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“Lord, have mercy, that is all mine,” I said as I fanned myself. Ty Shaw had a weird way of making me all hot and bothered. Literally.
Watching him, I couldn’t help but count down until the day was over and he would be coming home. Ty and I split our time between both of our houses. I stayed a week at his place, then he would stay a week at mine. The sex was amazing and hadn’t slowed down one bit. Ty and his weird rule of not liking odd numbers ensured I always got at least two orgasms, which I had no complaints about whatsoever.
He must have felt my eyes on him, because he turned and looked at me.
“Hey there, beautiful. What brings you out here?”
Today, Ty was working on putting up a fence in one of the pastures. It was about a hundred acres of land he was fencing off, and it was for some of the horses to graze on.
“I thought maybe we could have lunch.”
Ty smiled. I was quickly learning what life was like dating a rancher. He worked early in the morning and sometimes worked right up until dark. There was also a reason he had a body like he did. Just watching him swing an ax one day had nearly made me have an orgasm. He was covered in dirt six days out of the week. Stella made the boys take Sundays off, and the hired ranch hands took over.
I also learned fast that I could not allow myself to fall in love with the cows. Or their calves. I learned that when I helped Ty deliver a calf one night. It was my second go-round, but this time, I got my hands dirty. I thought it would gross me out, but I plopped that calf onto my lap and cried tears of joy. She was my baby as much as she was her mama’s. Unfortunately, her mama had all the milk, and the calf ignored me.
And when the cows I’d been naming started to disappear, I stopped asking where they went. It was too traumatizing. Stella had told me in knitting class that I needed to learn to keep my feelings for the animals inside. Ty was stressed out when I cried the first time after he’d told me my favorite cow had been slaughtered. I didn’t eat red meat for two weeks.
“Lunch sounds amazing.”
After sliding off the horse, I untied the basket I had brought and grabbed a blanket. I made my way to a large shade tree and laid out the blanket, then got out the sandwiches and fruit I’d made up for the two of us.
Ty leaned down and kissed me. “How are you feeling?”
I smiled. “Amazing.”
He sat. “Good.”
He’d gotten into the habit of asking that question after I’d given blood for Olivia’s treatment. After donating my stem cells, I had a massive headache for days afterward, then ended up getting the flu. Neither were related. Having the flu in late spring, though, sucked. Between the headache and the flu, which wiped me out, Ty decided he needed to ask me every single day how I was feeling. I loved that he cared so deeply.
“I heard from Katy earlier. She said Olivia is feeling better as each day goes by.”
Ty smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. You still don’t think it’s weird you’ve become friends with a woman I slept with?”
“No. Are you uncomfortable with it?”
He shrugged.
I reached for his hand. “Ty, if me being friends with Katy makes you uncomfortable, I can pull back some. I have fallen a little for Olivia, though, and since part of me was injected into her, I sort of care about her and would like to keep up with how she’s doing.”
“I know, and I want Olivia to get better—I do. I just feel like every time things seem to be going in the right direction, the floor drops out.”
With a reassuring squeeze of his hand, I said, “Don’t be sorry for feeling the way you do. I completely agree with you. I don’t talk to Katy that often anyway, and honestly, when we do talk, it’s about Olivia only. I understand her need to feel connected to me. I gave her something that is helping her child.”
He nodded. “Change of subject—are you ready for the weekend?”
I smiled. “Yes! Still not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“No.”
When I gave him a sad pouty face, he laughed. “Not going to work. I’m still pissed at you and Lincoln for talking us all into Disney World.”
“Yeah, that was sort of miserable last week, wasn’t it?”
“Mom and Dad mentioned something about payback, so you and Lincoln might want to sleep with one eye open.”
Laughing, I handed him the fruit. “They had fun, and you did too. Admit it!”
