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He caught her in his arms and buried his face in her neck.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I won’t stomp out on you again.”
He didn’t say it was okay, and Gerty noted that. He held her tightly against his chest and pulled her ponytail through his fingers.
“I’m sorry I said you work too much,” he said. “I said I did too.” He pulled back and looked at her in the lamplight spilling from above the stable entrance. “We have to work on this together. It’s not going to get any better, I wouldn’t think, unless we do.”
Though the lump in her throat felt like a baseball, Gerty nodded and said, “Okay.”
“I feel like such a fool.” He dipped his head and ran his lips along her jawline. “You moved in, and I wasn’t here.” He kissed the soft spot right below her ear. “I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?” The hum of his words against her earlobe made her feel like melting butter.
“Yes,” she whispered as she leaned back and took his face in both of her hands. “I have so much to tell you about Montana.”
“Mm, yes, you’ve been very tight-lipped about it all.” He closed his eyes and swayed with her, and Gerty let her eyelids drift shut too. The country stillness out here filled her all the way up, and she loved how peaceful and serene the mood felt now.
In the distance, Tennessee nickered, and that made Gerty open her eyes. “James had cleaned out my storage unit,” she said. “He stole everything from me, and you know what?”
Mike stepped back, his eyes already searching hers. “What?”
“I don’t care,” she said. “I didn’t care. I realized then that I didn’t wantanythingI’d left in Montana, including him.” Gerty wanted him to feel the weight of what she’d just said.
He absorbed what she said, his face giving away nothing. Gerty had always been good at saying what she felt, but only if she was upset or mad. Only if she was trading jabs with Daddy or telling her horses to chill out.
Things of the heart forced her into a corner, and Gerty didn’t know how to deal with them. She didn’t know how to organize the words, and Mike always did.
Tonight, however, he wasn’t saying anything.
“Come see the house.” She cleared her throat. “It’s been a few days since you’ve been out here, and I got the backsplash in and all the handles on the cupboards.”
She took his hand in hers, but he didn’t move too far. “What about Dusty?”
“He’ll keep.” Gerty gave Mike a smile. “How was your call with France?”
“I didn’t actually call the whole country.” He ducked his head and used the brim of that very sexy cowboy hat to conceal his face from her.
She smiled too. “Do you like transitioning from CEO to cowboy billionaire?” Feeling flirty suddenly, she reached over and flicked the brim of his hat.
His hand flew up to press down the hat. “Yeah.” He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye that was probably meant to tell her not to touch his hat again. “I like it.”
“Are you going to do that every night when you get home from work?”
“I…probably.”
“So our kids will get to see their daddy as a cowboy.” Gerty stopped walking then and looked right at him.
Mike took her in and said, “Yeah,” without missing a beat.
“And we’ll all live together on this farm.”
“I was hopin’ you’d let me move in with you once we get married, yes.” He cleared his throat. “Gerty, are you—are you saying you’re getting closer to that?”
She nodded and started walking again, the lights she’d left on in the farmhouse beckoning her home. “Yeah,” she said. “After Montana, I feel like I’m getting closer and closer every single day.”
He growled and stepped in front of her, sweeping her into his arms as she yelped and then giggled. He didn’t hesitate in getting rid of the cowboy hat and lowering his mouth to hers.
He kissed her roughly for a couple of strokes, and all Gerty could do was hold on for the ride. What a ride it was until he softened and slowed, and she decided she wanted both with Michael Hammond.
The highs. The lows. The rough roads. The easy summer nights. All of it.
