AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks,” Clint laughs. He puts his foot through the stirrup, hand on the pommel, and pulls himself up behind me.
I lean back into him. “You came for me.”
Clint presses a kiss on the side of my neck. “Always, darlin’.”
I love when he says that.
“We’re not about to just disappear on you, Nora,” Landon says softly. “We fucked up. We upset you. But we, and I do mean we, meaning all of us,” he says, glancing at Shane and Clint, “we want a chance to make up for it.”
I look away. “It sucked that you hid the stuff about the ranch from me.”
“I know, Nora. I’m so fucking sorry,” Shane says. “But believe me when I say that we started to see you and the ranch as so much more…”
“They did,” Clint says from behind me. I look back. His face is tight, and his eyes are sad. “They told me that they didn’t want to buy the ranch from you. That they wanted to help you fix it,” he grunts.
“Clint…” Shane says.
Clint shakes his head. “I was the one who kept saying that it wasn’t going to work. I thought that once you knew about us, you’d leave.”
My heart squeezes. Just like everyone’s left him. Just like everyone has left all of them.
“I was mad, but I…” Okay. I realize that I said lots of things I didn’t mean. Such as never speak to me again. That does sound pretty final, I guess. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“We’re sorry,” Landon says.
“I’m sorry,” Clint adds.
I turn, looking at him in the saddle.
“Even if you were going to go, I shouldn’t have made you… I shouldn’t have said that shit about the ranch. Especially if I didn’t mean it.”
I tilt my head to look at him. “Clint?”
“I didn’t mean it, Nora. I don’t want to buy the ranch from you. I want to help you make it better.”
My heart swells. “That could be nice.”
“Hey, I think the talking should probably stop for a bit. Instead of that, let’s get the hell out of here,” Shane says. He nods at the officers, who are currently frog-marching Aaron back to their car.
I grin. “Sure. But why did you take my car?”
“Oh, this was only Plan A.”
“What was Plan B?”
“To use this thing like a tank and run that motherfucker off the road,” Landon says cheerfully.
Storm starts clopping, and I shake my head. “That’s my car.”
“We’re getting you a new one, darlin’,” Clint tells me. “That thing’s a fucking death trap.”
I roll my eyes, but I lean back into him. I’m still mad about the ranch. But I also appreciate their apology.
I want Clint to help me make the ranch better, too.
Back at the house, my dad and I have a tearful hug. He’s over the moon to hear about the fact that Aaron was arrested, and I am, too.
After we all settle in and eat some dinner, Dad rises. He looks at the clock, then at me. “I, uh… if we’re all good here, I think I’m going to go.”
