Page 28 of Her Cowboy Santa
She throws her arms around my neck and peppers my face with kisses as she whispers the word “yes” again and again.
Chapter 13
Callie
Snowflakes swirl in the air around me as I walk with Nate toward the Christmas Eve bon fire. The temperature has dropped, and the snowstorm that the region has been anticipating for a few days is nearly here. But I’m not worried because I’ll wake up on Christmas morning with my three best boys—Nate, Danny, and Rudy.
As if sensing my thoughts, he reaches for my hand. My mittens press against his thick gloves. Danny is snuggling against his chest and gurgling happily. Rudy is keeping pace next to me, pausing every so often to offer me a stick. I always throw it and laugh as he races for it.
“He’s quite the fan of you,” Nate says.
“Maybe he can just sense my natural affection for him.”
“Or maybe you’ve been sneaking him extra treats.”
I chuckle, realizing he figured me out. “It’s not my fault. He’s such a handsome boy.”
He laughs too, the sound rich and warm. All around us there are happy couples. Nate wasn’t the only guy from the Naughty List Ranch to find love this year. Plenty of his friends did too.
Mary waves us over. She presses a mug of hot chocolate into my hands as we take our seats near the crackling fire. There’s so much heat, but it’s the company and the love that truly warms me.
“How much longer do I have you for?” Mary asks as she takes a seat next to me. Christopher leans over and adjusts her scarf, tucking it tighter around her as if he can’t stand the idea that she might catch a chill.
She knows that Nate proposed to me. She hugged me so tight the moment I told her. Then she whispered to me that my mom would be so happy which made me tear up. She always knows just what to say.
I frown, not sure what she means at all. “What do you mean how much longer do you have me for?”
“Well, you’re leaving with Nate, aren’t you? I just assumed you would.”
Nate shakes his head before she can finish her sentence. “No, I’m leaving Courage County. We’re going to be living here.”
“Wait a second,” I say out loud. I hadn’t even considered where we’d live or what our lives will look like once we’re married. But I know as soon as he says that he’s leaving his hometown that I don’t want that for him. “You shouldn’t have to sell the farm you love so much. I don’t want you to give up your home for me.”
He squeezes my hand through my mitten. “You are my home.”
His words only make me more determined to go with him to Courage County. “I don’t want you to sell your farm.”
He growls, “Well, we’re not living apart.”
I chuckle at the bossiness in his tone. I love it when he growls at me. “We’re not going to live apart. I’m going to move back to North Carolina so Danny and I can be with you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because Courage County is where you belong. It’s where your brothers are, and Danny can get incredible care in Asheville,” I answer. As soon as I say the words, I know it’s right. There’s a reason I felt led to come here to the Naughty List Ranch. It’s because I was meant to find Nate. He’s my soulmate and now that we’re together, I want to raise Danny on his farm.
“Are you sure?” he says. “Because I would give it all up in a heartbeat just to be with you and Danny.”
It’s my turn to squeeze his hand. “I know, but I don’t want you to. Besides, I hear there’s an opening for a baker at your ranch.”
He laughs then and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want,” I assure him.
We talk late into the night underneath the stars until eventually it gets too cold to stay out any longer. Nate tucks Danny into his crib then falls asleep with his arms wrapped around me.
I drift to sleep with a smile on my face. But I wake a few hours later in a cocoon of warmth. Nate’s arm is lying across my chest, and my nipples are straining against the thin material of my t-shirt. But it’s his hand in my panties that’s turning me on. He’s cupping my pussy even in his sleep, and I love how owned that makes me feel.
I bump him with my elbow, and he murmurs sleepily, “Does he need me?”
