Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
HUNTER
I’ve been a married man for three days now. And they might just be the best three days of my life.
Except this morning, I wake up, and my wife isn’t in bed beside me. That’s a problem, considering I get up before the sun rises every damn day to start work on the ranch.
My body goes on high alert instantly. Adrenaline kicks in as I shove the covers back and stride down the stairs two at a time. “Lola,” I call out, keeping my voice low enough not to wake Wyatt.
My gaze sweeps through the house. The living room. The kitchen. The playroom.
No Lola.
My pulse pounds harder with every second that passes. I’m halfway to the door, already picturing every worst-case scenario in my head, when I shove it open and step out onto the porch.
And that’s when I see her.
She’s leaning against the fence, one boot hooked on the lower rail, her camera lifted to her eye as she focuses on the horizon where the sun is just beginning to rise between the mountains.
My lungs finally loosen.
So I do what any good husband should: I slip my boots on, and I head outside to sneak up on her. Each step is careful, quiet, my boots barely touching the dirt as I move across the yard until I’m right behind her.
“Morning, handsome,” she chirps, right as my hands settle on her waist.
“Morning, gorgeous girl,” I mutter back, resting my chin on her shoulder.
“I didn’t like waking up without you in my arms,” I tell her.
Call me soft if you want. I couldn’t give a damn. It’s the Lord’s honest truth.
She giggles and leans back against my chest, fitting there like she was always meant to. “I wanted to get some practice in. The sunrise here is beautiful. And I thought you might like to sleep rather than watch me stare at the sun.”
“I’d rather watch you do anything,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her temple.
We stand there together as the sun climbs over the mountains, the sky bleeding pink and gold across the horizon. My arms stay wrapped tight around her while she lifts the camera again and snaps a few more pictures.
“I know I’m only going back to New York for one night, but I already dread leaving here.”
I pull her a little closer. “That’s because this is your home now. No one likes leavin’ home, baby. But it’s only a few hours. You can see your family, have some fun, then come right back home to me.”
She twists in my arms until she’s facing me, her hands sliding up around my neck. “Next time, you’re coming with me so I don’t have to endure this alone.”
I grin down at her. “You bet. If I wouldn’t get my ass thrown in jail for leaving this town, I’d come. You know that. I’d do anything, even get in a suit and pretend to be appropriate for a few hours to impress your parents.”
What she doesn’t know is that Frankie already has men waiting for her the second she lands in New York. I made it very clear who she belongs with now.
No one touches what’s mine, and knowing she’ll be protected while she’s there lets me breathe a little easier.
She smiles softly up at me. “I don’t want you to pretend with anyone.”
She pauses for a moment, her expression turning more serious. “How is the investigation going?”
I sigh and rest my forehead against hers. “Slower than I’d like. I’ve got my new lawyer flying in this weekend to help speed the process up. He can hack anything.”
She cups my cheek gently. “What about that guy in the barn?”
I hold back a laugh. I’ve struck gold with Lola. Seeing her pretty face pressed against the glass, watching me torture a guy was quite the surprise. But her not giving a shit about it after was the real shock.
“He didn’t have much to say. We got his phone, though. That’s given us a few locations of some potential others to go after. But I’m waiting on some footage to come in. That’s gonna be what keeps me out of jail. I just need my team to find that one piece of evidence.”
She exhales slowly. “I have faith that it will all work out .”
“It has to,” I say honestly.
I brush my thumb over her lip, pulling it down slightly. “Now, how do you feel about coming to a rodeo later? Ace is on the line-up, and we always go to support him.”
Ace hasn’t competed as much this past year, but he’s been training hard, and he’s ready to get back out there again.
I want that for him. The man is one of the best bull riders in the damn country. Probably because he’s just unhinged enough to climb onto the back of a two-thousand-pound animal that wants to kill him.
“Ooo. I haven’t been to one yet. I’d love to. Can I bring Violet?”
I nod easily. “You can do anything you damn well please in this town now, Mrs. Sterling.”
She pouts her lips at me. “I can run around your ranch naked?”
I growl low in my chest. “No. Because I ain’t having my ranch hands jerking off over my wife.”
She giggles again, and the sound makes my chest swell. “Okay. Fair enough. I could take your truck and drive one hundred miles an hour?”
I bite back a grin. “You could. But you ain’t putting yourself in danger under my watch.”
“I could…”
I press my finger against her lips before she finishes that sentence.
“Lola. You can go on a murder spree, and I’d cover it up for you.
You can take my card and spend every last cent on it.
You can go buy yourself twenty cars and a private jet.
You can go line dancing. You can dance on bars.
You can do whatever the hell you please, even if I do end up in jail again for murdering the guys who look at you the wrong way while you’re doing it. ”
She draws in a quiet breath as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’ve got you, firefly. No matter what. I’ve got you.”
“Can I have a go at bull riding?” she asks.
A laugh bursts straight out of me. “Fuck no. Let me rephrase that.”
I look right into her green eyes as I speak.
“Lola Sterling. My beautiful wife. You can do anything your heart desires, so long as you don’t put yourself in any danger doin’ it.”
That earns me a slow, dangerous grin as her hand trails down my chest, sliding over my abs before dipping to the waistband of my sweatpants.
“So, if my heart desires getting on my knees and sucking you off as the sun rises over this beautiful ranch… you’re good with that?”
A groan rips out of me before I can stop it. This woman is going to kill me.
I tip her chin up so I can see those green eyes that own every damn piece of me. “Go on then, city girl. On your knees in the dirt and choke on my dick.”
She does.
And she looks like she just won the damn lottery as I shove my boxers down and free myself.
I really did hit the jackpot making Lola mine.