Lucas nodded. “It borders the road, so access is simple, and it sits outside the tightest easement restrictions.”
“Okay—”
“And they don’t want to build,” he went on quickly. “They want land they can hold quietly. Fold into a conservation portfolio for their green credentials or park as a long-term asset as a tax write-off.” He shifted slightly on my lap, one hand coming up to rest on my shoulder. “Butwe don’t go all naïve. We tie it up as tightly as the law allows.”
He glanced at me, tentative again, searching my face. “So, we don’t lose the ranch?”
“No, you don’t lose the ranch, and I sign over another twenty-five percent to you so we’re joint owners.”
“What?”
“And also, what if we offer everyone a stake? I mean, as long as me and you are equal partners, it would be so good to give everyone?—”
I stopped him from talking with a kiss, but he wriggled free.
“It’s gonna hurt so bad when you leave,” I blurted, and the words were out before I could stop them. I shook my head, already trying to pull back. “I mean—fuck, that’s not what I meant—six months was always the deal. You finish what you need to do here, and then you go back to Denver. I get that, and maybe we could just do long-distance; I mean, it’s not that far, and I just?—”
“No,” Lucas said, and cradled my face between his hands to make me look at him. “Jesse,” he said quietly. “I just said I wanted to do this together. Do you want me to leave?”
“No, jeez.” My chest felt too tight to breathe. “I love you,” I said. “You’re everything to me.” It felt like stepping off a cliff without knowing if the ground would be there; it meant trusting him and opening myself up to vulnerability, but I said it anyway.
He smirked then. “More than the cows?”
I sighed with relief. He was keeping it light. “Way more.”
“More than Boone?”
I smirked then. “Don’t push it, City.”
“I reckon Boone loves me just as much as he loves you,” Lucas whispered and kissed me.
“You’re probably right.” Then, I shook my head again. My throat burned. I didn’t trust myself to speak.
Lucas leaned in, forehead resting against mine. “I’m not running,” he said. “Not if you want me here.”
Well, that was an easy answer. “Yes.”
We stayed sitting that way until my legs ached, but I refused to get rid of my lap full of sexy Lucas, and he’d taken pain meds and was chatting quietly about plans for the future, and how he’d write up a job description for someone to do marketing, and how he’d get quotes for building work, and how he’d ask trades in town. I listened to every word and kissed him in each pause.
He was staying, and never in my wildest dreams did I expect that I’d get to kiss him every single day.
Chapter 27
Lucas
We’d called a breakfast meeting because it was the only time everyone could be in the same place without something pulling them away from their responsibilities. Jesse and I sat together, and he held my hand.
“If this is you telling us you want us to be bridesmaids at your wedding,” Colt said, deadpan, “I’m leaving.”
Jake elbowed him hard enough to make the table rattle. “Shut up.”
There were a few laughs, the easy kind, and then, the room settled. All eyes on me. I hadn’t planned a speech. I clocked faces without meaning to—Jake’s steady focus, Ruth’s attention, Miguel’s open curiosity—and felt the weight of being believed by people who didn’t know my past yet. I hadn’t planned anything beyond the facts. But standing there, with coffee mugs in hands and plates half-cleared, it felt wrong to keep it clinical.
“Okay, we have an announcement, so listen to Lucas,” Jesse said.
“Jesse and I have been talking,” I said, and felt him shift beside me, solid and steady. “About the ranch. About what comes next.”
I swallowed, my mouth dry, hands cold despite the heat of the room, my heart thudding hard enough that I felt it in my ears. I went on anyway because this was the part they needed to hear. “What we’re talking about isn’t selling the ranch. Not now.” I glanced at Jesse. “Not ever. We’re selling a limited parcel of land, about eleven thousand acres, from the road to the ridge. Nothing that affects water rights, core grazing, or how this place runs day-to-day. No developing, kept as nature intended.”
