Chapter 12
Twelve
Macklin
I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips when I pull into the stables at Magnolia Estates.
I don’t know if Baylor is done for the day, but she usually comes out to visit the horses in the afternoon.
I’m usually here by now, but I had the vet out this morning to check up on a mare that’s about to deliver any day now.
Who knows, maybe she and Ellison will deliver at the same time.
I chuckle at myself as I grab my phone and climb out of the truck. The weather is warmer today, but it’s still January in Tennessee, and Mother Nature might be luring us in with the sunshine, but we have a chance of snow later this week, and the temps are supposed to drop again.
As I approach the back entrance of the stables, I hear voices. I freeze to listen as I quietly close the door.
“Go home, Todd,” Baylor says, and my hackles rise.
I take another step, trying to be as quiet as possible. Is it wrong? Yes. Do I give a fuck? Nope, not a single one.
“Do you know how embarrassing Sunday was for me, Baylor?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The New Year’s Eve dinner. I had to go alone and make excuses for you. It was embarrassing and uncalled for. I’m here to bring you back home where you belong.”
Oh, hell no. I have to force myself to stand still. This prick thinks he’s going to force her to leave with him after weeks of silence? Not happening.
“Why would you need to make excuses for me, Todd? We’ve broken up. We’re done. I left. You made your choice for your future, and I made mine.”
“Is that what this is about? My procedure?”
“Yes!” she yells. “That’s what this is about. We had a plan. We both wanted a family, Todd, and you took that choice away from me without even discussing it.”
“That’s not worth tossing away five years of a relationship.”
“We. Are. Done,” she says, her voice low, but the intensity of her words hits their mark.
“Just come home. It’s been weeks, Baylor.”
“I am home, Todd. This is where my family is. Where my heart is. It took leaving and you destroying us for me to realize that this is where I belong.”
I’ve heard enough. I walk around the stall wall I’ve been hiding behind and don’t stop until I’m standing behind Baylor with my arms wrapped around her waist. She leans into me as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Hey, baby,” I say, kissing her cheek.
“Who the hell are you, and why are you kissing my girlfriend?”
“Ex,” Baylor seethes. “We are not together, and we’re never going to be again,” she says, placing her hands over mine that are resting on her belly.
“Is this him? The one who fucked up?” I ask Baylor.
Todd scoffs. “This is who you left me for?”
We both ignore him as I hold my spot, but I release one hand and offer it to him. “I’ve been dying to finally thank you in person,” I tell him.
He glares at my hand and then back at me.
“Oh, no manners either. Good to know,” I comment. “You dodged a bullet with this one, Bay,” I say, wrapping that arm back around her.
“Her name is Baylor,” Todd spits.
“Thank you.” I nod, and he seems taken aback.
“Doesn’t even know her name,” he scoffs.
“Oh, I know her name. I know everything about her,” I say, my voice dropping, and I can see the steam coming out of his ears. My words hit just as I intended them to. He thinks we’re already sleeping together, which is exactly what I want him to think.
“I’m thanking you for getting fixed.”
“Vasectomy, idiot.” Todd shakes his head in disgust.
I chuckle. “I’m the idiot? You had her, Todd.
” His eyes widen as I use his name. Yeah, I know that, too, fuckstick.
“You had this incredible woman. You had the chance to hold her in your arms every night, have her by your side every fucking day of forever, and you fucked up. You’re the idiot.
I can promise you I’ll fix every piece of her that you broke, and when she’s ready, I’ll give her all the babies. ”
He glares at me, so I keep going. “You know what that means, right, Todd? I know you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer, with getting snipped and all that, so let me dumb it down for you.
That means a piece of me will be growing inside her.
” Baylor sucks in a sharp breath, but her body relaxes even further into my embrace.
“A small piece of her and a small piece of me, creating a new life, something beautiful, a piece of us.” I pause and bury my face in her neck.
I’m hard as a rock, not just from holding her, but from the picture I just painted for him. I want that. I want that life with her more than I’ve ever wanted anything. I’d give up all my buckles, every fucking award, all the accolades for every eight-second ride, to have that life with her.
Baylor presses against me, and I groan. I need to get myself together.
I kiss her neck and force myself to slowly lift my head.
“So, thank you for fucking up and bringing the best thing that ever happened to me home. This is where she belongs. With her family, with me, and the family we’re going to build together. ”
“She’s not meant for this life. Look around, Baylor, we’re standing in a horse barn, and it smells like feces.” He scrunches up his nose.
I laugh. I can’t help it. “You don’t get it, do you?
This is who she is. She’s a small-town girl who took a risk in the big city.
That horse there”—I point to Buckwheat—“is hers. Well, hers and her sisters’, but she’s always taken more of an interest in him than the others. Her dad bought him for them.”
I’m pissed the hell off and more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life, so I keep going. I need this asshole gone and out of her life. “There’s a scar on her left knee. She fell out of the tree when she was ten, I think it was. Scraped her knees all to hell.”
“I get it. You grew up together,” he snaps.
“No, you don’t get it. Baylor needs her sisters, yet you never came home with her.
You were too busy building your career to appreciate what you had, but let me tell you something, Todd.
I’m a smart man. I know that the woman in my arms is precious.
She’s everything I could ever want, and she’s first no matter what.
Nothing comes before Baylor. That’s called stepping up and being a man.
Loving with everything you have inside you and making sure that the woman in your life feels cherished.
That’s me, Todd. I do that for her. You fucked up, city boy. ”
“Go home, Todd. We’re done. Don’t call. Don’t text.
And move on with your life. I’m not moving back to New York, and there is nothing between us anymore.
Nothing you can say will change my mind.
You made your choice, which took a very important one away from me.
” She turns and holds my stare. “I’m finally where I was always meant to be,” she whispers.
The air shifts, as does whatever has been brewing between us. I lift a hand from her waist to tuck her hair behind her ears. “You’re beautiful,” I whisper.
“Fuck this, and fuck you!” Todd seethes.
“That’s your only shot, asshole. Get the fuck out of here, and if I ever hear you talk to her like that again, they’ll never find your body.”
“This? This is who you want?”
“Yes.” Baylor’s voice holds conviction, and my heart hammers so hard, I’m certain everyone in Magnolia Ridge can hear it.
“Whatever.” Todd spits on the ground before turning and stalking out of the stables.
He’s really fucking lucky my girl is in my arms right now, or I’d be going after his ass for the way he treated her and how he talked to her today. But he’s gone, and she’s here, and I meant what I said. Baylor comes first. Always.
Baylor turns to fully face me. Her body is aligned with mine, which means that my hard cock is pressed against her belly. Her eyes are misty with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I say immediately. I don’t know if it’s Todd or something I said, but to see tears in her eyes, it guts me.
“You stood up for me,” she murmurs.
“Of course, I did.”
“He never would have done that. In fact, his lawyer friends would make snide remarks about me being an accountant, as if my career choice wasn’t good enough, and all he ever did was laugh it off.”
I kiss her forehead and try to step back, but she holds on tightly. “Where are you going?”
“I bet that fucker is still here. I can catch him. My fist needs to meet his face.”
“Stay,” she whispers, and a single tear slides across her cheek.
“Bay, baby, the tears, I can’t handle it. Not where you’re concerned.”
She smiles and wipes at her cheeks, but I’ve already caught the tear with my thumb. “I’m not sad, Mac. These tears, they’re more relief than anything. I wasn’t happy with him, and after taking a step back, I hate that I stayed as long as I did.”
I pull her into my chest because I don’t know what to say to that. Nothing I say will make her feel better, because I can’t believe she stayed either. But that’s okay, because she’s here, with me, where she belongs, and that’s all that matters.
She rests her hands on my chest, and eventually on my cowboy hat, which she takes and places on her head.
Fuck, she looks sexy wearing it. “You know what that means, right? You wear a cowboy’s hat, that means you’re his.”
“Is that so?” she questions. “I guess that means this is mine, too?” she asks, dropping a hand between us and gripping my cock through my jeans.
“Fuck.” I hiss out a breath. I was not expecting that.
“That’s not an answer, Mr. McBride.”
“Yes.”
“So, if I were to do this?” She steps back and starts working on my belt buckle.
“B-Bay,” I grit out. Am I dreaming? Fuck me. If I am, I don’t ever want to wake up.
“These are your rules, cowboy,” she teases.
The buckle falls open, and she makes quick work of the button, then the zipper, and then she’s shoving her hands down in my pants. Not just into my pants, but past the waistband of my boxer briefs, and her soft hand grips my cock.
I swallow hard, keeping my eyes on her. If she’s waiting for me to stop her, it’s not going to happen. I’m at her mercy.