Page 110 of Nanny for the Cowboy

I take Brooks’s hand, lifting it to the center of my chest and squeezing it tightly.

“…when I think about leaving here—leaving you—my heart nearly stops beating. I can’t picture a life without you and Darby in it. You have shown me so much in my time here, given me a life I only dreamed of. You and that amazing kid of yours have my entire heart. If I left, I might as well just let it rot in a hole somewhere because I certainly won’t be using it.

“I thought it over, and I can make working remotely work. People do it all the time. Sure, I might have some resistant clients, but apparently, I have a singing career I can pursue as well. Besides, I’d rather lose them than you. I can’t do that, you see. I can’t lose you, Brooks.”

“Are—” Brooks’s voice catches, and I can see the emotions he’s been fighting back bubble to the surface, his eyes going glassy as tentative hope washes over his face. “Are you saying that you’re?—”

“I’m staying, Ace. It turns out you really are good at everything. Including getting me to fall for you.”

Brooks is up on his feet in a heartbeat, scooping me up into his arms and crashing his lips against mine. I can feel the tears on his cheeks as our skin brushes against each other, and I cry, too, unable to hold it back anymore.

His stubble rasps against me, and I open my lips when his tongue sweeps across their seam, asking for entrance. I give him everything, in fact.

Because I want him to have all of me—forever.

After a moment, I lean back, staring up at him with a massive grin on my face. “You know, I forgot to tell you something yesterday.”

Brooks smirks, cocking a brow. “Oh yeah? What’s that, Lucky.”

As I wrap my arms around his neck, I smirk. “Hmm, how about this? You tell me why you call me ‘Lucky,’ and I tell you what I forgot. Because knowing you, it’s not just because my name is Clover.”

He smiles, his expression going soft. Brooks reaches up and cups my cheek, smoothing his thumb back and forth over my skin.

“Because the day you entered my life was the luckiest day of my life.”

Fresh tears well up in my eyes, and I cock my head, so overwhelmed. “But you called me that almost right away. You hated me at first.”

“I never hated you, Lucky. I was just terrified. I knew the moment I saw you that everything would change. And I was right.” He kisses me, and I lean into it until he pulls back. “So, what’d you forget?”

I smile—wide and full and as brightly as I can. “Oh, that? Well, I love you, too, Ace. I love you with every fiber of my being.”

Brooks grins, as big as I am, and then he’s kissing me, a warm summer breeze dancing through the house.

FORTY

Clover

Five days later…

“Why am I nervous? I’m so nervous! I think I’ve changed like four times and peed three!”

Brooks rubs his hand down the center of my back as I stand in front of the bathroom mirror. I’m in his room now, and we’ve told Darby that we’re an item.

He loudly proclaimed, “I knew it!” It was adorable.

“Honey, you need to chill. It’s going to be fine. We’re just going over to your dad’s for dinner.”

“I know!” I throw up my hands and sigh, hanging my head as I continue to remain stuck in the bathroom. “It’s just…this is the first family dinner we’re all having. We’re going over there as a couple. It’s…different.”

Turning me around, Brooks holds my shoulders and forces me to look at him. “Hey, you’re going to be fine. All this is going to be fine. We’ve faced Kyle. I think we can handle dinner with your dad.”

He’s not wrong. We did face Kyle, and he’s safely locked behind bars with a lengthy trial ahead of him. One I’m notlooking forward to in the slightest. Still, the evidence is pretty damning.

“I know, I know. I just…I want us to be okay. I want my dad and I to have the same relationship we had before.”

Brooks sighs, cocking his head to the side before walking me out of the bathroom and toward the bedroom door.

“I get that. I do. It’s…it’s going to change a little. I mean, your dad is really seeing you as an adult now, and based on what we talked about, it feels a little different for him to see you with me. Because it’s even harder to deny the fact that you’ve grown up, that you’re…”

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