Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Fuck the rules!” he yelled suddenly. “They were stupid and were bound to break anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
He closed the distance between us, gripping my arms. “How could I resist you, Sammy? You snuck into my heart and settled there right away. Your fire, your sass. Your beautiful sunshine smile that lit up my life. Everything about you held me in wonder. You made the ranch feel like home again simply by being there with me. I love your mind and the way you make everything around you beautiful. You brighten every part of my life.” He shook his head. “I even love how you worry about making my cows happier with your damn yellow paint.” He moved his hands to my face, cupping it. “Since you’ve been here, nothing has been as hard to handle. Knowing I’d get to see you made everything right. My responsibilities seemed easier because you were there.” He huffed a laugh. “You made me forget it wasn’t forever.”
“What are you saying?” I whispered, my throat tight.
“I was a complete jackass. Your words made reality hit, and the thought of you being gone threw me. I wasn’t prepared for how it made me feel.”
“How?”
His eyes blazed down into mine. “Empty. Lonely. You fill me up, Lady. That beautiful, sunshine smile. Your laughter, how you tease me.” He lifted his eyebrows. “How you put me in my place. Even when I piss you off and you flip me. I told myself we were just for now, but my heart knew better even when I refused to listen. From the first, I adored every single thing about you. Every. Single. Thing. Then adoration became more.”
“More?” I asked, hardly believing what I was hearing.
“I love you,” he said simply. “I love you.”
“But?” I asked.
“But I’m worried I can’t have you.”
“Why?” I asked, my heart racing. “Luke, why?”
His gaze was tormented. “I can’t give you children. I can’t give you what you have now. I can’t compete with BAM and the Gavin Group. I have no planes or RVs. No rich friends to drop by and help me out. All I have is a ranch that needs my attention. A bank account that is in the red half the time. I have nothing to offer you.”
“Instead of telling me what you can’t give me, why don’t you think about what you can give me?”
He frowned. “What?”
I stepped closer. “Your heart. Your love. Your strength and protectiveness. That’s what I need, Luke. You.”
He dropped his hands in resignation. “How can that be enough? How can I be enough?”
“Because you are.” I sighed. “I’ve always been restless, looking for something. With you, my soul feels at peace.” I touched his cheek. “I think maybe I was looking for you. For this place.”
“Sammy,” he breathed. “You have that wrong. I’ve been waiting for you. You make me whole.”
We stared at each other. “But children—” he started, and I cut him off.
“You know how I feel about adoption. Think of the difference we could make for a child who needs love. And I’m not BAM. I’m not my family. They are wealthy. I am not. I want to keep working. Our bank accounts can help each other. Because that’s what partners do. Help each other.”
His breathing picked up, his chest moving fast. “You want to be my partner?” He swallowed. “Still?”
“I want to be your everything.”
A beat of silence stretched between us, and it felt as if my world hung in the balance. Then he cupped my cheek again, stroking the skin with his thumb. “Lady, you already are.”
Happiness welled in my chest. “Ask me, Luke. Ask me to come back and stay. Believe in this. In us.”
“Come back to me, Sammy. Come back and stay with me. Let me love you. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Tears rolled down my face. “Yes.”
Then I was in his arms, his mouth on mine. He held me tight, his kiss hungry and passionate. It was a kiss of hello and celebration. Of love and a future. It was us.
And it was over far too quickly.
He set me on my feet. “I’m an idiot, Sammy.”
“My idiot.” I smiled up at him.
“I need your strength. Your love. I need you.”
“You have me, Luke.”
He yanked me into his arms again.
My family piled outside the RV, slapping Luke’s shoulder, lifting me in hugs.
Aiden grinned. “Good groveling, Luke.”
I rolled my eyes. “I suppose you were all listening.”
No one denied it; they only smirked.
“I tried to stop them,” Mom said.
“That’s like trying to stop a freight train,” Luke teased, wrapping his arm around my waist.
Everyone grinned, not at all put off by his observation.
When my dad approached Luke, he stiffened.
“You gonna do right by my girl?”
“Yes, sir. I want to marry her. I’ll do everything in my power to make her happy. I know I don’t have much—”