Page 35 of Wild As Her

He tilts his head. "It's still your ranch, Cami. Now, please tell me you brought coffee for both of us."

I sigh and hand over the extra thermos I brought.

Jack grins, "Forgot I was staying here, huh?"

"Whatever," I mutter as I go to get on Mouse and freeze. "Where did you get this?" I breathe, running my hand over the leather saddle.

"You know where I got it. It belongs here with you," he says as he gets on his horse and tucks the thermos into his side pocket.

"Jack," I say, my lip trembling.

In a flash, he dismounts and closes the distance between us. He cradles my cheek in his big and rough palm. He swipes my tear away and says, "Don't read into it, Cami. I'm making some shit right between us. Just take it."

He looks at me like he’s wounded and there’s something deep there. Something deeper than I’ve seen before.Love.

And it freaks me out. Scares the hell out of me. Jack loving me makes me feel more naked and vulnerable than I’ve ever felt.

“Thank you,” I murmur. Confusion fills me, a warmth I can’t explain that feels like love and gratitude, yet my guard is still up when it comes to Jack. He’s the one person who can hold my heart in his hands and crush it if he wants.

I nod, and swipe a tear from my other eye. "I have something in my eye," I turn and get on the horse, still amazed that he got my grandpa’s saddle back.

He watches me for a second then gets back on his horse and we are off, Love trotting beside us as usual. She spots them before I do and runs to the cattle running in my back pasture.

"Did you bring cattle over to stay with you, too?" I ask, confused.

He shakes his head, “I'm guessing that's the cattle Granger returned. I need to check them all over. God only knows where they've been."

I nod and ride beside him, as we count the cattle and look them over.

"Give any more thought to moving out to the ranch with your trailer?" He asks as the sun rises over the range, the colors as beautiful as ever.

"I'm still thinking about it," I say reluctantly. "I have stipulations, though."

"Of course you do," he smirks. “What are you waiting for? Let’s get you moved out there.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. He’s so bossy.

We ride further until we come to our tree. The tree we used to climb as kids and attempted to make a playhouse in before my dad tore it down. I gaze at the tree and then I see it. The worn carving in the wide trunk. J + C in the base of it.

"The trust," I whisper. “How did you do this?”

“I used my inheritance from my mom. She would have liked this. She liked you, Cami. She loved your grandparents, too.”

I suck in my breath at hearing this. I loved his mom, she was such a nice woman. I was young when she passed away, but everyone in town new her and loved her. She was the one good thing about Jessop ranch. It all went to hell after she died. She had life insurance that went into trusts for all the kids. Jenna told me that a long time ago. It was the one thing that their dad had no control over and couldn’t use as leverage over them.

The fact that Jack used that to save our ranch makes me love him even more. And feel even more confused. I’m questioning so much right now. Even a ride with Mouse can’t work out all these feelings like they usually can. There’s a lot to unpack here.

He swallows and looks away. Then he says softly, "The ranch is yours, Cami. I couldn't let a developer take it from you."

"What are you going to do with it?" I ask softly as my fingers trace the carving on the saddle.

"What do you think I want?" he clips, a hurt look in his eyes. "You're a smart woman, Cami. I’ll let you figure that out."

He turns and rides off back towards his side of the property. His other side, I guess.

And I'm left even more confused than ever.

But I know what I want him to want. Me.

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