Page 70 of The Maverick's Homecoming

“Got it.”

Finn would happily have hung around with Kenzie all day. But he had practice at ten and then real estate to sell in the afternoon.

Recovery practice was tough. Everyone felt low. Barrett led the team through a series of gentle stretches followed by light jogging, foam rolling and cold therapy. It fell to Finn to lead the game-film review and to talk about what they’d done right and what needed work. He kept it positive, focusing on new short-term goals, team unity and lessons learned.

Everyone wanted to know how Sean was doing. Finn reported that he’d called Sean’s father before practice and learned that Sean had been through surgery. When he explained that Sean’s prognosis was for a full recovery, everyone cheered.

“You can’t visit yet,” Finn told them. “For now, send get-well cards, gift cards for games and food, stuff that would cheer you up, stuff you would want if you were stuck in a bed recovering for a while.”

After practice, Finn just wanted to head back to Kenzie’s house, maybe stand at her door looking pathetic and emotionally needy until she took pity on his sorry ass and let him in. But no. He went right to work showing properties. His first appointment was only a few miles from town, but he had a 2:00 p.m. showing more than an hour away.

Once that second showing was over, he started to drive home. But ten miles down the highway on his way back to Tenacity, he slowed his crew cab, eased over onto the shoulder and pulled to a stop.

Staring off into the distance at miles of rolling prairie broken here and there by solitary rock formations and swathes of drift fencing, he made his decision. Life was too short. Anything could happen. He needed Kenzie to know how he felt and how much she meant to him.

He waited until the road was clear. Then he turned his crew cab around. Now he was headed for the larger town of Bronco and the upscale shopping area in what was known as Bronco Heights.

Once he got there, it didn’t take him long to find Beaumont and Rossi’s, a high-end jewelry store. An hour later, he came out with what he hoped was the perfect ring for Kenzie. It was not only absolutely beautiful, but also a ring she could wear on the job. The setting made it so she could pull on an exam glove without snagging. The ring had a round two-carat diamond in what the saleswoman called a low-profile bezel setting. The band was vintage gold. He thought it was gorgeous, that it was the ring she would choose over all the others. He sure hoped Kenzie would think so, too.

All the way back home, he argued with himself. She’d made it achingly clear she wouldn’t be wearing any man’s ring ever again.

But he couldn’t help hoping, couldn’t help wanting one more chance at a life with her. There was no way to get that chance except to ask for it…with all his heart and soul.

Back at his place, he paced the floor, muttering to himself, trying to come up with just the right words, the words that would dispel all her doubts and her fears. The words that would show her she was everything to him, that he would never let her down again, that he would always be there for her and for her little girl.

But nothing he could think of to say sounded right. Nothing sounded…good enough. Because come on. Why should she believe him, anyway? He’d let her down so completely before.

Plus, she’d said more than once that she wouldn’t be marrying anyone ever again, that it would be her and her little girl, a family of two. Kenzie Osborne was a smart woman, a woman who knew what she wanted. He should probably believe her, take her at her word and accept that this, what they shared right now, was as good as it was going to get for them.

He paced the floor, feeling out of his depth, hoping against hope to summon the right words that would make her agree to give him one more shot at forever with her.

His phone chimed with a text…from Kenzie.

You hungry? I made chili. Come on over.

Chili.Kenzie made great chili. And then after dinner he could—

He froze in mid-step. What was the matter with him?

Was that his plan? Go to her place, chow down on her chili and then drop to one knee?

He was embarrassed that he’d even considered such a weak-ass move.

He should be putting together a grand gesture, taking her somewhere special, sweeping her off her feet, overwhelming her with the forethought and the attention to detail that went into setting the scene for the perfect proposal.

But when, exactly, could the two of them leave town for a romantic getaway?

They couldn’t. Not in the next month or two.

And after that, she would be having her baby. By then, as she’d said more than once, their love affair would be over.

He really did need to make his move before they went back to being friends only, didn’t he?

Hell if he knew. Hewantedto make his move before she ended it. Once he was relegated to the friend zone he would be even less likely to get a yes out of her.

Wouldn’t he?

Maybe a nice evening out. Say, dinner at Satterfield’s…