Page 68 of Never Left You

Why he looks like he’s going to kiss you at any moment.

I opened my lips to talk, but Cash broke the silence before I could.

“I’ll probably take you up on that, especially since Stetson told me I can’t leave.”

I widened my eyes. “He didn’t give you a ring or anything did he?”

He chuckled. “A ring? No. But there’s a story there.”

“There is. Ask Rhett.” I sighed, trying to find a way to bring the conversation back—either to the important topic, or something different.

“I will.” He leaned back, his arm slung on the back of chair.

The room grew silent as we looked at each other, the tension growing thicker as I battled in my brain whether or not to talk to him. I had said not today, but he was here, staring at me as if he wanted to say something. As if his mind was running just as fast as mine was. We could get it all out right now, end it and move on. All I had to do was start the conversation.

“Cash—” I began, but he spoke at the same time I did, stopping me from finishing.

“Thank you,” his voice was soft. “For letting me go with you today. I really…really needed that time.”

I gave him a smile. “Thank you for coming, you belonged there,” I responded. “Do you think he would hate that I’m working today? I mean we’d said we’d celebrate.”

“There’s plenty of time for celebrating. He’d understand you have a ranch to run. You said it yourself, the ranch doesn’t stop, but Sylas would probably come in here and pester you.”

“He would. He always made sure to pester me.”

His lip twitched. “How would you celebrate today?”

If I could spend any way celebrating today it would be with Cash, a beer in hand, sharing everything we could remember. We each had so many stories we could bring up, some the other probably didn’t know. I could only imagine what I would get out of Cash. Bring Lachlan into the mix, and it would be a party. The perfect way to remember Sylas.

Sighing, I met his eyes. “With you.”

His eyebrows twitched as a shaky breath left his lips.

“I um…” he began. “I know it’s supposed to be private but—”

“Abi—” Rhett appeared in the doorway behind Cash, pulling his attention from me. “Dad wants to meet with us.”

I sighed and stood, shutting my laptop before scooping it up in my arms. I passed Cash before stepping out of my office. “We’ll talk later?” I asked.

Cash gave me a nod before I left him standing there.

“I knew it!” My mother clapped, basically leaping from her seat. The entire table’s attention went over to her and watched as her hand covered her lips. “I hate to tell you Kyla dear, but you weren’t very secretive.”

“I thought I was being very discreet,” Kyla admitted, touching her stomach with her hand.

She and Rhett had just dropped the news of their pregnancy, and as much as I adored my sister-in-law, she wasn’t as discreet as she thought she was. I smiled and laughed at her, turning to Cash—who’d chosen the seat right next to me for family dinner. He was leaning back in his chair, one elbow resting on the back of my seat. He was so close; I was surrounded by his scent. Leather and amber enveloped me. I even caught myself taking deeper breaths before stopping myself.

“Sweetie,” my mom continued, “you could barely eat a meal without getting sick, and when you stopped showing up for family dinners all together…” She cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head to Kyla, giving her that knowing ‘I had you figured out’ look all moms had.

“The red meat was making me really sick.” Kyla sunk into her chair, leaning into Rhett. He laughed at his wife and kissedher temple as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I’m only about thirteen weeks along. We just had our first few appointments, and everything looks great, so…it was time to tell everyone. Only Abi knew.”

“And me,” Lachlan muttered. Everyone turned to him. Kyla’s jaw dropped. He stood, taking his plate with him. “What? It was obvious.”

“Does this mean I’m going to have a cousin?” Stetson asked, leaning across the table. “Can I teach him how to ride Marshmallow? I promise I won’t let him fall off when he gets spooked.”

“Who says it’s going to be a boy?” Rhett mimicked Stetson by leaning forward. “Maybe it’ll be a girl?”

“Then I’ll teachherhow to ride Marshmallow. My baby cousin needs to know how to ride a horse.”

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