Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
She’s crying again, fisting my shirt in her hand. “Please don’t fuck me over. Because this all sounds so, so nice, baby. You’re right. It is a dream. But if you take that away from me—”
“My brothers’ll take me out long before you do if I ever fall down on y’all. That’s not part of the game plan, Blue. Trust me.”
She looks at me. I look back.
“I’ll try. To trust you.”
“You need some convincing, that’s not gonna be a problem. Surely you know that.”
“Oh, I know,” she says with a laugh. “You can be relentless.”
“We call that grit around here.”
“Whatever it is, I like it.”
“I’ll make sure our baby has plenty of it.”
She takes a sharp breath through her nose. “We’re doing this. We’re going to have a baby.”
“Yes, sweetheart.” I smooth her dress over her thighs. “We’re having a baby. But first, we’re having dinner. Then I think I’m gonna have you in the shower again.”
Her laughter is a warm gust on my lips as she leans in to kiss me. “This is wild.”
“Exactly why it’s right.” I kiss her back. “Maybe wild is what we’re looking for.”
She pulls back. “What do we tell your brothers? And my parents…”
“Lemme ask you a question.”
“Okay.”
“Introduce me to them as your boyfriend.”
Wheeler chuckles. “That’s not a question.”
“Would you? Call me your boyfriend?”
“Only if you call me your girlfriend.”
My stomach dips. She’s trying, and I appreciate that more than she’ll ever know.
“Deal.” I hold out my hand. “Might lessen the blow if they think your boyfriend got you pregnant instead of some random-ass hookup in Aspen.”
“Gross. Who gets knocked up that way?”
My turn to laugh. “Not you now, seeing as we’re dating and shit.”
“I think I like this dating and shit thing.”
I grin. “I think I do too.”
What I don’t say? That I wanna be more than the boyfriend.
I wanna be the one.
Her man.
CHAPTER 28
Three’s Company
Wheeler
Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders. “So I have a proposal.”
Mollie holds up her left hand, her engagement ring twinkling in the overhead lights. “Sorry, I’m taken.” With her right, she pops a potato chip into her mouth.
“Ha. Trust me, I’d never step on Cash’s toes.” I set my laptop on the kitchen island, then dig into the bag of chips. I’ve never been particularly turned on by sour cream and onion, but these are delicious. “This is a business proposal. You have a minute?”
Chomping on her chips, Mollie grabs a napkin and uses it to wipe her hands. “For you? Always. Talk to me, partner.”
“You and the cowgirl stuff.” I smile as I open my laptop. “Suits you.”
She wiggles her shoulders. “I know. You’ve been looking mighty comfortable around the ranch yourself these days. I’m not the only one who’s noticed how at home you are here.”
I’ve been smiling so much lately my face literally hurts. “Y’all take good care of me. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss Dallas sometimes—”
“Same. Which is why we go back every so often to scratch our city girl itch.”
“Right. But life on the ranch…I don’t know what I was expecting, but I really like it.”
Mollie digs for more chips. “That have anything to do with why you and Duke decided to keep the baby?”
“It absolutely does, yeah.” I scroll through my docs before I find the right one. Clicking on it, I pull up the PowerPoint presentation I’ve been working on day and night. I think I make a convincing case, but this is a big ask, so who knows. “I feel supported here. Seen. And I imagine that’s really important when it comes to where you choose to raise your kids. Imagine how cool it would be to grow up here, riding horses, hanging outside all the time, being surrounded by a zillion aunts and uncles and cousins.”
Mollie’s eyes are bright when she replies, “Why do you think I got pregnant so fast?”
“Because your husband is super hot and you can’t stop riding his mustache?”
“You don’t get pregnant from riding their mustaches, Wheeler.”
Laughter works its way up my sides. “Really? Never would’ve guessed.”
“It’s still a good time, though. The mustache rides. You should ask Duke to grow one. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to oblige. Honestly, what wouldn’t that man do to make you happy?”
The knowledge that she’s right gives me this weightless feeling in my center. Duke really cares about how I’m feeling.
He cares about me, period.
Time to show him that I care just as much about him.
“That’s actually a great segue into what I wanted to talk to you about.” I angle the laptop so Mollie can get a better look at the screen, my pulse banging inside my ears. “Duke does make me happy, so I want to make him happy too. Which is why I’d like to bring him on board at Bellamy Brooks.”