After pulling my hair up into a high ponytail, I walk back into our bedroom. Slater is nowhere to be found. When I enter the living room, I scan the space, hunting anything that resembles a present. My shoulders slump when my search comes up empty for gifts, but my heart kicks out a healthy tune when I find Slater in the kitchen drinking coffee.
I steal a quick sip out of his mug, gagging when the horrid taste hits my tongue before snuggling into his chest. I just brushed my teeth. Toothpaste and coffee don't mix… unless you're sampling it straight out of Slater’s mouth.
When a vibrating sensation rattles my hip, my eyes rocket down. While waggling his brows, Slater digs his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans. He keeps the screen out of my view while reading the message he received, his smile doubling the longer his eyes shift left to right.
“It’s here.”
The excitement in his words jumps onto my face when he guides me to the elevator.
“Is my gift outside?”
Remaining quiet, he gestures for me to enter the elevator car before him. Once we’re inside, he hits the B button for the basement.
“If you bought me a car, I’ll shoot you.I already have nearly one thousand dollars in expenses to pay back once I start working again, and that doesn’t include rent, so there’s no way I can pay back a car.”
My rambling tapers off when our exit from the elevator coincides with him hitting the button to raise the roller door. When hot, stuffy air whips up my hair, my eyes shoot down to my jeans, wondering if I should change into a pair of shorts since it’s so hot.
I lose the chance when Slater tugs me to his side. His body heat makes me even warmer, but in a good,I can’t wait to get him alonetype of way.
As we round the corner of his building, the sound of his heart smashing into his ribs overtakes my pulse shrilling in my ears. I’m so panicked he’s seconds from coronary failure, I stop walking to peer up at him. For a man with a racing heart, his smile gives no indication to the battering his insides are facing. He appears happy, perhaps even a little misty-eyed—even more so when he nudges his head for me to look forward.
When I do, moisture burns my eyes as a sob rips from my throat. My response frightens Misty, but not enough for her not to run her nose down my cheek, as thrilled by our reunion as me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Slater
Kylie’s face when Misty dries her wet cheeks with a neigh makes the effort it took to get her here worthwhile. I’d go to hell and back if it created the same response.
After giving them a few minutes to become reacquainted, I join them at the side of the docks, eager to give Kylie her next gift. When Misty rears up like she did when we met, Kylie giggles. “Easy, girl. He’s one of the good ones.”
Once she settles her down, she throws her arms around my neck to hug me fiercely. Her wildflower smell is even more dominant now. “How did you do this?”
I clear away the tears Misty missed before turning her around to face the other side of the docks. “I may have had some help.”
She gasps even more loudly than she did when she noticed Misty as her eyes snap to mine. So many words are said without one escaping her lips, and they’re more beautiful than the ones she sang last night.
“I love you.”
After squashing her lips against mine, she sprints to her mom, who’s leaning on the horse trailer that brought Misty and Charlie to Ravenshoe. When Mary notices Kylie’s tears of joy streaming down her face, she matches her speed stride for stride. They meet halfway, crashing into each other’s arms with tears streaking their faces and a string of words that don’t make any sense.
At one stage, I was panicked my plan would backfire. The first few times I called the ranch, Kylie’s dad answered the phone. He didn’t give me a chance to speak. He just hung up the instant I announced who was calling. Kylie had been photographed with me constantly the past six weeks, and her name was plastered in several articles as the girl who finally tamed Rise Up’s bad boy, so he assumed Kylie had been with me the past two years, which only we know isn’t true.
When I recalled Kylie saying the ranch doesn’t have a Monday to Friday routine, I switched tactics. I rose early one morning, before the sun was even up, to try her home phone again. That time, I got her mom. She sobbed when I informed her who was calling, and her voice was barely a whisper when she asked if Kylie was okay. She was just as surprised as I was when I informed her Kylie had been living in Orange County the past two years.
I talked to Mary for nearly an hour while Kylie slept. When I told Mary I wanted to buy Misty from her, she blatantly refused my request. I was about to beg when she said, “Misty is Kylie’s horse. I gave her to Kylie on her tenth birthday. She belongs to her. You don’t have to buy her.”
Two more early morning phone calls, and a few hours of begging Jacob and everything was set. Mary would bring Misty and Charlie to my loft to surprise Kylie before carting them to Jacob’s dad’s property where they’ll stay until I find somewhere more suitable for them to go. Nick’s dad, Harrison, offered for the horses to stay at his farm in Petersburg, but Jacob’s house is only five miles from my condo, so Kylie will be able to visit them there more often.
The mad beat of my heart kicks up when Kylie and Mary walk back to me with their arms twisted around each other. When they’re a few paces away, Kylie loosens her grip around her mom’s waist before charging for me. I chuckle when she smashes our lips together so firmly, our teeth clang.
Mom watching or not, if she keeps kissing me this way, I’ll take her against the wall of my building.
When she notices my body’s reaction to her kiss, she smiles against my lips before inching back. “You brought Charlie too?”
I wait for her to clear away the wetness she left on my lips before nodding. “We have a mutual agreement. If I let him eat all the grass he wants, he guarantees he won’t kick me off.” Her smile makes what I say next ten times harder, “So what do you say? Wanna go for a ride?”
Squealing, she nods before wiggling her hips, requesting I set her down. While she aids Mary with loading Misty back into the horse trailer, I go fetch her a change of clothes before spending the remainder of our day riding around Thomas’s expansive paddocks.
