“Have I told you lately, how much I love your Mom?” Jaxon asked as he was getting out the plates and silverware.
“She is pretty awesome. If it wasn’t for her, this might not have happened. If she hadn’t tricked me into going into town with you that Sunday, we might not have fallen in love.”
He stopped what he was doing and grabbed my hands in his.
“I thank your mom for pushing you that day, but I wouldn’t have been able to stay away from you. The minute I saw you out in the field, I knew I wanted you. It was like they write about in those romance novels...it was like a current zapping through me. I just felt like...well, it was you. You were what I had been waiting for. And, honestly, it scared the hell out of me.”
I couldn’t stop giggling, these pregnancy hormones had my mood all over the place.
“You know how I feel about you laughing at me,” he said, and I broke out into full-blown laughter.
He looked so confused, he had his eyebrow raised at me. “What is so damn funny? I just laid everything out for you and you’re cracking up.”
I tried so hard to stop laughing. I gained enough composure to say, “You just told me you read romance novels.” And then the laughter started again. Was he blushing? It sure looked like he was.
“Where do you think I learn all those amazing things that I do to you? I didn’t hear you complaining about it earlier today.”
Well, that changed everything. My laughter stopped and I caught his gaze. His eyes were smoldering.
I licked my lips. “Maybe we can eat later?” He nodded and kissed me. We made love, and it was amazing. I was so glad that he read romance novels.
Chapter 17
Cade
I’m not gonna lie, the past two weeks had been torture. Seeing her with him, knowing she was pregnant with my baby. The baby I had dreamed about for years. The baby inside the woman that I had fallen so damn hard for. It was fucking tearing me up inside. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. He had won. She had always been his. I was just here. I was the distraction she needed to realize how much she loved the asshat.
I had stayed at Harper Farms, but I was spendin’ most of my time out workin’. I had ventured into town a couple of times. Even spent a little time gettin’ to know some lovely ladies at the tavern in town. I had met this chick named Mare, yeah, just like a horse. Damn she was hot. Right then and there, she asked me to take her up against the wall in the back of the bar. I couldn’t fuckin’ do it...but damn she was temptin’.
Lor was havin’ the test done tomorrow and they had said we would know in a couple of days. I wanted that baby to be mine more than anything in this world. I had always dreamed about having a family. A sweet little toe-head girl following me around on the ranch. Teaching her everything I knew about horses and workin’ the farm. I wanted that, damn I wanted that. And I wanted it with Lor. I knew that wasn’t happenin’, but a man could dream, right?
Loralei
Tomorrow was the day. It was the day that I would have the test to find out if the baby I was carrying was Jaxon’s. Jaxon and I had been spending all of our time together since the date at the pond.
We were living as a family, mostly. Jaxon wasn’t spending the night, but he was eating dinner with us almost every night.
While Cade was here, we agreed that it would be better if he didn’t work on the farm. So he would come by in the morning and tell the kids good morning before they went to school. Some days we would have lunch together at my house or Jake’s.
I was spending a lot of time trying to avoid Cade. I didn’t want to see him, until I knew if he was the father. We had some awkward run-ins when Jaxon came to visit me in my office, but we had survived.
I was out in the field, checking out the new cattle we had received, when I saw him. Cade was walking right toward me. “Hey, hon. How ya feeling?” He placed his hand on my upper arm.
“I’m feelin’ real good. No morning sickness or anything. I had it so bad with the twins. I was pretty worried about it this time, but so far, so good.”
He looked down at his boots while he was kicking the dirt around. “Uh, can I go with ya for the test tomorrow?”
That really surprised me. “You really don’t need to Cade. Jax...uh, I mean, I won’t be alone.”
He looked up and his eyes met mine. He looked so sad. “I know he’llbe with ya. I just kinda hoped I could be there too.”
I couldn’t really tell him no, he had every right to be there. “Sure, if you want to be there, I don’t have a problem with it. My appointment is at two o’clock. Do you wanna meet us at the clinic in town?”
He gave me a little sideways smile. “Yeah, hon, that would be great. Thanks.”
Jaxon
This morning
