Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“This is a gorgeous spot,” she says, looking around. She shields her eyes from the sun and stares out at the mountains. “It just never fails to take a girl’s breath away.”
“I don’t want to live in the townhouse forever.” The words just come tumbling out of me, and I swear under my breath as she turns her gaze to me and looks almost wounded. “I didn’t mean for that to sound as jacked-up as it did. It’s a nice place, and I love being there with the two of you. If that’s where you want to be forever, I guess that’s okay because I want you to be happy, but I really think we need to have a conversation.”
I take a breath, and Abbi stands, walks a few steps away, and turns to me, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“I’m confused,” she says. Of course, she is. I sound like an idiot. “I need you to just tell me what you want or what you’re trying to say here.”
I rub my hands over my face in agitation. “Why am I so nervous?”
“I don’t know, but you’re making me nervous. Are we breaking up, Cowboy?”
I’m off that log in a heartbeat, pulling her against me and kissing the hell out of her.
“No. No. Never. Jesus, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I want to talk about the living arrangements, that’s all, but I’m botching it up good. Okay, I’m just going to tell you what I want, in a perfect world, if I could snap my fingers and it just magically happened.”
“Please do.”
“I’d like to build a house out here for us. The cabin is way too small for a family. I want to build any house that you want and bring you and Daisy out here with me. I know that’s selfish as fuck, but I can’t help it. This is my home, but you’re where my heart lives, so I’ll go where you go. You want to live in Bolivia? We’ll live in Bolivia.”
“I’m partial to Montana,” she murmurs, the panic finally gone from her eyes.
“Well, good, because I am, too. Specifically, this piece of it. All the siblings are entitled to acreage out here. Rem has the majority because he technically owns and runs the ranch. Chase claimed his land by the lake, and Ryan already has his own ranch, although if he ever wanted it, he could claim property out here, too.
“I don’t know where Millie might want to be. And before you, I never really thought that hard about it, but I have been considering it over the past few days, and I am fond of this piece of land right here. Of course, if you’d like to be on the lake, closer to Chase and Summer, or anywhere else, really, we can do that.”
She clears her throat and walks away from me, her back to me as she stares out at the ranch and to the mountains beyond, and I’m sure that I just fucked everything up.
It’s too soon.
It’s too much.
She turns to me with tears in her eyes, and I want nothing more than to pull her to me and take it all back.
“Brady Wild, are you telling me that you want to build a house out here, on this beautiful ranch that has seeped into my bones and embedded itself onto my soul, for me and Daisy?”
“Well, yeah. I am. I mean, if you want the ring and the fancy proposal and all the rest, you’ll get that. I promise, you’ll get it. I’m planning every minute of my life around you, around what you want and need and how I can make sure you have it. But this is something that I can start right away, even while I’m traveling.”
She’s swiping at tears, and it just about brings me to my knees.
“Ah, baby, don’t cry.”
“I should tell you that it’s too much and that I can’t accept it.” She turns to look at the view again and shakes her head. “But I can’t because I want this, with you, more than anything.”
The relief is swift, and it propels me to her, and I wrap my arms around her from behind.
“Thank God. I was convinced that I was screwing everything up.” I kiss her hair, breathing her in. “It’ll mean a lot of driving for you to and from work.”
“I don’t care.” She sniffs and turns to me, reaching up to cup my cheek. “My townhouse was perfect for Daisy and me. It’s what I needed for us when we moved here, but it’s okay that it’s time for us to move on. It’ll be someone else’s safe place to land.”
“We’ll still be there until the house is finished, probably for about a year or so.”
“I can be patient.” She boosts up onto her toes and kisses me softly. “But I have to change one of my answers from earlier.”