Chapter 28 #2
"Just about," I said, watching him instead of the view, because the wonder on his face was better than any sunrise.
"This is extraordinary." He sipped his coffee.
"I know." I wrapped both hands around my mug. "Never gets old."
We sat in a comfortable quiet that I hadn't shared with another person in a very long time. If ever. I wasn't good at comfortable quiet. I was good at busy, at productive, at filling silence with work so nobody noticed I was lonely. But this felt different. This felt easy.
This was absolutely incredible.
He turned to me. "I'm serious. I want to know everything you know."
"That'll take years."
"Good." He held my gaze. "I've got years."
A lovely warm glow moved through my chest. I looked back out at the paddocks where the sky was turning properly gold now, burning off the last of the pink.
"I'm not going easy on you because …" I waved a hand vaguely.
"Because of what?"
"You know."
"Say it." He grinned.
"Because we're—" I stopped.
Xavier's smile grew bigger. "Because we're together."
"Don't push it."
He released that low, warm laugh that I'd hated at first. But now, with the sound rolling off the verandah and into the morning air, it was like it belonged there.
Like he belonged here. With me.
"I don't want you to go easy on me," he said. "Kick my ass."
I chuckled. "Careful what you wish for."
"I mean it, Cass. I'll mend fences, muster cattle, learn to ride, hopefully without embarrassing myself, and do whatever else you tell me without complaint."
"Without complaint." I looked at him flatly. "You? A man who's had people fetching his morning coffee for decades?"
"I'll adapt."
"You'll whine and bitch and complain."
"I will not."
"First time I send you out to check the water troughs in forty-degree heat, you'll be bitching about that heat, for sure."
"I will maintain absolute dignity."
"First time a bull charges you, you'll?—"
"I've faced worse than bulls." He rolled his eyes. "I've been in boardrooms with Dominic Hawthorne—and my mother."
I laughed—actually laughed, properly—and it surprised me enough that I pressed my lips together trying to stop it.
"There it is," Xavier said, watching me with that look that did absolutely catastrophic things to my heart. "That's the laugh I've been working for since I met you at the pub."
"We've been busy. Remember?"
"You have a great laugh, Cass."
"Shut up."
"I'm serious. You should do it more."
I looked at him for a moment, then back at the paddocks because it was easier.
The cattle were moving toward the water trough in a slow, comfortable mob.
The dogs were at the gate, tongues lolling out of their mouths.
I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled.
The dogs spun toward me and raced across the paddock, bounded up the stairs, and scampered along the verandah to my side.
"Holy shit, that was awesome. Can you teach me how to do that, too?"
"What?" I frowned.
"That whistle. Totally sexy."
I giggled. "You're being weird again."
Smiling, he reached down to pat my dog. "What's this dog's name?"
"That's Pluto. The other one's Venus. And they're working dogs, not pets."
He pulled his hand away. "Right. Working dogs. Got it."
Pluto settled at my feet with a dramatic sigh, chin on his paws. Venus sat on the edge of the verandah, looking out to the cows like he couldn't wait to get to work. And just like that, the morning felt almost normal. Almost peaceful. Except one thing still nagged at me.
"My brothers will come around to you," I said, because I'd been thinking about their reaction to Xavier being older than Mitch. "They just need time."
"I know." Xavier didn't sound worried. "I'm not in a hurry."
"Kayden already likes you. He just won't say it."
"I know that, too."
I glanced at him. "How?"
"Because he told me to look after you. He didn't tell me to leave you."
"Huh. Yes, you're right."
He raised his mug slightly. "I speak Kayden."
"You've known him for three days."
"He's not complicated."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. "That's ... actually fair."
He looked down at our joined hands, then up at me, and said nothing. Just turned his palm over and held on.
The sun cleared the horizon fully, flooding the verandah in gold. Somewhere out in the scrub, the kookaburras started with that unhinged, joyful racket that never failed to sound like the land itself was laughing.
For the first time, sitting on this verandah in the early morning gold, I let myself believe that I truly did belong here.
Blood had never made me a Branson.
Thirty-five years of loyalty had.
Pluto lifted his head and stared up at me with enormous, hopeful eyes.
"Not yet," I told him.
He stared harder.
"I said, not yet."
Pluto lowered his head and flopped down onto the verandah timber like he was already over it.
Xavier's eyes twinkled. "Does that work on the cattle, too?"
"What?"
"That tone." He captured me with his gaze. "It's sexy as hell."
"Careful, muffin. I may start using it on you."
"Please do." He raised his mug. "I wouldn't expect anything different. And don't you think I've earned another nickname upgrade?"
"Hmm," I frowned at him. "How about stud muffin?"
"Stud muffin?" He looked confused. "What's that?"
My jaw dropped. "You don't know what a stud muffin is?"
"No? What does it mean? Is it good?"
I bit my lip, holding back a grin.
"Come on. Tell me."
"Okay, jeez, you're impatient. It means you're hot. A stud. Maybe dreamboat is more to your taste."
"Come here, you." He took my mug from me, put it down, and pulled me onto his lap. "So you think I'm a stud muffin, huh?" He picked me up, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Let me show you exactly what this stud muffin can do."
I giggled and kissed his neck. "Perfect. Take me to the moon, babe."
"Babe? I like the sound of that."
My millionaire, city bloke, stud muffin carried me back inside like we'd been doing this for years, not days. Like this was already our routine, our life, our future.
He lowered me to the rumpled sheets, and when he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world, I stopped pretending I didn't love him.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t need to hold anything back.
Thank you for reading Outback Obsession!
Did you enjoy Cassidy and Xavier's dangerous race through the outback, dodging killers and fighting feelings they absolutely weren't supposed to have? I hope Frank Branson's secrets had your jaw dropping and your pages turning way past your bedtime!
Are you ready for the explosive finale?
Sapphire came to Koolaroo wearing a badge and looking for a missing man. What she found was a fortune in dirty cash, a killer in the scrub, and the cowboy she walked away from ten years ago.
Constable Sapphire Delaney never wanted this assignment. But every instinct she's trained for is screaming that something at Koolaroo Ranch is very, very wrong. And she's right.
Kayden Branson can't answer a single one of her questions without burying his entire family. But with Frank's hidden confessions surfacing and laundered cash drawing killers out of the scrub, silence has become the most dangerous choice of all.
Ten years ago she chose her career over him. But the cowboy isn't losing her again.
Second chance love | Deadly secrets | Explosive finale | Outback suspense
Find out how it all ends in OUTBACK JUSTICE . Turn the pages for a sneak peek…