Page 68 of The Cowboy Who Stayed
“You... have?”
He nods. “I wanted you to get there on your own with no pressure from me. After what you’ve been through, I know what those words cost you. I know what it means when you say them.”
As if I could be more certain I’m in love with this man.
Hearing his consideration and thoughtfulness even when it comes to this makes me match his smile.
I lean across the table and kiss him on the lips.
Short and sweet but full of affection.
Rhett only pulls me closer, right out of my chair ’til I’m sliding into his lap.
Our simple little kiss turns into a longer, deeper one. My fingers card through his hair as his arms settle around my hip and thigh.
We’re immersed in our kissing session until I feel him wince in his chair. I draw back with both hands cupping his jaw.
“You alright?”
He grimaces slightly. “Looks like the sink repair is catching up with me. Back’s a little off. But it’s alright. C’mere—”
“Nope,” I say firmly. I pop to my feet, no longer perched in his lap. “You’re not about to disguise your pain just to pleasure me. You wouldn’t want me doing that, would you?”
“That’s different, Vivica. I’m—”
“Come on.” I grab his hand and tug at him until he’s standing up. “You need some relief. On my couch, face down. Let me work on it.”
He protests all the way to the couch.
It’s not until I’m straddling the backs of his thighs and pressing my palms into the knotted muscles on his spine that he shuts up.
I’m careful, as gentle as I possibly can be, while working on the points of tension.
“You know,” he mumbles into a throw pillow, “you might’ve had a calling as a masseuse.”
“Says the man who was protesting a minute ago about this massage.”
“What can I say? Even geniuses are wrong sometimes.”
I let out a laugh as I work the knots out of his spine and Fleetwood Mac starts over from the beginning.
My massage won’t solve his back problems. Just like the cyst I had removed won’t necessarily guarantee I’ll never have another cancer scare.
But what really matters is how we care for each other. How we’ll look out for each other as our relationship grows.
We’re committed to each other, and though it’s impossible to know what the future holds, we’re not worried.
We’ve carved these new lives for ourselves in Ironhaven and will live them together, day by day.
It’s unconventional. Nothing like what I planned when I drove fourteen hours from Texas with my life packed in the back of a Honda Civic.
But it’s better than anything I could’ve ever hoped for.
I press a kiss between Rhett’s shoulder blades and settle my cheek against his warm back, listening to his heartbeat slow as he drifts off to sleep.
This is what home feels like.
TWENTY
