Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Caine,” she says, “I can’t do this.”
I close my eyes. “Don’t give up on me,” I beg her. “Don’t give up on us.”
We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity. “If we are going to try this again, there have to be rules.”
“I’ll agree to whatever you want.” My heart soars in my chest.
“No more hiding that we’re a couple.”
“Agreed,” I say. “It was killing me anyway, and fucking Kevin was getting on my last nerve.”
“You need to let this age thing go,” she demands. “I don’t care if you are older than me by one year or a hundred years.”
“You’ll keep me young,” I joke with her. “I might even try to abbreviate things.”
She chuckles. “I have a rule also,” I state, and she just looks at me. “I want you to spend more time at my house. Even if you have school, I want you to do it at my house.”
“But Meadow,” she quickly chimes in, and another reason I love her, she’s more worried about what my daughter thinks than I am.
“We had a chat in the last two days,” I tell her. “As much of a chat as you can have with a four-year-old. I told her I wanted you to have sleepovers.” Her eyes go big. “She said she liked sleepovers.”
“I love her,” she finally shares with me.
“I know,” I admit. “I know you do.”
“I think I fell in love with her the second she threw up on me.” I chuckle. “I mean, I was already starting to fall in love with her father, so—” It’s my turn to gasp. “I love you, Caine. You and your stupid, stubborn head.” I don’t let her say another word before I squeeze her face in my hands and kiss her lips. Her hands grip my waist as I pull her closer to me. The kiss is better than I remembered it being. I’m about to turn my head to the side when we hear the crunching of rock, and she turns her head to the side.
An old pickup truck parks, looking at us. The driver’s door opens, and a man steps out wearing old jeans, a button-down shirt, with a cowboy hat on his head. “Shit,” Grace curses as the man walks toward us. The rim of his hat blocks me from seeing his eyes.
“Well, well, well.” His voice comes out when he gets close enough. “Thought I’d find y’all here.”
“Grandpa,” Grace says, putting her arm around my waist, “this is Caine.”
“Aha,” he says, smirking, “the face behind the voice.” He extends his hand. “Nice to meet you finally.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.” I shake his hand. “Thank you for all your help.”
Grace looks at her great-grandfather and then looks at me, about to ask me something when we hear horses coming from the other side. A big black horse stops near us, and I see it’s her grandfather on the horse, and beside him is her father with Meadow in front of him. “He’s a real cowboy.” Meadow points at Billy. “Can you ride horses?” she asks him.
“Grandpa,” Grace states proudly, leaving my side, “this is Meadow. Meadow, this is my great-grandfather Billy. The best cowboy ever.”
“Excuse me,” Casey says, “I was the rodeo king.”
“A million years ago,” Quinn deadpans.
“Why don’t you bring her over to the house?” Billy says to Quinn. “Get her on her own pony.”
Meadow gasps, “My own pony?” Her eyes go big. “Do you have a pony?” She looks at Grace.
“I have three,” she tells her, and I swear Meadow looks at me like I’ve given her nothing in her life.
“There is a horse in the barn,” Quinn says to Billy, “saddled up.”
“Then I’ll be out in a second,” he says to them, turning to me. “I take it you will be staying for dinner.”
“No,” Casey answers.
At the same time, Grace looks at me and says, “Yes.”
“When will you learn?” Quinn tells Casey. “Remember Sofia? You now own a hockey team, and you still can’t skate.”
“I can too skate,” Casey defends. “I just can’t stop on time.”
Grace turns to me. “How does my great-grandfather Billy know you?”
“I called him yesterday,” I tell her. “I figured if I had to come here, I would get at least one person on my side.” Her mouth hangs open. “He hung up on me the first four times.”
“Wow,” she says.
“I would have taken on the whole family if I had to,” I inform her. “Nothing was going to stop me from getting to you.”
She looks up at me, the tears a distant memory, her eyes glimmering in the sunshine. My chest fills with a different feeling this time. A feeling of fullness, a feeling of peace, a feeling of happiness. Here in the middle of this farm, I’ve never felt more at peace. “You know what we have to do next, don’t you?” She gets up on her tippy-toes and whispers in my ear, “Make-up sex.”