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Just as I’m about to make my way through the other side of the stable, I hear my name being called. Turning, I can’t help but smile when I see Alex stalking toward me wearing tight pants and boots, a heavy jacket, and black cowboy hat. He’s as country as they come, definitely different from what he looked like in Key West. However, it’s pretty damn sexy. I take a mental picture of how rugged he looks with the scruff on his jawline and messy hair under his hat. As soon as he’s close enough to touch me, he wraps his strong arms around me and kisses my forehead.
“Mornin’, beautiful,” he says with a sexy gruff in his tone. “Sorry, boundaries. I know. It’s going to be hard, though. Just a warning.”
“It’s okay.” The smile on my face might be permanent.
“I couldn’t wait to see you. We’re not finished for the day yet, but since I started earlier than Dylan, he said he’d cover until after lunch.” He loosens his grip on me and swings his arm around my shoulder and leads me toward the other entryway. Once we step outside, I see several trails that lead out in different directions.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” I say, taking everything in.
“These are the trails we have for horseback riding and for the Ranger side by sides, which are basically beefed-up golf carts. The blue trail goes to a pond. In the summer, it’s surrounded by wildflowers and a cute family of ducks. The red trail leads to a beautiful lookout point, and the green trail is for easy riding. It’s usually the ones we take the kids on. They’re all loops and circle back here. I’d love to take you one day. Have you ever been horseback riding?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to, though. Bucket list item,” I say with a smirk.
A knowing grin fills Alex’s face. “Darlin’, start making a Texas bucket list, and we’ll check them off one by one.”
Hearing him say that sends tingles down my spine. I don’t know what it is about this man, but it feels as if no time has separated us at all. We’re easily falling back into the same Key West rhythm we were in, but the reality is, it’s not just him and me anymore. We’re having a baby together, which is a forever commitment, and just thinking about all of that scares the shit out of me. He notices me tense and squeezes my hand but doesn’t say anything.
“You know what I would like to do?” I smile wide.
Smirking, he lifts his eyebrows. “What’s that, sweetheart?”
“I want to take a tour of the ranch. This place is huge. I looked it up on Google, and I just can’t imagine what ten thousand acres even looks like.”
“Right now?” he asks.
“Whenever you have time. I think it’d be fun.”
Alex grabs my hand and leads me back through the stables. We walk past the horse corral to a big red barn that looks like it should be on a movie set. Sliding the large door open, he takes a step to the side and I see 4-wheelers and the beefed-up golf cart things he was talking about.
“I’ve got all the time in the world for you.”
How can he consistently say all the right things at exactly the right time? The past few weeks I’ve felt horrible, and I’ve hated the way I’ve looked, but being around him changes all of that. Alex looks at me with so much fire in his eyes, it almost burns my skin. Just being around him, smelling him, staring into his eyes is making my hormones go haywire. At this point, I might need more self-control than he does because my body remembers every single kiss and touch, and it’s been craving him since I left Key West. Pregnancy hormones are way worse than Key West hormones, especially since I already know what I’m missing.
He watches me watch him. As he steps closer, he brushes his fingers across the softness of my cheek before giving me a sweet smile. “A complete tour would take days. We have to be back for lunch in two hours, and Mama doesn’t accept tardiness. You’ll learn that, though. If you want, we can see a small portion of it right now. We can take the blue trail. They’re not going to be riding for a few more hours anyway.”
I nod eagerly. “Yes. I’d love that.”
Alex grabs a set of keys from the wall and leads me over to the side by side parked in the front. I climb in, and as soon as I sit down next to him, he places his hand on my thigh, and I place my hand on top of his. We both glance at each other and smile.
