Page 63 of Lucky Haven

“Nice to see you again.”

He winks. “I know.”

Cash growls at him.

“What? I’m just being friendly. She’s going to be sleeping in my bed, after all.”

I squeak in surprise.

Cash wraps his arm around my waist, his hand splaying wide across my hip. “He’s barely slept in it himself, and he’s definitely not sharing it tonight.”

They’re all so warm and friendly—and casual about adult intimacy. It’s a shocking difference to the house I was raised in.

There’s a little nudge against my leg. I glance down and see Bellamy holding up a book.

“Is that for me?”

She nods shyly.

I take it and read the title. “Not All Mama Bears are Bears. This looks like a great book! Have you read it?”

“It’s my favourite,” she whispers.

“You can read it with Haven after dinner,” her mother says. “But right now, we need to go wash your hands, Bellaboo.”

“No!” She races out of the room.

Hope rolls her eyes and follows her, tossing over her shoulder that they’ll be right back.

And that leaves me alone with almost all the Kincaids.

“Is Ridge coming over for dinner?” Cash asks Zane.

His brother shakes his head. “He’s camping up on the mountain, watching the herd.”

Cash kisses my temple. “You’ll meet him soon enough.”

I don’t say that I’ve seen Ridge storming around town—and in and then out again at The Friendly Table. He probably doesn’t know who I am. I’m pretty invisible.

Over dinner, the conversation does turn to the wedding, which is now just a week and a half away.

And then after dinner, everyone…disappears. It goes from overwhelming to very quiet, very quickly.

“Early to bed, early to rise on the ranch.” Cash grins at me, slow and happy. “We can go down to our room.”

Our. Room.

There’s a wide staircase in the centre of the house. I can hear Bellamy running around upstairs, but Cash leads me down to the lower level, half sunk into the ground, and it’s like we have the entire space to ourselves.

This was Zane’s room for years, but after Hope and Bellamy arrived, he moved upstairs, kicking Dax down here.

I feel badly about taking over a space Dax just got, but Cash just points to the piles of boxes stacked neatly in the corner of the extra large bedroom. “He still hasn’t unpacked, because he’s on the road more often than not. So he didn’t mind me booting him out and making this ours.”

“Where is he staying tonight?”

“Over at Ridge’s cabin. It’s a short walk from here. He can stay there until the wedding, and then he’ll be off for another few weeks of the rodeo circuit.”

“And hopefully by then, we can move back into town.” My voice sounds abnormally bright. Am I in denial about a danger that Cash sees more clearly than me?