His grip on my hips tightened, making me look at him. “You’re ride or die for me, Delilah. That’s why all this started. You would’ve done this for anyone.”
“That’s not true,” I said before I could stop it. I’d only risk this kind of fallout for him.
“Thank fucking God for that,” he replied. He pulled me in, and thankfully didn’t read into the slip-up. “I just said that to be nice.”
I chuckled and laced my arms around his neck. “You, Emmett Hayes, said something just to be nice? What is happening to you?”
He tucked my hair behind my ear. His eyes stayed locked with mine. “Don’t know,” he answered softly. His gentle touch, his voice, the look in his eyes, I didn’t know what it all meant, just that it made me feel like I was falling for him all over again.
I swallowed roughly as his hand traced along my jaw and down my neck before splaying across my chest. “I trust you,” he said, and it took everything in me not to burst into tears again. “My sisters trust you. Things happen. Plans fall apart. That doesn’t make you a fuck up. We’ll just change direction and come up with a new plan. You are capable, more capable than any of us, to run Freedom Reins. It wouldn’t exist without you, and I have full confidence in you that your next plan will be just as good as this one. If not better.”
I was breathless, stunned into silence by his words. Even if I could speak, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t say “I’m in love with you,” so I kept my mouth shut and kissed him instead.
The kiss wasn’t laced with lust, but fully driven by the love and gratitude I felt for him. His hand slid from my chest to my hair, holding me to him. I felt light and airy, happy in a way I hadn’t felt before. I pulled away first, breathing hard, my forehead resting on his. “Thank you.”
Emmett smirked, his gaze lingering on my mouth. “I should be the one thanking you for a kiss like that.”
I giggled, sitting up straight to look at him. I cradled his face, stroking his cheeks. “Then you’re welcome.” I gave him one last kiss.
He let out a contented hum against my lips, his hands bracketing my ribs while his thumbs did that dizzying back and forth. “We’ve gotta go to Beau’s for dinner. You gonna tell them then?”
I sighed, slumping on top of him. It felt like my limbs were weighed down with dread. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll come up with something.”
I nodded and climbed off his lap, and when he stood, he took my hand while we walked along the trail back to the pasture. We’d never held hands before like this. Or kissed just to kiss. He’d never seen me cry or comforted me through it. And a part of me wondered how much longer I could hold out before confessing how I really felt.
Just like everygathering our family had, it was chaotic. With twelve adults, two kids, and a baby, I wouldn’t expect anything less. But I could hardly eat and just stared at my plate, my stomach in knots.
Periodically, I’d glance at Emmett, who was sitting on the other end of the table between Colt and Levi. The three of them were all gung-ho about cranking up the security around the ranch. State-of-the-art cameras, detailed security systems for all the buildings with individual codes—the works. After the cattle incident a few months ago and now the tack room, we couldn’t be too careful. Especially with all the valuable construction equipment that was getting left behind every night.
But we couldn’t have all that fancy shit if we didn’t have Ethan’s sponsorship.
“I was doing some research, and with the size of Golden Circle, I think we’d need about forty cameras minimum, and depending on how crazy we want to get, that’d be like sixty kay on the high end,” Levi said.
I choked on my wine. There was no way we could afford that right now, especially without Ethan’s money to offset the cost of running Freedom Reins. I sat forward, coughing, while Claire rubbed my back. “You okay?”
I cleared my throat, nodding. “Yeah.” I caught Emmett’s stare and knew this couldn’t wait any longer. “Actually, no. I have to tell y’all something.”
“Is this like that time you told us you convinced a guy to get a tramp stamp of your name?” Savannah asked from the other end of the table, grinning.
Emmett’s eyes went wide before scowling. “What?”
A weak laugh left me. “I wish.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “So, I got a phone call this morning.” I swallowed down the knot forming in my throat. “It wasn’t one I was expecting, so I’m just going to say it.”
“Is there an end to this story?” Weston chuckled.
“Shut up, Weston,” Emmett grumbled from beside him.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I blurted in one quick breath, “Ethan Carmichael pulled his sponsorship for Freedom Reins.”
The sound of a fork hitting a plate next to me made me peek over to see Claire with her jaw hanging open. “You can’t be fucking serious.”
“Anna, get the kids out of here,” Beau ordered to his sister quietly. She and Joseph escorted Luke, Henry, and baby Hattie outside, which was probably for the best, because I had a feeling things were about to get ugly.
“Holy shit,” Weston rasped, looking over at Savannah, who had paused with her wine glass halfway to her mouth.
