Chapter 16
Beau
Belonging to Claire Hayes was quite literally the best thing that had ever happened to me.
The past two days had been pure magic, and not to mention, filled with the best sex I’d ever had. She’d come over, absolutely ruin me, and then go home again, only to come back a few hours later because she missed me.
Safe to say I was wrecked in the absolute best way.
I had offered to stay with her at Golden Bridle so she wouldn’t have to go back and forth between houses often, since she didn’t want to be away from Charlotte.
But she said there were already too many people there with Savannah in town.
And with Savannah came Delilah most days, so it was a full house over there.
But tonight, I had convinced Claire to spend the night with me. The full night. Savannah swore up and down she’d call immediately if something happened with Charlotte, and we were only a five-minute walk away, so it wasn’t like we were far.
“This feels a little childish,” Colt said as we spread out a dark blue quilt beneath an oak tree near the house. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunset over the ranch—nothing but wide open pastures and happy cattle. “Don’t you think? Like teenager stuff.”
“Shut up, Colton,” Anna said behind me with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. “This is romantic. A concept you clearly don’t understand.”
Colt frowned. Or maybe it was a pout. It was hard to tell with his pornstar mustache. “I’m romantic,” he said as if he were trying to convince himself along with us. Yeah, he was pouting.
“Maybe you should take a page out of your big brother’s book and do this for Britt,” I said, giving him a pointed look. “You’ve only been with the poor girl for three years. When are you gonna put a ring on it?”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Anna started to bend awkwardly due to her baby belly to put the glasses down, but I ended up taking them from her.
“You go and get yourself a girlfriend, and now you suddenly think you’re the poster child of relationships?” Colt scoffed. “Give it a year, buddy.”
He said that as if I were in for some rude awakening, but I knew what I was getting into with a woman like Claire.
I knew there would be heated arguments, her reading me the riot act when I was being a dumbass or trying to control everything.
But I also knew there would be moments she’d crawl into my lap after a hard day and look at me with those green eyes all lovesick and adoring and make me feel like I was her happy place.
Hell, in a year, Claire’s last name better be McLeod. And it would be if I had anything to do with it. She was it for me, no ifs, ands, or buts about it, so I didn’t see any sense in waiting longer than we needed to, unlike my little brother.
“She’s going to love this!” Anna beamed.
“I hope so.” We hadn’t really had a chance to spend much time alone together in well…
ever. Nothing more than an hour or two of uninterrupted time, and even then, one of us was always having to run off to put out a fire.
I was desperate to get her to myself for the night, to spend some quality time with her.
Tonight, we were going to formally celebrate her partnership with Cavendish. They had already sent a contractor over to map out space for the barn extension, and they even bought some land behind Golden Bridle so there could be more space for everything. It just needed clearing out now.
“You got snacks, right?”
“Yes, I got snacks.” I had everything from charcuterie board necessities to straight junk. I remembered Claire having a pretty big sweet tooth when we were kids, and figured it would be a safe bet to have some candy on standby. I realized I had remembered a lot about her, actually. A scary amount.
“Okay, I’m gonna go then, your niece is making a punching bag out of my bladder.”
“That’s disgusting,” Colt said, grimacing.
“Not as disgusting as that hairy slug on your upper lip,” Anna shot back. She waddled her way over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, tell me everything tomorrow. I refuse to find out about stuff second-hand in the Whispers again.”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “Love you too.”
Colt let out a heavy sigh, his hands on his hips, while he looked around. It was his telltale sign of retreat. “I’m gonna go, too. Don’t tell me everything tomorrow.”
“Got it. See ya.”
I watched them leave and went inside to get the snacks.
I wasn’t gonna say it in front of Colt, but this was definitely out of my comfort zone, and it did feel a little silly.
I’d never done anything like this for a woman before, but I also had never been with anyone who meant as much to me as Claire did.
It wasn’t just about a sunset and celebrating Claire; it was a promise to her, to this special thing we had together, that I’d do everything I could to keep it going.
She showed up ten minutes later, carrying a tote bag with things she needed for the night. “Hey there,” she grinned as she walked up the porch steps.
Her hair was down, curls wild and unbound on her bare shoulders. My favorite. She was wearing cutoffs and a dark pink tank top with sunglasses perched on her cute-as-hell nose.
“God, I’m a lucky man,” I said from my chair. I put my tablet down to take in every perfect inch of her.
She straddled my lap, lacing her arms around my shoulders, twirling the ends of my hair at the nape of my neck. “Happy to see me, cowboy?”
I leaned forward, brushing my nose with hers. “Very.” I gave her a quick kiss and stood with her in my arms, making her yelp.
“Beau!” she shrieked between laughs. “Where are we going?”
I made my way down the stairs. “You’ll see.”
Her lips met my neck, giving me teasing little pecks. “Does it involve you naked?” she whispered in that husky tone that made my mind go blank and want to fuck like an animal.
Tonight wasn’t about that, though. Tonight was about celebrating her accomplishment, about showing her how much she meant to me in a way that had nothing to do with sex, no matter how much I wanted to rip her clothes off.
I swatted her ass. “Not this time, you little sex addict,” I teased.
She pouted and looked around. “You better not drop me, Beaumont.”
“Never.”
Once we reached the small clearing, I set her down. When she turned, she gasped, her bag falling to the ground. “Beau,” she whispered, walking towards the little picnic. She turned to look at me. “What’s this for?”
I shrugged a shoulder, my hands in my pockets, suddenly nervous. What if she hated it? Thought it was stupid like Colt? God, that’d be humiliating. “Just a little somethin’ I threw together. You like it?”
“I love it,” she said, taking it all in. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”
I was both relieved and bothered by that answer. Relieved that I was the first, bothered that none of the asshole’s she dated before valued her enough to shower her with the affection she deserved.
“Well, get used to it.”
We sat down on the blanket, and I grabbed the champagne out of the ice bucket. I popped the cork and she yelped, giggling. “Are we celebrating something?”
“Yes,” I said, pouring her a glass. “We’re celebrating you for workin’ your ass off for this partnership, for dedicating your life to Golden Bridle.
You stepped up when no one else did and sacrificed so much for that ranch and your family.
You deserve to be celebrated not just today, but every day for all your hard work.
I just wanted to do this for you because I don’t think it gets recognized enough, and it should because you’re fuckin’ spectacular, baby. ”
She was speechless, and her eyes were glassy when I looked at her. I raised my glass, clinking it with hers. “So here’s to you and everything you are that makes you so easy to love.”
“I love you,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
I wiped the tear slipping slowly down her cheek, smiling. “I love you, too, baby. Now, no more tears. This is supposed to be happy.”
She nodded and settled between my legs, looking out at the pastures. “Do you regret it?”
I ran my fingers through her hair slowly, loving the way the silky curls felt between my fingers. “Regret what?”
“Rescinding the offer.”
“Not even for a second.” And I meant it. “I realized about five minutes after I accepted that I had done it for all the wrong reasons. I was just desperate for Mount’s approval, and that’s not a reason to take on somethin’ that big.”
“Who knew a cattle rancher could be so smart?”
I ran my hands over her ribs, tickling her, and she squirmed against me, champagne spilling. Her laughter was music to my ears—I knew she didn’t do it enough. “I’ll have you know I graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M. Where’s your degree, smart-ass?”
She snorted. “Stuck somewhere between three barrels on the back of a racing horse.”
“Do you ever think about going back?” I knew I was breaching probably very sensitive territory, but it was something I had been curious about and hadn’t had the chance to ask her about until now.
She went eerily still. “To barrel racing?”
“Yeah.”
She took a long sip of champagne, nearly draining half the glass. “I’m too old for that.” Her voice was sad, distant. Full of regret.
I was the one snorting now. “The hell you are. There are racers in their fifties, and I know you know that, so what’s the real reason?”
“I won’t have time now with Cavendish.” The excuse came fast. Too fast. Like she had it ready just in case it ever came up.
“You’ll have Delilah and Emmett to help out. And me when I’m not doin’ Circle M shit.”
There was a long pause. I leaned down and found her staring out into the pastures.
Her face was illuminated in the soft golden glow of the sunset.
“What if I did go back and wasn’t any good?
What if that was my one shot?” I could tell by the tone of her voice that the fear had been lingering for a while.