Page 72 of Chasing Shelter

I grinned at him. “Safety first, Chief?”

Trace shook his head at me. “Always.” He turned back to where the house would go, laid out with string and posts. “Walk in here, and you’ll see all the way through to a wall of windows at the back.”

God, it would be stunning. “Like the mountains are right in your living room.”

Trace nodded. “Kitchen and family room there.” He pointed to the left. “Living room and office to the right.” He gestured again. “Below us will be a basement with a playroom for Keely and a gym for me. Upstairs will be the bedrooms and laundry.”

But I was stuck on the view. I could see Trace and Keely here. What an amazing life they would lead. How wild and free Keely could be. My mind painted pictures all around me, Trace cooking in a chef’s kitchen, Keely coloring in front of those towering windows. I kept building their beautiful life until pressure built behind my eyes. “It’s perfect,” I croaked.

Trace moved to stand right next to me. He was so close that his heat bled into me. “I can get water and power in the barn. I thought we could move your goat friend out here as soon as it’s running. That way, I don’t have to write you a ticket.”

He glanced down at me. “But you can’t tell anyone. Shep’s the only one who knows about it. I wanted to surprise Keely when it was closer to being finished.”

Everything hurt in the best way. Trace didn’t know what a miracle he was. Agoodman when, except for Linc, my life had been full of so many bad ones. The way he cared for his daughter, making her dreams come true. How thoughtful he was in building their life together. That he would let in someone he barely knew so she could have a place to put the goat she’d rescued on a whim.

I swallowed hard and looked up at Trace. “You’re getting Keely a horse, aren’t you?”

He grinned down at me. “She’s been begging since she could talk.”

“You’re a good dad.”

Something passed over Trace’s face. “Best thing you could say to me.”

“It’s true. And you’re a good man.”

“Blaze.”

“Truth.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Thanks for letting me keep my goat here.”

“Stop it.”

“And for showing me this beauty.”

A muscle fluttered in his cheek. “You can come out here anytime you want.”

And I knew that was a gift, too. I turned to the horizon again, letting the unique pine air fill my lungs. “Chief?”

“Yeah?”

“I can breathe.”

21

TRACE

“I can breathe.”Ellie’s voice echoed in my head all day long. When I picked Keely up from riding lessons with Arden. As I watched her play at the park. And it didn’t stop as she and I headed to the Colson Ranch for our family dinner.

Something about the admission felt intimate. Like some connection had been forged by me giving Ellie a place that allowed her to breathe. And I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t freak me out.

I found myself a little more powerless to resist Ellie with every day that passed and every second I spent in her presence. And worse, I found I didn’t want to.

“Daddy?” Keely asked from the back seat.

I jerked myself out of my spiraling thoughts. “Yeah, Keels?”

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