Chapter 24
twenty-four
RANSOM
I had been planning this for weeks. While my brothers were busy navigating the emotional rollercoaster of Stetson’s catastrophic misstep and subsequent redemption, I had been quietly making calls to a breeder two counties over.
I negotiated the transport, arranged the vetting, and paid the delivery fee with smug satisfaction knowing I was about to permanently win the courtship competition.
I kept my hand lightly on the small of Julia’s back as I guided her down the gravel path toward the south paddock. I was practically vibrating out of my skin, my pulse drumming to the beat of my excitement. I had to physically force myself not to jog.
“Ransom, where are we going?” Julia asked, squinting against the bright sun. “You’ve had that grin on your face for twenty minutes and it’s making me nervous.”
“Good nervous or bad nervous?”
“The kind where I’m not sure if you’re about to propose or get us arrested.”
I laughed, failing to contain the widening smile splitting my face. “Somewhere in between, Sparkles.” I shot her a wink. “Though if you want me on one knee, just say the word. I’ll do it right here in the dirt.”
Julia smirked and rolled her eyes, not taking my charm seriously—or maybe taking it too seriously. “Keep walking, Beaumont.”
I bit my lip, swallowing the overwhelming urge to scrap my whole plan and kiss her stupid right there in the middle of the path.
We rounded the corner of the main barn, stepping up to the wooden rail of the south enclosure. I dropped my hand from her spine and stepped back, gesturing proudly toward the center of the grassy lot.
A beautiful, sturdy mare stood near the water trough, her dark bay coat gleaming like polished mahogany under the afternoon sun.
She was gentle, bombproof, and visually stunning—the absolute perfect beginner mount, and exactly the horse I needed so I could finally take my Omega out on the long, wandering trail rides I’d been dreaming about since the day she arrived.
Julia stopped dead in the dirt. The sharp-tongued, quick-witted woman who had verbally dismantled rival Alphas and taken on the entire unjust designation rules of the OMA without flinching just froze.
I leaned my elbows on the top rail of the fence, watching her process the new arrival.
Her amber and fig scent spiked with a sudden hit of total shock, sweeping over me in a deliciously fruity wave that made me want to drool and gave me the sudden craving for pie. Or her pussy. But all in good time.
She stared at the mare for a long, quiet minute, blinking like she expected the animal to evaporate into thin air if she closed her eyes long enough.
Slowly, Julia lifted her hand and covered her mouth.
“What do you think, Sparkles?”
“You...” Her voice cracked, the sound soft and stunned. “You bought me a horse.”
I tipped my hat back on my head, leaning over to bump my shoulder playfully against hers. “Finally got a win.”
She turned her head to look at me, her dark eyes wide and unguarded. I committed the expression to permanent memory. I was going to gloat about this to my brothers for the rest of our natural lives. Good-naturedly, of course, but absolutely relentlessly.
I spent the next hour teaching her the basics.
Normally, my mouth ran a mile a minute, filling any dead air with jokes or stories just to keep the energy up.
But out here, with the wind sweeping across the riding arena, I dialed it way back.
I didn’t feel the need to perform. Julia had a way of bringing out the most natural, genuine side of me, and I wanted her to know I was taking the fact that she was on a thousand-pound animal seriously.
More than anything, I wanted her to feel safe with me, because I was more than a jokester.
I was an Alpha. Her Alpha, and this thing between us? It was long game.
I showed her how to check the cinch, how to swing up into the saddle, how to grip the worn leather reins without pulling on Stella’s mouth, and how to read the mare’s ears. Julia was hyper-focused, her brow furrowed as she memorized every detail.
“Keep your heels down,” I instructed, stepping in close.
I ran my hand down her denim-clad calf, physically adjusting her posture until her boot sat right in the stirrup.
Her knee brushed my shoulder, sending a quick hit of her scent straight to my brain.
I swallowed the immediate urge to drag her right out of the saddle to straddle me instead.
I forced myself to step back. “You’ve got it. Just let your hips move with her.”
She took to it faster than I expected. Once she figured out her center of gravity, the rigid tension in her spine melted away. I swung up onto my own gelding, and we rode out past the fences, leaving the house and the lingering heaviness of the last few days behind us.
I took her on the long loop. I showed her the shallow creek crossing where River and I liked to break our necks racing.
I pointed out the massive old oak tree scarred with decades of Tate initials.
We finally stopped at the western ridge, stepping down from the saddles to let the horses graze while the late afternoon sun turned the jagged rock formations a deep, fiery gold.
The quiet settled around us. Not the awkward, heavy silence that usually made my skin itch, but something totally different. It was nice. Grounding. I leaned my back against a sun-warmed boulder, crossing my arms over my chest and tipping my hat up to watch her.
Julia wasn’t looking at the view. She was looking at me. Her dark eyes stripped right past the charming, loud-mouthed cowboy I usually projected, digging directly into the foundation underneath.
“You’re different out here,” she said quietly. She didn’t sound accusatory. Just intensely curious.
“I’m boring out here,” I countered, flashing an easy, automatic grin.
Julia didn’t smile back. She stepped closer, closing the physical distance between us until her shadow fell over me.
“Nobody who takes in a baby on a porch and chooses to raise her himself is boring, Ransom.” She stopped right in front of me, tipping her chin up.
“What do you actually think about when there isn’t a crowd to entertain? ”
The question hit me squarely, knocking the wind out of me. People loved me. They laughed at my jokes, drank my beer, and invited me to every party in the county. I was the easiest guy in the world to enjoy. But almost nobody ever asked me what I wanted when the music turned off.
The quick, automatic deflection died right on my tongue. I looked down into her dark eyes and found nowhere to hide. She genuinely wanted to know the answer. To know me.
“I think about how heavy it gets to constantly carry the energy in a room,” I admitted.
The words felt raw in the open air, stripping away the costume I’d worn for my entire adult life.
“I think about what happens if I stop talking. If I stop being the easy, entertaining one. Do people still stick around?” The question hung between us, heavier than I meant it to be.
“I want someone who wants the quiet version of me just as much as the loud one.”
Julia didn’t offer me sweet nothings. She didn’t tell me I was wrong or try to cover my vulnerability with a deflection. She just took the spot next to me and curled into my space, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing her cheek flat against my chest.
“I love the loud version of you, Ransom. He’s the first thing I noticed and the reason I can’t stop smiling around you,” she said against my shirt, her voice muffled but sure.
“But the one who reads to Wyatt at bedtime and sneaks Sunny extra cookies when he thinks no one’s looking?
The one standing right here, being real with me?
” She tightened her arms around me. “He’s just as much a part of you, and if others can’t see that, that’s their loss.
I see you, Ransom. All of you. And I’m falling for all of it. ”
“Sparkles…” I choked out, lost for words.
She squeezed me tighter, nuzzled closer. No one had ever just held me like this before, and it shook me more than getting thrown by a two-ton bull.
I tipped her chin up with two fingers, drinking in the sincerity in her eyes.
Leaning down slowly, I captured her lips and kissed her.
I poured everything I couldn’t say back into her mouth, because she’d just handed me the one thing I never knew I was starving for and I didn’t have the words to match it.
She melted into me as our tongues danced, and her fingers curled into the front of my shirt.
Fuck, she tasted amazing. I wanted more.
I wanted all of her. I nipped at her bottom lip, then dove right back in, reveling at the way she kissed me back, like she meant every word she’d just said and wanted to brand it on my heart.
When I finally pulled away, her lips were swollen, and her brown eyes were soft and dazed.
“For the record, Sparkles,” I murmured against her mouth, “you’re the first person who ever asked.”
By the time we rode back down to the main barn, the sun was sinking behind the hills, slanting thick, golden light through the wide bay doors.
I walked her through the cool-down routine.
She paid close attention, taking the stiff-bristled brush when I handed it over, working the dust out of Stella’s coat in long, even strokes.
I picked out hooves and checked water buckets, unable to stop watching her from the corner of my eye.
Once the horses were settled in their stalls with fresh hay, I tossed the grooming tote back into the tack room. I wiped the dust off my jeans and turned around.
Julia was waiting in the center of the concrete aisle.