Chapter 36
ANNALISE
Last Christmas, I let Braxton convince me into going to her in-laws’ house. The Hutton family is big and loud but so loving it’s almost hard to believe. If I hadn’t witnessed the relationship that family has with my own eyes, I would have called bullshit.
I’ve never seen another family so tight-knit. So full of love and life. Not until meeting the Steeles.
Brody and his grandfather may not get along right now, but their love runs deep.
Their disagreements come from that place of fierce devotion, which is what makes them so strong and all consuming.
That’s how love is supposed to be. It’s supposed to turn us into fools so driven by the want to keep each other close that sometimes we say the wrong things and act poorly.
I’m comfortable here. There’s an aura of rightness that sinks deep in my subconscious whenever I step onto the Steele Ranch. This family, small in size but not heart, means something to me. It means a lot.
Spending Christmas here feels like a blessing.
Brody’s gloved hand is solid around mine as he leads us down a snowy path that leads to the cattle pastures. My excitement spikes. Despite the chill, I’ve never been happier to be outside. The fresh air and open sky tickle something deep in my brain, a spot left untouched all my life.
“Did you buy me a horse for Christmas? You know I don’t even know how to ride one, right?” My steps are damn near bounced, our pace far too slow for my liking.
His laugh is a deep sound. “I didn’t get you a horse, Anna.”
“Okay, good.”
“Your gift is a bit past the stables, though. You won’t be able to miss it once we get there.”
We pass the stable, and a few moments later, I find the small structure just inside the first cattle pasture. A . . . pink one?
Picking up my pace, I tug him behind me. He starts to laugh, louder this time, and I ignore him, focusing on the little pink structure as it comes more into focus.
“Brody.”
I hear the smirk in his voice. “Anna.”
“What is that for?”
“What’s what for?”
“Don’t even try me right now.”
I spin to face him and forget how to think. Forget how to breathe. The adoration glimmering in his eyes is intense, heart stutteringly intense.
“Go ahead, sweetheart. Take a look,” he encourages, tipping that hat-covered head toward the miniature shed.
It hurts to look away, but excitement helps soothe the wound as I jog toward the pink structure, my hand slipping from free from his hold.
The closer I get, the easier it is to tell exactly what colour pink the smooth, tall planks of wood have been painted—a pastel shade that appears almost peachy in the bright sun.
There are words and a couple of doodles spread above the back side of the shed.
The bright yellow banana catches my eyes first before I stop dead a foot from the structure and read the name beside it.
“There’s no way Wade signed off on this thing,” I choke, emotion clogging my throat.
Brody moves behind me. There’s no need to look to confirm. I feel the prickle of awareness on my neck and the heat at my back. My knees wobble as I wait for him to touch me.
When he does, wrapping a strong, supportive arm around my middle, tears spill from my eyes, dripping down my cheeks.
“You haven’t even seen the good part yet and you’re already cryin’,” he points out, his hand sliding beneath my jacket as his fingers splay across my stomach, stroking them everywhere they can reach.
“I don’t have to look inside to know. You listened to me.”
“I always listen to you.”
“The sky hasn’t fallen,” I say on an exhale.
“It definitely hasn’t.”
“You said you don’t keep cattle as pets.”
“I said my grandfather doesn’t keep cattle as pets. Didn’t say nothin’ ’bout me. Or you,” he corrects me.
“You or me,” I echo, hands itching to reach for the door. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“That’s the whole point of a surprise, Buttercup. Not knowing what to expect.”
“I don’t think most people expect surprises like this either, Brody.”
“Stop puttin’ up a stink and follow me.”
I’d been waiting for his permission. The moment I get it, I’m following through the gate and into the pasture.
I see the open length of the shed that faces the busy pasture first. Then, the knee-height fluffy animal taking small hops toward us from beneath it.
My jaw drops as I watch the cow shake out of his apparent nerves and bounce to Brody, butting its head against his knee.
“Been lonely these past couple hours, have you?” he asks the cow, dropping a hand to scratch between its ears.
God, they’re fluffy ears too.
The adorable little thing has thick, off-white fur with a long patch of hair between its ears that hangs down and tickles the top of its pink nose. Calm brown eyes watch me curiously, and I smile at it, as if it can tell that I’m a nice person solely from a smile. A bit ridiculous, but oh well.
“How long have you had it here for?” I ask softly.
“Three days. It took a while to find her, but I think she was worth the hunt. Grandma’s taken a likin’ to her as well. She’s even let her into the house a couple of times when Grandpa’s been workin’ late. Any other time, she’s out here with the other cows. Quite the Ms. Popular, this one.”
My brows reach my hairline. “Inside? She can go inside?”
“Apparently so. Like I said—spoiled.”
“I don’t even know what to do or say or just . . . anything,” I admit.
“Let her smell your hand and introduce yourself. She’s almost as sweet as you are.”
“I’m not always sweet,” I say pointedly.
“Pretty damn close to it.”
I nip at my lip, hiding a smile as I extend my hand to the cow. Banana, according to the writing on the shed.
“You named her,” I whisper.
Banana presses her wet nose to my palm, and I suck back a laugh, not wanting to come off too strong.
“If you don’t like it, we’ll change it. It’s not like she’ll be able to tell.”
“You got me a miniature fluffy cow,” I say, almost to myself.
He snorts. “I did.”
I lift my eyes, staring up at him with my heart open, exposed. “Nobody’s ever done something like this for me.”
“I’m happy to be the first, then.”
And the last , I beg him to say. Tell me you’ll be the only one to do these things for me. For a long time to come . But he doesn’t say that, and I hate the way that hurts me. A small fleck of doubt doubles in size.
“Hey.” Fingers thread through my hair, turning my head until I’m forced to stare into his deep blue eyes. “Where’d you go?”
Banana twists her face into my open palm, trying to steal my attention back to her. I would have laughed at that had I not felt twisted up inside. The instant adoration I feel for her helps stabilize me.
“I think that if I’m not careful, it would be so easy to love you.”
It’s out before I can stop it.
The air around us stills. It grows so, so quiet.
Then, he’s moving. Cow forgotten, he holds both my hips in his hands and tugs me close, groin to groin, chest to chest. I shiver at the contact and realize I’ve just lied to him.
Turns out that I wasn’t careful after all. Considering I’m already in love with him.
The words he speaks next have me grateful he’s gripping me so tight as my knees wobble.
“It’d be easier to fall in love with you, Annalise Heights. And I’ve never been a fan of careful.”
I don’t keep track of how long we spend out in the pasture with Banana. I’m tucked between Brody’s legs, his back to the inner wall of the shed, as our cow bites down on a pink rope, alternating between trying to eat it and trying to tug it front my hands.
I’ve already fallen in love with the sweet girl. It didn’t take much time at all for me to want to move out here with her. Of course, that’s not exactly possible. But if I could, I would.
I was pleased to learn that Brody’s thought ahead when it comes to her and her new life.
He built this shed himself, with help from a few willing ranch hands who didn’t mind staying late after already long days.
It’s not for much more than just a shelter if she or any of the other cows ever needed or wanted it.
There’s another shed much like this one but bigger and further out in the pasture.
She’d fed with the other cows but, of course, gets far more treats than they do.
And in the summer, she’ll have an unlimited supply of grass to mow down on all day.
She’s spoiled. Utterly spoiled. Almost as much so as I am.
I lean back further in Brody’s embrace, exhaling happily when his arms flex around my middle. He sets his chin on my shoulder, and his bearded jaw scrapes my cheek in a dangerously sexy way.
As much as I love my new hat—a gift from Poppy—I’m grateful he took it off when we sat down. Nothing’s in the way of his ability to touch me so freely now.
“Are you going to keep your beard when you go back?” I ask, unable to help myself.
He drags said beard harder against my skin. “Yeah. I figure I’ll keep it for a while.”
“Good. It suits you.”
“Makes me look a bit more rugged than the first time you saw me.”
“More rugged but just as handsome.”
Lips soothe the burn from his beard. “Sure as shit didn’t expect to wind up here with you after that first meetin’.”
“No? You didn’t have a vision of buying the woman who verbally spanked your ass in front of a crowd of people a fluffy cow on your family’s ranch?”
“Nah, but I wish I had. Would have saved a bit of time runnin’ around the bush that way.”
“I think I like the way we started. It was unique,” I admit, releasing the rope toy and letting Banana have a win.
She jumps back and then forward adorably before discarding the toy in search of another.
“You’re goin’ to have to be here often to see Banana,” he says, as if I don’t already know that. Or plan on it.
“Even when you’re gone?”
A pause. “Especially when I’m gone.”
“Do you know when you leave?”
I don’t want to know, but at the same time, I need to. He can only delay his return to Nashville for so long.
“Next week. Rita sent me the plane ticket last night.”
My stomach churns, and I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing the sudden nausea away.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Just a few days. I’m meeting with the label, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“And then?”
He tightens his grip on me, and I let him. “Then I’m comin’ back until I know what comes next. Until we’ve decided what to do next.”
“As in us? You and me?”
“Yeah, us, sweetheart. You and me. I don’t want to say goodbye once I go back. Plan on keepin’ you as long as I can.”
I spin in his arms, tucking my legs into my chest as his bracket my body. He slings his arms over his knees, eyes watching intensely as I rest my arms on his shoulders and lock my fingers behind his neck.
“Do you think long distance will work?” I ask calmly. Maybe too calmly.
His expression is tense, so damn concentrated. But those blue eyes are sincere, settling some of my nerves.
“I know it will. For you, I’ll make it work. We have a lot to figure out, but we still have time. Today isn’t for that conversation, though. I want to just be here with you. Spend the holidays with my woman. I’m confident enough in us to ask you to let me do that.”
I soften at the plea in his tone. Words won’t suffice in answer.
Untucking my legs, I lean forward on my knees and meet his stare, loving the way his eyes track the length of my tongue when it wets my lips.
My arms feel like they weigh a thousand pounds hanging on his shoulders as I close the distance between us, tasting his mouth.
The kiss starts soft and sweet before turning hard, frantic. Weeks of sexual tension have all led up to today. I feel the rightness of it in every rise of my chest. We’ve both been teasing ourselves, but that ends today. Tonight. Now. I don’t care, as long as it’s soon.
He groans into my mouth, and I suck it down, greedy to hear another one. I sink my fingers into his hair, my nipples hard and aching. Heat pools between my legs, a desire so potent driving me that I tune the rest of the world out. It’s just us here. Brody and me.
His large hands possessively cup my ass, kneading it through my jeans. I want them on my bare flesh, want my pants gone.
But, God, I know we can’t do this right now. Not here.
It takes everything in me to tear my lips from his and whisper, “Tonight. We can’t do this here.”
His eyes are still shut when he leans his forehead to mine. “Fucking Banana.”
My laugh is loud. Cleansing. It draws his eyes open, the blue in them so sharp and clear it makes me shiver.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that I’d do just about anything to be with him. Long distance included.