Page 52 of One Night Rancher

Except when he reached out and took her hand in his, she was still his friend. And when he leaned in and kissed her lips, she was still his friend. And something expanded in his chest all the same.

They walked up the steps together, hand in hand.

“If we walk in like this they’re going to know.”

“Yeah. I’m committed to presenting this as if it’s a thing they should all be aware of.”

She laughed. “Okay. I’m sure Flint and Boone won’t give you a hard time in that case.”

“As long as you stop flirting with them.”

“Probably I won’t,” she said. “Because it bugs you.”

And it was his turn to laugh, because she was so committed to being her, and it was one of the things he liked the very most about her.

That she was cantankerous and stubborn and every inch herself. That she wasn’t going to change or become softer or bend just because they were sleeping together. Just because she’d agreed to marry him.

“Yeah, well. I might put my foot down about the men at the bar,” he said. Because he was testing her. Because he couldn’t help himself.

“You’re going to put your foot down?”

“I said what I said.”

A little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Jace Carson, have we met?”

“Yes we have. Intimately. Naked.”

She shoved him against his shoulder. “Sometimes I think you’re still the same boy from when we were twelve.”

“Close enough.”

Except he didn’t feel like that boy. He wasn’t sure what he felt like. Resolved, so there was that.

He opened up the front door into the house so that she didn’t knock—and they walked inside. His whole family was sitting in the broad, expansive living room, on the different couches and chairs in front of the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the brilliant view. They were missing Buck, who could come back but wouldn’t. And Sophia, who was simply gone. And it pained him that those were the first things he thought of, seeing them all together. Just that they weren’t all together. And probably never would be.

“Hey,” he said. He grabbed hold of Cara’s hand and led her into the room. He figured this was as good a time as any. “I’m glad everybody’s here tonight.”

“It’s good to see you,” said his sister Callie, popping up from her chair and reaching out to pull him into a hug. She was just a little bit pregnant, her belly starting to round out. He wondered if Sophia would’ve had kids by now, had she lived.

He wondered if he would have.

If his life would’ve been different.

If he could’ve believed in miracles of hope and love for longer.

But Cara felt like an anchor behind him, and he would take that instead.

“It’s good to see everyone, but there’s something that Cara and I want to tell you.”

He looked over at his mother, who was looking at him with an expectation and joy he wondered how she still felt. His mother, who had always been so pretty and perfect. His mother, who had been devastated at Sophia’s loss, but seemed to figure out how to keep on going once she had Callie. “We’re getting married.”

The roar that went through the room was massive.

“Pay up,” said Chance.

“Fuck you,” said Boone, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet.

“What?” he asked.

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