Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
I want to tell her what she means to me, but I can’t. Not yet. Not after we just fucked on the back of my mechanical bull. I need her to understand it’s not the sex talking, but my heart, so now is not the time, but that’s okay. There will be another moment, one where my cock isn’t nestled deep inside her, when I can confess those three little words.
“We should stop the bull,” she says, lifting her head from where it was buried in my neck.
“I tossed the remote.” I nod to where it’s lying on the floor with our clothes, and she laughs.
Then she looks me square in the eye and says, “Bull riding might be my new favorite hobby.”
I toss my head back in laughter. This woman has no idea what she does to me, but she will. Soon.
Fifteen
Baylor
* * *
Sisters’ night.
Just thinking it has a lump forming in my throat. For years, I’ve only experienced these nights in person once or twice a year. The rest of them, I was behind a screen, watching my sisters, participating where I could, but this, sitting in the living room where it all started, is what matters.
I’m so mad at myself for staying gone as long as I did. For staying in a relationship that had fizzled far too long ago. But that’s all behind me now. I can’t dwell on the past. I’m here in the flesh, not just through a screen, and I’ll be here for all of them going forward.
“Sisters’ night looks a little different this time.” Leighton smiles over at me. “I’m glad you’re home, Bay.”
Yeah, that lump is growing, and this time, it’s accompanied by tears that warm the backs of my eyes, but I blink them away. I breathe through them as I smile and clear my throat. “Not just me, but baby Lainey, too,” I say, my voice miraculously not giving away the emotions rolling through me.
“Did someone call for us?” Ellison asks, stepping out of her bedroom, our parents’ old room, with her three-week-old daughter in her arms.
“Dibs!” I say, standing and taking my niece from her mom’s arms. “Hey, sweet girl,” I coo at her. She’s snoozing away, not a care in the world, just as it should be.
Ellison settles on the couch with a happy smile tugging at her lips.
“Are we ordering pizza?” Courtlynn asks, taking a seat at the opposite end of the couch from Ellison.
“Yeah, and I made a charcuterie board,” Leighton says. “Let me grab it. What does everyone want to drink?”
“Bay, you should help her. I’ll take Lainey,” Courtlynn says, and I chuckle.
“Not happening, Court. I just got her.” She’s not impressed but stands to help Leighton anyway.
“When I get back, you’d better share!” she calls over her shoulder.
“Aunt Court is being bossy,” I whisper to my sleeping niece.
“Already so spoiled.” Ellison chuckles.
“Yeah, and her daddy is the culprit. How did you manage to get your husband out of the house for a few hours?” I ask her as Courtlynn and Leighton deliver our drinks and place some snacks on the coffee table. “That looks amazing, Lei.”
“You should hand over the baby, and you can try it,” Courtlynn sasses.
“Nice try. I’m not done snuggling yet.” I stick my tongue out at her, because it’s not sisters’ night without reverting to our childhood, right?
“I had to enlist the guys. They’re all over at Macklin’s, hanging out in his shop.”
“You mean the man cave he likes to call a barn?” I laugh.
“You’ve seen it?” Ellison asks.
“Yeah, that’s where he works out.” And houses his mechanical bull, which he did filthy things to me on, but I keep that to myself.
“I gave Bo, Mac, and Dix strict instructions that we get four hours of uninterrupted sister time before he can come home.”
“Momma’s putting her foot down, Lainey.” I grin, and my sisters nod in approval.
“Well, speaking of the guys, what’s up with you and Macklin?” Courtlynn asks. Her question is accompanied by her sticking her tongue out at me, and all I can do is laugh. I deserve that.
“Macklin—” I pause, then word vomit. I tell them everything that’s happened since I’ve been back in Magnolia Ridge. Well, not everything. They don’t know about the day in the stables—at least not what happened after Todd left—and I don’t tell them about the mechanical bull.
“Damn, Mac’s all in, huh?” Ellison asks.
I nod. “It’s hard for me to trust it, you know? After what Todd did to me. At first, I struggled, but Macklin did what he said he would. He told me he was going to be there. He wanted to be a part of my life, and he’s stuck to that. Making me dinner, buying me a Christmas present, taking care of me after we both left the hospital, exhausted, when this little cutie pie was born.” I smile down at Lainey. She’s so damn tiny and precious, and I love her so much.