Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
JAKE
Iawoke to an empty bed and cool sheets. Sitting up, I looked around her bedroom, which I hadn’t done before. The walls were what looked like a robin’s egg blue and she had white painted furnishings. Nothing fussy. Crisp and clean. The room suited her.
As I got dressed, I could smell coffee brewing, so I made my way to the kitchen. She must have showered while I slept, which surprised me. I was usually a light sleeper, but it had been late before we closed our eyes.
Her hair was damp and loose, and she had on her usual jeans and work shirt, which didn’t hide the pregnancy-enhanced curves that were starting to show underneath. Curves I’d thoroughly explored during the night.
“Morning,” I drawled, standing in the doorway of her kitchen.
“Good morning.” She smiled at me, and I saw a faint blush on her cheeks. “Breakfast?”
“That’d be nice. Can I help?”
“Pour me a cup of coffee?” she asked, cracking an egg into the cast iron skillet on the stove, which was damn impressive. I’d never been able to successfully cook eggs like that. They always ended up stuck to the pan.
I found two mugs in the cabinet and made her coffee the way she liked it. As I stirred in the cream, I studied her. The very real possibility that I was going to marry her came to me. I’d never felt happier with a woman.
She understood ranching—how time consuming it could be when things were going right and how much worse it could be when things went wrong. I understood her life and her commitments too. Plus, we were having a baby together. Those all seemed like good reasons to get married.
The blush a minute ago and her questions the night before suggested that she was still a little skittish about us, so I’d keep any ideas of marriage to myself for now. I could make plans, though, looking down the road for us. How soon could I convince her to move in with me?
“Is that for me or you?” she asked with a nod toward the coffee mug I still held.
“You.” I’d lost track of what I was doing while I considered how things would change with her living on my ranch.
She’d want to keep her place and run her business from here, but she, our baby, and her animals would relocate to Thorne Ranch.
Including all the horses, which I had plenty of room to stable.
“Put it on the table. I’ll be there in a minute.” She turned off the stove and put eggs and sausages on plates for us. Soon, we were seated at the table across from each other, which felt right to me, like this was how we were meant to be.
“What’s your day look like?” I asked.
“I have a couple visits to ranches this morning. Just routine stuff, and patients at the clinic this afternoon. Then, I’ve got a call with a guy in California about stud fees for Twister.”
“About Twister,” I said, coming to a sudden decision.
“I’ve decided to use him to stud my mares if he’s still available to me.
” The idea made sense to me now. It really was practically ownership anyway, given that Julia and I were in a relationship, and there was the very real possibility that Twister would be living on my ranch and would belong to my wife.
“Since when?” She shot me a look.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I gotta admit, all the stallions I’ve seen for sale have been crap when stacked up next to Twister.” That made her smile.
“I could have told you as much, but why now?” she questioned. “I mean, I’d be glad for the business, but I don’t want you to do this because we’re sleeping together or because of the baby.”
“It’s not about us. It’s about what’s best for the ranch,” I said, trying to assure her. “My horse breeding enterprise needs Twister.”
She still didn’t seem convinced. “Using a stallion for stud and not owning him goes against your plan.”
“It does and believe me, I’m a bit shocked about it too.
But I’ve had to accept that plans change when you least expect it,” I said.
“Look at us. In no way could I have planned for what happened between us.” It was a good reminder that life plotted its own course.
“The way I see it, why should I limit myself to what seemed right in the past?”
She bit her lip, and I saw tears well in her eyes. “Julia?” Had I said something wrong? I got up and went to her, kneeling next to her chair and resting my hands on her waist.
“Don’t mind me.” She swiped at a tear that tracked down her cheek. “I’m emotional.”
“Pregnancy hormones?” I remembered how emotional Amy used to get when she was pregnant with Henry.
“Some, I suppose. I’m just happy…about us.
A few months ago, I thought you were one of those men who would never bend on anything once you set your mind to something.
It would be your way or the highway. I was wrong—and it makes me happy to learn that.
I feel like we can have a true partnership where we can talk through things. ”
I felt a smidge of guilt since I wasn’t bending about my feelings toward using Twister.
I was simply biding my time until we were married.
I wasn’t using our relationship to get Twister, but down the road when the horse was in my barn, it only made sense that he would be the primary sire in my breeding program.
But I had the feeling that if I said any of that out loud, I would piss her off. It was too soon to make such blanket declarations.
“Thanks,” she said, kissing me. I almost caved and told her what was in my head for our future, but I held back, knowing the timing wasn’t right.
We were somewhere between friends and partners and there was no way I was willing to risk spoiling the growing feelings between us.
I’d figure out the right time to tell her. Eventually.