“Then let’s try. I’m just a man asking his boyfriend to let me stay the night because I’m supposed to be mucking out stalls in Block B tomorrow, and I’m closer here than I am at the bunkhouse.”
Warmth bloomed quickly inside me, temporarily blocking out all the slithering, crawling feelings that pricked along my nerves. “Boyfriend?” I asked, unable to hold back the soft tilt to my lips.
My favorite dimple popped into existence as Jackson’s lips spread into his signature grin. “I mean, I think I quite like the ring of it. What do you think?”
“Yeah. I think so, too.” I agreed and watched as he made his way over to me in two strides. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a kiss that felt like a holy experience. Every cell in my body roared its approval at the rightness of having Jackson’s body against mine and his kisses on my lips.
When he pulled away a short moment later, he rested his forehead against mine, and I wished with everything I had that I could keep breathing the same air as this sunshine boy for as long as I had left. His lazy smirk was disarming, so when he spoke, it took a second for the reality to set back in.
“So, you’ll let me stay over and we can sleep in your bed tonight?”
My throat clicked as I swallowed, and I wondered if he heard it from how close we were. “Okay.”
Jackson’s smile was a bright, beaming thing, and I fell into the comfort of his lips crashing against mine in his excitement to ignore the sinking sensation that once again settled inside me. Those piecesof my heart that belonged to Raleigh screamed a storm was on the horizon. And I was hoping they had the wrong forecast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TUCKER
White puffy clouds rolled over a bright blue sky as a gentle but comfortable breeze whispered through the leaves around me. It was a gorgeous spring day, everything green and vibrant after days of rain. The grass under me was soft and pillowy, perfect for laying out under the sun to catch a few moments of relaxation. With the brim of my hat tilted down, I couldn’t see who was approaching me, but I didn’t need to. I knew the sound of those footsteps deep in my marrow, and a genuine smile spread over my lips as he settled down next to me.
“Workin’ hard or hardly workin’?” His familiar voice warmed a specific place in my heart as I shifted my hat out of the way.
“Both?” I tried, loving the way his responding low rumble of a laugh washed over him.
“It’s definitely one or the other, hun,” Raleigh said, propping himself onto an elbow to look at me. His chestnut curls caught the sunlight, and with the backdrop of the gorgeous sky behind him, he was fucking breathtaking.
“I think I could make a good case that when you love what youdo, work hardly feels like workin’,” I quipped, knocking my boot against his as another breeze rolled over us.
“You might be right about that,” he agreed, his smile spreading slow across his lips.
I took a second to study his face—from the slightly flushed coloring to his cheeks, to the early onset crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes, and then to the gentle curve of his full upper lip. Everything about him was perfect and all mine. He seemed to be taking me in just as thoroughly. As though the two of us were simultaneously memorizing every detail of this moment in time.
“Your hair’s getting long,” I commented into the comfortable silence between us, unable to stop myself from sitting up a little to twirl a wayward lock at the base of his neck with my fingers. “I’ll need to cut it soon.”
Raleigh gently took hold of my wrist, pulling my hand around so he could drop a kiss against it, and I let out a contented sigh.
“This is nice,” he said after a minute or two, moving to slot our fingers together.
“It is, isn’t it?” I hummed, looking out across the pasture. There weren’t any horses out, which had me momentarily confused as I glanced around for them, but Raleigh’s warm touch against my cheek had me looking back into crystalline eyes, and all my worries melted away. The rest of the guys must have brought them in for me.
“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to talk with you about, Tuck.” His thumb ran along the smooth skin of my jaw, and I tilted my head into the comforting embrace.
“Sure, what’s up?”
Raleigh’s eyes bounced between mine before he spoke again. “I know you’re not just mine anymore.”
The statement caught me off guard, and I let out a short chuckle despite the serious look on my husband’s face. “What are you talking about?” I asked, a small stone of unease dropping into my gut at the way Raleigh continued to look at me. “Of course I’m still yours, Storm Chaser. Who else would there be?”
Those copper curls of his bounced as he shook his head. “There’s another man in your life now.”
I blinked at him slowly, a hazy feeling settling over me as I tried to process what he was saying. Little sparks pricked somewhere in my subconscious as a pair of green-brown eyes flicked in my memories. Whose eyes were those? I opened my mouth to deny his statement, but a pressure built in my chest and the words wouldn’t come out my throat.
Maybe Raleigh realized my dilemma because he squeezed my hand reassuringly before he spoke again. “He’s good for you, Tuck. There’s a light in him that helps brighten all those dark places you’ve been holding onto.”
Something in the back of my brain glitched as another image of a single dimple popped up in my head. The visual stirred up different emotions inside me that felt so close to the surface and tangible, but all that did was confuse me more. Why did I feel like I knew those eyes and smile? Why did Raleigh’s words feel like they rang with truth?
“You need to lean on him. You’re holding yourself out over a cliff, and eventually, you’re going to get tired. Let him be the one who catches you when you fall.” Raleigh’s voice was soft and soothing, a melodic sound that should have settled all the troubles determined to ravage my mind. But instead, the alarm bells kept ringing.
