Page 35 of The Cowboy's Secret Babies

This version of Rosie had two boys to raise in this world, and she’d thought all along that she’d be doing that alone. This Rosie had stopped dreaming and had gotten tough. This Rosie was certain that she could weather any storm, because she already had.

But this wasn’t a storm.

This was a tender fall of a lovely rain. It washed all over her, sweet like summer. It swept its way deep inside her, flooding her, until she thought she could feel all of those padlocks she’d put on her heart let go all at once.

As if, all this time, they’d been worried about keeping out intruders and villains andhim, but he found her anyway.

One raindrop at a time.

One sweet kiss after the next.

He lifted his head. His eyes were glittering, dark and glorious. Rosie couldn’t bring herself to look away.

She thought about what she’d imagined he’d be like, once he found out the truth. All those scenarios she’d played out in her head during all of those night feedings, all of those too-early mornings.

Instead, he’d fallen in love with the boys in one fell swoop.

She’d watched it happen.

Rosie had tried to have boundaries. She’d tried to keep things civilized. She’d tried so hard.

But now she watched as he reached into the front seat of the truck and pulled protection out of the back pocket of the jeans he’d tossed aside. She watched as he rolled it on over him, winced a little, and settled himself between her legs once more.

“I want to make sure—” he began.

“I swear to God,” Rosie gritted out at him. “If you don’t—”

And she shattered all over again, into even tinier pieces than before, when he pushed his way inside.

It took a long time to come back to herself. When she did, he laughed and pulled her in closer to him so he could wrap her up, get his mouth on hers, and only then begin to move.

And this time, he didn’t take it slow.

This time, he pounded into her hard and wild, so she could do nothing but wrap her legs around him, lock her ankles tight, and enjoy the ride.

He threw her from the peak of one flame straight into another, and it was a rush, a magic and dizzying gallop—

And the next time she broke apart, he came with her.

She heard her name in his mouth as they both spun out, yet still clung to each other. She thought maybe she shouted his.

Anything was possible and everything was blurry. Rosie was limp. When she finally came back to herself, they were sitting there in the back of his truck. Ryder had somehow managed to pull on his jeans and wrap her in his flannel shirt, and now he held her on his lap.

She rested her head against his shoulder and listened to his heart beat beneath her ear.

Her hair had fallen down from its usual ruthless ponytail and he was running his fingers through it, playing with the strands.

Rosie’s heart was so full she was surprised it didn’t spill right out of her.

And she thought,this has been a terrible mistake.

But she accepted that. With one of her hands, she traced the shape of his nearest pectoral muscle, then followed it down lower so she could move her fingers over the impressive ridges in his hard, strong abdomen.

The trouble was, she had been bad at not falling in love with him that one night. Really bad at it, in fact.

And now she was in a situation that was much, much worse.

Because this was pretty much all the things she had pretended—for years—that she never wanted. She had forced herself to believe that she was better off without him, and shehadbelieved it. She had made sure she believed it… during the light of day.

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