBRA had. They didn’t always need it. The bulls at a local rodeo like this weren’t always top-notch buckers. Creed and the others would be fine with two guys. “He’s going to be amazing,” I told Lily. “It’s good to be first and get some of the nerves out.”

She seemed satisfied with that, even though I hadn’t actually answered her question, and went back to explaining the little details of bull riding to her city guests, who were decked out head to toe in brand-new boots, plaid shirts, and cowboy hats that had never seen a speck of dirt.

Callie nudged me out of my stupor. “You thinking about jumping that fence and offering yourself as the third man?”

She was so warm with her arm brushing mine. I stared down at her carefree expression, no tension or worry creasing her forehead, and a little of my stress disappeared too. “That would mean giving up my seat. I kinda like it here.”

She looked back out to the ring, but it did nothing to disguise the way her smile lit up her face. It was still right there in plain view on her profile.

I focused my attention on Creed getting onto his bull instead of at the woman sitting beside me. I was sure my feelings were written all over my face. It would only take one glance in my direction for someone to see the dopey, starry-eyed expression I was sure I wore whenever she was around.

How I wished she were just some woman I’d met at a wedding. How I wished she’d just been a friend of a friend, and that our families and lives weren’t so entwined. How I wished we could just be a man and a woman, sitting together in a crowd, our fingers interlinked, or my arm around her shoulders.

I was dying to touch her. I leaned against her slightly, and she leaned back.

I had a feeling her thoughts were similar to my own. Her pinky finger twitched in my direction, touching the seam on my jeans. I couldn’t stop staring at it.

The gate on the bucking chute jerked open, crashing back against the fence. I jumped, jolted back into the present by a two-thousand-pound bull spinning and bucking just a few feet away.

Just like no time had passed, I went right back into bullfighter mode.

I tracked every movement of the bull. Every spin, every jerk. I saw each of Creed’s reactions and the adjustments he made so he could stay on the back of the animal so determined to get him off.

Every muscle in my body tensed. The rest of the rodeo faded out into silence, and all I saw, all I heard, was the animal’s hooves hitting the dust and its irritated snorting sharp in my ears. The seconds counted down slowly, each one feeling like an hour.

“Go, Creed!” Callie screamed beside me, cutting through my concentration haze. She bounced up and down excitedly on her seat. “He’s killing it! He’s gonna get it!”

The eight-second buzzer rang with Creed still on the beast’s back. The crowd around us went wild, and I leaped to my feet, clapping and shouting right along with them.

That old rush of adrenaline was a spin-out. I’d missed it.

It had been a hell of a ride, and first rider or not, I already knew Creed would be nearly impossible to beat. If he didn’t score in the nineties, I’d eat my hat.

Callie jumped up and down, fingers clutched to my arm. She knew bull riding, even if she didn’t compete. Hell, even the out-of-towners seemed to know that they’d just witnessed something special.

The bull continued bucking, no care given to the fact a buzzer had sounded.

Creed untangled his hand from the ropes, his body shifting to the side with the force of the animal’s kicks.

At the same time, the bull spun in the opposite direction, and the crowd gasped as his big body rammed the fence, the entire structure rattling.

Like he was a rag doll, Creed’s head smacked into the metal structure with a crack I felt through my entire body. He dropped off the side of the bull into the sawdust with a bone-jarring thud.

“Ooh,” the announcer cringed. “That hurt. And…oh wait. This doesn’t look good for Creed Barclay.”

The bull spun away, leaving Creed motionless on the ground.

My heart sank. “He’s out cold!”

I didn’t know who I was shouting at. Creed’s family? The officials? The crowd in general?

The bullfighters moved in, but Phat Phantom wasn’t having any of it. He bellowed out his rage, tossing one guy into the air, sending him flying across the arena while kicking out at Clay, the man Deacon had pointed out earlier. Clay took a hard kick to the stomach and doubled over with a cry of pain.

They needed that third guy out there. With the two bullfighters distracted and injured themselves, there was nobody to protect Creed.

It happened in a split second, but I saw it.

The moment the bull turned, lined up the lifeless Creed in his sights, put his horns to the sawdust, and charged.

I didn’t think.

My hands were on the top of the fence and hauling me over it without a single acknowledgeable thought from my brain. I landed hard in the sawdust, my knee twinging, but easy to ignore because my body knew what to do.

There was no fear. It was all adrenaline.

There was no time for luring the bull away. No time for dancing around, trying to distract him.

I threw myself on top of Creed, covering his body with my own.

The bull’s blunt horns slamming into my hip and ribs were an agony I’d long tried to forget. They knocked the wind right out of me with a dull ache that I would feel for weeks.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

I was fairly sure that was Deacon, landing in the dirt behind me and trying to attract the bull away from us. I didn’t dare raise my head to confirm. I knew my job. Protecting Creed was the full extent of it. I couldn’t worry about where the bull was. Maybe he’d come around for a second go, but I had to let somebody else take that responsibility, or I’d end up with a lot more than bruises.

Creed didn’t move beneath me. He was deathly still.

“Just hang in there, kid,” I muttered into his ear. “Just fucking hang on.”

Seconds later, Bowen skidded through the dirt next to me and scrambled for his son. “Creed!”

The agony in his voice was earth-shattering. Any person, parent or not, who heard that father call for his injured child, had to have felt it. My chest ached like it was ripping open, but I lifted my head, checking for the bull before I moved.

There was no bull in sight. Only Deacon, staring at us in horror, and a team of professionals running out from the entrance tunnels with a stretcher and medic kits.

“Dad?” Creed’s croaky voice came from beneath me.

“Oh, thank fuck.” Bowen clutched Creed’s hand, still feeling for his pulse, even though the fact he was speaking meant he clearly had one.

“Don’t move,” I gritted out, fighting to get my own emotions under control when all they wanted to do was swamp me. “You might have a spinal injury. They need to get a neck collar on you.”

“And you.” Deacon put a hand on my shoulder, keeping my ass down on the dirt. “You just took a hit that wouldn’t have tickled.”

I appreciated his concern, but a strangled cry from the crowd stole my words.

“Abel!”

Callie’s terrified face stared down at me through the safety fencing. Her fingers were wrapped around the thin metal bars, her knuckles white with how hard she gripped them.

My gaze met hers, and her mouth opened and closed a few times while she searched for words, then perhaps thought better of them.

A second team of medics surrounded me, blocking her from my sight. But not before I saw the tears shining in her eyes. My heart clenched, and my conversation in the truck with Bowen earlier came back to me. How much he couldn’t stand seeing someone he loved hurt.

Bowen had said he’d felt like an asshole for putting Paisley, the woman he loved, through that.

I felt like an asshole right now, knowing Callie was hurting because of me.

I wasn’t in love with her. I couldn’t be. We hadn’t even slept together, for fuck’s sake.

But when they loaded me onto a stretcher, carrying me off the arena floor alongside Creed, I wondered why all I could think about doing was climbing back over that fence and dragging her into my arms. Entire crowd of rodeo fans and her family be damned.

24

CALLIE

The crowd parted for us like magic. I led the charge because I’d been closest to the walkway through the stadium seating, but Lily, Paisley, Henry, Aiden, and Stacey were all hot on my heels. Lily sobbed quietly behind me, terrified for her younger brother.

Fear had wrapped itself around me the moment Abel had jumped that fence, and it hadn’t let go since. Part of it was for Creed. It was never good when a rider was knocked out cold, but watching Abel throw himself into the firing line of a charging bull had almost taken my legs out from beneath me.

I’d watched every sickening second of that bull slam into him.

He’d protected Creed, but at what cost to his own life? He’d been carried out on a stretcher, too. A set of fractured and bruised ribs would be the minimum amount of damage he’d get away with.

Internal bleeding was a whole lot more likely.

If he died…

I closed my eyes for the tiniest of seconds, refusing to let that thought take hold. He’d been conscious when he’d been carried out. That was what I needed to concentrate on. But the depth of my fear for a man I shouldn’t even have feelings for was startling.

At the white medic’s tent, I lifted the flap and let the others go in ahead of me.

Paisley was white as a ghost, tears in her eyes but a fierce determination to get to her youngest son keeping them from spilling over. They all ran to Creed’s side.

I ran to Abel’s.

I didn’t care that we were keeping things on the down-low.

All I cared about was making sure he was okay.

He was sitting on a stretcher with his shirt balled up and clutched in his fingers. His shoulders were rounded, his head hung, a reddish-purple bruise already forming on his ribs.

I gripped the sides of his face, tilting his head up so I could see his expression.

“Callie,” he murmured.

A lump, made mostly of terror, but also some relief, rose up my throat. “You didn’t have to show off like that,” I whispered. “I was already impressed.”

He chuckled, then winced, but slipped off the stretcher and shrugged his shirt back on, doing up the little buttons one by one.

“What are you doing? Get back on there.” I looked around the tent. I needed a nurse or medic, someone who could order him to lie down and rest.

“I’m fine.”

I gawked at him. “A bull just rammed you. You had zero body protection on. You are not fine. You might have internal bleeding. You need to go to the hospital.”

Abel shook his head. “I’ve had worse, I can assure you. Definitely no internal bleeding.”

“I would still prefer you go to the hospital and at least let them check…” a medic spoke up.

I jumped a mile. I hadn’t even seen the woman hovering there.

But Abel stubbornly shook his head. “Truly, I’m fine. Just get Creed to one.”

“He’s out cold again!”

The woman seemed reluctant to take Abel’s assurances, but at the call of the man working on Creed, she nodded curtly and rushed to the other side of the tent to lend a hand.

Abel and I could only watch on while the team rushed around Creed, getting him ready for transport, the wail of an ambulance siren growing louder with every passing second.

Lily cried openly, standing frozen to the spot with Henry’s arm around her shoulders. Paisley cried in Aiden’s arms.

Bowen wouldn’t be budged from Creed’s side.

Abel’s fingers found mine, interlacing and squeezing them tight.

Stacey glanced our way, her gaze dropping to our hands, but if she had an opinion on it, she didn’t say anything.

The ambulance arrived in a squeal of tires and sirens, and the medics met them at the tent opening with Creed still unconscious, his head bandaged and bloodied. Bowen climbed onto the ambulance with them, while the rest of the Barclay family rushed for Aiden’s Land Rover.

Lily spun around at the last moment. “The guests!”

Henry paused, halfway into the back seat of his brother’s car. “Shit, the bulls. Someone should stay to bring them back.”

“I’ve got it,” Abel and Deacon said at the same time.

They glanced at each other and nodded, a silent agreement to work together.

Satisfied, Henry put his sister into the car and followed. A second later, they disappeared down the dirt road in the wake of the ambulance.

Abel left my side and strode to Deacon, the two of them quickly falling into a discussion about how to get both Lily’s guests and all the animals home.

Stacey came to my side and put her arm around my shoulders. I fought the urge to turn into her and cry. This had been too much. I had seen plenty of wrecks in my time. My sister’s. My father’s. The cowboys my dad trained. There’d been falls and broken bones. But none of them had ever shaken me up as badly as this one.

“Abel needs to go to the hospital,” I said softly to Stacey. “He could be really hurt.”

She squeezed my shoulders. “Oh, sweetheart. Welcome to being a WAG of a bull rider.”

“A what?”

“Is that an Aussie saying? It stands for wives and girlfriends. It’s not for the fainthearted.”

My eyes went wide. “We’re not…Abel and I…I’m just…”

Stacey laughed softly. “You’re not totally in love with him?”

I twisted in her arms. “Did you seriously just say that?”

She winked at me. “Sweetie, I could see it the day of the muster. I wasn’t sure if it was two-sided back then, but the way he just held your hand, silently comforting you? Yeah, pretty clear he’s in love with you too.”

I opened and closed my mouth, because I couldn’t make words form. I hadn’t admitted any such feelings, even to myself, but if I were being honest, hadn’t there always been something more than just attraction between us? I think I’d fallen a little in love with Abel James the minute I laid eyes on him.

Stacey shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and studied the man in question as he talked with her husband. “If he tells you he’s fine, he’s probably hurt but not irreversibly so. He’s a big boy, Cal. He’s had a lifetime of experience with these sorts of injuries. He’d know if he needed to go to the hospital. Right now, if he’s anything like Deacon, just letting him help Bowen and Paisley in any way he can is what he needs. Let him work. But stay close by, because sometimes these guys are too stubborn for their own good.”

I stared up at the woman who I only got to see in person every other year or so, but who was as familiar to me as the rest of my parents’ friendship circle. She’d always been an honorary aunt, one of our favorites since she and Deacon had never had kids of their own. They’d put all that love and attention onto their friends’ children. They were the fun aunty and uncle, always up for mischief and adventure. They weren’t the sort of people who only called on your birthday. They were the people who called to ask how your exam went, or how a party was, or were you dating someone new and could they meet them? Distance didn’t matter. The love and attention had always been there.

Not only was she part of my family, she was apparently accepting of the fact I’d fallen for a man who was wholly unsuitable.

“I won’t nag him.” I linked my arm through hers and dragged her over to our men.

Our men.

Buck. Was I claiming Abel as mine, even if only in my head? This was so incredibly messy, and I already knew it would end in breaking my own damn heart when I left. But I felt powerless to stop it.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to anymore.

Deacon eyed me and Stacey. “Right, so we have a plan. Stace, can you go get Lily’s guests and drive them back to Bowen and Paisley’s place at the end of the rodeo? Take our car. I’ll help Abel get the bulls back on the truck. Cal, can you give us a hand with that?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Deacon clapped his hands together. “Great. These guys can drop me back at our place on their way home. If we all know what we’re doing, then let’s do it.”

We watched the last thirty minutes of the rodeo, but the excitement from early in the day had dulled. A lot of people had left the stands after Creed’s wreck, and the general vibe was lower than it had been. Cowboys still rode, but I think everybody was watching with bated breath, anxious because of what had happened to Creed.

After the final rider, Creed’s name still sat at the top of the leaderboard.

I hated he wasn’t even conscious to see it. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and took a photo of the final standings. “To show him later. When he’s awake, he’ll want to see it.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the bull riding. We unfortunately don’t have an update on Creed Barclay, but we sure do wish him a speedy recovery. We’ll hold on to his winner’s cheque and buckle until he’s well enough to accept it. I want to thank you all for coming out…”

I sighed and shot off a text to Lily.

Callie

Any news?

Lily

None. The doctors aren’t telling us anything.

I felt sick at her response, but there was nothing I could do except to be helpful to their family. In unison, Abel, Deacon, and I turned around, heading for the holding pens and the truck waiting to take the animals home.

With the bulls loaded, we drove in a slightly different direction than we’d come, with me squeezed between the two broad-shouldered men in the three-seater truck. We detoured to drop Deacon off at his and Stacey’s place, a cute cottage-style home set on acres but nowhere near as many as the Barclays had. When Abel pulled the truck to a stop, Deacon cracked open the door, pausing before he climbed out.

“Let me know if you hear anything, yeah?”

Abel nodded. “Same for you.”

Deacon leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Bye, sweetheart.” Then he glanced over at Abel and steeled him with a serious look. “You hurt her, mate, and you’ll answer to me.”

He slammed the door but walked backward to his house, a wide grin on his face at the shocked expressions both Abel and I wore. He gave a deep belly laugh, his amusement clear. “You don’t really think it was Stacey who first noticed this little crush thing you two have going on, do you? Pfft. Totally called it.”

Abel stuttered beside me, but I was slightly better prepared, since I’d already spoken with Stacey. “Does everyone know?” I called through the open window.

Deacon shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but you can bet if Stacey knows, she probably told her bestie.”

Abel went stiff beside me, and worry coursed through me as well.

I went to shuffle over into the seat Deacon had vacated, but Abel’s hand clamped down on my thigh. “Where are you going?” he demanded.

I stared down at his grip on my leg, then back up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “Nowhere.”

Satisfied with that answer, he put the truck into gear, and we rumbled out onto the highway once more.

His hand only left my thigh to change gears. Every other minute of the drive back to the cattle station, it stayed possessively on my leg.

It was almost eight by the time we arrived home. We were close enough to summer now that the sun was still low on the horizon, casting us in a stunning array of pinks, purples, oranges, and yellows.

It was picture-perfect and the sort of sunset that photographers surely dreamed of. “It’s so beautiful,” I whispered as we pulled up on a dirt path outside the yards.

“Yeah, it is.”

He wasn’t looking at the sunset. His gaze was fully focused on me.

My mouth dried. I wanted to launch myself at him, to kiss his mouth, his face, his chest. Something had changed between us today, and now it crackled in the air between us.

He swallowed thickly. “Let’s get these animals ready for bed. They’ve earned a nice meal and fresh hay.”

He was right. It didn’t matter what I was feeling in the moment. All that mattered right then was taking care of the bulls.

We worked until the sun dropped down beneath the horizon and darkness swallowed up the view. Then we worked some more, the yard lit by the truck’s headlights.

Dirt clung to me like a second skin. It mixed with the sweat rolling down my temples and the mud and shit that caked my boots.

Abel moved stiffly at first, but the more we worked, the more he loosened up. I caught him wince a few times, but by the time we let the last bull loose with a bucket full of feed, I was satisfied the man hadn’t lied when he claimed he didn’t need a hospital.

Exhaustion fueled by both the hard, physical work of the day, as well as the emotion of it, stole the energy from my muscles. We trudged back to the house, and I prayed with every step that Paisley, Bowen, Creed and everybody else would be sitting in the family room, talking and laughing about what a day it had been.

The room was empty.

The stony silence echoed around the house, and when I peered through the windows, there were no cars parked in their usual spots. In the distance, the glow of light came from the guest cabins, so I knew Stacey had to have dropped them off, but there was no sign of anyone else.

Abel leaned on the wall and scrolled through his phone. “They’re all staying at the hospital. Creed is in surgery.”

I spun around, clapping a hand over my mouth. “No!”

Abel’s mouth was pulled into a grim line. “It doesn’t sound good.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and then dropped his head back to stare up at the ceiling. His fingers clenched into a fist, and then he rammed it back against the door. “Fuck!”

The pain in that one word echoed everything I was feeling. But it had to be a hundred times worse for him. Protecting cowboys had been his job. Though he’d done his best today, it hadn’t been enough.

I walked slowly to him, but he refused to look down at me. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and I suspected he was fighting back tears.

I wouldn’t have thought any less of him if he’d let them loose. But I’d spent a lifetime around men like Abel, and none of them cried. Ever. So I just put my hand into his and gently tugged on it, leading him toward our bedrooms.

He followed with heavy footsteps that sounded of sadness.

The door to my bedroom was first along the hall, and I guided him inside, not bothering to shut the door since nobody else was here. I bypassed my bed and took him into the bathroom we shared. Without asking him what he wanted or needed, I turned the shower on, poking a hand underneath the water to check the temperature was warm before I turned back to him.

His ass was perched on the bathroom vanity, but his gaze focused on the floor, like he was too tired to even hold his head up. The events of the day were written in his posture. I’d always thought myself a selfish person. Hell, I’d been told that, more than once, and they hadn’t been wrong. I had sometimes cared more about myself and how things affected me than I did about other people.

But Abel…something about Abel made me forget how exhausted I was in that moment, and how I could have just crawled into bed and slept for a week. He made me forget my muscles ached and I was so sad I could cry.

He needed me more. He needed me to take some of his pain, and if there was any way I could do that, I knew in that instant that I would.

I stepped in close to him and undid the little clear buttons on his shirt. One by one they came apart, the fabric of his shirt falling open to reveal his tanned chest. I placed a kiss to the smattering of hair there, reveling in how warm he was beneath my lips.

The shirt dropped to the floor. He toed out of his boots, and I dragged his jeans down his legs. His underwear joined the rest of his clothes.

He was the most attractive man I’d ever laid eyes on, there was no doubt about that. Every inch of him looked to have been made especially for me, from the color of his eyes, to the shape of his shoulders, to the lines that ran either side of his hips, drawing my eye down to his cock, heavy and thick even when not erect.

“Get in,” I urged. “It’s hot. You need it.”

He didn’t argue. He let me lead him beneath the spray. The water rolled over his biceps and abs, running in little rivers over every muscled part of his body. He tipped his head back, letting the water drown him, and groaned.

“Get in here, Callie.”

I had planned on just taking care of him. Getting him clean, and checking on his injury, but I needed taking care of too. I was dirty, battered, and bruised as well, though most of my injuries were on the inside. And not all of them had occurred today.

I pulled off my boots, dropping them beside his, and marveling over how much bigger his were. My jeans followed, then my shirt, the soiled clothing kicked out of the way, so I had room to stand in front of him in just my bra and panties.

They weren’t sexy. They were functional, and boring, plain white cotton, but Abel’s gaze roamed all over me like I was a Christmas feast and he was a starving man. I reached behind my back and unsnapped my bra clip, letting the cups fall away. My panties disappeared a second later, and I stepped into the shower with him.

He immediately backed up, letting me have the warm water.

It was heaven and sin all wrapped up in one little bathroom. The water felt indecently good, running over my skin, washing away the dirt and grime, but the man standing in front of me just made me want to get dirty all over again.

I picked up a bar of soap that smelled like him and turned it over in my hands a few times, lathering it up before I touched it to his chest. Slowly I worked it over his wet body, exploring every ridge of muscle, every tattoo, every scar. He had a lot of all three, and so I took my time, my fingers tracing the path of the soap.

I gasped when I got to his side though. It was even worse than when I’d seen it in the medic tent.

Abel took the soap from my hand and tilted my chin so I was staring into his eyes. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Yeah, it’s probably worse.” Every instinct in me wanted to lean down and press my lips to the injury, like that somehow might make it better, except logic told me that only worked on toddlers.

He straightened, running the soap across my collarbones. “You worry too much.”

“Or maybe you don’t worry enough?”

He dragged the bar down my arms, leaving a trail of suds. “I worry, Callie. I worry all the fucking time. About you. And me. About the things I keep doing, even though I know I shouldn’t.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my neck. “About the things I know I’m going to do in the future, even though I shouldn’t.”

He dipped the soap between my breasts, then abandoned it to the holder on the bathroom wall. His hands found my breasts, still slippery with soap. He molded them, tweaking my nipples between his thumb and forefinger, until my eyes fluttered closed. Every second of his touch was perfect, each stroke of his fingers making me forget how tired and sad I’d been. It was all still there, waiting for us on the other side of our bedroom doors, but in here, the rest of the world fell away, and all that mattered was the way he touched me.

His hands skated lower toward my belly, and I twisted, reaching between us for his cock so his hands were forced wide onto my hips. They dug in there, holding on while I stroked my hand up and down his length.

“Does the soap hurt?” I asked.

He shook his head, eyes closing as he thrust into my hand. “Not at all.”

After a few strokes, he pulled away, stretching to grab the detachable showerhead. With it gripped in his hands, he washed the soap from my body, moving the hose slowly, focusing the spray on first my nipples before lowering it to pulse over my mound. I reached out for the shower wall to steady me, because it felt so good.

He angled the spray so it hit me just right, but all too quickly, he reached over and shut off the water.

My eyes fluttered open. “I was enjoying that.”

“I know.” He stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist, which I immediately wanted to rip straight back off him. He took a second towel, but instead of passing it to me, he dried me, gently and carefully, the soft scratch of the towel only heightening the need inside me he’d created with the showerhead. When I was dry, he cocked his head at me. “Arms up.”

I did as he said, letting him tuck the towel beneath my arms so all my intimate areas were covered. A thick disappointment, followed by a horny desperation, clouded me. “This where you send me back to my bedroom and tell me to lock the door?”

“Is that what you want?”

“Not unless you’re coming with me.”

He leaned in, lips brushing mine. “I very much intend to come with you, Callie.”

His fingers linked with mine, and he led me into my bedroom, standing me in front of my bed to circle his arms around me. He lowered his head and kissed me softly, his lips warm against mine, but quickly opening so his tongue could seek entrance. He licked at my mouth, and I met him in the middle, needing to be close to him.

His fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck, pulling slightly but holding me in place while he took what we both needed. With his tongue in my mouth, he pushed me down, so I was sitting on the edge of the bed. He dropped to his knees, pushing my legs wide to accommodate him.

“Lie back.”

I dropped onto my bed and reveled in the feel of his kisses on my thighs. My towel inched up beneath his fingers, until my core was exposed to him.

“You do my head in,” he whispered, tongue flicking out to touch my clit. “I’m never going to get enough of going down on you.”

His tongue drove between my folds, and I cried out as he spread me for his taking. There was nothing I could do except lie back and bask in the touch of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. He swirled his tongue from my clit to my opening, taking his time, tasting and playing with me until my hips rocked against his face. His arms curled around my thighs, holding me in place while I writhed.

“Abel,” I moaned, thrilled I could say his name like that, loud and needy, without the chance of anyone finding us.

“Not yet.”

He put two fingers up inside me, hooking them to find my G-spot, and I groaned in ecstasy at the gush of arousal it brought on. It coated the insides of my thighs, each lick of my clit, each plunge of his fingers taking me closer and closer to orgasm.

He dragged my towel off me, and I was too busy chasing down my orgasm, it didn’t occur to me to try to hide my little baby bump from him.

Not until he pressed a kiss to it.

I gasped and pushed his head away, struggling to sit up.

He jerked, rearing back to look at me. “What did I do? Did I hurt you?”

I shook my head, hating the look of panic in his eyes. I pulled him back on top of me. “Oh my God, no. I’m sorry. I’m just…I don’t know.” Then I decided to just be honest. At least, partially honest. Because the complete truth would have the man running for the hills. “I’m just self-conscious about my belly.”

Abel frowned, staring down between us. “What the fuck for?” His hand came between us, tickling over the small swell. “Every inch of you is perfect, Callie. Your belly included.”

There was so much sincerity in his words. It was a stark difference to the way I’d felt naked with Jeremy. He’d never made me feel like my every lump and bump and curve was beautiful. But the sincerity in Abel’s gaze told me everything I needed to know about the man.

When he said every inch of me was perfect, he meant it.

His mouth quirked up in a smile. “Can I go back to making you come now, please? No more hiding from me.”

I nodded, and he picked right back up where he’d left off, kissing a trail over my belly and up to my breasts. I was grateful he didn’t linger on my stomach. To me, it was an obvious baby bump now, but how many early baby bumps would Abel have seen this up close and personal? I knew he hadn’t had any kids with his ex, and he’d been married to her for a lifetime. He probably had no idea that the gentle curve of my belly now was any different than my usual. By the time I was big enough for it to be a no-brainer, I’d be gone.

The thought left me cold, but Abel’s hot mouth chased away the impending feeling of doom and replaced it with desire once more.

He hovered over me, keeping his weight in his forearms and knees. He lowered his head to my mouth, claiming it as his own. “Tell me to stop.”

I widened my legs around him, hooking my ankles behind his back and drawing his cock down to meet my entrance. I reached into my top drawer, recently stocked with condoms, and ripped one open. I fit it to his cock by rolling it down his length. He groaned, not with annoyance that I was insisting on protection, but because he was so bucking hard and I was touching him. He trembled, head to toe, holding himself back.

“Fuck, Callie. Tell me to stop.”

I breathed out one word. “No.”

He pushed inside me, deep and unforgiving, getting himself exactly where I needed him.

“Oh!” There was no holding the noise back. It was loud and proud, forced from my lips by his talent in pleasing a woman. “Oh God, more. Don’t stop.”

He drew back slowly, only to dive inside again.

It was a torturous pleasure, my insides singing his praises, already so close to orgasm from the way he’d taken his time in warming me up. He pulled out, and thrust in, each stroke giving me more of what I needed, more of what I begged for.

His arms shook with the strain of holding himself back. I kissed his neck, his face, any part of him I could get my lips to. I scratched my nails down his back and dug my fingers into the hard muscled globes of his ass, dragging him back to me every time he pulled out.

His hips met mine with mind-blowing thumps that had me jostling up the bed. He made me realize why a woman might not care about hitting the headboard. Every slam of Abel’s hips had me not caring about anything other than him and me and coming.

He took me for what felt like hours, stopping when it got too much and replacing his dick with his tongue, only to get needy a few minutes later and bury his cock inside me once more. I found the edge of orgasm over and over, but each time he switched things up, drawing it out, until I was a whimpering, aching mess beneath him, begging for him to end it.

He fucked me slow, fast, and all the speeds in between.

“Abel!” I screamed in agonized frustration and need. “Please!”

I moved my hand between us and rubbed my clit, fast and hard, needing the release more than I needed air. I held him in place with my other hand, refusing to let him go, my hips rising and grinding against his as he blew my mind in a thousand ways.

“Come for me, Callie,” he whispered in my ear.

I fell straight over the edge, like my body had just been waiting for his permission. I gasped at the explosion of ecstasy, coming hard around his cock, squeezing and pulsing while he kept up the exact right pace. He didn’t jackhammer me into the bed, like certain other people had once had a habit of doing. His hips rolled, and his timing had all the skill and determination I’d had no idea I’d been missing.

He came with a groan that was music to my ears and the beat in my heart. It was low and guttural, deeply sexy and passionate. I instantly wanted to do it all again, just so I could feel that grumble through his chest.

I came again, surprised at what he’d been able to get from my body. But not surprised that it was even more intense than the first one.

He sucked on the sensitive spot behind my ear, whispering low promises that two orgasms was the minimum I could expect from him, each and every time we were together. “You’ll always come first, and you’ll always come last.”

It was a promise he made without bravado. If another man had said that to me, I would have silently rolled my eyes. But I had proof that Abel meant what he said and had the skills to back it up.

My orgasm raced through every cell, sending me into convulsions of pleasure. They echoed through me for what felt like hours, and he worked me through each one, drawing it out with gentle touches and soft kisses that I didn’t think I could handle, until he proved time and time again that I could.

Every time I thought we were finished, he reached for me again, or I reached for him.

In the quiet darkness, in a household shrouded by sadness, we were the light.

We were perfect.

We were everything.

25

CALLIE

Weeks passed in a blurry daze. The days grew unbearably warm as we rolled into November, and Abel and I spent many a long afternoon sneaking off to the water hole, after the day’s chores were complete. We were often alone once the hired hands finished for the day.

Creed was still in the hospital, in an induced coma to allow the swelling in his brain time to settle. Between the five of them, the rest of the Barclay family had made sure he was never alone, not even for a minute. They all took turns sleeping at the hospital, a portable cot set up next to his bed, so they could be with him round the clock.

Paisley and Bowen rarely came home, and when they did, they were like zombies, pale and exhausted.

It was heartbreaking to watch and left the entire cattle station feeling helpless and living in limbo, just waiting for the day where they would reduce Creed’s sedation and see how much permanent damage he’d suffered.

Yet at the same time, even beneath that black cloud, I was the happiest I’d ever been. It was wrong and so incredibly right all at once.

“What are you smiling at?” Abel came up behind me and put his arm loosely around my neck, drawing me into him so my back hit his chest. He kissed my cheek sweetly.

I stood in front of my full-length mirror, watching him in the reflection.

He smiled back at me, his full, megawatt grin that lit up his eyes. It was a smile I’d never seen him flash at anyone else. My heart squeezed with how much I loved the man.

I hadn’t told him that.

He hadn’t said it either.

But buck, I felt it. In every kiss. In every touch. I knew why neither of us were voicing it, but it was there anyway.

That was enough.

“I’m just excited to introduce you to my family today.” I twisted in my free-flowing summer dress, letting it spin out around me. I reached up onto my toes and brushed my lips over his, careful not to let my bump touch him.

I was getting too big for him to not notice, and I’d taken great steps to keep it from him, and from the rest of the household. All of my tight, formfitting clothes had been replaced by loose, flowing, and elastic-waisted outfits. When we had sex, I either kept my clothes on, turned out the lights, or let him take me from behind.

“So this is your grandparents on your mom’s side, right?”

“Her biological parents, yep. She didn’t grow up with them, but her grandparents came back into her life before I was born, and we’ve kept in contact ever since.”

I threaded my fingers through his and led him out to the car he’d bought two weeks prior. With how remote the ranch was, he needed it to get around, but it was a constant reminder that his life was here now, and mine wasn’t. I brushed it aside, not wanting to ruin what would hopefully be a nice day.

I got into the passenger seat, putting my oversized purse on my lap, while Abel got in beside me.

He got us on the road to town, and I snuck a look at my pregnancy tracker app while he was distracted by driving.

Like she knew I was thinking about her, the baby gave a few solid kicks and spins. I gazed out the window, fighting back the urge to rub my belly. I was fourteen weeks away from delivery, and only two weeks from leaving to go back to the States for the holidays.

I’d already pushed my trip back as far as I could. Any further and I’d have to stay in Australia to have the baby.

I couldn’t do that.

I’d promised my family I’d be home. But it wasn’t just about them. It was about me too. I needed to ask Summer and Dom about adopting her. I was ninety-nine-percent sure it was the right decision. It was the one that would break my heart, that I knew, but my heart wasn’t the one that mattered. All that mattered was the little girl inside me getting the very best parents she could have.

Abel cleared his throat as we neared my grandparents’ address. “So, how are we playing this?”

I glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”

He lifted one shoulder stiffly. “I don’t know how to act with you when we go in there. Or how I should introduce myself. Am I your boyfriend? Your friend? Some guy your dad knows?”

We both cringed at that last one. It was kind of an unspoken rule between us that we didn’t discuss my dad.

“What do you want to be introduced as?” The question was asked with bated breath, because I knew how I wanted him to answer.

He reached across the gearshift and put his hand to the back of my neck, squeezing gently. “I want them to know I’m your man, Cal. I want everyone to know. I’m so sick of hiding how I feel about you.”

I swallowed thickly, tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. “I want that too,” I admitted.

He let out a slow breath of relief. Then it turned into a laugh. His thumb stroked up and down the nape of my neck. “Well, fuck. I guess we’re doing this? We’re coming out?”

My laughter matched his. It was giddy and happy. A sound I wasn’t used to making but really enjoyed. “I’ve got to go back in a couple of weeks.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I want you, Callie. We’ll do the long-distance thing until after the holidays, and I finish up the things Bowen needs me to get done. Then we’ll work it out. I’ll come home. Or you’ll…”

“Come back,” I whispered. The baby would be born in February. Once I’d recovered with my family, leaving Summer and Dom and the baby together might be the kindest thing I could do for everyone involved. Assuming they agreed to take the baby, that was. It would give them time to bond and become a family, without me in the way.

My stomach twisted into knots at the thought of being so far away from her, but I forced a smile for Abel. “We’ll work it out.”

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, drumming along to the beat on the radio. It was a happy noise, and as carefree as I’d ever seen him. “So I guess this is a trial run? We test the waters with your grandparents and then we’ll go from there?”

A thrill shot through me, and I nodded.

But I was all too aware that I hadn’t told him the full truth. He still didn’t know I was pregnant.

I just didn’t want this happy little bubble to end. He was so good. So put together. So responsible.

I was downright terrified he might realize I was actually none of those things.

I was a different person in Australia. I’d never quite felt like an adult until I’d come here. Never quite felt like a grown-ass woman who could handle her own shit.

Maybe I still wasn’t quite there. But I had a plan on how to achieve it. I was putting other people first, doing what was best for them, instead of what was best for myself.

I wanted to be a woman he could love and respect. I wanted to feel that way about myself too. I could see her in the distance, with one huge hurdle to overcome first.

“A trial run,” I confirmed. I pointed through the windshield. “That starts now, because that’s their house.”

We hadn’t even turned the car off before my grandmother and cousins came barreling out the front door in a tumble of arms and legs. I threw the door open at my grandmother’s approach and let her drag me from the car. She held me at arm’s length, looking me up and down like she couldn’t quite believe I was standing right in front of her, and not a million miles away on the other side of the planet.

“Callie, bub. Well, shit, little girl. Who let you grow up and become this beautiful woman without my permission?”

It had been years since I’d seen her in person. I might have changed in that time, but she hadn’t. She was shorter than me by a couple of inches and built more like my sister, with ample hips and warm curves.

She pulled me in tight, crushing me against her soft chest. “Good to have you home.”

I reveled in the word. Something about Australia had felt like home, ever since I’d gotten off the plane. I liked who I was here.

She eventually let me go, and I was swallowed up by a host of grown-up cousins, who had all come over for the day.

“Who’s the bloke, cuz?” Dia asked in my ear. “He’s staring at you like if we hug you too long, he might come over here, sweep you up into his arms, and never let you go.”

I smiled at my closest cousin’s assessment of us. I maneuvered through the group and over to Abel, who was lingering at the back of the pack. Indeed, he watched me carefully, his expression one of pride and happiness.

I had to swallow hard to stop my eyes welling up. I’d never brought a man home to meet my family. Jeremy had never wanted to. Now I knew why.

He’d never once felt what Abel felt.

I linked my fingers through his. “Everyone. This is Abel. My…”

“Boyfriend,” he supplied.

I winked at him. “Say it again.”

He laughed and shook his head at my silliness and was then stolen from my lovesick looks by hugs and handshakes and introductions all around.

My relatives herded us to the backyard, everybody talking all at once, both to me and to Abel, peppering us with questions and trying to catch up since the last time we’d seen each other. I salivated over the smells wafting from several big pots, and Nan lifted the lid on one, waving the delicious scent in my direction.

“Stew with dough boys. Your favorite, right?”

“You remembered?” I turned to Abel. “She’s famous for these. Makes them for every family gathering, no matter what time of year. I dream about them between visits.”

Nan beamed at my compliments. I meant every word. The baby gave a happy little kick, like she was anticipating the feed.

“They smell amazing,” Abel said politely.

Nan clapped her hands together. “Don’t just stand there. Eat!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I was starving. It was a permanent state of being lately. I passed Abel a plate, and we served ourselves large helpings of stew, along with salads and sweets. Nothing should have gone together. It was as potluck as they came, but every mouthful was delicious. I shoveled the food down, while Nan nodded approvingly.

The hours rolled on, and beers were offered around. I took one to avoid suspicion but abandoned it when I went to the bathroom for the third time since we’d arrived. But every time I came back and settled into my seat, another of my cousins had cornered Abel and was chatting his ear off.

He smiled and chatted back, asking intelligent, thoughtful questions about what I was like as a kid and how each member of the family was related.

Every time he opened his mouth, I fell in love with him a little more.

I realized what I’d been missing by keeping our relationship a secret.

I wanted this. I wanted to tell my family about us. I wanted them to accept him, the way my extended family had. I wanted birthday parties and Sunday dinners and him by my side, always having my back when I needed him most.

Nan sat down heavily beside me. “He’s a nice boy.” She nodded in Abel’s direction.

“He is.”

“Your mum didn’t tell me about him.”

She was hurt by that, I could see. I put my arm around her shoulders. “Mum doesn’t know yet. Abel and I…we’re new. And it’s complicated.”

She patted my knee. “It always is, bub. But the good ones are worth fighting for.”

“He’s a good one,” I promised her.

“So are you. I won’t say anything to your mother. That needs to come from your mouth.”

“Thank you. I’ve been so worried about saying something, because he’s…”

“Older?”

I nodded. “He was dad’s friend before he was mine.”

She let out a low whistle. “Complicated indeed. Your daddy won’t like that much, I don’t think. But what’s your alternative?”

I wasn’t sure there was one. I couldn’t give Abel up.

My phone beeped in my purse, vibrating through my leg. Across the yard, Abel’s phone also beeped.

Our gazes met, and we both pulled out our phones.

Paisley: Creed is awake!

I jumped up from my seat. Abel was already out of his.

I turned to my grandmother. “I’m sorry. We need to leave. We’ve just had some news.”

She waved me off. “We’ve had hours of your time, bub. You go. Come see us again before you leave, okay? Need to get one last squeeze in.”

I leaned down and hugged the older woman tight. “Thank you. For dinner and for accepting him.”

“Any man who looks at my granddaughter the way that man looks at you is welcome at my table.”

Abel flushed pink at her overheard compliment, and she chuckled at him.

“I meant it. I hope to see you again soon, son.”

I hoped she would too. It was all too easy to get lost in daydreams where I came back here, and we had a life together. And in every one, a little brown-eyed girl who called me Mommy, reached her chubby hands toward a man who wasn’t her father but still treated her like his own.

26

CALLIE

We got home in record time to find everyone’s cars parked in front of the house, every light on, and laughter spilling out onto the porch. Abel grabbed my hand and dragged me up the steps, throwing open the door and letting us in.

“Callie! Abel!”

We were pulled in opposite directions by the Barclays, each one of them wearing grins that stretched ear to ear.

The vibe was electric, a complete party atmosphere fueled by relief and happiness.

I held Lily longer than any hug really needed to be, both of us rocking side to side while we laughed and cried.

“He’s good?” I asked, clutching her tight.

She laughed. “His first question was did he win.”

I burst into laughter and patted the pocket of my dress. “Did you tell him I had the photo to prove it?”

She nodded. “He wants you to send it to him.”

I couldn’t stop smiling. “I can do that.”

“Do it. He might not see it straight away. The doctors confiscated his phone until he’s had time to rest, but knowing Creed, he’ll find a pretty nurse to sweet talk and convince her to get it for him.”

Lily was completely giddy.

I couldn’t have been happier for their family. “He’s really okay?”

She sobered a little. “It’ll still be a while before he’s back to normal. There’ll be some therapies. And I don’t know that Dad will ever let him near a bull again, but yes. They’ve run a bunch of tests, and nothing looks to be irreversible. He’s really okay.”

She floated off, and Henry grabbed her by the hand, spinning her in a circle before hugging her again.

Paisley weaved her way through the rest of her family and took my hand. “Hey, sweetheart.”

“This is the best day,” I grinned at her. “I’m so relived.”

She led me to the edge of the room, and we sat together on the couch, watching the rest of her family celebrate. They were loud and boisterous, and somebody turned a speaker on. A moment later, Luke Combs’s husky voice filled the room.

“I’m so thankful,” Paisley said quietly, smiling at her husband when he glanced our way. “But I know I haven’t done right by you the last few weeks. You and Abel…you’ve been on your own running this place. I’m sorry for that. It was just too much, worrying about Creed, worrying about this place…”

I shook my head, frowning at her. “Don’t be silly. It was the least we could do. I felt so helpless that I couldn’t help Creed. I would have gone crazy without picking up the extra chores around here.”

She nodded, but her gaze flickered over my face uncertainly. “We appreciate it, but…”

I cocked my head in her direction, sensing there was more she wanted to say but was holding back. Worry settled over me. “Are you upset with me? If I did something wrong…”

Paisley grabbed my hand. “Oh, sweetie. No. I just saw you come in holding Abel’s hand. I haven’t been paying enough attention, with other things on my mind. But that’s… that’s a thing?”

Abel and I had agreed we were telling people. Things had gone so well with my grandparents, and everybody here was already so happy, now seemed like the ideal time to admit what she already knew. “It’s a thing. We’re together. Officially.”

After how easily my grandmother and cousins had accepted Abel, Paisley’s lips pulling together in a grim line was a shock to my system.

My heart skipped a beat, and the warmth seeped out of my heart as it deflated. “You don’t like it.” It was a statement more than a question.

Paisley shook her head quickly. “Oh, honey. It’s not that. You’re both grown adults, and it’s very isolated out here. I can’t blame the two of you for wanting to have a little fun.”

Fun.

That wasn’t how I saw my relationship with Abel. Yes, the sex was amazing, but it was more than just a good time.

I fiddled with the fabric of my dress, scrunching it with my fingers. “I don’t want to make it awkward for you. We’re going to tell my parents, so you don’t have to keep any more of my secrets.”

Paisley’s gaze strayed to my belly, neatly concealed by an overabundance of brightly flowered material. She smiled and then squeezed my fingers. “Are you sure you want to?”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

She lifted one shoulder. “Like I said, the two of you are grown adults, and I know Abel well enough to know that he’s not taking advantage of you. You seem safe and happy to me, and as long as that continues, if the two of you want to hang out together, then I don’t see a problem. But, Cal, your dad…”

My stomach twisted in knots. “You just said you and Bowen would accept us though…”

She glanced at Bowen who was deep in conversation with Abel. They glanced my way every so often, so I suspected they were talking about us as well. The sick feeling in my stomach grew.

“We will. We do. But I don’t know that Bowen would be quite so accepting if it were Lily. I suspect your dad might feel the same.”

I wanted to argue and defend my father, saying he would be more open-minded than that. But wasn’t that exactly why I hadn’t told him already? This thing with Abel was so good. I didn’t want my father’s disapproval to change Abel’s mind about being with me.

It was the same reason I hadn’t told him about the baby. Jeremy’s complete rejection was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t handle another man looking at me like that.

Paisley tucked an arm around my shoulders and plastered a wide smile on her lips. “It’s up to you, of course, but I just wonder if there’s any point to upsetting them over a holiday fling? You’re getting on a plane at the end of next week anyway. After that, your life is going to be very different.”

The twisting in my stomach turned into a clench that was physically painful.

Paisley took the expression on my face the wrong way though. “In a good way, I mean! You just wait, Cal. Once you see that little baby, nothing else in the world will matter.”

I nodded stiffly, not knowing how to tell her that it wasn’t going to be me who got to love her. Not as her mother anyway.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” I told Paisley, avoiding the questions in her eyes.

She stood with me and put her arms around me. “I hope I haven’t spoken out of turn.”

I shook my head quickly. “No. I understand where you’re coming from.” She’d only been watching out for me and echoing my own fears. The ones I’d brushed aside because I was giddy on an Abel high and probably not thinking straight.

Avoiding his gaze, I slipped away from the party and went back to my room, closing the door with a quiet snick. I perched on the edge of my bed, my head a jumble of opposing opinions that left me in complete confusion.

A soft knock came at the door. “Callie?”

I dropped my head into my hands at Abel’s deep, warm voice from the hallway. I didn’t answer.

He apparently took my silence as an invite, and the door opened, his head poking around it. He took one glance at my defeated posture, and his tone changed. “What the fuck?”

He slipped in, locking the door behind him. His long legs ate up the space between us in two long strides. He sank down onto the carpet in front of me and wrapped his fingers around my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Talk to me.”

I lifted my head. “I’m fine. Just confused.”

A look of understanding dawned on his handsome face. “Paisley said something to you.”

“She did, but it was nothing I didn’t already have in the back of my mind.”

“Which is?”

I stared at him. “You’re my dad’s friend, Abel. There’s more than a decade between us.”

His gaze hardened. I realized I was just waiting for him to agree that we’d lost our minds this morning, and that coming out as a couple would go down as well as a ton of bricks.

I prepared myself for it, flinching a little, preempting how much his words were going to hurt. I needed to make it easier on us both by not reacting. Not until he’d left me anyway. Then I’d curl into a ball and cry the tears pricking at the backs of my eyes.

“Fuck. That.”

My head snapped up. “What?”

He took my chin between his fingers. “I said, fuck that. We’re telling your parents, Callie. We’re telling everyone. I don’t know what Paisley said to you tonight, but maybe it was something along the lines of what Bowen said to me. That this is a fling, and why upset Kai when it’s ending soon anyway.”

“Paisley’s speech was much the same.”

“I told Bowen that I appreciated his concern but I was done hiding you.” He brushed my hair away from my face tenderly. “I told him I was done pretending I’m not stupidly, wholeheartedly, and completely in love with you.”

I froze. My mouth dropped open. Then closed, then I think I tried to form words, but they came out something like when Creed tried to talk around a mouthful of bacon and eggs.

Then goddammit, a sob took its place. It welled right up my throat and out my mouth before I could even stop it.

Other than my father, I’d never heard a man tell me he loved me. I’d never had one even pretend to care about me. And somehow, it was Abel. A man I never should have been attracted to. A man who I never should have clicked with. One who made no sense on paper but who had somehow become someone I didn’t know how to quit.

“I love you too,” I whispered back. “I’m so desperately in love with you. I think I have been since the day we met.”

The worry in his expression smoothed out, and his fingers slipped up to cup my face. His thumbs wiped away my tears. “They break my heart. I’m not the man who makes you cry, Callie. Your dad is a good guy. He’ll get used to it when he realizes I’d do anything for you.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll love you twice as hard to make up for it.” He kissed my lips softly. “But he will.”

“Kiss me again.”

“Tell me you love me again.”

I blinked back tears. “I love you so much.”

His kiss cemented the statement. It was slow and soft. A gentle caress of his tongue against mine. His hands never left my cheeks, drawing me closer until I wrapped my arms around him.

“I love you,” he whispered, mouth trailing down my neck. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Have I told you that?”

I laughed. “At least a dozen times.”

He smiled against my skin. “Today?”

I grabbed his face and kissed him back. “Every day.”

Our tongues plunged together once more, the kiss deepening as need grew between us. With nimble fingers, he pulled the halter string on my dress. It fell to expose my breasts, the top of the dress gathering over my bump, which was a relief because the lights were still on.

“Can we turn the lights off?” I asked.

But he silenced my question with his mouth, taking two handfuls of my breasts and squeezing the nipples between his thumb and forefingers. My breasts were so sensitive, it sent ripples of pleasure right through my body, each one culminating deep between my legs.

His head lowered, mouth fitting over my nipple to draw it into his mouth. He bit me gently, soothing away the sting with the flat, warm, wet planes of his tongue.

My fingers stroked through the back of his hair. It was on the shaggy side now, after months without a haircut, and I liked it on him. It gave me something to hold on to.

“I want you so bad,” he whispered.

I did too. I was already so turned on from his kisses and the way he sucked my nipples. I knew I was more than ready to have him take me.

I pushed him back and stood, reaching around him to switch off the lights, plunging the room into darkness. Reaching beneath the long length of my dress, I took off my panties and then rucked it up around my middle and crawled onto the bed on all fours. “From behind,” I said to him quietly. “Please.”

He groped around in the darkness, his hand finding the backs of my bare thighs. They smoothed up and down my skin, warming me beneath his touch.

We’d had sex like this a lot, but normally at the end of a long, drawn-out foreplay marathon.

Abel didn’t disappoint tonight either.

He spread me in the darkness, and I waited for his fingers or his cock to nudge my entrance.

I gasped when it was his tongue.

He pressed his face between my thighs and licked right through my center, from clit to opening.

I dropped down onto my elbows and buried my face in the pillow to smother my moan of pleasure.

He gripped my hips, keeping them up in the air. With his stubble scratching the inside of my thighs, he went down on me like that until my legs trembled. Arousal bloomed at my core, soaking me with a new need for him and a burning ache to be filled.

But Abel was never one to rush. He played me like he had all the time in the world and loved every second of it. He tortured me with his tongue until I was rocking back on my knees, grinding against him, straining for all the things he wouldn’t let me have until I came.

He’d made good on his promise that I would always come first. And last.

He gave me two fingers to ride, and I moaned loudly into the pillow. Three or four thrusts, combined with his ridiculously talented tongue, sent me flying over the edge.

It had probably been less than ten minutes since he’d walked into the room, but that was the effect he had on me. He’d learned my body, and he’d learned it well. Now I reaped the benefits of him being able to get me off quicker than I could do it myself.

His zipper lowering had me quivering in anticipation of his cock. He was always safe, and the crinkle of the condom wrapper wasn’t unexpected.

I longed to have him bare inside me. To feel him with nothing between us. I reached back and covered his hand. “I’ve been tested.” I had the results on my phone to prove it. The little doctor in Erraville had sent them over weeks ago, giving me a clean bill of health and a letter to take back to my doctor in the U.S. next week. “And… I can’t get pregnant.”

It was the truth. I couldn’t get pregnant. Again.

I needed to tell him. Not in the heat of the moment, but tonight. I’d been avoiding his affection for the last two weeks, offering to scratch his back while we drifted off to sleep instead of letting him hold me.

But if we were telling my family that we were a couple, he needed to know everything.

I couldn’t keep hiding. I needed all my secrets laid out on the table.

“I haven’t been with anyone since I found my ex-wife was cheating. I got tested then, since she hadn’t done me the courtesy of being honest.”

There was complete disgust in his voice as he spat out the word ‘honest,’ like it was offensive to him.

I swallowed, mild panic rising in my chest. I didn’t want to be another woman who’d lied to him. Yet I already was. Guilt swamped me so thick and fast. I’d already planned to tell him tonight. I couldn’t accept his I love yous and say it back, and then not tell him this huge, life-altering thing.

But his words made me realize that I couldn’t even wait until we were finished. I needed to tell him now.

He squeezed the cheeks of my ass, his dick thick and heavy between my legs, nudging at my opening, lubing himself up in my arousal.

It was so good. His dick hit my clit in just the right way, until I was panting with need.

He pressed inside me, and all words but “Abel!” flew right out of my head.

He sank all the way in, my body stretching easily to accommodate how big he was. His fingers dug into my hips, getting tangled in the copious amounts of fabric bunched up around my middle. “Take this off.” He pushed at the dress.

But I reached behind me, grabbing his thigh to keep him thrusting into me. “Later.”

He pumped in and out, warm and wet, the sounds between us all pleasure and need. “Need my woman naked, Callie. Need to touch every inch of you.”

His lubed-up thumb pressed to my back entrance.

I gasped at how good it felt.

“You like that?” His voice was deep gravel and so bucking sexy.

“I’ve never… But yes, oh God, yes.”

He lifted my skirt more, working my ass with his thumb, not penetrating me but simply driving me wild. “I won’t do anything you don’t want. This is enough.”

It was. It was enough that combined with his cock buried in my pussy, I was in ecstasy.

“Reach between your thighs and rub your clit.”

I shifted, doing as I was told because I throbbed, aching to be touched there. Even more so now because he’d told me to do it and something about that was so incredibly sexy. My dress hung around my middle, bunching in long pools of material, and I got tangled all up in it as I groped for my clit.

Frustrated, I yanked my dress up, my belly exposed but still safe in the dark.

Abel pulled my dress the rest of the way over my head so there was nothing between us. No clothes. No condom.

Just him and me, and a second orgasm that I needed so badly it was like my body had completely forgotten I’d only come a few minutes earlier.

It didn’t matter. With the new way he touched me, I was ready to come all over again.

“Need to feel you come on me,” he groaned. “Fuck, you have no idea how good you feel.”

I did, because he felt better, I was sure of it. He slammed inside me, his cock at the perfect angle, his finger on my ass a mind-blowing addition to his repertoire. My pussy wept for him, gushing arousal at his every movement, convulsing in pleasure at the way he ground against me.

He knew all my trigger points. I knew his. I arched my back, taking him deep, and so damn needy for him to come that I voiced it. “Want you to come inside me,” I whispered. “Buck. I need it. Abel.”

“Fuck, me too.”

His hips drew back one last time, then drove home, sending us both over the edge. He muffled his shout with something, while I buried my face in the crook of my arm and convulsed around him.

He was so perfect. He never stopped touching me, even when I collapsed down onto the bed. My orgasm raged on, two turning into three as he fit himself behind me, drew one of my legs up and back to rest on his thigh, opening me up so he could play with my clit.

I lost myself in a world of explosive feeling, all concentrated on me and him and sex I couldn’t imagine ever having with another man. Sex and connection so good it couldn’t possibly exist outside the two of us.

Sex that made me feel like the two of us had been made for each other. And love that cemented it.

The baby gave a sharp kick to my lower belly.

Abel froze.

Suddenly, in a rush, my happy little bubble burst.

The room flooded with light from the bedside lamp, and Abel sat bolt upright, staring down at me.

Fear froze me to the spot.

He said nothing.

But there was no denying it any longer. He’d felt that kick. Now he knew exactly what I’d been hiding.

And that I was a liar.

“You’re pregnant?”

I sat up slowly, his cum still wet between my thighs, and pulled a blanket around me. I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. It was clear I was.

“Is it mine?” He swore softly. “No. It’s obviously not.” He turned eyes full of pain on me. “How long have you known?”

I reached for him, but he moved away, getting off the mattress to stand.

I dropped my hand to my side uselessly. “Since before I met you.”

His eyes widened. “You didn’t…I never noticed. Fuck, how could I have not noticed?” He paced a few steps and then suddenly realized he was still naked. He grabbed his shorts from the floor and yanked them on.

He was so far away from me his back hit the wall. He looked like he wished he could walk straight through it. “I’m an idiot.”

My heart broke, and I shook my head. “You’re not. I am. I hid it from you.”

“We’ve been having sex for weeks, Callie!”

He was so loud, I cringed, sure the rest of the house had to have heard. He must have come to the same realization, because he lowered his voice. “I’ve seen you naked dozens of times…”

But he hadn’t. Not for a long time. He’d seen me topless. He’d explored every inch of my pussy. We’d been naked together out in the swimming hole where the water hid my growing bump, or in the darkness of our bedrooms.

The last time he’d seen my belly properly was when my bump could be explained with a large meal.

He came to that conclusion himself and swore low under his breath. “I’ve seen every inch of you, except your stomach. Not lately, anyway.”

I nodded, blinking back the tears in my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He held up a hand. “Don’t. Don’t say that. You sound like my ex.”

I scrambled off the bed but stopped short of touching him when he took a step toward the door. “I am though. I’m so sorry.”

He swallowed so thickly his throat bobbed. “That’s what she said, too.” He shook his head, his pain written all over his face. “But it didn’t mean anything then, and it doesn’t mean anything now. We made plans. Together. Fuck, I was going to blow my entire life up for you, Callie! I was going to walk right up to your father and admit I was in love with you. And for what? For a woman having some holiday fling before she goes home to her real man and shacks up with him? Does he even know what you’re doing with me while you’re pregnant with his kid?”

His words were a slap in the face that stung harder than any physical blow could have. I couldn’t even defend myself. The words wouldn’t come without tears and self-loathing slipping in. His scathing anger reopened every old wound his love and attention had mended. But it was the look on his face, the one that screamed of betrayal, that really left me gasping for breath.

He shook his head. “I can’t do this again. I’m done. I’m so fucking done.”

He turned and walked away, leaving my room.

I let him go, knowing I didn’t deserve his forgiveness.

I’d known this wouldn’t last. But for a minute, when I’d been swept up in it, I’d hoped I was wrong.

On autopilot, I got dressed. For the longest time, I just stared at the door he’d disappeared through, praying he’d come back.

He didn’t. I was foolish for even hoping. I’d done that with Jeremy too. Hoped for weeks he’d change his mind. He hadn’t, and neither would Abel.

I pulled my suitcase from the top of the closet and slowly put clothes inside it. My fingers trembled with every garment moved from a drawer or hanger, and silent tears rolled down my face. I was ashamed of how I’d behaved and hurt by how he’d reacted. In one single minute, all the stupid daydreams I’d had about he and I raising this baby together had disintegrated. I’d known all along that’s all they were; silly fantasies that could never be the truth. Jeremy didn’t want us, and this baby was his flesh and blood. I could hardly blame Abel for feeling the same way about a child that wasn’t even his.

But it hurt all the same.

It hurt so bad it was all-encompassing. I couldn’t stay here, and see him every day, and see that disappointment on his face. It would destroy me over and over again.

I needed to go home. It was where I should have stayed all along.

Just before midnight, I knocked softly on Lily’s door and twisted the handle, slipping inside before she answered.

“Cal?” She sat up and flicked her bedside lamp on. She peered at my face through sleepy eyes, which cleared instantly. “What’s wrong?”

Her gaze dipped to the suitcase by my feet.

“I need a ride.”

27

ABEL

There was a reason horses were used as therapy. After Callie’s admission, the walls had closed in on me. The air was too hot, too thick, and I’d needed to move. The first breath of night air had been a relief, and I’d just kept going through the darkness, putting distance between me and the lies, until I’d found myself in the barn.

I pressed my forehead to Sugar’s. She stood quietly, probably confused as to why I was here, waking her up in the middle of the night. But she let me draw comfort from her velvet neck. The plan was to stand there until I could breathe again, but an hour passed, and my chest still felt like it had a metal vise around it.

I didn’t know how, but this somehow hurt more than when I’d walked in and found my wife in bed with someone else.

Maybe because by that point in our relationship, I’d already fallen well out of love with her.

Maybe because I didn’t think I’d ever loved her with the same intensity that I loved Callie.

After hours of sitting in the barn, breathing in the hay scent, I realized the ache in my chest wasn’t going away. I gave up, trudging back to the house and slipping inside. I paused in front of Callie’s bedroom door and then shook my head. It was two in the morning. We all had to be up for work in a few hours, and things between us were already emotionally charged. Restarting the discussion wouldn’t do either of us any good right now, not when we were both tired. We both needed clear heads to talk about it all.

I just wanted to throw the door open and get into bed behind her. To put my arms around her and hold her close.

To run my fingers over the swell in her belly.

I hated the words that had come out of my mouth in the heat of the moment. They hadn’t all been unwarranted, but I hated that I’d said them to her anyway. I hated how I felt, with things between us unresolved.

In the morning, I’d make this better. I’d take her out to the swimming hole, and we’d sit amongst the long grass and the wildflowers, and we’d talk the entire thing through.

I collapsed into bed, only falling asleep as the first rays of light peeked in around the curtains.

The house was quiet and empty when I awoke, and I swore softly, knowing full well I’d fucked up again. I struggled into my jeans and a clean T-shirt and grabbed my hat from the hook on the back of my door. There were no sounds from Callie’s room, and I shook my head at missing her this morning. I’d wanted to catch her before breakfast and ask her to meet me out at the swimming hole this afternoon. But now I was going to have to work through that time to make up for my sleep-in this morning. I drove my new-to-me truck down to the back paddocks where we’d been working on fencing all week.

Bowen dropped the post-hole digger as I approached and grabbed a water bottle instead. He uncapped it, lifting it to his mouth but stopped short of taking a drink. “You’re late this morning. Everything okay?”

Guilt swamped me. No, everything wasn’t okay, but I didn’t know if he knew about Callie’s pregnancy. I wasn’t going to be the one to spill that secret. I’d already hurt her enough. “I know. Sorry. I slept like shit. I’ll work late.”

Bowen nodded. “Good. Because I’ll need you. Lily was supposed to be out here this morning, but she’s gone AWOL. Henry and Aiden are out picking up some more goddamn animals they bought. And Paisley is with Creed. So it’s just you and me.”

“Where’s Callie?”

He shrugged. “AWOL with Lily. Probably off buying drapes or chandeliers or something for the cabins.”

“It’s okay. We’ll get it done.”

“Always do,” he said gruffly. Then he sighed. “Listen, I owe you an apology about last night. What you’re doing with Callie, it’s not my business. I know you won’t hurt her.”

I turned away and picked up a roll of fence wire.

I couldn’t admit to him that I’d done exactly that just last night.

There was nothing I could do about it now. I’d fucked up. But I’d make it right. I’d meant it when I’d told her I wasn’t the man who made her cry.

Bowen and I dug holes and slammed posts into them all day. We worked right through lunch, and though my stomach growled, I wasn’t stopping until he did. We made do with a couple of protein bars he kept in his truck, but eventually, his phone rang, and even I could hear Paisley shouting down the line that he needed to come in and get some damn food before it all went cold.

She hung up on him.

Bowen blinked at the phone and then at me. “I’m in trouble.”

I stifled a laugh. “She has a point. It’s late.”

“Pack it up. I’m not in the habit of making my woman angry, so I need to go make it up to her.”

I smiled softly and threw my gloves into the truck. Bowen and Paisley were the strongest, most solid couple I’d ever met. When we walked into the kitchen, they proved it all over again. He went straight over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind, and nuzzling his face into her neck. I couldn’t hear what he said, he said it low enough that it was just for the two of them, but the tension seeped out of her shoulders.

She mumbled something back.

Bowen stiffened. “What?” He glanced at me. “Did you know?”

A sinking feeling of dread creeped over me at his expression. “Did I know what?”

“He doesn’t,” Paisley cut in, teeth biting into her bottom lip. “Lily was the only one who knew.”

The dread turned from creeping to storming in like it owned the joint. “What don’t I know?”

“Callie’s gone.”

I spun around to find Lily in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, her gaze hot and angry on me.

“Gone where?” I asked stupidly, because I was afraid of voicing what I actually thought ‘gone’ meant.

“Home. Back to Georgia. I put her on a plane a few hours ago.”

My head spun, none of Lily’s words making sense. “Her flight isn’t until next week.”

Lily looked so bitterly unhappy that I was surprised she hadn’t thrown a punch in my direction. “I’m sure you know why.”

All eyes turned to me.

I knew.

I knew exactly why.

Because just like my ex, she’d upped and left without a word. She’d left without wanting to stay and fight about it until all the feelings came out and we found some common ground. She hadn’t been committed enough to stay and work it out.

That was what hurt the most.

I already knew I loved Callie more than she could ever love me.

But she hadn’t even loved me enough to say goodbye.

28

CALLIE

Inormally loved Christmas. It never really got very cold on our ranch, but it was a nice break from the blistering heat of summer. The stores in town went all out with decorations, and a huge tree in the park was lit with hundreds of twinkling lights. My family had a whole host of holiday traditions, from baking Australian treats my mother had never been able to give up to hanging stockings together. Their annual party was my favorite.

It was normally the one time of year where I really longed to be at home and surrounded by my family.

But this year, I moved mechanically, wishing I had somewhere else to go. I was there in body, but my mind was forever far away, in a small town on the other side of the world. My belly got bigger with every passing day, and my family showered me in little onesies and diapers and everything else a baby could need. They didn’t make a fuss. The items just appeared in my room, like a baby supply fairy had moved in.

All of it sat unopened in the back of my closet.

Summer and Dom had just gotten home from tour, and the look of shock on Summer’s face when she’d seen my belly would have been funny if I hadn’t been so bitterly sad.

My parents had been the same when they’d picked me up from the airport. I’d done nothing to hide it. I didn’t have it in me anymore. They’d both tried to talk to me since, but what had there been to say?

I knew they were worried about me. My parents. My sisters.

But my damn heart was broken, for so many reasons, and I didn’t know how to mend it.

Two days before Christmas, I dragged myself out of bed at midday and forced myself into the shower. Every step felt like an effort, but there was something I needed to do.

I trudged along the path to the cabin my sister stayed in when she was home and found her sitting snuggled up on the porch couch with my twin, the two of them sharing a blanket with mugs of something hot clutched in their hands.

Their chatter stopped when they saw me.

“Callie!” Lennon hastily put her mug down on a side table and jogged down the stairs to me. She rubbed my bare arms briskly. “Why don’t you have a jacket on?”

I hadn’t even noticed. I put my hands on my bump. “Benefits of being pregnant, I guess. I don’t feel the cold so much. She’s like an internal heater.”

Lennon’s hands hovered over my belly. “May I?”

I nodded.

Her hands joined mine on my bump, and Lennon was rewarded with a thump from the inside that made her eyes go wide. “Oh my God! I felt that.”

I nodded.

“She’s getting big.”

She was. I couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to. Her kicks were strong, keeping me awake at night. She twisted and turned, poking me from the inside.

I loved every movement. Yet each one reminded me that I still hadn’t secured a home for her.

That needed to change.

Like she knew I needed to talk, Summer eyed me carefully. “Do you want a drink? It’s just hot chocolate.”

I picked my way up the handful of steps to her porch and sat beside her, taking up the spot Lennon had vacated. “Yes, please.”

Summer disappeared inside and returned a moment later with a third steaming mug. She handed it over to me, and I stared down at the hot chocolatey liquid, a white marshmallow rapidly disintegrating in the middle.

I could feel Lennon’s and Summer’s worried gazes. But I couldn’t bring myself to voice the words I needed to say.

Lennon perched on the edge of the little table in front of me and put both hands on my knees. “Cal. Please. I’m so worried. Please talk to us.”

I swallowed thickly, everything I’d been feeling ever since I’d gotten on the plane to come back to America rushing to the surface. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed, no longer able to hold it all in. I’d been trying so hard to be strong, but I was failing miserably.

In an instant, my sisters engulfed me. They wrapped their arms around me from both sides, holding me tight, and bit by bit, word by word, the story fell out of me.

Finding out I was pregnant. Jeremy’s rejection. Meeting Abel. Connecting with him in a way I hadn’t known possible. I cleared my throat, lifting my head to look my sisters in the eye. “I’m in love with him.”

The shock on Lennon’s and Summer’s faces was expected. It was a lot to digest all at once, but to their credit, they got themselves under control quickly.

Lennon squeezed my knee. “Then why are you here, Cal? You’re clearly miserable, and now it makes a whole lot more sense why.”

I shook my head. “It’s not just that.” I glanced at Summer. “I…I want you to take her.”

Instantly, bile rose in my throat, and I wanted to claw the words back in. But I knew I couldn’t.

Summer’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Take who?”

Lennon seemed equally confused.

I picked up Summer’s hand and placed it on my belly, forcing out the words that had to be the right ones. I couldn’t consider they might not be. “I can’t be the mother she needs. Buck, just look at me. I can’t even remember to put my own jacket on. I don’t know how to be a mother.”

Summer jerked her hand back like my belly had burned her. “What? Callie…no…”

Panic speared through me, and I grabbed her again, like she might run away if I didn’t. “You have to. Please, Summer. She deserves parents who have their lives together.” I pushed her hand to my belly again, and the baby gave a resounding kick to her palm.

I watched Summer’s face transform from one of shock to one of love. Her gaze slowly drew back up to mine. She linked our fingers together. “Cal…”

She was going to say no again. I could feel it. The panic engulfed me. “Don’t say no. Just think about it. Talk to Dom. We have time.” I pressed my fingers hard into her palm. “Please don’t make me give her to strangers. I couldn’t bear it.”

Summer sighed softly. “That would never happen. She’s a Hunt girl. She needs to be raised here in the dirt, surrounded by bulls and cowboys and family.”

I nodded. “I know. But I can’t be the one to do it.”

“That’s not true,” Lennon said softly but with the fierceness of a lion. That was her all over. Quiet but strong. “We’d help you.”

I knew they would. “I just want the best for her.”

Lennon dug her fingers into my knees. “What on earth makes you think that you’re not it, Callie Hunt? I could punch Jeremy right in his smug face for the way he treated you. If Abel was more of the same, then I’ll punch him too.”

I stifled a laugh at my peacemaker sister throwing a punch at anyone. But it did give me a jolt to realize that once upon a time, it would have been me, threatening to throw punches at a man who’d wronged someone. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost that fire. I’d let the way Jeremy saw me determine the way I saw myself.

I hated that.

I hated it with every inch of my being.

“Abel isn’t like that,” I told my sister. “He’s good. He’s so bucking good it’s almost sickening. He wouldn’t touch me for the longest time, out of respect to Dad and our family, you know? I practically had to throw myself at him.” I smiled at the memory of our first kiss in the car, with that sexy audiobook playing in the background. “He’s kind. Sweet. And he’s got abs for days.”

Summer laughed. “You always were an abs girl.”

Lennon got up and squished onto the couch with us, sandwiching me between my sisters. She put her arm around me and squeezed. “Abs and biceps.”

“He’s got great arms, too,” I admitted with a grin.

The tension and sadness slowly evaporated with my sisters supporting me. I’d been hiding myself away, running from my problems, just like I always did, instead of turning to the women who had always had my back, no matter how many times I hadn’t had theirs. We’d already worked through that when Preston and Lennon had gotten together, but I’d clearly needed a reminder that no matter which men came and went from my life, I was always going to be a part of this trio.

Summer elbowed me. “Is this where we get to tease you about hooking up with one of Dad’s besties?”

I dropped my head onto Summer’s shoulder to hide my smile. “Don’t knock it ’til you try it. The man knows things…”

Lennon squealed. “Tell us everything.”

So I did. I told them how he asked me questions about myself, and how he actually listened when I replied. I told them about how my opinion mattered to him. About how he made me feel safe and loved and cherished.

And about how I’d ruined it all because I’d been so bucking scared he’d leave me that I couldn’t tell him the truth.

It had happened anyway, hadn’t it? “I should have just been honest from the start,” I confessed. “It’s my fault.”

Lennon shook her head. “He’s not entirely innocent either. He clearly has his own issues after what his wife did to him. But, Cal, what you did isn’t the same. Your pregnancy was your story to tell, in the time frame you needed to tell it. You aren’t his wife, running around behind his back with another man.”

I glanced up hopefully at her. “Do you really believe that? I lied…”

Summer shook her head. “If he’d flat-out asked you if you were pregnant, and you’d said no, that would have been a lie. But buck, Callie. You went to Australia processing a whole-ass trauma. Which, by the way, I am going to punch Jeremy in the face for.”

I grinned at her, because unlike Lennon, she actually would.

“Have you tried apologizing?” Lennon asked. “Since you’ve been home, I mean. I know he didn’t want to hear it that night where it all came to the surface, but you left before you’d even given him the chance to calm down.”

“Better to be the one doing the leaving than getting slapped in the face with another rejection, right?”

They both frowned at me. Summer rolled her fingers into fists. I was pretty sure that if Jeremy had been in arm’s reach, he would have had a black eye.

Lennon put her arm around me. “How is leaving him and running across to the other side of the world working out for you?”

My throat got thick with a lump of emotion again. The hole that had opened up inside me when I’d left him ripped again. It was so torn and ragged by this stage I wondered how it wasn’t visibly bleeding for everybody to see. “Not good.” I shook my head, a tear spilling down my cheek. “Really not good.”

I dropped my head and let the tears flow, my sisters brushing back my hair and rubbing my back until every last tear fell from my body.

When I was done, I felt a thousand pounds lighter. Though my head ached from crying, my mind was clearer.

A smile pulled at Summer’s face. “I think I see you in there, Callie. The firecracker we all know and love. She got stomped into the dirt, but I think she’s ready to brush herself off and get back on the bull.”

Lennon rolled her eyes. “Is everything a bull analogy with you?”

We all cracked up laughing, but Summer was right. I wasn’t getting on the back of a bull anytime soon, I’d leave that to my daredevil sister, but something inside me felt different.

And I was so bucking grateful.

A wolf whistle came from across the yard, and Preston, Lennon’s partner, lifted his hand in a wave.

Lennon waved back, watching her man. “Such a shame it’s gotten cold enough for him to put a shirt on.” She winked at me. “You aren’t the only one who likes abs.”

We were twins after all.

She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Fix it, Cal. Even if he doesn’t turn out to be the one, make amends. You’ll feel better.”

With that advice, she jogged down the stairs and across the yard to Preston, who swept her into his arms like he hadn’t seen her in months, not just the couple hours since they’d woken up together.

My heart ached watching them. “I had that,” I said to Summer. “I had that, and I let it go.”

She settled back against the porch swing, rocking us gently. “Nothing stopping you from getting it back. You’re the most determined person I know, when you want to be. Remember how you decided we needed a flower arch for my wedding, even though it’s five hundred degrees here in the summer and they should have all wilted on the spot?”

I smiled at the memory. “They made it through the photos before they gave up the ghost.”

“Only because you spritzed them constantly. Point being, everybody tried to talk you out of that, but you wouldn’t be swayed, and it turned out beautifully.”

A glow at her praise settled over me.

“You don’t give yourself nearly enough credit for how awesome you are. I see it. Lennon does. It sounds to me like Abel did too.”

I bit my lip, letting her words seep in.

Summer twisted on the seat and picked up my hand. “Cal, I’ll take the baby if that’s what you truly want.”

My heart stopped. “What about Dom?”

She shook her head. “He’s already got our first four kids named. He’s just counting down the days until I’m ready to stop competing and start popping him out the next generation of cowboys. Don’t forget, he’s adopted. I already know he’d be on board.”

“He’d be a great dad.”

She smiled. “He will be. One day. But, Callie, if you truly want us to take that baby, you’re going to have to look at her, say goodbye, and then put her in my arms. Are you going to be able to do that?”

I couldn’t breathe at the thought. Instantly, I knew my sister knew me better than I even knew myself. I shook my head. “No,” I admitted.

Summer slapped me on the knee with a wide grin on her pretty face. “That’s what I thought. So no more talk of giving up that little girl, Callie. She’s yours. Whether she has a father or not is irrelevant. Because you are enough. Just you. All alone. Nobody will ever love her as much as I can already see you do.”

I should have been bone-dry, but tears somehow filled my eyes once more. I laughed, brushing them away. “I’m not going to cry again!”

Summer hugged me. “Good. Because we have no time for tears. We’ve got a Christmas party to set up for.”

29

CALLIE

Ispent an hour typing, deleting, then typing again. My fingers flew over the keypad as I poured out deep, heartfelt messages to Abel, then erased them a moment later, shaking my head with how stupid and corny I was.

In the end, at midnight on the twenty-third, I shot off a three-word text.

Callie

I miss you.

I watched the message pop up on the screen, the little ‘sent’ symbol next to it, and held my breath.

It changed to ‘read’ almost instantly.

I jumped off my bed like it had suddenly turned to lava. But peered over at my phone and the little bubbles that appeared, signaling he was typing.

They disappeared without a text coming through. Again and again, they popped up, and each time, my heart all but leaped into my throat. Only for it to sink like a stone when the bubbles disappeared and still no text came in on the screen.

At 1:00 a.m., after the screen had been blank for over thirty minutes, I gave up. The baby needed me to sleep and take care of myself, and staying up until the wee hours of the morning, obsessing over a man wasn’t exactly self-care.

I switched the phone off, knowing I’d check it all night if I didn’t, and lay down in bed. It was another rejection, and it hurt like hell, but talking with my sisters earlier had screwed my head on straight. Or at least straighter. I missed Abel with everything I had in me, but I wouldn’t be dragged down into that hole of despair anymore. I’d put it all into being the woman I needed to be for my daughter.

Christmas Eve dawned, and from the burrow of blankets on my bed, I turned on my phone.

No messages from Abel.

The urge to just stay in bed and mope was strong, but I didn’t. I got up and got dressed. Unlike yesterday, when I’d been just going through the motions, today I put thought into my outfit. I put on stretchy maternity jeans and a new Christmas sweater that had mysteriously appeared in my closet. Most likely courtesy of my mother, who’d been trying valiantly to cheer me up with little gifts and love notes ever since I’d been home. I tied my hair up in a high ponytail, and then all I needed was shoes.

The space cowboy boots I’d bought with Abel sat pushed to one side in the bottom of my closet. I hadn’t worn them once since I’d been home. In fact, I’d avoided looking at them altogether. But today I pulled them on and even managed to smile at them.

I wasn’t mad at Abel for not replying to my message. He didn’t owe me that. I refused to remember our time together as anything but magical. Despite how it had ended, he was the first man I’d loved.

He’d been the one to teach me that I deserved more than I’d been settling for.

I deserved big love and a man who respected me.

He’d shown me what that felt like. Even if he never spoke to me again, I’d go to my grave thanking him for showing me that good guys did exist and that I was worthy of one.

My mom glanced up from behind the kitchen counter when I traipsed downstairs. She did a double take. “Callie! You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

Once upon a time I might have brushed that compliment off and gone about my day without even really glancing my mother’s way. But the worry and exhaustion lines around her eyes were all too evident when I stopped to actually look for them. She wrung her fingers, waiting for my response.

I hated that she’d been walking on eggshells with me. I hated I’d made her worry.

I stepped in close and put my arms around her. “Thank you.”

The tension seeped out of her as she relaxed into me, holding me tighter. Or at least as tight as she could, considering the basketball-shaped baby bump between us that really seemed to have come out of nowhere the last few weeks. The baby gave a thump of protest at being squished, and Mom and I both pulled away, laughing.

“Strong legs,” she commented. “Your father will be happy. Good for hanging on to a bull.”

I rubbed a hand over my belly. “I hope so. At least the part about the strong legs. I want her to be strong. In all ways.”

My mom gazed at me with the love-struck eyes only a mother could and brushed a strand of hair back off my face. “With you as her mother and role model, how could she be anything less?”

Tears welled in my eyes, and the dam my sisters had broken yesterday just kept right on disintegrating. Evidently, somewhere along the way, I’d decided to stop holding everything in. I was leaning on my family the way I should have done from the very beginning. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admitted to her. “What if I suck at being a parent? I’m the only one she has, what if I screw it up?”

She laughed. “Get used to that feeling. It never goes away. Even now, I always feel like I’m doing the worst job of raising you and your sisters.” She waved a hand around dismissively before I could answer. “Of course, I know you’re already raised, but it never really stops. I still worry about you all constantly. A mother is only as happy as her least happy child.”

I swallowed thickly. “And that’s me right now, huh?”

She nodded kindly. “And that’s okay. You don’t have to be happy just so your mother is. I know you’ve had a lot to deal with. If you need to still be sad, you can be.”

I squeezed her to me again. “I’m working on it.”

She drew back, wiping at her eyes with her fingers. “I’m right here, always, if you need me. You know that, right?” She scanned me again, like she was checking I really was all in one piece. She stopped on my boots. “Hold up, where did you get those? They’re amazing.”

I dug my toe into the floorboards and twisted my ankle, angling the boots so she could see the full detail, grateful for a break in all the heavy. “In Australia. Aren’t they cute?”

“Abel would like those,” she mused. “He’s into astronomy.”

I glanced at her sharply, wondering if she knew about him and me, but she was already elbow-deep in sudsy water, washing her baking pans from whatever delicious treat she’d already made that morning.

“Can I help?” I asked.

She grinned. “Absolutely. We have a thousand things to do before the party tonight.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. The two of us worked side by side all day, doing everything from food prep to decorating the barn, where the party was always held. One by one, the rest of the family joined us. My dad dragged in a ten-foot pine tree and set it up in the center. Summer and Dom emerged from the cabin with an armload of gifts, way more than was needed for our family. I eyed them, and she spun around, shielding them from my view.

“Stop peeking, most of them are for you and the baby.”

I shook my head, surprised there was anything even left in the baby store to buy, considering half of it had already been placed in my room.

Lennon and Preston sat curled up together on the couch, supposedly putting together a playlist for the party, but it looked more like an excuse to slobber all over each other.

They were sickening but also adorable. I couldn’t begrudge them their happiness. I might have before Abel, jealous over what they had together. But I knew what it felt like to be in their shoes now. If Abel were here, I would have taken any opportunity to slobber all over him too.

If he still wanted that.

I was still putting out little appetizers when Lennon let out a shriek from the living room. “It’s snowing!”

It didn’t snow all that often here, so it was an announcement that had us all rushing for the living room window.

Indeed, fat snowflakes fell outside. They were lit up in the headlights of cars pulling into our long driveway.

“Oh, bucking hell,” Mom yelped. “People are early. Who comes early to a Christmas party? I’m not even dressed yet!”

Neither was I. We both hustled up the stairs, and I switched into a long-sleeved red dress. It was one I’d worn to the Christmas party a few years ago, and stretchy enough that it still fit comfortably. I added knee-high socks beneath it for warmth, though it would be warm in the barn anyway, but I kept the space cowboy boots.

By the time Mom and I made it out to the barn, it was half full of friends, family, and locals we knew from living in one town for my entire life. Within thirty minutes, what seemed like the rest of town appeared. The placed buzzed with Christmas spirit. I was stopped repeatedly and told how beautiful I was with a bump and how excited I must be for the baby to arrive.

Nobody asked about the father. For that, I was so grateful. I had all of the support and none of the judgment I’d been so scared of.

Lennon hooked her arm through mine and leaned in so I could hear her over Mariah Carey Christmas anthems. “Mom said to come find you. We’re doing the ornaments.”

I forced a smile. “Sounds great.”

It didn’t really. It would be another reminder that I was alone, while the rest of my family had the people they loved there by their sides. But I followed my sister, weaving our way through the festive crowd with their glasses of eggnog in hand. We joined the rest of my family in front of the tree Summer and Dom had decorated throughout the afternoon. Mom grinned like she was a kid on Christmas morning. This tradition had always meant so much to her. She hadn’t had much in the way of family growing up, and so she’d doubled down on giving us the special traditions she’d missed out on. One by one, she passed out our ornaments. Mine and Lennon’s were the same, sweet angels in matching white dresses with our names embroidered on them. Summer’s was a bull in a Christmas hat with her name printed on his hindquarters where a branding mark would have been. Mom and Dad both had matching round circle baubles with their marriage date printed on them. Summer had picked Dom’s out for him last year—a cowboy hat. Beside me, Lennon presented Preston with a brand-new decoration, since it was his first year as an official member of the family.

He grinned down at the shirtless Santa Claus whose rounded belly had been replaced with rippling abs, not unlike the ones Preston liked to show off whenever possible. “Totally looks like me,” he said, leaning in to kiss his girlfriend. “I love it.”

Dom ribbed him good-naturedly about his love of strutting around the place shirtless as they placed their ornaments on the tree.

I tried to smile, watching them.

Dom placed his bauble right next to Summer’s like he couldn’t stand the thought of even their decorations being apart. Preston put his arm around Lennon, whispering things in her ear that made her blush. She glanced in my parents’ direction, probably to check they couldn’t hear the filthy things he was likely saying to her, but my parents were too caught up in their own romance to notice. My dad stared down at my mom like she was the one who’d hung the moon and all the stars. She held him close, fitting her hands into his back pockets, and talking softly to him about things that clearly made her happy, if the smile on her face was anything to go by.

It was beautiful. Every inch of me was happy that my family had all found their other halves.

But it hit home again that I hadn’t.

Or that I had, but he was on the other side of the world and not willing to answer my texts.

I slipped away into the crowd and edged around the room until I hit an exit. The air was icy outside, and I wished I’d thought to grab my jacket, but I didn’t turn around for it. I only needed a minute to get myself together and then I’d go back inside with my happy face on.

The snow fell softly, blanketing the ground, and I breathed deeply, sucking the fresh air right down into my lungs, and hoping it took away the sting of spending another holiday all alone. I wondered what he was doing right now, and then laughed, because it was most certainly not standing in the snow, wishing I was with him. It would be Christmas morning in Australia right now, which was likely already a sweltering temperature. He was probably opening gifts with the Barclays, or knowing him, he’d probably not wanted to intrude so he’d be out feeding animals or fixing fence, like it was any other day.

That made me sad for him.

If I were there, we could have been sweating and hauling horse feed bags around together, loving every minute because there was nowhere else we’d rather be but in each other’s company.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out, expecting to see a text from one of my sisters, who had probably noticed I was missing and sent out an SOS.

My heart skipped a beat when it was from Abel.

I’d never hit open on a message so fast.

Abel

Merry Christmas, Callie.

I swallowed down the regret that washed over me at his words. There was nothing wrong with them, of course. But it was the standard text message you sent an acquaintance. Not the woman you loved. Not the woman you were desperately missing.

With fingers that suddenly felt the cold, I typed out a polite response, wishing him a merry Christmas, too.

I didn’t get to send it before another text from him came in.

Abel

I hope you get everything you wished for.

I paused in my reply, sighing heavily because I knew nothing under that tree was what I really wanted. None of it was him. I moved my fingers over the keyboard again, forcing them over the letters that spelled out a short, succinct message that wouldn’t give away how desperately I wanted a redo button, so I could go back and replay our time together. Even if, at the end of the day, it still ended like this, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Abel

You look beautiful in that dress.

My head snapped up.

Abel’s blue-eyed gaze slammed right into mine.

I closed my eyes, sure I was seeing things, but when I opened them again, nothing had changed. Abel was still there, six-foot something of handsome cowboy standing right in front of me.

“What…what are you doing here?”

He cleared his throat, and dammit if he wasn’t so incredibly sexy. He was dressed for a party in clean jeans, a fresh western shirt, and casual jacket. “Can we talk?”

Numbly, I nodded and staggered for the main house, concentrating on every step instead of the man beside me. Thinking about anything but walking right now would have me flat on my ass in the snow. The house would be quiet, with everyone down at the barn. On instinct, I reached for him, to guide him in the right direction through the darkness, and then realized I couldn’t do that anymore. Just pick up his hand like he was mine. I wrapped my arms around myself instead, not because I was cold, but because I was scared I’d keep trying to touch him if I didn’t.

His jacket came around my shoulders, and the pure masculine, delicious scent of him came with it. It was still warm from his body heat, and I wanted to burrow into it and never leave.

Questions whirled through my head, a mass of confusion and excitement and fear and need. That old pull toward him was still there, stronger than it had ever been after being apart from him for weeks. I still wanted him. So badly. And now he was here, right in front of me, like it was no big deal he’d gotten on a plane and flown across the world.

Why the hell had he done that? What did it mean that he’d showed up here, at my house, on Christmas Eve after I’d sent him a text message saying I missed him?

Every step was agony, with him so close and yet so far. All I wanted was to know what was inside his head. For him to get it over and done with and tell me he still loved me…or that we were over for good. But he said nothing. Not a sound left his lips. Not a hint of which way this talk was going to go.

As soon as we reached the door, I spun on him, no longer able to keep my questions to myself. “Why?” I begged. “Please, Abel. Why are you here? I sent you that message, and you didn’t reply, and now you’re just here when you should be on the other side of the world. Bowen needs you at least until February—”

Like we hadn’t been apart at all, he crowded in on me, moving so close my back hit the door, cutting off my babble of questions. But that didn’t stop him. He moved in so tight my belly brushed his abs. His hands dropped to my stomach, roaming over my bump, tracing every inch of it while I held my breath.

“Abel, I…” I had no idea what I was going to say. Being this close to him was torture, and if this was where he ended it, it was cruel. I wanted him so badly I could barely think straight. His body was saying one thing, and yet his silence had me imagining horrible scenarios, where this was some sort of twisted punishment for lying to him. “Please,” I whispered. “Talk to me.”

Finally, he looked up, his gaze meeting mine once more. “Are you really asking me why I’m here? Isn’t it obvious?”

I was so confused, and I didn’t dare assume for fear I was wrong. My heart couldn’t take it if I got my hopes up and then he said he couldn’t forgive me, even if he did still want me. I couldn’t go back to that, just being someone who warmed a bed at night. I needed more. He’d taught me that, and now I couldn’t go back, even for him. “No,” I whispered. “Your body says you want me, but that’s not enough for me anymore, Abel. I can’t just be your fuck buddy because the sex is good, but you can’t forgive what I did.” The words felt like they were ripped right from my soul. It was laying myself wide open for another rejection, for him to stomp all over my heart, or worse, step back and tell me he’d never wanted it in the first place.

“Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair, and then he shook his head, mouth pulled into a grim line.

I dropped my head, staring down at his hand on my belly, my stomach sinking with every second that passed.

Until he put two fingers beneath my chin and tilted my face up to meet his. “Don’t hide from me again, Callie.” His eyes blazed. “Listen to me when I say this, because I’ve never meant anything as much.”

My bottom lip trembled, but I nodded.

His voice went deep as he held me in place with both his fingers and a gaze I couldn’t look away from. I’d always wanted to drown in his eyes, but now they held me captive, demanding my attention.

His eyes shone with a fierce determination. “I’ve done nothing but think of you every night, and every day since you left. I wandered around that property, completely and utterly lost, some part of me missing because you weren’t there. I’ve waited that entire time for you to reach out and give me some sort of sign I hadn’t screwed the whole thing up.” He lowered his head so our mouths were mere inches apart. “Listen to me good when I say I’m so fucking in love with you, Callie. You want to know why I’m here? That’s why. You ran off so fast, you never even gave me a chance.” His gaze turned tortured. “You never gave us a chance.”

I bit my lip, knowing he was right. “You were so angry…”

He moved one hand to cup my face. “Yeah, I was. And then I wasn’t. Fuck, Cal. Do you know how crazy I was when I got back to the house that day and found you’d just up and left? It was like reliving the morning my ex left all over again, but a thousand times fucking worse.”

“Why worse?” I whispered.

He shook his head, thumb stroking over my cheek. “Because I never loved her the way I love you. She never made me feel the way I feel when I’m with you. We had half a lifetime together, and I never once felt anything like I’ve had the last few months with you.”

I hated I’d done that to him. I hated I’d done it to myself. Because I’d sat on that plane, silently crying for hours until the tears had run dry. “I lied to you. I know how much you hate liars. I couldn’t stay there and watch you hate me.”

A tear dripped down my face. It was the conversation we should have had that morning, the one I hadn’t been strong enough for back then, but the one I had to face now.

His gaze was fire, strong and determined. “Nothing in this world could make me hate you, Callie Hunt. I’m sorry you didn’t know that. I swear, I won’t make that mistake again.” His hand roamed all over my bump. “You got bigger.”

I sniffed back tears. “Everyone keeps saying that. She got bigger.”

He lifted his eyes to me. “She?”

I nodded.

He shook his head a little and then swore under his breath. “She’s going to be beautiful, you know. Just like you.”

My heart ripped wide open, and I put my hand over his. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I didn’t stay. I’m sorry I—”

His thumb pressed to my lips, halting my babble of apologies. “Stop. It should have been me. I should have come straight after you when you left. But I was stubborn and stupid. Then you sent that message, and I realized I had to come here and apologize, in person.”

Apologize.

The word froze me. Apologize. Not to be with me. He loved me, and I loved him, but it wasn’t enough. I put my hands on his chest and pushed, trying to put some space between us, but he wouldn’t give me an inch.

I gave up and twisted my fingers in his shirt instead, drawing him closer, even though I knew I shouldn’t. “I’m keeping the baby, Abel. I thought…I thought I could give her up, but I can’t. The idea makes me sick. I love you. I love you with every part of me. But she and I? We’re a package deal. Her father already rejected her. I can’t let that happen again. Not to her. Not to me either.”

Abel swore softly under his breath. “I’m so bad at this.”

I shook my head. “You’re not. It’s okay. She’s not your responsibility. We’re not your responsibility.”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “You…she…what?” He shook his head in frustration. “Yeah, I’m real fucking bad at this. Somebody should give me a championship belt buckle for how royally I’m screwing this up. I came here to ask you to marry me, and somehow you ended up thinking I don’t want you or the baby?”

Shock punched through me, his words not registering in the roar of the wind around us. Or maybe that was just the noise in my head that screamed he was too good to be real. “You what?” The words came out a disbelieving stutter

Time slowed down to a crawl, and inch by inch, in seconds that each dragged on for an eternity, Abel got down on one knee in front of me. A wet patch spread up from where he kneeled in the snow, but if he noticed, he didn’t let it show. His fingers found mine, but then he squeezed his eyes closed and groaned. “I can’t even get this right. The ring is in my jacket pocket.” He pointed to the coat I was wearing.

I gaped at him, sure that at any minute now I would wake up and realize I was still in my bed, wallowing over missing him, my sad and depressed brain just conjuring up dreams of him to get me through the day. But with trembling fingers, I reached inside the pocket, and my fingers clenched around a little square box.

A sob welled up in my throat, but this time, I did nothing to stop it.

He pulled my hand out, unfolded my fingers from around the box, and took it from me so he could open it up. “Callie, I love you. I’ve loved you since the minute I laid eyes on you, and I’m going to love you until the minute my eyes close for the last time. I know that. With every beat of my heart, I know that. You were always meant to be mine. And that baby in your belly? She’s mine too. I don’t care whose DNA made her. I’m down here, on my knees right now, telling you that no other man will ever love either of you more than I do in this minute. Someday, you and I? We’re gonna watch some young cowboy sweep in and claim her heart, but I’ll know I was the one who loved her first. Because I already do, Callie. I love the two of you so fucking much. So please, because this is torture. Say you’ll marry me.” He cleared his throat, like emotion was getting to him. “Say I get to be your man. Say I get to be her dad.”

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the snow, but I no longer felt the cold. I didn’t need time to think. There was only one answer to give him. “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, to all of it.”

His smile grew slowly. “Yes?” he asked, voice tinged with disbelief. “You sure? We haven’t even told your parents about us. We’ve only been together a few months.”

I bent down and grabbed both sides of his face. “Are you trying to get me to change my mind?”

His grin turned into that full megawatt smile he saved for me, and in the next second, he was on his feet, with me wrapped in his arms. “I’m going to kiss you before you come to your senses and realize you could do better.”

But there was no better. I’d seen enough of the trash to know that he was a treasure.

One I’d get to keep. Forever.

He lowered his head and kissed me, our mouths connecting as he took the ring from its little box and slipped it onto my finger. I pulled away and looked down at it, a fresh round of tears cascading down my cheeks at how beautiful it was.

It wasn’t anything fancy, with its simple band of gold and a small diamond.

“I know it’s not much…”

I wrapped my fingers around his. “It’s all I ever could have wanted.” I pressed my lips to his again, putting every ounce of that feeling into the kiss and marveling over how familiar his lips still felt, even though we’d been apart for weeks. His kiss was like coming home, one I never wanted to leave again. Everything about us was a whirlwind, but nothing in my life had ever felt so right.

He pressed me up against the door again, deepening the kiss, our tongues plunging together, moving in a way that was so familiar and that just a few hours ago, I thought I’d never feel again.

“God, I missed you. So fucking much,” he muttered between kisses, his lips trailing down my neck. “We should go back to the party though. Your family will be missing you.”

Christmas music floated through the night air, but everybody inside the barn was forgotten in Abel’s presence.

“They’ll live without me for a little longer.”

I reached behind me for the doorknob, twisting it so we stumbled through the doorway in a tangle of arms and legs and heart-soaring kisses. It took us ten minutes just to make it from the door to my room, because we stopped to kiss on every available surface. But eventually, we were alone in my bedroom, the house quiet around us, and Abel staring at me in the semi-darkness like a starving man.

I was sure I wore a similar expression.

All I could think about was getting his shirt off and touching him. Undoing his pants, stroking his erection and getting him deep inside me.

No barriers. No hiding.

I reached out and switched on my lamp, flooding the room in soft, golden light.

With his gaze firmly fixed on me, I shrugged out of his jacket. I gathered the fabric of my dress up around my hips and then peeled it off over my head, tossing it aside.

In a strapless bra and panties, my belly rounded in between, I was more naked than he’d really ever seen me.

My breath hitched as he stepped in and undid the clasp at my back. My breasts were fuller than they’d been when I’d left, and he took them in his hands now, my eyes fluttering closed at his touch.

“I love you like this,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss the swells of my breasts. “You haven’t let me see you for so long.”

His tongue ran a path to my nipple, licking and sucking it into a point, massaging it with his mouth until desire for him pooled between my thighs.

I undid all the little buttons on his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, replacing it with my lips. Every inch of his tanned skin was perfect, from the little freckles that dusted his shoulders to the tattoos, old and inked deep in his pores. The light dusting of hair across his chest rasped over my lips, tickling them until I got to his nipple and returned the attention he’d paid to mine.

He groaned, tipping his head back and tucking his fingers into the edges of my panties. “Take these off.” He rubbed between my legs at the white cotton, soaked with need for him. “Fuck, you’re wet.”

“I haven’t had you here to take care of my needs,” I teased.

He chuckled, kissing my neck again and dragging my panties down over my ass. “I’ve got some making up to do then.”

He knelt and kissed my mound, while he dragged the panties down my legs. I lifted my foot for him to take my boot off, but he just stretched my underwear over them.

He ran his fingers up my inner thigh, chasing them with open-mouthed kisses. “Always did want to have you in nothing but those boots.”

I laughed as he pushed me back onto the bed and knelt between my legs. He licked his way through my center, spreading my legs wide around him to give himself space to work. I leaned back on my elbows, no longer comfortable flat on my back, and let my head drop.

Abel reached one hand for my tits, and the other flicked my clit, sending shooting pleasure through my body. My nipples ached for his mouth, pebbled and needy, pointing at the ceiling, but he fit his lips around my pussy, licking and sucking me until the room spun into a blur of colors and lights, all of them centering on him.

His fingers inside me were bliss, stretching me perfectly and giving me something to buck against. I ground down on his fingers, knowing better than to think he’d have sex with me until I came.

There might have been a party outside, but Abel worked my body like he had all the time in the world. When I came, it was hard, with my legs quivering around his head, his tongue and fingers wringing every ounce of pleasure from my core and my arousal dripping down his hand.

When the blissful spasms inside me had eased, I reached for him, silently asking him to help me up off the bed. Without asking him, I undid his belt and shoved his jeans and underwear down, impatient to have his cock inside me once more. I hadn’t even made myself come in the weeks we’d been apart, too sad to feel in the mood, but now it was as if he’d opened a floodgate inside me, and I couldn’t get enough. I guided him back onto the bed and straddled him, one knee either side of his hips, pressing into the soft mattress at his back.

We both moaned when I sank down onto him, impaling myself fully on his hard dick, letting it fill every inch of me in ways that were so good it should have been illegal. I plunged down onto him, over and over, arching my back and letting my hair fall in waves while I bounced over him, taking every inch of him inside my body, squeezing him into the dark, warm depths that brought us both a mind-blowing pleasure I’d never found with another man, and now never would again.

Because he was mine. My boyfriend. Fiancé. Future husband.

The thought made me giddy.

He reached for my tits, squeezing my nipples and murmuring about how fucking hot I was while I rode him, still clad in the boots I’d bought because of him.

This man.

I couldn’t get enough. He slapped my ass, and it sent me over the edge once more, the sharp sting all pleasure and no pain.

“Abel!” His name shattered around us as I came, fireworks going off behind my eyes until I came back down to earth. When I did, it was with laughter. “Oh my God, what was that? Did you just spank me?”

He groaned, his orgasm hitting him at the same time. He clutched me tighter, his eyes closed but a wide smile on his tanned face. “Needed to get you over the line again. It did the trick.”

He sat up and wrapped his arms around me, drawing my head down for a kiss with his dick still warm inside me, even though we’d both stopped moving. We kissed for a long time, reacquainting ourselves with each other, my fingers trailing up across his broad shoulders, his running up and down my spine.

“I could stay inside you like this forever,” he said softly into my ear, kissing my neck.

“Mmm. That sounds nice.”

A wave of sleepiness washed over me, and his cum seeped between us, but neither of us made an attempt to clean up. He laid us down on our sides, facing each other, him still inside me, barely erect enough to stay buried, but neither of us willing to give up the connection.

“I love you,” he whispered. His hand dropped to my belly and traced every inch. “And her.”

My heart spilled over with love for him and the way he looked at me. His fingertips danced over my skin, tracing every stretch mark and circling my belly button which had popped out since I’d last seen him.

He grinned up at me. “Fuck, that’s cute.”

I grinned back. “You think?”

He nodded. “And these.”

I made a face at my stretch marks. “I’m a little less excited about those.”

He shook his head. “They’re beautiful.”

“They’ll fade, so I’m told.”

He leaned in and kissed my mouth softly. “I hope they don’t. I’ll kiss them every day, and they’ll remind me of this moment, with her safe and warm between us.”

My fingers tangled in the long, brown-blond lengths of his hair. “Thank you. For coming after me.”

His gaze met mine. “There’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.” He glanced over at the clock on the wall. “It’s getting late. I’d bet your family is wondering where you are.”

I winked at him. “Either that or they walked in while we were going at it, heard you spanking me and me screaming your name, and went right back to the party.”

His face drained of color. “If your dad heard that…”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Guess we should go find out, huh?”

He groaned, pulling me tighter. “Can’t I just stay here inside you?”

I rolled away, reaching for some tissues to clean up. “It’ll be fine. Now is actually a good time to spring it on them. Dad can’t make a scene with all those people around.”

Abel nodded. “You’re right. I don’t want to wait another minute. I’m walking into that barn and telling the entire place that you’re my girl. You’re both my girls.”

I flushed with a complete and utter happiness. His girls. And he was my man.

Somehow, I’d become the luckiest woman in the world.

30

ABEL

The ring wasn’t the only little box I’d brought back with me from Australia. With Callie tucked beneath my arm, hers wrapped around my middle and warm beneath my jacket, I detoured us to the side of the barn, where I’d stashed my luggage after an Uber had dropped me off. The party was in full swing, with most people hanging out inside the barn, but a handful of others spilled out to brave the cold to smoke or just for a breather.

Her eyes widened at the sight of my things propped up against the barn, sheltered from the snow by a small overhang on the roof. “Have you not even been to a hotel to drop off your stuff?”

I tipped my bag over on its side and unzipped one of the pockets. “I got changed at the airport then paid an Uber a small fortune to drive me right here.” I found what I was looking for and stood to put my lips to hers. “This is one-hundred-percent presumptuous of me, but I have something else. I bought it the same day I bought your ring, hoping that you’d say yes.” I pressed it into her hand and kissed her cheek. “I know the tradition is important to you. And that’s it’s an honor reserved for family…"

She opened her hand and gasped at the ornament I’d placed in it. It was a moon, with three stars dangling below it.

“It doesn’t have my name on it, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Abel on anything in a store, but…” I grinned at her, producing a Sharpie. “We can fix that.”

She giggled, and I passed over the marker. “Your writing is neater than mine.”

In neat swipes, she wrote my name, curving it around the face of the moon. “It’s perfect.” She glanced nervously at the door. “You ready to do this? If we go hang this on the tree, we’re as good as saying we’re forever.”

There should have been some sort of panic in that statement. We’d moved so quickly, but we had somehow come full circle, back to the place where we’d first met. It only seemed fitting this would also be the place we told the world we were endgame.

Even still, I took her into my arms. “Kiss me for good luck.”

“You won’t need it. If they can’t see how happy you make me, they’re blind.” She pressed up onto her toes and put her arms around my neck.

I kissed her back, the ornament clutched in one hand, the other wrapped around her waist. We fell into the kiss, deepening it with tongues and soft touches, neither of us caring that anyone could have seen us.

The barn door swung open, light, laughter, and music spilling out, but all of it was through closed eyes as I kissed the woman who would be my wife.

“What the hell?”

Callie and I sprang apart at Kai’s shout. Callie spun around to face her dad, eyes wide with surprise, her lips glossy and swollen from our kiss and so damn beautiful that if Kai didn’t look ready to murder me, I would have kissed her all over again.

“Dad, I can explain.”

But Kai’s gaze was ice, and I was thrown right back to our days on the tour together where everyone called him Frost.

His anger centered solely on me.

Fuck.

“I’m in love with her,” I blurted out. “I know this looks bad… Let me explain.”

Kai wasn’t having any of it. In three steps, he closed the gap between us.

I saw his fingers clench into a fist.

I saw the swing.

I had time to dodge it.

We both knew I wouldn’t.

Kai’s fist connected with my cheekbone, and pain pierced through my head, ringing around my skull. The music distorted for a second, but Callie’s scream cut right through it, sharp and shocked.

“Dad! Stop it!” She threw herself in between us.

I instantly pulled her behind me, ready to protect her with everything I had. Even though I knew Frost would never hurt her.

He swore and shook out his hand.

“What on earth are you doing?” Callie shouted at him. “Are you insane?”

“Cal, it’s fine,” I muttered, while my cheek throbbed in pain. I’d always thought Kai more of a lover than a fighter, but his right hook had a bite to it, no doubt.

Callie eyes blazed with fire, though I knew it wasn’t for me. “It is not fine!”

She put a hand to my cheek, but I flinched away before she could touch it. It already hurt enough.

Kai ignored his daughter, his gaze firmly on me. He pointed a finger into my chest. “That was for taking weeks to get your stupid ass back over here. You know how many nights I had to listen to her cry herself to sleep because you were too pigheaded to get on a plane?”

I gaped at him. “Wait. What?”

His jaw moved, and I suspected he was grinding his teeth. “I get she loves you, but so help me fucking God, Abel, if you ever make my daughter—or my granddaughter—cry again, I will not be held accountable for what I do with a cattle prod and a branding iron.”

Addie joined her husband, but unlike his expression of complete anger, her smile was wide. She actually seemed…pleased?

I cleared my throat. Might as well get all the big news over and done with. My face already throbbed like a motherfucker… or motherbucker as Callie would have said. “I asked her to marry me,” I told Kai, without an ounce of remorse. “I would have asked you first, but you would have said—”

“I would have said yes, asshole. I’m not in the habit of robbing my child of someone she loves. For whatever reason, that someone is clearly you.”

Shock punched me right in the gut. “You don’t want to hit me again? Because she said yes, Frost. I’m marrying your daughter.” It was said without an ounce of doubt. I knew what I wanted, and it was her. Fuck, it had been her since the minute I’d laid eyes on her.

“Don’t push your luck,” he grumbled, but there was a slight smile tugging at his mouth that told me we’d be okay.

Callie stared in shock at her parents. “You knew?”

Addie lifted a shoulder. “Paisley and Stacey aren’t really very good at keeping secrets. When you came back miserable and wouldn’t talk to me, I called them. Don’t be mad at them, I used mom guilt to get them to spill the beans.”

Callie stared at her mother. “And you’re just…all right with it? With us?”

Kai grumbled some more.

But Addie elbowed him. “We know what it’s like to have a parent disapprove of the person you love. We swore a long time ago, when you girls decided who you would spend your lives with, we’d accept them with open arms.” She smiled softly. “You picked one of the best men we know.”

Pride flushed through me. I would have given up their friendship for Callie if it had come down to that. But I was damn grateful they weren’t making me. I didn’t deserve their acceptance, and I knew it probably wasn’t for me, but for their daughter.

“All I want is to take care of them,” I promised Kai.

“She’s pretty good at taking care of herself,” Kai gruffed out, “but I understand the sentiment. Love her. Treat her well, and we won’t have a problem.”

I offered him my hand and was surprised, and relieved, when he not only took it but hauled me in and slapped me on the back. “Welcome to the family, Abel. Go hang your bloody ornament on the tree.”

Callie laughed with happy tears, and I stepped back, realizing my ornament was still clutched in my fingers. She grabbed my other hand, dragging me away from her parents and through the crowd. Everybody watched us, but I didn’t care. All I had eyes for was her.

With the ache in my cheek diminishing, I found her little angel ornament and hung my own right next to it.

A wolf whistle split the air in the crowded barn, and a cheer went up.

Callie grinned up at me, and I kissed her lips as her sisters cheered and her brothers-in-law clapped us on the back and wrapped us in hugs.

I’d never seen my girl so happy.

That was all I needed to feel the same.

31

CALLIE

Amonth came and went, and I’d never been more content in my life. Despite still being under my parents’ roof, which put a bit of a dampener on any sexy fun, Abel and I were closer than ever. I woke up every morning with him wrapped around me, spooning me with his hands cupping my ever-growing belly. With only four weeks left until D-day—delivery day, that was—my belly was ginormous.

She was the one who woke me up now, with her kicking and twisting and headbutting my bladder. But when I moved to get up, Abel only snuggled in tighter.

“Mmm. Not yet.”

I traced soft fingertips up and down his bare arm. He was like a furnace at night and still happily slept in nothing but his underwear, despite the temperature outside. My little internal heater had a similar effect, so we often went to bed wearing not much at all.

Which was kinda torturous when your parents were in the next room.

“We need to find a place of our own,” I whispered, not for the first time. “You’re too naked, and I can’t handle it.”

He ground his morning erection against my ass, and I buried my face in the pillow to smother my moan. I had to fight the urge to push back against him, or worse, take my panties off so he could put it where I really wanted it.

“We’ll find a place,” he said into my neck. “We just gotta keep looking.”

I bit my lip. We’d been looking ever since the new year. I’d liked half a dozen places, ready to live just about anywhere as long as it was ours. I’d wanted to apply for all of them. But Abel had steadfastly refused each one.

“That one over on McClymont Road is still available,” I mused.

He paused in his neck kissing and shook his head. “It had stairs. All I can think about is her falling down them.”

“We could get a baby gate.”

“What if I’m holding her and I fall down them?”

“That won’t happen. You’ll be careful.”

He started up the kissing again. “We’ll find something perfect. Without a death trap right there in the entranceway.”

I let him kiss me into oblivion, like I did every other time we’d had this conversation. His objections to every house had been something to do with the baby not being safe there. If it wasn’t the stairs, it was the unfenced yard. Or if there was a fence, it was the giant dog that lived next door who could potentially, somehow, get through the perfectly sound barrier and bite her.

If he hadn’t told me a thousand times a day, in all different ways, how much he loved me and couldn’t wait for me to be his wife, I would have had a complex over him not wanting to live with me. But time and time again, it all came back to him protecting his family.

I could hardly begrudge the man that. It was so incredibly sweet.

But also kind of aggravating. With every passing day, I wanted to get things ready for the baby. I wanted to paint her room and set up her crib. Mom had already said she could have one of their guest rooms if we couldn’t find a place, but I didn’t want that. I wanted a home of my own and to bring my man and our daughter home to it.

At least for a while. Something inside me called out from Australia. We hadn’t ruled out going back there. But first we had to get our little miss earthside, and I wanted at least a few months to recover before we made a huge decision like relocating to the other side of the globe. A home, even if it was only temporary, was high on my priority list.

Another weekend came without us finding a place, and I got restless in my own skin. Abel had been working on the ranch with my father and Preston. Summer and Dom were already back on tour, and Lennon was at school every day. I was too pregnant to do anything much, and there were only so many spicy romance audiobooks I could listen too before I had to drag my fiancé off and let him do me on the back seat of a truck. Which at thirty-six weeks pregnant was no easy feat.

I paced around our bedroom on Friday evening, wound too tight and in desperate need of anything to break up the anticipation of this baby arriving. But Abel was exhausted, spread out on our bed.

He watched me carefully, his blue-eyed gaze tracking me around the room. “Get dressed.”

I glanced over at him. “What? I am dressed.”

He shook his head. “Get dressed nice. I’m taking you out.”

Hope lit up inside me. I wanted to squeal in excitement, but I also could see the exhaustion written all over him after a long week of physical working outside. “It’s okay. We don’t have to. You’re tired.”

He stood and pulled me into his arms, not caring that he was still covered in dirt. “Don’t you know by now that all I care about is making you happy? I’d fly you to the moon right now if it made you smile like that.”

I elbowed him. “That’s more of a you dream than a me dream.”

He buried his face in my hair. “You’re my only dream.” He swatted me on the behind. “Get changed while I have a shower. We’ll go down to the bar. Do some dancing.” He gave me a sly look. “Maybe find a dark corner and do some kissing…”

“I like the sound of that.”

He winked at me and wandered off toward the bathroom while I rifled through my closet to find something that still fit enough to wear.

An hour later, we drove into town, to the only bar worth hanging out at. Music spilled out into the parking lot, and excitement lit me up inside. Lennon and Preston parked their truck beside us, and the four of us got out, traipsing across the dark parking lot to where light surrounded the Black Bull Bar and Grill.

Inside was a crowd, and we were later than most people arrived, so a lot of couples and groups had already had their meals and a few drinks and had moved onto the dance floor.

“Food first.” Preston made a beeline for the grill area. “Frost tried to kill us today with the workload. I swear he just wants the place looking good for his granddaughter’s arrival.”

I laughed. “I think that’s just an excuse to make you work harder.”

Truth was, Preston practically ran the place now anyway. If anyone was working them to the bone, it was him.

We ate spicy wings with our fingers and shared a huge plate of fries. Preston and Abel got into a discussion about a hotshot rookie who’d just arrived for training, and I stopped Lennon from talking baby clothes by asking her about how her paramedics course was going, even though I already knew she was killing it.

I was just happy to be out and about and with people I loved. The baby gave me a kick, reminding me she was one of those people now.

The music changed to a slow Morgan Wallen song that I loved, and Abel cut off his conversation with Preston. “Gotta go dance with my girl.”

He hauled me up from the table and tucked his fingers between mine to lead me across the floor. He found us a spot in the middle and drew me close. I put my arms around his neck, breathing in his fresh, clean, masculine scent as we rocked side to side on the beat.

It was perfect. I was too big for anything more strenuous, but I wanted to be close to him. The song swirled around us, soft and romantic, and the rest of the room faded away beneath Abel’s sea-blue gaze that spoke more words than he could ever utter.

I’d once been jealous of the way Preston looked at my sister. Like he worshipped the ground she walked on.

But in that moment, Abel wore the same expression. And it was directed solely at me.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Soon-to-be wife.”

I grinned. “I love you, soon-to-be husband.”

He spun me around, making me laugh, and I hugged him closer, resting my head on his shoulder and marveling at how different my life was with him in it.

That was until someone behind me uttered a single word.

“Callie.”

Abel stopped dancing, but I tugged at him, pretending I hadn’t heard the voice.

“Callie, please.”

I didn’t want to answer him, but he clearly wasn’t getting the hint. “Go away, Jeremy.”

“Can we talk?”

Abel swallowed thickly, and slowly reached around me to offer Jeremy his hand. “Hey. I’m Abel.”

Jeremy took it with a distracted nod but didn’t bother introducing himself. He just waited there, like he knew I was going to cave in and talk to him.

I wasn’t.

Abel gazed down at me. “Talk to him. Just rip the Band-Aid off and get it over and done with.”

I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to ever look Jeremy in the eye again, but that wasn’t realistic. Not when we’d always be linked by the baby he’d donated sperm to. I refused to think of it as him fathering her. A father did a lot more than just knock a woman up.

I spun on Jeremy, trying to keep my face schooled into something that resembled calm maturity but was probably more like seething anger. All I could think about was the last time we’d spoken, when he’d told me the baby wasn’t his.

He was right about that at least. I might not have even known Abel when I got pregnant, but he was her father. My lawyer had assured me he’d sent Jeremy the paperwork for him to give up his parental rights. But as far as I was aware, he hadn’t returned them yet.

“What do you want?” I folded my arms across my chest defensively, and Abel took a step in closer, so his chest brushed my back, a silent bid of strength to help me get through this. I relaxed against him and smiled a little smugly when he put his arm around me, hand resting on my belly.

Jeremy’s gaze dropped to Abel’s hand, and his lips pressed into an annoyed line. “Can we talk alone?”

I shook my head. “Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him Abel was my fiancé, but frankly, that wasn’t any of Jeremy’s business.

Jeremy seemed like he wanted to argue, but maybe he realized I was no longer the pushover he’d once dated. “Fine. I’ve changed my mind.”

I frowned. “About what?”

His gaze lowered to my belly. “About the baby. I want to know her. I want to be involved.”

I gaped at him, furious anger rushing in. “You what?”

His gaze lifted, lingering on my breasts which I quickly folded my arms over. Once upon a time, I would have liked his attention. I would have enjoyed his gaze on my cleavage and the heat in his eyes when he finally looked me in the eye. Now all it did was creep me out.

“I want you to give me another shot. I know I fucked up, but I’ve changed.”

Behind me, Abel stiffened.

I reached behind me, planting my hand on the side of his leg and squeezing it reassuringly. “How?” I scoffed at Jeremy. “Please, go right ahead and tell me how you’re suddenly so different from the man who called me a whore not all that long ago.”

He flinched, but to his credit, he did appear apologetic. “I’m ashamed I ever said that. This whole baby thing took me by surprise, I handled it badly. I’m sorry.”

It was all too little too late. I’d given him so many chances, and he’d thrown them all in my face, hurting me worse with each rejection. “Thank you for the apology.” Frankly, it was the bucking least he owed me. “I’ll call you when she’s born. If you want to be involved, we can discuss it then.”

I went to turn around and go back to dancing with Abel, but Jeremy had the gall to grab my hand. “I want another shot with you, Callie. I love you. You owe me that, for the baby. I’m her father.”

I ripped my hand from his grasp and glared at him, lowering my voice until it was a deadly snarl. “Do not touch me. I owe you nothing, Jeremy. Not a damn, bucking thing after the way you treated me. Leave me alone.” His I love yous came months too late. I’d needed those back when I’d first told him about the baby. I’d been scared, and he’d not only left me on my own, he’d made the entire situation worse by making me feel worthless and cheap and undeserving of anything good.

He reached for me again, and Abel stepped around me, glaring down at the shorter man. “I wouldn’t.”

Jeremy backed off a step or two, his hands up. Which only made me more furious. Because of course he respected a man’s space but not mine.

I had no idea what I’d ever seen in him. It was like staring at a man I’d never even met.

He turned and walked back to his table, where his mom watched on with an interest that made me uncomfortable. She immediately launched into conversation with him, peppering him with questions, both of them glancing my way with furious frowns.

I turned to Abel. “Can we go, please?”

He nodded, fitting his hand into mine, and leading me through the crowd. I refused to turn in the direction of Jeremy’s family.

But with every step, worry stirred in my belly.

I could walk away from Jeremy right now, but that wasn’t always going to be the case. One day, I’d have to hand my daughter over to him.

That thought chilled me to the bone.

32

ABEL

My fingers went numb around the steering wheel from how hard I clutched it. My shoulders ached with the tension that had filled me the moment Jeremy had uttered her name. I was sick to my stomach over the things he’d said.

They ran through my mind on a loop, each one more filled with doom and despair than the last.

I love you. I want another chance. For the baby.

I swallowed thickly, forcing down the bile in my throat, and glanced over at Callie on the passenger seat. She’d twisted herself away from me, her arms wrapped tightly around her belly, like she was protecting it from the world. She stared out the window, her expression shielded from me by the waterfall of her dark hair.

I was sure we were thinking the same thing. And if we were, it was going to break me in fucking half.

But I’d felt that little girl wriggling around in Callie’s belly for weeks now. I loved her. All I wanted was the best for her and for her mama.

I wanted it to be me.

But fuck, I was over a decade older and more experienced than Jeremy, and it had still taken me some time to get used to the idea of Callie being pregnant. If I’d come back here, and found her shacked up with another man, I would have been devastated.

Jeremy might have royally fucked up when Callie had told him about the baby, but the man was barely twenty-five. Maybe he needed a minute to get used to the idea.

And maybe I was standing in the way of a family being together.

“I’m sorry about all that,” Callie finally said into the dark softness of the truck’s cab. “I can’t believe he did all that with you standing right there.”

I stared out at the dark road in front of us. “It’s okay.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not. This is what he always does. He’s an attention-seeking narcissist. It’s always about him. About what he wants. What he needs. He never stops to think about how his words and actions affect other people.”

“How did they affect you?” I asked, hating the question but needing to know the answer.

“I’m mad. So bucking mad. Why is he doing this now? The baby is due any day, I don’t need this shit. I wish we’d never gone out tonight.”

How I wished the same. We could have stayed in, and we’d be wrapped up in our bed right now, none the wiser that Jeremy suddenly wanted to step up and be the man he should have been all along.

Callie forced a smile and reached out a hand to me. “Don’t take any of what he said to heart, okay? It’s all part of his stupid games.”

“Yeah, sure.” I took her hand and squeezed it, but it didn’t stop Jeremy’s words repeating in my head, and a silent accusation that I was doing something wrong.

I pulled into the Hunts’ driveway and parked our borrowed truck. Callie had seemingly brushed off our encounter with her ex and dragged me up the stairs to our room, with me shushing her so we didn’t wake Kai and Addie.

We stripped down to our underwear, and a chill raced down my spine before we got beneath the covers. Before our encounter with Jeremy, I might have put that down to the brisk night air, but I suspected it had a whole lot more to do with how everything that had hours before felt solid and tangible, now felt like it was slipping through my fingers like sand.

I lay on my side, watching her move around our room, getting ready for bed. She brushed out her hair quickly, then dove beneath the covers, cold as ice, and snuggled back against me. Her feet were freezing, pressed between my legs, but I didn’t mind. She pulled my arm over her and sighed in contentment.

I needed to touch her. To remind myself she was still here, still mine, at least for tonight.

I had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

I slid my hand up to her breast and cupped it, squeezing her nipple through the thin fabric.

“That feels nice,” she whispered.

I unclipped the clasp at her back and let the bra fall away, resuming the position with my bare skin against hers. It wasn’t enough though, I needed to be inside her.

With fingers that trembled, I took her hand, bringing it up to her breast to replace mine. She moaned softly when she pinched herself, and I slipped my hand down inside her panties.

“We shouldn’t…” But her protests were weak.

“I need you,” I whispered back.

She pushed her underwear down, bringing her knees up to wriggle out of them while I played with her clit. As soon as she was free and bare, I lifted her leg, dragging it back over my thighs and opening her up so I had full access.

It was only a minute before she was riding my fingers and gasping with her head turned into her pillow.

“Quiet,” I said into her neck, before placing a kiss there.

Her pussy clamped down on my fingers, her entire body tensing for a moment, then relaxing fully as she came. It was all the permission I needed to take my underwear off and plunge into her from behind. I kept my finger on her clit, rolling and pinching it while I quietly thrust into her, letting her deep, rich warmth engulf me.

I wanted to stay like this forever, with her, safe and warm. I wanted to give her a lifetime of pleasure and love and companionship. I wanted to watch the baby in her belly grow into a toddler, then a child, and one day we’d watch her go off to college and start her own life.

But always, there’d be me and Callie.

Unless I stepped aside and let Jeremy have the family he seemed to suddenly want so badly.

She came again, and I went with her, knowing that with every thrust, my heart belonged to her. I’d moved on from my wife, but there would be no one else for me now that I’d known what true love was. Callie was it for me, even if I wasn’t it for her.

We fell asleep with me still inside her.

In the morning, I woke as the sun rose. It was supposed to be my day off, but instead of sleeping in, I slipped from the bed and put on clothes. In the doorway, I paused, watching Callie breathe softly, her face relaxed in sleep. I leaned over and pulled up the blanket so her bare shoulder wasn’t exposed to the nippy morning air.

She stirred and blinked a sleepy eye at me. “Where are you going?”

I kissed her softly. “Nowhere interesting. Go back to sleep.”

She mumbled something but was already asleep before I left the room. I walked softly down the stairs, trying not to wake anyone else, and grabbed my boots from the door, shoving them on my feet before crossing the lawn to get back in the truck.

I stopped at Lennon and Preston’s cabin and apologized profusely for waking them up. Lennon gazed at me with big eyes when I asked her for Jeremy’s address, but she didn’t question why I wanted it. After last night, maybe it was obvious.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned, handing it over. “Violence solves nothing.”

I nodded. But she had the wrong idea. I had no intention of hurting Jeremy.

If anything, what I had to say to him was probably only going to hurt myself.

I found his house easily in a little suburban street in the next town over. It was a run-down shack of a house, with an overgrown lawn and weeds filling every garden bed. But a brand-new truck sat on the gravel drive, looking completely out of place. Though I could definitely see it being something Jeremy would drive. The thing was huge and showy and generally obnoxious.

For a long moment, I sat in my truck, not sure I really wanted to do this. But I had to. I couldn’t live with myself if there was a chance that Jeremy was better for Callie and the baby than I was. After ten minutes of indecision, terrified that inside I might find an already setup nursery, with everything new and clean and baby-proofed, when I hadn’t even provided a home for them, I got out and went to the door. It had been left ajar, and on the floor just inside the door were the clothes Jeremy had worn the night before. Like he’d gotten home, probably drunk, stripped off in the entryway, then wandered down to bed without even bothering to lock up.

I raised a hand to knock, when a telltale moan filtered through the open doorway. My hand hovered in midair as I stopped myself from making contact.

“Yeah, baby. Ride me like that.”

Jeremy’s encouragement was clear as day.

I spun around, rage flowing through me like a river of lava. So much for his professions of love for Callie the night before. I hadn’t so much as looked in another woman’s direction when she and I had been apart.

He hadn’t even waited one night to fill his bed with someone else.

In an instant, all my worries disappeared.

There was no way in hell I was leaving Callie with this asshole. He could say he loved her and wanted a life with her all he wanted, but he was a little boy playing at a man’s game.

She was my woman, and she was carrying my baby. We’d deal with a custody arrangement later, because there was legally nothing we could do about that. But knowing he was inside, screwing some other woman, probably ready to fuck her over like he had Callie, was enraging.

I couldn’t believe I’d even given him the benefit of the doubt for a minute.

I spun on my heel; the conversation I’d thought I’d needed to have no longer relevant. I stormed down the path, getting to my borrowed ride right as a small hatchback turned into the driveway, parking behind Jeremy’s truck.

I wasn’t sticking around to see if it was another of Jeremy’s women. I had no doubt in my mind he could have multiple.

The older woman who got out of the car ran over to me, waving a hand to stop me before I could even get the engine on. I paused with the key halfway to the ignition, irritated beyond belief at the delay in getting back home where I should have freaking stayed all along.

The woman motioned for me to roll the window down, and with a start, I realized I’d seen her before. At the bar last night, sitting at the table Jeremy had slunk off to after Callie had rejected him.

The woman narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re the one from last night,” she accused. “With Callie Hunt.”

I didn’t like her tone. “I’m her fiancé.”

The woman’s eyes widened, and in an instant, changed to one of pure malice. “Well, she sure moved on fast, didn’t she? And you’re as bad as she is. Trash, the both of you.”

I gripped the steering wheel, trying to keep my cool. If she’d been a man, I would have socked her one right in the mouth. Instead, I just hit the button on the window, letting it roll up.

To my shock, she grabbed the rising glass, glaring at me. Not willing to jam the woman’s hand, I took my finger off the button.

“How dare you?” she seethed. “You can tell your fiancée that she can’t do this. Keeping a baby from her daddy? That ain’t right. The Hunts think they’re so fancy, with that big house and Frost winning all those championship buckles. But this has shown their true colors. Disgusting.”

I blinked at her, and in a second, I was outside the car. I towered over her.

She took two steps back, but the anger in her expression didn’t falter.

“How dare I?” I seethed. “How dare you? Your son is the only piece of trash in this situation. He ignores Callie for months, even though she tried to involve him, then he calls her a whore and claims the baby isn’t even his. Then you all think he can just walk back into her life nine months later, claim he loves her—which, for the record, is clearly complete bullshit since he’s in there fucking someone else right now—and that Callie will just fall at his feet?”

The woman shoved her hands on her hips. “That never happened. Callie served him with termination of parental rights when all he was trying to do was be a good daddy.”

The screen door behind us slammed open, and Jeremy stumbled out in nothing but boxer shorts. He wrapped his arms around himself, fighting off the cold and squinting at us. “What the hell are y’all doing, shouting and hollering at this time of the morning? Some of us have hangovers.”

Both Jeremy’s mother and I ignored him. But the woman seemed to find an extra reserve of courage in his presence, or perhaps she’d realized by that point that I wouldn’t physically touch her, no matter how much she might have deserved it for the vile words spewing from her mouth.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” the woman warned. “You won’t keep my grandbaby from her family.” She backed up, glaring daggers at me that warned she’d meant what she said. “And you’ll never be her daddy.”

Her words cut through me like glass. There was nothing left to say. I got back in the truck, and this time, nobody stopped me when I tried to drive away.

But there was one thing clear in my mind as Jeremy and his mother got smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror.

I’d fight. I’d fight every fucking day if that’s what it took. Because nobody was going to tell me that little girl wasn’t mine. And her mama too.

33

CALLIE

Two big hands clapped themselves gently over my eyes.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.” Abel’s warm breath tickled my ear.

I twisted in his arms, surprised at the midday chance to see him. Normally he was out in the training rings at this time of day. “Is it that you’re going to have sex with me? Because I’m so ready to get this baby out, and I’ve been reading up about it. Your jizz can loosen my cervix up or something and bring on labor.”

“That’s true,” Lennon called out from the kitchen table where she was studying. “Sex can definitely get things moving. You’re close enough to your due date that it might work.”

I turned hopeful eyes on Abel.

He frowned. “Last night you were adamant you were never having sex again.”

“I’m very pregnant. I’m allowed to change my mind.”

He chuckled and kissed my head. “You’re allowed to do whatever you want. If you want me to screw that baby out of you, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Eww,” Lennon complained. “Still in the room, guys.”

We all laughed. There was a real excitement in the house lately, and everybody watched me like a hawk for any sign a baby might drop right on out of me at any moment. But so far, it was all kind of a nonevent.

I hadn’t mentioned the low pressure I’d been feeling the last two days. Or the increase in Braxton Hicks contractions. I didn’t want to get anyone all excited when I had no idea if those things meant the baby would be coming soon, or if I still had weeks. The doctors had warned me first babies were often late, so I was keeping my expectations in check.

“No time for it right now anyway,” Abel said. “Because your surprise requires clothing. At least to begin with.”

I squinted at him. “You’re being very mysterious.”

“Come with me, and all will be revealed.”

With rising excitement, I let him lead me outside and to the car. When I had my seat belt on, he drove us out along the familiar roads, though not as far as town. On McClymont Road, with its large properties and cute farmhouses, he stopped in front of the property we’d looked to rent weeks ago.

I glanced up at the two-story house and smiled at its cute farmhouse charm. It was older, and two-story houses weren’t terribly common around here, but this one had been built like that for a reason. The second story, the one Abel had deemed dangerous for the baby, had a killer view of the mountains.

“What are we doing here?” I glanced at him hopefully. “Did you ask the real estate guy to meet us here?”

He shook his head. “They found tenants.”

My heart fell. “Oh. That’s a shame.”

He laughed and produced two keys on a single key ring. “Us, Cal. We’re the tenants.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? You hated this place. You said you’d fall down the stairs with the baby.”

He shrugged. “But you loved it. I can learn to hold her with one hand and the railing with the other.”

Excitement raced through me, and I forgot all about the aching pressure in my lower belly. I threw my arms around him with a squeal. “Are you serious? It’s ours?”

“I signed a one-year lease the day after we saw Jeremy at the bar.”

“What? That was two weeks ago! Why didn’t you tell me?”

He got out of the truck and walked around to my side to open the door up for me. “Because there were some things I needed to do here first.” He towed me along the little garden path that had been weeded recently, and to the front door. He flicked his head toward it. “Go on. Open it up.”

I put the key to the lock and twisted the door handle. Abel followed me inside, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. The lower level looked pretty much the same as it had when we’d walked through the property weeks ago with an agent in tow. A small, cozy living area with a wood-burning fireplace that already had low, smoldering flames inside, keeping the room warm. To the far side was the entrance to the kitchen, flooded with natural light. I grinned at the ‘death trap’—the stairs—that had been Abel’s main concern with this house. They now had baby gates fitted at both the top and the bottom. “You know she won’t be able to walk or even crawl for months yet, right?”

He shrugged. “I know, but you can’t be too prepared. I already put locks on the kitchen cupboards too.”

“You’re such a helicopter parent.”

“I don’t know what that is, and I don’t care. Come upstairs. I need to show you something.” He flicked open the first baby gate and held it for me. I led the way, opening the second gate for myself.

“Left,” he directed.

I made the turn, the smell of fresh paint getting stronger with every step. The main bedroom where he and I would sleep was dead ahead, but Abel put his hands on my shoulders and steered me into the smaller bedroom on the left.

He’d made a nursery.

The walls were a soft gray, with white trim. A white crib stood already assembled to one side, and an overstuffed rocking chair sat in the corner. I glanced into the built-in closet and saw a handful of tiny baby clothes already hanging on equally small hangers.

“We can bring the rest of her things over tonight. I only snuck out the things I thought you wouldn’t notice. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

My eyes welled with happy tears and at the knowledge we had a home to bring our baby back to. “I’m surprised.” I wrapped my arms around his middle and staring up at his handsome face. “You’re the biggest surprise of all. Back when we were sitting on that plane, pretending there was nothing between us, I never for a second thought we’d end up here.”

Abel shook his head. “I never thought I’d be a dad. Yet here we are.”

I grinned at him. “Is this where you screw the baby out of me? I can finally be as loud as I want, with no parentals to consider.”

He grinned at me. “You want that? You want me to screw that baby out of you right here and now? We don’t even have any furniture.”

I shrugged. “You know how much I like doggy style. Carpet looks pretty thick.”

He moved in close, dropping his lips to my upturned mouth. “You want to get on your knees for me?”

I so freaking did.

Using him for balance, I squatted, ready to clamber onto my knees. “This used to be a lot easier,” I laughed, feeling like a beached whale.

“You could just stand—oh, holy shit.”

My eyes widened at the rush of liquid running down my leg. I glanced down at the soggy puddle at my feet and then back up at him in horror. “Is that…”

“Your water breaking? I think so.”

Terror raced through me, quickly followed by panic, and then denial. “No, no. I still have two weeks. It must be something else…”

He cupped my face, his eyes shining, smile wide. “We’re having our baby, Callie.”

I shook my head.

He just laughed. “Yeah, we are. You’re going to be amazing.”

“I’m scared.”

He nodded. “Me too. But excited as well.”

A smile crept across my face. “Me too.”

“Lucky the bags have been packed and in the back seat of the truck for weeks, huh?”

A giddy excitement rushed through me. “Thanks to Lennon for being so organized.”

I gripped his arm and let him lead me carefully down the stairs. I had to stop once when a contraction hit me. It was stronger than the Braxton Hicks contractions I’d been having all day, but now I wondered if I’d actually been mistaken. Maybe I’d been in early labor for hours and hadn’t quite realized.

Or maybe my body had been holding off, until I knew I had a home to bring our baby back to.

I smiled as I got into the car and let Abel drive me to the little hospital in town. Through all the pain that came in the next few hours, Abel was beside me for every minute of it, holding my hand, brushing my hair back off my face, telling me I was amazing and that he couldn’t wait to meet our daughter.

When she finally entered the world, a squawking bundle with big brown eyes, he was the one who cut her cord. He was the one who placed her on my chest and stared down at her in wonder, tears welling in his eyes. It was Abel who pressed a tender kiss to my forehead and told me he’d never loved me more than he did in that moment.

I felt it. Every word. Every touch.

Our daughter came into the world surrounded by love, and with a mother who had found where she was truly meant to be.

34

ABEL

Ibecame a dad at 9:03 in the morning. The night had blurred, with my entire focus on Callie, and then the next few hours had been spent with the three of us getting to know each other. We’d snuggled on a hospital bed, with my heart wide open and tears in my eyes as I’d gazed down at my girls.

Winter, a nod to her grandfather, Frost, was as beautiful as her mama, with a dusting of dark hair on her perfectly shaped head. Her little button nose was the cutest thing I’d ever seen, and she had chubby cheeks, just made for kissing.

I couldn’t get enough of her. Of either of them.

If I hadn’t already respected the hell out of Callie, watching her birth a child would have done it. She was all woman, a complete and utter warrior, with an internal strength that couldn’t be matched. I fell in love with her all over again, and watching her tenderly hold Winter only cemented the urge I felt to marry this woman and make sure the entire world knew she was mine.

Her family arrived, and Addie rushed in, with eyes only for her daughter. Once she’d made sure she was okay, she burst into tears over the bundle in Callie’s arms. Her sisters, Preston, and Dom followed, all of them crowding around in the hospital room, while Kai shook my head.

“Congratulations, Dad.”

“And to you, Granddad.”

Kai’s smile was so wide it could have burst at the seams. I’d never seen him look quite so un-Frost-like as he did when he took Winter from Callie’s arms and cooed at her. “Welcome to the family, little girl. We’ll have you on the back of a bull in no time.”

Callie and Lennon both groaned.

I caught Callie’s eye and gave her a questioning look that I knew she’d know the meaning of. Her smile faltered for a second, but I could see her steel herself, and then she gave me the nod of approval.

Leaving her surrounded by her family, who I knew wouldn’t leave her side until I returned, I slipped from the hospital room.

The trip to Jeremy’s house wasn’t far, and I pulled up behind his truck on the gravel drive. I hadn’t wanted Callie to be the person to do this, and after several of my phone calls to him had gone unanswered that morning, tracking Jeremy down in person had been my only option. I’d been the one to suggest it to Callie, and though neither of us liked it, we both knew we had a responsibility to Winter’s biological father.

He was going to be a part of our lives, in one way or another, for at least the next eighteen years and probably beyond that. When Winter got married one day, he’d be there. He’d be there for birthdays and holidays, and it wasn’t ever going to be on Winter to try to mend a fractured family. That was on me, Callie, and Jeremy. Callie and I could be the bigger people and extend an olive branch to the man, even if I would rather punch him in the face.

Winter was already making me a better man, because before her, that’s exactly what I would have done.

I knocked on Jeremy’s door and then stood back, shoving my hands deep in my pockets to keep them warm. My toe tapped on the porch step like it had a mind of its own. I wanted to get back to the hospital. I hadn’t slept, but neither had Callie, and making sure she was well-rested was the most important thing.

If I couldn’t hear a video game being played at a deafening volume from inside, I might have thought he wasn’t home. But I rapped my knuckles against the wood once more, and this time a shout came back from inside.

“Yeah, yeah, coming. Hold your horses.”

I tried to find some patience within me, but I was tired, and just being civil was going to be pushing it when he came to this guy.

The door finally swung open, and Jeremy’s bleary-eyed gaze peered back at me. “Oh. It’s you.” He walked away but left the door open.

I stared at it for a moment. Was that supposed to be an invitation to come in? Fuck it, I took it as one.

The inside of his house was dark, the window coverings all pulled down, I assumed so the sun’s glare didn’t affect his video game.

Jeremy flicked at buttons on a controller without turning in my direction. “You want a beer?”

It was barely midday. “No. I just came to tell you that Callie had the baby. We named her Winter.”

He finally paused the game to look at me. “She okay?”

“Callie or the baby?”

“Both.”

“They’re good.”

Jeremy nodded and went back to his controller.

I stared at him blankly. “Is that all you’re going to say?”

He shrugged. “My mom will be happy.”

I wasn’t a crier, and yet tears had rolled down my cheeks as I’d gazed down at that baby who wasn’t even biologically mine. Meanwhile, Jeremy barely cared enough to pause his game.

It pissed me off. They deserved more, Callie and Winter both. “Do you even want to be in her life? Or are you just doing this because your mommy told you to?”

He didn’t answer.

If I wasn’t trying to be a better man, I would have reached across the couch and throttled him.

I hadn’t discussed it with Callie. I knew she’d sent him paperwork that would terminate his parental rights so I could adopt Winter, and it wasn’t my place to ask him about them now, but damned if I could stop myself. “If I pay you a thousand dollars right now to sign the papers Callie sent you, will you do it?”

Jeremy paused his game again and looked over at me.

A desperation coursed through me. “I want to adopt her, Jeremy. I’m marrying Callie either way, but I want Winter to have our last name. I want to be the one at her school plays and dance recitals. I want to be the one she runs to with scraped knees. I want to be the one who tucks her in at night and reads her one more story, even though we’ve already read that book three times. Can you honestly say you want all that?”

He pointed across the room to a little table. “I already signed the forms. That’s how my mom found out about the baby.” He paused for a second and then shook his head. “You don’t have to pay me.”

“Big of you,” I muttered beneath my breath, striding across the room to the table he’d pointed out. On the top sat an envelope with Callie’s name on it. I flicked it open and peered inside at the legal forms. At the bottom, his signature confirmed he had indeed signed away his rights.

Relief settled over me.

I left the house, closing the door behind me without another word. But with every step I moved toward my truck, my smile grew. Until I couldn’t contain myself. I fist pumped the air.

They were always meant to be mine. Now I had the paperwork to make it happen.

We brought Winter home from the hospital three days later to a fully furnished house, with all of our belongings moved in and put away so we didn’t have to do a thing. Lennon and Summer had put together a work crew and finished it all while Callie and I were staying at the hospital and doting on our little princess.

We had welcome home drinks with her family, but then they left us to our own devices, with hugs and homemade meals, and assurances they’d be here in an instant if we needed any help.

We spent long days learning Winter’s cries. And even longer nights walking the halls with her because she hadn’t quite worked out that darkness meant sleeping time.

But every minute was magical. Exhausting, but beautiful. We did it all together, ringing Addie and Kai for advice when we didn’t know something, but otherwise just being together as a family.

Winter was six days old and happily having her lunch at Callie’s breast, when a weird noise at the front of the house caught my attention.

“You heard that, too?” Callie pulled Winter away from her nipple, but the little pipsqueak started squawking so Callie quickly put her back. “Can you go see if there’s anyone there? Might be the mailman leaving a package. I think I left the ‘do not disturb’ sign on.”

I placed a kiss on her head and rubbed Winter’s soft hair at the same time. “On it.” I got off the couch and padded in my socks to the front door, pulling it open.

Jeremy’s mom stared back at me.

I started to close the door, not willing to get into it with her again. This house was a peaceful little haven, and I was going to protect it at all costs. She could sue us if she wanted, but she wasn’t bringing her toxicity here.

The older woman caught the door with one hand. “Please. Wait. Hear me out.”

I hesitated and then looked back at Callie. The house wasn’t big, she would have heard every word. I was fairly certain she didn’t need me to tell her who it was. She nodded.

She was a bigger person than me.

I opened the door. “Do you want to come in? Callie’s feeding the baby.”

The woman’s eyes lit up like it was Christmas. She nodded, thanking me as she passed.

I walked as if on eggshells and went right back to Callie’s side, ready to run interference if this woman so much as spoke a word out of turn.

But this woman was different than the one I’d met a few weeks earlier. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and there was a sadness about her that hadn’t been there when she’d been spewing venomous words at me in defense of her son.

She sat on an armchair across from us, her gaze fixed on the baby, but she didn’t ask to see her. Eventually, her gaze lifted to meet Callie’s. “I had four miscarriages after Jeremy. In between there were months and months of hopelessness and hurt. I so badly wanted another child.”

Callie stroked soft fingers over her daughter’s head. “I’m really sorry to hear that, Jean.”

She nodded. “Thank you. I know it doesn’t excuse the way I treated you both, but it’s the only excuse I have. Back then, I felt robbed of the chance to be a mother again. No matter what I did, nothing eased the ache that came from that piece of my heart missing.”

She wrung her fingers nervously on her lap. “We have no claim on your baby, Callie. I know that. When Jeremy told me you were pregnant, I was so happy. I’ve been waiting and praying for him to find a nice woman and settle down and have some babies. But when he told me he didn’t want to be involved, I could barely understand the words that came out of his mouth. How could he not want to know his own daughter?”

“He’s young,” I offered generously, though at twenty-five, it was more grace than Jeremy deserved.

Even his mother seemed to realize that. She shook her head sadly. “He’s selfish. He always has been. I don’t know what I did wrong, but it clearly doesn’t make me qualified to have anything to do with your sweet girl there.”

Winter made a gurgling sound, and Callie pulled her off again, sitting her up and rubbing her back to try to bring up any trapped gas. The baby was already fast asleep, a dribble of white milk pooling at the corner of her mouth.

I couldn’t help but smile at her milk-drunk face.

Callie patted Winter’s back gently while looking at her biological grandmother. “I never wanted to keep her from you. If you want a relationship with your granddaughter, Jean, you can have one. Jeremy has made his choice, and frankly, I think we all know it’s the best one he could have made for everyone involved. But his choice doesn’t have to be yours.”

Jean’s face lit up. “Do you mean that? I said such horrible things.” She turned to me. “I have no excuse. All I can say is I’m sorry. That wasn’t me that day. That wasn’t the woman I want to be.”

“Thank you,” I said stiffly, “but this is Callie’s decision.”

Jean nodded, turning back to her.

Callie sat up straight, her shoulders drawn back. “It has to be on my terms. I won’t stop you from seeing her, but you have to respect my boundaries.”

The older woman nodded. “I understand.”

Callie gave her a small smile. “Good. Because I think Winter would like to meet her grandmother.”

She offered up the little bundle, and Jean’s eyes misted over with tears. She took the baby and nestled back into the armchair with her.

“She looks just like you, Callie.”

I slipped away to let the two women talk, silently thanking the Jeremy’s mother who’d been big enough to come and ask for forgiveness. It couldn’t have been easy to do, but it put to bed a restless demon inside me, and I knew it would for Callie too. Without the threat of lawsuits, our happily ever after could finally begin.

EPILOGUE

CALLIE

Australia in early autumn was not all that different than the last time I’d been here, only marginally less sticky. The trees didn’t change colors like they did back home, and there was no need for sweaters just yet.

Which was handy, because the long white dress I pulled on would have looked horrid with a hoodie.

Lennon let out a gasp that quickly turned into a sob, and Lily wolf whistled loudly. Summer put her hands on her hips, studying me critically.

My gaze met hers in the mirror. “Well? What do you think?”

Summer glanced at Lily. “I think that designer you’ve been working with is amazing.”

Lily nodded her head. “Isn’t she? Her name is Skye. She’s from Scotland, and she’s an absolute gem. I still can’t believe how perfectly she made this based only on your measurements.”

After Abel and I had announced our engagement, Lily had gone right on into wedding planning mode. She’d taken the liberty of sending me hundreds of wedding dress images she thought I’d like, and I’d been so grateful, because being a first-time mom had chewed up a lot of my time. I’d spent 2:00 a.m. feeding scrolling through the images Lily had sent, and somehow, all the dresses I’d collated into a shortlist had been designed by Skye.

The dress had arrived from Scotland with weeks to spare and had fit me like a glove, no adjustments needed.

“Do you think he’s nervous?” I asked my sisters.

Lennon shook her head. “I saw him this morning. He was bouncing off the walls.”

I frowned at her. “Really? Bouncing off the walls isn’t exactly a term I’ve ever heard associated with Abel.”

She straightened the skirt on her bridesmaid dress. “Well, he was smiling and laughing, so in Abel terms, that’s bouncing off the walls.”

I smiled softly at the thought of him out in Henry and Aiden’s cabin, putting on his suit. Would he be pacing impatiently? Sitting on a couch having a pre-ceremony beer?

I glanced at the clock again, impatient for it to be go-time.

I wanted to see my man. We were already a family, Winter had made us that, but I’d been counting down to this day, where I’d take his last name, and the world would know how much love there was between us.

“Baby bridal party in the house!” Hallie called from the hallway.

I spun around eagerly and promptly burst into tears when Hallie came through the doorway holding Winter and her son, Grayson’s, chubby hands. The two toddlers were only a week apart in age, and good little friends, as much as kids could be at that age.

I scooped my daughter up, careful not to crush her pretty white dress. She patted my face, giving me a big, mostly gummy smile. She had a few small teeth, that were the cutest thing ever, and dark curls that weren’t yet long enough to brush into ponytails.

“Look at you, sweet girl. You ready to go see Daddy?”

“Da-da,” she yelled happily.

Grayson chimed in with his own baby babble, and I put Winter down to toddle around with him while I did a final check in the mirror to make sure my tears hadn’t ruined my makeup.

I rubbed at a slightly smudged patch of mascara, but Lennon pulled my hand away. “Your makeup is perfect. Not that it matters. Abel would marry you with a paper bag over your head.”

I smiled at the thought because I knew it was true. I left the makeup alone and grinned at my family. “Let’s go.”

The photographer Lily had hired had suggested a ‘first look’ photo shoot with my parents, and we found them waiting outside in the Barclays’ garden. They turned as I came out, and Mom immediately started to cry.

I laughed, because it was the exact same reaction I’d had to Winter in her dress.

“Such a mom thing,” Summer laughed, as if she’d read my mind. “Is this what I have to look forward to? Turning into a sap whenever my kid is around?”

“Yes,” Hallie, Mom, and I all answered in unison.

Summer grinned. “Can’t wait.” She rubbed her own tiny baby bump tenderly.

My dad came over and wrapped his arms around me. For the longest moment, he just held me tight, not saying anything. Finally, he whispered, “You’re beautiful. I’m so happy for you.”

Tears misted in my eyes, but I blinked them back before they could ruin my eyeliner. “Thank you.”

He held his arm out to me, and my mom kissed both of us on the cheek before disappearing to head around to where the ceremony would be taking place.

When Abel and I had talked about our wedding, the venue had been a no-brainer. It was always going to be here, at the water hole where the wildflowers grew and where we’d spent many an afternoon falling in love.

Dad put me and my sisters into a truck, with Winter on Lennon’s lap. Dad drove at all of three miles an hour across the property, following the trail of flowers and white balloons Lily had set up to guide guests to the right place. She’d strung white ribbons on the old truck, which did nothing to dress up the rust, but made me smile anyway.

A cheer went up from the gathered crowd, and I tried to peer around them to see my fiancé.

I grabbed Summer’s hand. “What if he changed his mind?”

Lily laughed from the front seat. “I can see him. He didn’t change his mind. Dad and Uncle Rem seem like they’re having to hold him back from storming down here and running off with you.”

I laughed softly, relieved. Because all I wanted to do in that moment was marry him. I didn’t really think he would have changed his mind—he wouldn’t do that to me—but nerves were getting the better of my tongue.

Dad twisted around from the driver’s seat. “Now or never, kiddo.”

“Now.” I grinned at him. “Definitely now.”

Lily got out of the truck and took Winter from Lennon’s arms so she could get out. Summer and I exited out the other door.

“Make a shield,” Lily instructed. “So he can’t see her until she hits the aisle.”

Lennon and Summer did as they were told and stood in front of me, waiting for their turn to walk down the aisle. But I peeked around them, wanting to watch Abel’s reaction to our baby girl.

“Da-da!” she screeched from Lily’s arms and kicked her legs to get down.

Lily gave Creed the nod to start the music, and then she put Winter down on the ground. She pressed a basket of flowers into her chubby hand and reminded her to throw the petals as she walked down the aisle.

“Come on, baby girl,” Abel called to her, bending down with his arms out. “I’m here.”

Winter dumped her basket on the ground and ran down the aisle to her daddy. She hadn’t been running long, so she tripped once, but got straight back up, a big grin on her face as Abel scooped her up and kissed her pudgy cheek.

He shifted her so she was perched on one of his arms, then looked back down the aisle to me.

Our gazes met. Held. Ignited.

Buck, I loved this man.

I wanted to run down the aisle to the two of them. I wanted to shove my sisters out of the way and throw myself into his arms and never let him go.

My other half.

The loves of my life.

Dad laughed like he could read my mind. “Soon, Cal. Soon.”

Lily marched down the aisle with her bouquet of flowers, followed by Summer and then Lennon. They all lined up opposite Abel’s groomsmen, who were Rem, Bowen, and Deacon. The rest of my cousins who had flown over from the States, my grandparents on my dad’s side, as well as my mom’s family who lived here, all sat in white chairs, watching on. Abel didn’t have a relationship with his parents and hadn’t wanted to invite anyone from his old life. But we had more than enough love surrounding us that it didn’t matter that the guest list was small.

Finally, Lennon took her spot at the front, and all eyes turned to me.

All I cared about were Abel’s. He smiled at me, and it was like the entire world disappeared.

“You ready?” Dad asked.

I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“For bringing him into my life. For not running him out of town when you found out.”

“Don’t give me too much credit, I did try to break his nose.”

I giggled. “I love you.”

“Love you too, kiddo. But if we don’t get moving, he’s gonna come down here and rip you right outta my arms.”

We walked the aisle together, my hand tucked tight in his arm.

Abel watched every step.

Winter waved her chubby fingers at me and then yelled out, “Mama!”

I stopped.

Abel glanced at her, eyes big. “Did you just say Mama?”

“Mama!” she shouted, straining her arms toward me.

I grinned at her as I reached the two people I loved more than anything in the world.

Abel engulfed us both in a three-person hug. “Yeah, baby. Mama.”

My dad took his seat, and then the ceremony began.

I wasn’t sure I heard any of it. I was too busy grinning at my daughter, happily sitting in the arms of the man we both loved. Abel’s eyes were that gorgeous sea blue and crinkled at the edges from smiling at me. He wore navy suit pants and a fresh white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. On his head, a black cowboy hat complemented the space cowboy boots I wore beneath my dress.

The officiant lifted her gaze from the two of us and addressed the crowd. “If anyone objects to the union of this man and this woman, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

He was beautiful, and I knew I’d remember this moment forever.

“I object!” a female voice shouted.

Abel’s eyes went wide before I snapped my head around to watch a woman I’d never seen before, running from the direction of the main house. “I object!” she called again. “Henry, don’t do it!”

“What the hell?” Abel asked. “Do you know her?”

I shook my head. “Do you?”

“Never seen her before in my life.”

Henry stood from his spot in the second row, shielding his eyes from the sun’s glare to stare at the woman running with her high heels clutched in her hand. “Ava?”

“Oh Lord,” Lily muttered. “Of course.”

I shot her a questioning look.

“Don’t ask.”

Ava stopped running at Henry calling her name. She glanced between Abel and Henry, and then clutched the back of an empty chair in the last row. Her gaze locked with Henry’s. “You aren’t getting married.”

He gaped at her. “What? No, I’m clearly not.”

Confusion wrinkled her pretty face. “I thought…I mean, I heard…” She turned her gaze to me and Abel. “I’m so sorry. Please continue. I don’t object to the two of you.”

The entire congregation stared at her.

Aiden gave his brother a nudge. “Do something.”

Like startled out of a trance, Henry edged his way out of the row of seats and strode to the back of the chairs, grabbing Ava by the arm and towing her away to his nearby truck. The echoes of their argument floated back until he shot us an apologetic look and then closed the door.

Slowly, I turned back to the officiant and cleared my throat. “What were you saying?”

The woman repeated her question, and this time, when nobody called out an objection, she announced us as husband and wife.

Abel handed Winter to her and then pulled me into his arms. “That was fucking weird,” he whispered.

“Right?” I said in hushed tones back. “What the hell was all that about?”

He shook his head, but then a slight smile pulled at his lips. “It doesn’t matter because you’re my wife.”

I grinned. “And you’re my husband. You better kiss me and make it official. Before one of Aiden’s ex’s shows up too.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

His lips met mine, and our family and friends let up a roar of applause. They poured from their seats to surround us, and Winter ended up back in my arms.

“My two beautiful girls,” Abel whispered. “I don’t know how we got here, but I’m the luckiest motherf—"

"Shh!” I stopped him from swearing. Back home, I’d set him up a swear jar, because Winter would soon be at the point of copying him. “Little ears!”

He kissed me again. “Luckiest motherbucker around.”

Note from Elle

That concludes the Buck Cowboys series! I hope you loved all the Hunt girls’ stories as much as I loved writing them.

If you came into my cowboy world with one of their books, make sure you go back and read the first gen series, Dirty Cowboy. There’s a sneak peek of Bowen and Paisley’s super sexy romance on the following pages.

TALK DIRTY COWBOY SNEAK PEEK

PROLOGUE

BOWEN

Four Years Earlier

Rampage thrashed his solid body against the sides of the metal chute, thoroughly pissed off before I even took a step towards him. The enormous bull had a reputation for being a mean son of a bitch. He didn’t like the noise of the crowd. He didn’t like the ropes around his middle. He sure as hell didn’t like people. Especially those of us dumb enough to try to ride him.

A slow grin spread across my face as the announcer called my name. I eyed Rampage, silently letting him know that this was happening, and who was boss.

He snorted and kicked out, his hooves clanging against the metal enclosure.

His way of saying “fuck you”, I guessed.

“Fair enough,” I muttered under my breath, quitting the silent standoff with the beast and climbing up the rungs of the chute to prepare for my ride. I grabbed the rope, handed it off to Jimmy, my rope guy, and waited for my spotter to grab the back of my vest. The air around me smelled of dirt and animal, earthy and familiar, and I sucked a breath in deep, pushing it into the very bottom of my lungs, letting them expand. For the briefest moment, I let my eyes close. I heard the roar of the crowd. I heard my guys talking. I heard Rampage thrashing around, refusing to settle.

I pictured the argument I’d had with Camille before I’d left for the airport. I saw her standing in the corner of our bedroom, holding our son’s hand so tenderly but looking at me like she no longer knew me. I saw tears rolling down her face.

I saw me walking out the door.

I held my breath until my lungs screamed for oxygen, and then I let it out in one long whoosh. And with the new breath, I let everything fade away. Nothing else mattered. There was nothing but me, the bull beneath me, and eight seconds to glory. This was why I was here. Not just here at the rodeo, but why I’d been put on this earth. I was born to ride bulls.

I settled on Rampage’s back, and for one split second, the vicious bull that had most cowboys quaking in their boots quieted. The rosin warmed, I shoved my fingers into the handle and wrapped the rope around and through my fingers again, pulling it tight, the same way I had a million times before. My chin tucked, I let my mind go blank. Nothing else mattered. I was ready.

I nodded. The universal cowboy signal for “let’s do this thing”.

The gate swung open with a crack of metal against metal and Rampage exploded onto the dirt floor arena. One hand gripping the handle ropes, I held the other up, well away from the massive bull. His back legs kicked out as he spun in frustrated, angry circles, rearing up, kicking out, twisting, turning, his breath coming in fast pants that matched my own. I mirrored his moves, gripping his muscled torso with my thighs and feeling that familiar rush of adrenaline that coursed through my veins. It was that high that all junkies chased. And I was addicted.

Rampage changed directions, bellowing his anger, but I’d anticipated the move and went with him. Five seconds… Rampage bucked into the air. Every muscle in my body worked to keep me on his back… Six seconds… I dug my spurs in, gripping the beast with everything I had. Dirt flew up around us in clouds, Rampage’s deadly hooves churning up the ground… Seven seconds…

The buzzer sounded and suddenly the entire arena erupted into noise, the world flooding back in like a literal smack to the face. It was deafening, the pure intensity of it, and I breathed it in like I needed it to live. Because I did. I craved this high like nothing else.

The rope loosened and I pulled my hand free, then got the hell off Rampage’s back. My knees hit the black dirt with a thud, a sharp pain curling up through my kneecaps and into my thighs and groin, but without wasting a moment, I pushed to my feet and pumped my legs, running to the side of the arena. I scaled the chute with Rampage’s hot breath at my neck, his deadly horns inches from my back.

He shoulder-barged the fence, giving one last angry bray before turning and running down the tunnels to fresh hay and water.

The guys crowded me, thumping me on the back as a laugh bubbled out of my chest.

“He nearly got you, Bowen,” Jimmy said, elbowing me in the ribs.

I shoved him off with a grin. “Nuh. Not today.”

I stood on the side of the arena, waving to the crowd like the cocky bastard I was. They screamed my name and stamped their feet while I waited for my score. It flashed up on the big screen: 90.7. I whooped, taking off my helmet and tossing it across the arena. Ninety point fucking seven! I punched the air, and the crowd went wild.

“That puts you in number one!” Jimmy crowed, fist in the air right along with me. My eyes widened and I spun around to check the leaderboard. He was right. My name was there in neon lights. Bowen Barclay. Number one.

“Bowen Barclay with the ride of the night, ladies and gentlemen!” the announcer called and a pride like nothing I’d ever felt before spread through me.

This. This feeling. This was what I chased every time I got on the back of a bull. These were the moments I lived for.

I jogged back through the tunnels of the arena to the competitors’ locker rooms, guys congratulating me and stopping me every few steps to shake my hand as I went. I stopped and laughed with Colby, taking his good-natured ribbing in stride, then shoved him off when Deacon, my best friend on the tour, grabbed me by the shoulder. He spun me round and I threw my arm around his shoulders and let out a whoop of delight. “Did ya see that ride? A ninety, Deac! Hell yeah!”

I couldn’t stop grinning. My face was actually hurting from how hard I was smiling.

But Deacon didn’t smile back. He didn’t cheer or yell or pull me in for a semi-awkward hug like we always did when one of us nailed a ride. His face was grim, and my good mood faded.

“What?”

He shook his head, his eyes glistening. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He closed it again, coughing to try to clear his throat, but he looked away, unable to meet my gaze.

My heart froze over.

“Deacon, what? Fucking tell me!” I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, a sinking feeling in my stomach. “What happened? Did I get disqualified?”

He shook his head sadly. “It’s Camille, man. I’m so sorry. Your dad just called. He was real choked up, asked me if I’d tell you. He couldn’t do it. Not on the phone.”

Ice spread through my veins, freezing over the hot-headed, arrogant blood that had coursed there just moments earlier. I shook him again but it was half-hearted, fear making my grip weak. “Tell me what?”

“Camille. There was an accident on the farm. She’s…she’s gone, Bowen. The doctors couldn’t save her.”

I stumbled back a step.

“What? No,” I whispered.

Images flashed through my mind. Long dark hair. Smiling blue eyes. Her fingers trailing down my bare back. Her lips pressed to my neck. Her cheek on my chest while we slow danced.

I closed my eyes and saw everything. Saw the last five years of my life. Saw my past. My present and my future.

Then watched it all evaporate into smoke.

PAISLEY

Present Day

The scratched kitchen table was covered in dirty dishes, cutlery, and food scraps. A plastic cup lay on its side, liquid slowly trickling out of it. Ugh. It looked like animals had eaten dinner there, not two small children. A long sigh fell from my lips as I watched the spilled drink drip into a puddle on the floor. At least it was just water, I supposed, as I fished around the sink for a sponge. At least it wasn’t something sticky, and at least it wasn’t dripping onto the carpet.

I made a mental note to check the state of the kitchen before sending Lily upstairs for a bath next time. If she hadn’t been neck-deep in bubbles, I would have had her clean the mess up. I could hear her little girl voice belting out a Moana song from down here, and I smiled despite my annoyance that neither of my children seemed to know where the dishwasher was. Her singing warmed my heart. She took after me like that. I sang a lot too. Especially in, but not limited to, the shower.

Shoving aside the electricity bill that was two weeks overdue, I unearthed my phone and pulled up the Spotify app, scrolling until I found my favourite cleaning playlist. As Sir Mix-a-Lot’s classic nineties hit, “Baby Got Back”, poured through the speakers, I let the bass roll through me. I stacked the pile of dirty plates and danced them to the dishwasher. I couldn’t help it. That damn song was infectious.

By the second chorus I was singing along at the top of my lungs, with my butt shakin’ as I dropped forks into the cutlery holder and filled the sink with soapy water to attack the pots and pans. I attempted a quick little twerk, which went horribly wrong and I vowed to leave that one to the teenagers. Yikes.

“Muuuuuuum! Would you please stop that! Ugh! You’re so embarrassing!”

I spun around, expecting to see my eldest child standing in the doorway with his regular preteen scowl on his face, but there was no one there. So I bumped and grinded the air as I danced towards the adjoining living room, wiping my hands on the back of my jeans as I went.

In the living room, Aiden was staring at the TV like a mindless zombie, his fingers flying over a controller while he played some game that looked suspiciously like a rip-off of The Hunger Games.

“You know, you should never tell someone to stop singing, Aiden. Singing means they’re happy. Sad people don’t sing.”

“Unless you’re Adele,” Aiden muttered.

He had a point.

“Henry! Go to Sandman’s Curse!”

I jumped at his sudden change in volume, then rolled my eyes, realising he had an earpiece in. A microphone dangled on a cord by the far side of his face. The kid was obsessed with this game lately. If I didn’t physically remove it from his hands some days, he’d do nothing else.

“Henry! No, back me up. I’m going in!”

On the screen, animated figures moved around, locating supplies and shooting at their enemies.

“Who are you playing with?” I asked curiously.

It always slightly concerned me when he played online video games, what with all the cyber dangers. He mostly played with a few school friends, but occasionally a name I didn’t know popped up and when that happened, I liked to check out the situation and make sure he actually wasn’t playing with some sicko making out to be a ten-year-old boy. This Henry kid’s name had come up a few times in the past weeks and I hadn’t had the chance to decide if this online friendship they’d developed was appropriate.

“Henry. You know, my bestie.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought Simon Herringdale was your best friend?”

Aiden shrugged. “He is. He’s my school bestie. Henry is my gaming bestie.”

I was surprised when he didn’t add a “duh.”

“Rightio then. Tell Henry I said hi.” I made a note to thoroughly check out this kid.

Aiden shot me a dirty look and covered his microphone with his hand. “I’m not telling him that!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Right, of course not. Sorry to be so uncool.”

He rolled his eyes and went back to his game. Oh boy. He was only ten and already I was dreading the teenage years if this was where this attitude was heading.

I jogged up the stairs as a Celine Dion song came on and sang extra loudly, just so Aiden wouldn’t miss out on the off-key, high-pitched bits that I was super good at. I hadn’t been blessed with much of a singing voice, and it was the true bane of my existence. I would have loved to front a cover band or something. But unlike most of the American Idol wannabes, I knew I was bad. So the only people who got to hear me sing were my two poor, unfortunate children. God save their little ears.

I busted in on Lily and her bathtub full of horses and scooped the giggling five-year-old up into a threadbare towel that really needed to be replaced. I hid my sigh while I dried her off and got her into her pajamas. I deliberately picked out a cute little onesie that made her look younger than she really was and wondered if she’d let me do her hair in pigtails tomorrow. She was getting big and was already in kindergarten. It made me sad sometimes. I missed her and Aiden being babies.

But then I shook my head. I might have missed them being babies, but I didn’t miss the way my life had been back then. Full of stress and always lonely because my husband was a workaholic asshole who cared more about building his business than he did about his wife and children. I’d never sung back then. So now that I was asshole husband free, I made an effort to sing every day. Because he might have walked out of our lives with almost everything I owned and left me with nothing but my children, but it had really been the best thing that had ever happened to me. It gave me the kick up the butt I needed to get myself together. I’d let a man rule my life and left myself vulnerable in the process. I knew better now. Knew myself and what I wanted better too.

I lifted the horse quilt cover and motioned for Lily to jump in. She wiggled beneath the thick, warm blankets and I lay down beside her, reading her a story then waiting until she fell asleep.

I tiptoed back downstairs and crossed my arms over my chest when I noticed Aiden was still engrossed in his video game. “Bed, kiddo.”

I held my hand up in a stop motion before he could even get his complaints out. He rolled his eyes, tossed the controller onto the coffee table, and huffed up the stairs in a funk of mumbled whining.

I pretended not to hear and called goodnight to him as sweetly as I could. Sinking down on the lounge, I let the pile of cushions envelop me in their fluffiness. I loved those kids to pieces, but I was always exhausted by the time they went to bed. I was looking forward to a night of watching Netflix and drinking wine.

But first, I had to clean the bathroom. I picked up a pillow and groaned loudly into it. Oh boy. Was my life ever exciting.

On the TV, Aiden’s video game was still going, his computerized man standing still now that there was no little boy controlling him. “Ugh! Aiden!” I muttered. He was always doing this. Just leaving his stuff turned on for the battery to die. Or leaving his stuff on the stairs. Or basically anywhere but where it was supposed to go. I picked up his headset, looking for the power switch to turn the Bluetooth headphones off, and jumped a mile when a deep voice said, “Hello?”

I glanced at the screen. In the corner, a pop-up window showed a grainy webcam video of a man wearing a headset. My eyes widened. Where had that come from? I checked who Aiden was playing against, with dread rising in my gut—HenryAce111. Oh no. No. No. No. This guy—no, this man—was not the Henry that Aiden had been playing with for the past few weeks.

And worse, the man was smiling, like me standing there gaping amused him.

Wait, could he see me?

Fury raged through me and I yanked the headphones over my ears. “You have got to be kidding me, you creep! How dare you start an online friendship with a ten-year-old boy! What kind of perverted animal are you?”

The smile immediately dropped from the jerk’s face and he put down the controller he’d been holding. He raised his hands slowly in mock surrender, which only made my blood boil hotter.

“Woah, woah.” He leant forward towards his camera. “Back the truck up. You’re Aiden’s mum, right?”

“I am, Henry. If that’s even your name.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“It’s not.”

I barked out a laugh. At least he was an honest sicko. “Of course it’s not. Don’t think I’m not reporting this. I will be—”

He laughed. The sound deep and rumbling. It made me want to reach through the TV and strangle him.

“Wait. Before you call the police, let me explain. I’m Henry’s dad. You’re the singer?”

I paused. “What?”

“You like to sing, yeah?”

His country accent reeked of small-town manners and long days on cattle stations. One I might have found attractive. But not when he was preying on my child and getting off on listening to me sing. Ew! Creep. Dirty, filthy creep. “I—no,” I lied, unable to stomach the thought he might have been…oh god no. I couldn’t let myself go there.

“Yeah, you do. I hear you singing it every day. The big butts song?”

My face flamed red and I suddenly hoped that our webcam was as grainy as his. The thought that he’d been listening to me sing, maybe for weeks now, was downright embarrassing. I’d never considered that anybody could hear what was going on in our house whilst Aiden was gaming. That was naïve of me.

I studied the man’s laid-back body language. He was relaxed on a lounge not that different to my own. He wore a checked shirt, with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, the buttons loose around his neck. His skin was tan, his eyes friendly. He didn’t look like a pervert. But it’s not like being handsome got him off the hook completely. After all, Ted Bundy was a handsome man as well.

“You really heard that?” I asked, a little of the fire going out of me. If he was Henry’s dad, that possibly made sense.

He chuckled, the sound deep and rich. “I did. I’ve heard many of your, uh, performances while Henry plays. You’re good.”

I frowned. Well, that was a red flag. The man was a liar. Nobody enjoyed my singing. Except me.

“Do you really have a son? You’re not trying to groom my child?”

He choked on the word “groom”. “I assure you, I have a kid. I have the messy bedroom and a load of foul-smelling socks to prove it. And here, look.” The camera fuzzed out for a moment, before focusing again on a photo of the man with a child that looked to be Aiden’s age.

It was really a very sweet picture. And I could relate to the dirty socks. That was for sure. Deciding to give the man the benefit of the doubt, I stood up again. “Well, thank you for the singing compliments. I am sorry you had to endure that. I’ll turn this off now.”

I reached for the headphones.

“Wait!”

My hands paused in midair while I waited for him to elaborate.

“Do you want to play?”

I frowned, looking down at the controller in my hands like it was some sort of UFO. “Video games?” Please, oh please let him mean video games. If play meant something else, I’d be shutting down Aiden’s gaming account quicker than you could blink.

On the video, Henry’s dad held up the controller. “Of course,” he said with a puzzled expression.

I let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t. I’ve housework to do. Plus, I don’t…game.”

He scrunched up his face. “Me neither. But do you really want to do housework? I’ve got a load of dirty dishes to wash and I’m avoiding them. You’d be doing me a favour by keeping me from them. One game?”

I thought about the toilets that needed scrubbing. Then focused on the image of the handsome man with the cute accent on my screen. “One game,” I agreed.

Keep reading here : http://mybook.to/DirtyCowboyBoxSet

ALSO BY ELLE THORPE

Dirty Cowboy series (complete)

*Talk Dirty, Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #1)

*Ride Dirty, Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #2)

*Sexy Dirty Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #3)

*Dirty Cowboy boxset (books 1-3)

*25 Reasons to Hate Christmas and Cowboys (a Dirty Cowboy bonus novella, set before Talk Dirty, Cowboy but can be read as a standalone, holiday romance)

Buck Cowboys series (Spin off from the Dirty Cowboy series. Complete.)

*Buck Cowboys (Buck Cowboys, #1)

*Buck You! (Buck Cowboys, #2)

*Can’t Bucking Wait (Buck Cowboys, #3)

*Mother Bucker (Buck Cowboys, $#4)

The Only You series (Contemporary romance. Complete)

*Only the Positive (Only You, #1) - Reese and Low.

*Only the Perfect (Only You, #2) - Jamison.

*Only the Truth - (Only You, bonus novella) - Bree.

*Only the Negatives (Only You, #3) - Gemma.

*Only the Beginning (Only You, #4) - Bianca and Riley.

*Only You boxset

And so many more! Check out www.ellethorpe.com for the complete list of Elle’s books, as well as free bonus scenes and special edition/merch store.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When Abel showed up in his brother’s book, Sexy Dirty Cowboy, I never in a million years would have thought he’d walk back into the Dirty Cowboy world twenty years later and claim one of Kai’s daughters as his woman. I have no idea how that happened, but all I can say is that sometimes characters know what and who they want, and I am merely here to follow their instructions.

I really hope you guys loved Callie and Abel and the end to the Buck Cowboys series. I’ve spent 4 years writing in this world and have loved every second. I don’t know when I’ll be back to my cowboy world but I’m sure you can already tell that Bowen and Paisley’s kids are ready to settle down and fall in love. So I’m sure it won’t be long until Henry is politely asking me why Ava is back, or Creed is up to mischief and needs a woman who can tame him.

Thank you to Jolie Vines, Zoe Ashwood, Emmy Ellis, and Karen Hrdlicka who make up my stellar editing team. And an extra thanks to Jo and Zoe for being my author besties too! Thank you to Sara Massery for the chats, sprints, and graphic design advice. Thank you to Shellie, Dana, Louise, and Sam for your early feedback. A massive thank you to my promo and review team for always being there for me. As well as my Drama Llamas Readers Group for being my daily chatting and hang out space.

And as always, a huge thank you to my family. To Jira, Thomas, Flick, and Heidi. You four are the loves of my life and I couldn’t do any of this without you.

Love, Elle x

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elle Thorpe lives in a small regional town of NSW, Australia. When she’s not writing stories full of kissing, she’s wife to Mr Thorpe who unexpectedly turned out to be a great plotting partner, and mummy to three tiny humans. She’s also official ball thrower to one slobbery dog named Rollo. Yes, she named a female dog after a dirty hot character on Vikings. Don’t judge her. Elle is a complete and utter fangirl at heart, obsessing over The Walking Dead and Outlander to an unhealthy degree. But she wouldn’t change a thing.

You can find her on Facebook or Instagram(@ellethorpebooks or hit the links below!) or at her website www.ellethorpe.com. If you love Elle’s work, please consider joining her Facebook fan group, Elle Thorpe’s Drama Llamas or joining her newsletter here. www.ellethorpe.com/newsletter