Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
A soft chuckle came from his lips. “I almost asked not to.”
We both laughed. “I will be getting on birth control ASAP.”
“Good!” he said. Then he stood and cupped my face with his hands. “But it’s not just about the crazy hot sex we have, or the fact that you just gave me a blowjob in my father’s office.”
I laughed and dropped my head onto his chest.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Timber.”
My breath caught in my throat and tears pooled in my eyes as I looked up at him. “What did you just say?”
Tanner took my hand and placed it on his chest.
“Do you feel that?”
I nodded.
“It beats only for you. I knew it the first time I saw you, and I know it even more now. Some people don’t believe in love at first sight, and I think at one point in my life I was one of those people. But I’m a believer now.”
“Me too,” I softly whispered.
“I’m about to ask you something, and I’m not sure what you’re going to say.”
I laughed. “What is it?”
“Move in with me, Timberlynn.”
I was positive my eyes nearly popped out of my head. “You want me to move into your bedroom with you? In your folks’ house?”
Tanner laughed, hard. “God, no, Timber. I mean, let’s move into a house together.”
This time I smiled. “You want to move in together?”
“Yes.”
I sighed, my happy bubble deflating as real life poked its ugly head back in. “My father, he’s…”
“Wait…before you say anything, I have an idea that I want to run by you. I’ve already spoken to my parents about it. It’s actually what Merit was talking about.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve asked my folks if we can purchase the cabin on the lake.”
His words rattled around in my head for a few moments. “The cabin? You mean the house on the lake? Because it’s not a cabin, Tanner.”
“Yes,” he chuckled. “The house on the lake.”
I shook my head. “Wait, you said we. As in, me and you?”
“Yes. I know it’s a huge leap on your part, and a big risk. But I don’t really see us breaking up, so…”
I put my hand to my forehead to ward off the instant headache. “Tanner, wait. This is moving way too fast.”
He stared at me like I just said the craziest thing. “I just told you I wanted to spend my future with you, what difference does it make if we start early? If we purchase this land from my parents, your father won’t even know about it because it’ll all be done in-house. He can’t interfere or outbid anyone.”
I swallowed hard and looked out one of the windows toward the lake in the distance. His thinking made sense. But a million what-ifs ran through my mind. I pulled in a deep breath and faced him.
“Buying a house together is a huge leap in any relationship. But buying a house that sits on your family’s land is altogether insane. Tanner, as much as I want a future with you, what if things don’t work out? Then what would I do? I’d have all of my money invested into a house and land that was sitting on your family’s property. I can’t do that. It’s not that I don’t trust you or trust us, but we’re still so new in this relationship. I just now got control over my future, Tanner. I don’t want to risk losing it again.”
After a few moments of thinking, he nodded his head. “I can understand your worry. There’s about two-hundred acres that separate the cabin…”
I raised a brow.
“Fine, the lake house from the next ranch. The Peterson’s own it.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“When Brock and his first wife got married, my folks gifted him the house my granddaddy had built. It sat on the edge of the ranch’s perimeter, so it was easy for them to simply cut off a small portion of the ranch and give it to Brock and Kaci. Well, Kaylee and Ty now own it. There’s a couple hundred acres of land with it. Then Brock had a house he built on the ranch. Again, my folks carved out a piece of the ranch and gave it to him. What if I talked to the Peterson family and asked them if they‘d be interested in selling you some of the land that butts up to the land that I’m going to buy from my folks?”
My heart started to beat a little faster in my chest. “Do you think they’d be willing to sell some land? And do it privately?”
“We could ask them. Or the other option is, you hang onto your money and start your business now on the land I buy. Plus, you’ll have full use of the entire ranch. If things work out, then we make it all legal with your name on it.”