CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
LIZ
Maybe I should have put more thought into it. Taken more time to plan. But once I knew—really knew—I couldn't hold it in another second. I needed to tell him. Needed to show him what he's shown me countless times in the last few months.
So, I did it the only way I know how. I printed photos I took. Moments I captured of him since we've all been living out here.
The day he planted those apple trees, and we ended up in a mud fight. He didn't know, but I grabbed my camera up in my room when I went to clean up, and I took pictures of him and the kids from my window.
The trail ride and picnic he took us on. I got the feeling he thought most of the pictures I took were of the kids. But he was in them too. Too many times to count.
Rodeo nights when he was in the zone. The times he felt me watching and turned to me with that teasing smile.
The day he surprised me with the studio space.
The photo shoot he helped me with.
Only a fraction of the times I captured his beauty. And I don't just mean his handsome face or is godlike body. I mean his heart. The way he loves the kids. The way he loves those horses.
The way he loves me.
I collected every last piece that made my heart sing.
Then I took those photos, strung them up on string, and hung each one on Lena's Wishing Tree until it was covered in all the most magical moments he's given me, all the ones I wish to have again.
To give to him. To create with him. Over and over and over.
"What is this?" he asks, his voice shrouded with more emotion than I think I've ever heard from him.
"It's Lena's wishing tree," I tell him what he already knows. No one has hung anything on it since before the accident. I don’t think any of us were brave enough to. Everything felt so fragile. Happiness and new dreams impossible.
Until now.
"Why is it covered in pictures of me?"
"Because, Jovi," I whisper, moving closer to him, eyes anchored in his, "you're my wish."
"I'm your wish?" he sounds like he still can't quite believe it.
"Yes."
His tentative smile broadens, and he wraps both arms around me without releasing my hand.
He pulls me in until my chest is pressed to his, until I can breathe him in. Then he lowers his mouth to mine, softly speaking against my lips, "You better make another one then, because that wish came true ages ago."
Then he kisses me. And unlike the ones before, this kiss isn't an explosion of want or a careful expression of tentative care. It's strong. Real. Full of passion and hunger and promises. And for the first time in my life, I let myself believe every last one of them.
JOVI
It's both completely surreal and the most natural thing in the world to wake up with Liz in my arms. And I will be taking steps to ensure I wake up exactly like this every morning for the rest of my life.
"Where are you going?" she grumbles, half asleep, her body chasing mine to the edge of the bed even before she's awake.
I chuckle, bending down to kiss her. Fuck, I love kissing her. "I have to feed horses. Go back to sleep," I murmur, pressing another kiss to the side of her head.
"No way," she bolts upright, suddenly wide awake. "If you have to get up, I'm getting up. Partners, remember?"
I smile. "You're going to start running the horse business with me?"
She frowns. "Excuse me, but who handled Brennan McAsshole when he was threatening said horse business? And who's been marketing your rodeo nights for months now? Handling all your social media accounts?"
I chuckle. "Very true. My apologies." She lifts up onto her knees, pressing her body to mine where I stand at the edge of the mattress and I don’t hesitate to pull her closer. "How can I make it up to you?"
She wraps both arms around my neck, fingers playing with the loose hair at my nape. "You could give me my own horse," she says.
"You're serious?"
She arches a brow at me. "I thought we had a rule about that."
I laugh, dragging her in for another kiss. "Bear?"
I can feel her smile against my mouth. "Yes, please."
"You'll have to learn to care for him," I tell her. "Ride him every day."
"Good." She starts to move her mouth from my lips, down along my chin, peppering my skin in soft kisses everywhere she touches.
"You'll have to see me all the time," I warn her.
"Even better."
"And Cas."
Her lips stop their trail of kisses over my jaw. "It's a little weird you brought him into this conversation."
I suppress a laugh. "I'm glad you think so," I tease her, "but I did it for a reason."
She pulls back enough to look at me, eyes bright with interest. "Oh yeah?"
"Since we're partners now, in the horse business," I say, irritatingly giddy at the sound of those words, "I need to run something by you."
"Go for it," she says with a curt but confident nod. "I'm all ears."
"I want hire to him. To be our barn manager."
Her eyes narrow. "Hire him? As in, for a job? Like, we'll pay him?"
"Yep."
The thing I'm not saying starts to click into place for her. "Can we afford that?"
"Not yet," I say, the corners of my mouth twitching, eager to stretch wider. "But next month we can."
Her eyes go wide. "The ranch is turning a profit? Not just enough to cover the mortgage, but like, really turning a profit?"
"Has been for a little while now," I tell her. "I didn't want to say anything until I knew the steady increase each month was solid. That things we were trying weren't a fluke but will work long term."
"Long term."
I nod. "Yeah. If that's what you want."
"Is that what you want?" she turns the question back on me without answering.
"What did I tell you about asking me things?" I murmur, resting my forehead to hers. "If it's you, the answer is always yes."
"I want you to think about this. Really think it over. I can have my business and this. You can't run all those bars the way you did before if you're out here working horses every day," she argues.
"Who says I want to?" I counter, nipping at her bottom lip.
"You think I'd choose going back to nights in a bar over nights in that barn with the horses?
In this house with the kids? In this bed with you?
" I twist my forehead against hers. "You're crazy.
This is what I want, Liz. This is everything. "
"Okay."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She nudges my nose with the tip of her own. "But no more living in the barn. I want you here. With me. With the kids. Partners in everything."
"Deal." Then I kiss her one last time before I tug her off the bed, so we can throw on some clothes and go out to the barn.
We split up in the hall, each of us going to wake one of the kids.
Neither of them bats an eyelash at finding both of us in the house so early.
Nor do they question it when we announce we're going to do barn chores as a family.
And no one is surprised when it's time for breakfast, and they call out the same request simultaneously.
"Biscuit Barn!"