Page 18 of Oops I Fell For The Cowboy Next Door

Around ten, my phone buzzes.

Jace Callahan:

Saw your truck at the Mackey cabin this morning. Just your truck. Not you. You good?

Me:

I'm good.

Jace:

Me:

Shut up.

Jace:

Didn't say anything. But also. It's about damn time.

I pocket the phone. Piper glances up from her screen.

"Everything okay?"

"Jace. Friend in town. Noticed my truck."

"Ah." Her eyes sparkle. "Small town."

"You have no idea."

She grins. Goes back to her bears. I finish my coffee, rinse both mugs, and set them in her drying rack. Two mugs. Side by side. A matched set in a house that wasn't built for two.

She stands, stretches, and pads over to where I'm leaning against the counter. Slides her arms around my waist. Lays her head against my chest. The flannel is warm from her body.

My arms wrap around her. My chin rests on top of her head. Through the window above her sink, I can see the pasture, the fence line, the mountains. The same view I've been looking at my whole life, from a slightly different angle, in a kitchen that isn't mine, holding a woman who is.

"Come to dinner tonight," I say into her hair. "My place. I'll make chili."

She tips her head back. Looks up at me. "You cook?"

"My grandmother's recipe. Best chili in the valley."

"Bold claim."

"Factual claim." I press a kiss to her forehead. "Six o'clock."

"I'll bring wine."

"Box wine?"

"Don't start with me, Rawlins."

I kiss her. Slow. Soft. My hand cradling the back of her head. When I pull away, her eyes are closed, her lips still parted, and the look on her face is the same one she had last night when I told her I wasn't leaving.

Peace. That's what it is. She looks at peace.

I walk back to the ranch with my hands in my pockets, the midmorning sun warm on my face. Behind me, her kitchen light glows through the window. Ahead of me, the pasture stretches out to the tree line.

Same land. Same sky. Same mountains I've been staring at for thirty-four years.