Page 61 of Wild and Wrangled

Then he rolled himself on top of me. When his gray eyes landed on mine, I felt like we were the only two people in the world. The affection in his gaze made it hard to swallow.

“If you change your mind, you have to tell me. We have to talk to each other, okay? I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Okay,” I said. My voice was choked up with emotion. I didn’t know where it came from. He kissed me again, slower this time. I put my hands under his shirt and slid it up his back. He broke away from our kiss to pull it all the way off. God, he was beautiful.

And he was all mine.

We went slowly. And when our bodies were joined, Dusty put a hand on my cheek and looked straight into my soul. “I’ll love you until we’re dust, Camille Ashwood.”

Chapter 27

Cam

With the number of butterflies in my stomach, you would’ve thought I was about to jump out of a plane or off a cliff—not that I was about to attend a fancy-ass gala with my high school boyfriend and current…friend.

“That dress is amazing on you,” Ada said through my phone screen. We were on FaceTime—Riley was on her lap. Ada and Wes were taking Riley for the night. It was technically my weekend, and I’d asked Gus for a lot since the not-wedding and the move.

I hated the mom-guilt that I felt for spending half of the time that I got with my daughter away from her. Knowing my parents, they probably planned this timing of the gala on purpose.

“What do you think, Sunshine?” I pulled this dress out of the back of my closet. I’d never worn it before. I bought it when I thought I’d be married and attending this gala with my husband. It was a stunner—satin, cobalt blue, one shoulder, and clung to my body until mid-thigh.

“You’re a knockout,” Riley said, and I laughed.

“Where did you hear that?” I asked. She absorbed every little thing.

“Dad says it to Teddy.” She shrugged.

“And it works here, too,” Ada said. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” I responded and held two different earring options—one in each hand—up to the screen: one with a teardrop diamond and the other with two small diamonds and a sapphire in the middle. Both Ada and Riley pointed to the sapphires, so I put them in.

Ada arched a dark brow at me. She wasn’t a fan of my one-word answers.

“Are you and Dusty going on a date, Mom?” Riley asked out of the blue.

My eyes widened. “U-um,” I stammered. “No, Sunshine, we’re not going on a date. Dusty and I have been friends for a long time,” I said. Ada rolled her eyes and looked like she was fighting a smile.

“Oh,” Riley said. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like she…deflated a little bit? “I like Dusty.”

“Me too,” Ada said, and I gave her a look.

My doorbell rang—saved by the bell. “I’ve got to go, Sunshine. Have fun tonight, okay?”

“I will. Uncle Wes said we’re making s’mores and that Loretta could sit by us.” Loretta was Wes’s bottle calf from last year. Riley was obsessed with her.

“I love you, Sunshine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I hung up the phone. I shot off a quick text to Dusty, telling him to come in and that I’d be out there in a second.

I slipped on a pair of nude slingbacks and checked my hair and makeup for the thousandth time. I loved getting ready—doing my own makeup and hair, spending time on myself. For my hair, I’d gone with a full blowout and then did my best attempt at some soft old Hollywood waves. I pulled my hair back on one side—the same side that my shoulder was exposed on—and I loved the way it looked.

I took one last look in the mirror, but before I walked out of my bedroom, I realized that I hadn’t put my necklace on. I quickly grabbed it off my dresser—I’d put it on in the car—and grabbed my clutch.

Dusty had his back to me when I walked toward the entryway. He was looking out the window—there was still a decent amount of snow, but the sun was breaking through more and more every day.

Half of his blond hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of his head. His broad shoulders filled out his suit perfectly and when he turned, I lost my breath.

A lock of hair that was too short to be pulled back fell down the side of his angular face. Without his hair down, his eyes were even more striking than usual. I watched them drink me in.

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