Page 20 of Claimed By the Cowboy
As if sensing my withdrawal, Kitty gestures vaguely toward the house, her face flushed pink beneath the paint.“We should...”
“Clean up. Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair. “Kitty, about what just happened?—”
“Adrenaline,” she says quickly. “It didn’t mean anything, right?”
“Right,” I say carefully, even though every fiber of my being screams otherwise. “Adrenaline.”
We walk back to the house in loaded silence, both covered in evidence of our moment of madness.
The bigger problem is what happens now. How do I sit across from Kitty at breakfast every morning, knowing exactly how she feels in my arms? How do I marry her sister when every possessive instinct I have is screaming that she’s mine?
How do I do the right thing when the right thing feels like tearing my heart out?
As we reach the house, Kitty pauses on the porch steps.
“Tom?” Her voice is so soft I almost miss it. “I lied. Adrenaline had nothing to do with it.”
Before I can respond, she disappears into the house, leaving me standing there covered in paint, drowning in want, and absolutely certain I’m falling for the wrong woman.
Chapter 7
Kitty
I’m going straight to hell.
The thought hammers through my skull as I pace Delaney’s room like a caged animal.
It’s been ten days since we arrived at Havenridge Ranch—ten days of warm sunrises and big breakfasts, of goat chaos and cattle tours, of evenings where I sit at the kitchen table pretending not to notice the way Tom’s eyes find mine when no one’s looking. Ten days of falling for a man I have no business falling for.
The worst part? I love it here. I love helping Luna in the kitchen, coaxing color back into Ruth Sutton’s overgrown herb garden, and learningthe rhythms of ranch life I never thought I’d be a part of. I love being around Tom, even when it hurts.
And it does. Because with every passing day, my feelings grow deeper… while Delaney plans a wedding with him.
What kind of sister does that make me?
The worst kind, apparently.
Worse still, I’ve seen what real love looks like. I see it every time Shay walks into a room and Henry’s whole face softens like he’s watching his heart beat outside his chest. I hear it in the way he says her name, like a prayer. That kind of love doesn’t leave room for confusion. It doesn’t come from arrangements or timelines. It just is.
And this thing between Delaney and Tom? It isn’t that.
“Stop wearing a hole in the floor,” Delaney says without looking up from her perfectly organized pile of laundry. “You’re making me dizzy.”
I force myself to sit on the bed, hands clenched in my lap. “Sorry.Just restless.”
“I know coming here has been a big change.” She folds a blouse with military precision. “But the Suttons have welcomed us with open arms, and Tom seems decent. The kind of man who’ll provide stability.”
Her clinical assessment makes my stomach churn. “Do you even like him?”
Delaney’s hands still. “Kitty, this is an arrangement that benefits us both. Love is a luxury neither of us can afford.”
And there it is—that quiet resignation I’ve heard since our parents died. I hate it. Hate that she honestly believes safety is the best we can hope for. She’s spent years sacrificing her dreams to keep us afloat. Somewhere along the way, she stopped believing she deserved more than survival.
“I just…” I swallow the lump rising in my throat. “You shouldn’t have to settle.”
Her expression doesn’t waver. “Settling is what keeps a roof over our heads.”
“But what if you could?—”
