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Then my attention drifted to the rest of our friends who’d gathered to celebrate our opening day.
I’d known when I returned to Time River I was returning to where I was meant to be.
Coming home.
And home was what I found in a little girl who was only supposed to have been an easy job to make some extra cash and her grumpy, surly, suit-wearing dad.
Except he didn’t wear a suit anymore. He was wearing jeans and a rugged button-down, the sleeves rolled up to expose the ink on his skin. That strong, fierce jaw was coated in stubble that I was constantly scratching my nails into, never able to get enough.
The man the sexiest thing alive.
He’d sold off Greyson Industries, his time now committed to the ranch, committed to us because he no longer wanted to be a part of the world he’d left behind.
And he was tugging at my hand with this expression on his face that had me quirking up a brow. “What are we doing?”
“Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
Evelyn giggled and clapped, and I was just then noticing that Ryder and Ezra were leading our horses over. Calista, the mare I’d claimed as my own because it turned out Caleb really didn’t mind a bit if I took one since he had plenty to go around just like Evelyn had said, and the one Caleb used when he rode.
My grandfather led over Mazzy.
All three of them were already saddled.
“Up you go,” Caleb said, patting Calista’s saddle.
A frown crawled to my face. “What are you up to, Mr. Greyson?”
I only used his last name when I wanted to tease him. He’d make me pay for it later. I couldn’t wait.
“Just want to go with my girls on a little ride. Do you have a problem with that?”
“With all our guests here?”
“They’ll be waiting for us when we get back.”
A low laugh rippled up my throat. “All right, then.”
I put my boot in the stirrup and tossed my leg over my gorgeous horse. Evelyn followed suit, just like I’d taught her to do, my little one who was fast becoming a pro. Caleb mounted his.
We took off at a slow canter, hooves kicking up a cloud of dust as we headed to the northeast. It was our favorite direction to explore. The area might have held some awful memories, but we’d set out to making better ones. So Evelyn wouldn’t be fearful of the beautiful land and be rest assured that it was her home.
So even when the ugly thoughts crept into her mind, she would have the good ones to combat them.
And she rode without fear at my side.
Her sweet face filled with joy, with that belief and goodness that had always poured out of her.
Caleb was on my opposite side, sneaking peeks at me that throbbed at my center and rushed through my blood.
I didn’t think I’d ever felt so right than I did right then.
The cool breeze whipping in my face as we raced over the rolling hills.
Caleb led us in the direction of our favorite spot.
A grand bur oak we’d discovered about a mile up along the river. Someone had to have planted it more than a hundred years before, its branches thick, twisting high and low, creating a lush canopy overhead and the perfect picnic spot underneath.
We had them often, our bonds strengthening every day.
And today as we came upon it there was already a picnic waiting. A blanket was spread out with a basket sitting on top.
But it was the words that had been formed by a bunch of river rocks in front of it that brought me to a quick stop.
Marry me.
And I realized Caleb was already off his horse and on his knee.
“Paisley Dae, on this day of new beginnings, on this day of chasing your dreams and following your heart, I was hoping your heart might have followed me to this place, too. The second I saw you, you nearly knocked me to my knees. This wild, beautiful, reckless girl who stole my breath and made me crazy. Turned out, you were only making me crazy for you. Wholly and completely. And you’re going to have me on my knees for my whole life, and I hope you’d be willing to spend that life with me.”
I slipped off the side of my horse, my fingers pressed to my face as tears blurred my eyes.
Evelyn bounced at my side, grabbing for my hand, her face so bright. “Do you love him to the moon, Ms. Dae?”
“Yeah, Evelyn, I love him to the moon. And I love him all the way back.”
Caleb
Paisley slowly dropped to her knees in front of me.
A halo of white whipping around her stunning face. Mossy eyes sparking with that emerald green.
A treasure. That chaotic beauty I’d never stood a chance against.
