Cowboy Up (Coming Home #3)

The rest I’m hoping like hell Maverick took care of. Otherwise I’m going to be winging it and not giving Caroline a fraction of the romance she deserves. I can’t remember a time I’ve ever cared about that, but I want to give her memories that have her feeling our love for the rest of our lives.

Moving my hips, I lean back slightly. Dell instantly slows his trot. I wait, giving Onyx time to follow my lead, pleased as hell when he does so without hesitation. I hear Caroline gasp, but keep my eyes on Onyx while he follows Dell to the tie-off post. Dismounting, I loop Dell’s reins around the post before taking Onyx’s from Caroline and doing the same. Both horses stretch their necks to drink from the large watering basin as I move to her side and, with my hands on her hips, help her to her feet. Only when she’s grounded do I look over her head.

This spot has always been my favorite within all our acres: the peak where our land is the highest and the trees are few and far between. From here, you can see part of Maverick’s land to the west, where he has a few housing structures for the riders enrolled in his rodeo school. The other side is all Davis land. Nothing but green earth and blue skies. Untouched by any man and unblemished by any structure aside from the fence that used to keep cattle locked in.

“I used to come out here when I needed to get away. When my pops was drunk out of his mind and fightin’ with anyone who would look at him. When Quinn’s cryin’ got too much to bear, knowin’ I couldn’t fix what hurt her or bring the only person she wanted back. And when Maverick left town, I found myself out here more and more. Wouldn’t do anything more than just look out across our land, focusin’ on nothin’ and wishin’ more than anything I could’ve protected them more. This was the only place on this ranch that felt like home to me, even after my pops passed away. Here the only thing I had to worry about was myself. Still, after he passed, and this place became all mine, I never felt like it was home unless I was out here.” I pause, walking over to the table that Maverick set up for me, grabbing the bottle of red wine sitting atop it, and filling the two glasses placed next to it. “I felt like that my whole life, Linney. Never findin’ peace in my own house, on my own land, long enough to let me find my home—my sanctuary. It wasn’t until a beautiful good girl, lookin’ to be bad, sat down next to me in a dirty bar. There you were, surrounded by drunks and bikers, lookin’ like you stepped out of the pages of a magazine—you were pure temptation. That moment, before we even left Hazel’s, I felt like somethin’ had snapped in place deep inside my chest. I found my sanctuary—my home—that night in your arms. I found it and almost lost it forever after just one night. You’ll never know how thankful I am that I got my second chance. Knowin’ that we might never have found this if I woulda let my stubborn pride keep me from findin’ you—that kills me.”

Her wide brown eyes stay locked on mine when I stop talking and hand her a glass of wine, then take a sip from my own glass.

“One day, we’re gonna bring our children here, Linney, and you’re goin’ to sit on a blanket between my legs while they run all over this damn hill. Laughter will echo across our land while we bask in what our love created. There’ll never be a day that I don’t love you. Not one. I wasn’t plannin’ on you, baby, and I know you weren’t plannin’ on me, but sometimes what we need to finally feel whole is what we least expect. You are that for me.”

“Clayton,” she whispers, tears filling her eyes.

“Just a second, darlin’,” I interrupt, bending to kiss her nose before taking our glasses and placing them on the table next to the picnic basket.

“Clayton,” she repeats softly; this time I hear her tears in her voice.

“Sweetness, one second.” When I turn, seeing the worry in her eyes, I take her face between my hands gently. “What is it, Linney?”

She swallows, her whole head moving in my grasp as she does. Her mouth moves, opening and closing, but no words come. I relax my grip and bend to press our lips together. It doesn’t take long before our kiss turns hungry and I regretfully pull my mouth from hers.

“You good?” I ask with a smile that grows when her eyes don’t open for a few more pounding beats of my heart. Finally her lashes flutter, and she looks at me in a daze.

“I just . . . I don’t want you to think that I expect you to . . . I don’t know! I mean, I was jokin’, wantin’ to let that nasty woman know she was wrong about you, but the second the words left my mouth I . . . I’m freakin’ out here, Clayton!”