Page 46 of Wilde Ride

He closed his eyes and let out another tortured groan. When he opened them again, he nodded. “I’m only doing this because you need to get laid.”

I laughed. “You actually think I’m going to find someone here in River Falls?”

“The number of people coming from Granby each weekend will help with that.”

My brows raised. “You’re hooking up with tourists?”

He shrugged. “Why not? I get what I want, the girl gets what she wants, and we go our separate ways.”

I shook my head. “I’m not interested in one-night stands, Caden.”

“You say that now.”

Laughing, I rubbed at the ache in the back of my neck. “We should head over to the barn.”

By the time we got back to the barn, Emeline, Gatlin, and Rhett were riding up.

“Dad!” Rhett called out as he approached.

“Did he just call me dad? One outing with your brother and sister, and my son grew ten years older.”

Caden laughed.

I watched as Rhett got off the mare as if he’d done it a thousand times. Rushing over to me, he was practically hyperventilating.

“Take a deep breath, son,” I said, as I knelt to get eye level with him. Damn if I didn’t love this kid. He was the only good thing I had left in this world, and my only connection to Brooke. I could see her every time I looked into his eyes. It made me both happy and sad. There was no doubt in my mind, they were both my kids. I hated Caroline for what she’d put Rhett through, and now for causing even a single doubt that Brooke was my daughter.

“Daddy, guess what?”

My chest squeezed a little at the word daddy. I wasn’t ready for Rhett to move to dad…or worse yet, father. I shuddered.

“What?” I asked with a smile.

“Uncle Gatlin roped a calf, and then guess who else did!”

“Tell me it wasn’t you.”

“It was Ms. Emeline! She did it better than Uncle Gatlin, and faster, too!”

“Hey!” Gatlin mock complained as he pulled the saddle off his horse for Marshall to grab. “Thank you, Marshall.”

I glanced over at Emeline, who was removing her saddle and carrying it herself, following Marshall into the barn to the tack room.

“That doesn’t surprise me. Did you know that their sister, Ensley, is a farrier?”

Rhett’s eyes went wide. “She is?”

Gatlin chimed in. “If you don’t meet her before camp, she’ll be popping in and out helping, and she even demonstrates for the kids what she does.”

Rhett looked back at me. “I want to meet her!”

“I’m sure you’ll meet her before camp,” Caden said, placing his hand on Rhett’s head and ruffling his hair.

Jumping in excitement, Rhett threw himself into me, wrapped his arms around my neck, and said, “I’m so happy we moved to River Falls!”

I hugged him back. He drew away, a smile still on his face. “Brooke would have loved it here. But I know she’s watching us, ’cause Grammy and Emeline said she was.”

At that moment, Emeline walked out of the barn and looked our way. She smiled, and I returned the expression. The feeling I experienced from earlier came back, but this time so hard it nearly knocked me back on my ass.