Page 67 of The Cowboy and the Baby

Grounding.

Reminding.

I couldn’t absolutely lose it in the middle of the grimy Dance-Hall-Slash-Bar. Noelle deserved better. Her smile, the way her hair haloed around her, the gentle crash of her body as I pulled her into my arms, the light tap of her feet, had been an enchanting inevitability. This night was never going to end any other way.

The truck rumbled to life, and I sat there for a second. I shivered, and she went to offer me my coat, but I held up a hand.

“You keep it.”

She hesitated, then burrowed farther inside. Did I share her dazed expression? Did I appear as . . . flabbergasted . . . as her? Because what happened back there wasn’t just a kiss. It was a whole damn opera.

The sound of a life changing.

World shifting.

I knew the moment I met Noelle and Lily that my life would never be the same, but I didn’t know any other moment could top it for sheer intensity. I’d never felt like this in my life, not once.

“Cade?”

Her tentative question brought me jolting out of the reverie. I blinked, realized cold air blew on my hot cheeks, and looked at her. Wariness had stolen across her features. How long had I been sitting here like an idiot?

I reached over, put my hand on her arm. “Sorry. I just . . . I’m not good at romance, Noelle. But I . . . I’ve never experienced a kiss like that in my life. Not once.”

Relief flooded her features. She leaned in with a saucy, dreamy smile and whispered, “Me, too.”

After raising myself, Cora, Cody, and Wyatt, I considered my life packed with big challenges and my responsible response to all of them. When rubber met the road, I was there. I showed up. I worked hard. I did what I had to be doing, and bad luck was forgotten. But whatever strength I built up after all those slogging years completely abandoned me.

I kissed her again.

There, in the truck, in the parking lot, like high schoolers who couldn’t help themselves. But Noelle didn’t seem to care. She slid across the seat until I could pull her into my arms again, and we warmed up the truck before the heater did.

When I forced myself to pull away, she looked up. Her starstruck eyes had only brightened, and I inwardly groaned at the idea of separating from her.

“Let’s get out of here. There are better places than a parking lot to do this.”

She slid the middle seat belt across her lap, clicked it in place, and wrapped her hands around my arm. Her head tilted onto my shoulder. I put my hand on her thigh, pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She sighed in response.

After we picked her up from Dagny’s house, Lily slept the whole way home.

She didn’t awaken when I accidentally jostled her while attaching her car seat to the holder in the back. Noelle waved to Dagny from the front seat while I settled Lily, returned to the driver’s seat, and felt relief as Noelle cuddled next to me again.

The ranch lay quiet as we crept inside. Noelle slipped into her bedroom with the baby while I grabbed my pajamas, stepped into a hot shower, and let all of my thoughts slide away from me.

By the time I finished, Noelle was on the couch, wearing a tattered pair of sweats, her hair up in that messy ponytail, and a look crossed between terror and elation as she studied my face. I knew the look well. Felt the same.

Could this be real?

The thought of Noelle afraid of anything sent me to her side fast, and I wrapped her in my arms, pulled her off the cushions, and swung her around. She entered my embrace willingly, with her head against my chest, arms tucked between us like a little kid seeking comfort.

I reached down, swiped an arm beneath her knees, and brought her all the way into the air. She squeaked, clung to my shoulders, and then giggled again when I lowered us onto the couch together.

Noelle molded into me. Arms around my torso, head pressed to my neck. My hand went to her hair, stayed there. I tangled my fingers in it, just to finally feel it. She relaxed like she belonged.

Forever. I was ready. This was it. Noelle, Lily, and me against the world. I’d have to bring the two knuckleheads with us for a while longer, but they weren’t so bad, and they’d eventually break out on their own. Noelle? Lily? Those were my girls.

But how to say it without sounding like a neanderthal?