Page 98

Jill hugged her knees and smiled, the pink on her cheeks deepening to a crimson.

“How is that possible? Literally everything is different.”

Jax sat beside her, then laid out on his side.

“You’re making this difficult, sitting on the floor, but I’ll make it work.”

“What am I making difficult now?”

He took her hand in one of his, and the other fished a small wooden box from his pocket.

“Letting me seal the deal since you aced my test from earlier.”

She giggled. “And here I thought I failed it.”

“Not even close. You gave me an even better answer than I was hoping for. And that’s one of a million reasons my life is better now that I know you.” With that, he opened the box.

Her eyes went wide, and her hand flew to her lips. “Jax, it’s stunning.”

“My mom will be glad to hear you say that. It’s made from the one my dad gave her when he proposed. I wanted to take a past I wasn’t proud of and make it into a future that can’t go wrong.”

“Well, you did that, and more.” She sniffled and held out her hand for him to place the band on her finger. “I love it, Jax. And I love you. I’m so happy.”

He was pretty damn happy himself. When his mother had given him her engagement ring to have reset for Jill, he’d known exactly what to do with it. Still, it was nice to know he’d done a good job since this was the first of many gifts he hoped to give his bride-to-be.

“I hope this says how much I love you and want to give you the best life has to offer.”

Jill leaned into him and smiled. “It does, but so does this,” she said, kissing him and wrapping her fingers in his hair. “And this.” She kissed him again and rolled over, so she was sitting on top of him. It was his favorite, the way she sat on his lap.

His heart fluttered. Now that he recognized what that feeling was—love—he didn’t want it to ever go away. For a guy who didn’t want a family or life on a ranch, he got a pretty good one of both.

“Get a room,” Ren complained, but the kid’s focus was still on the puppies, not the lovebirds.

Jax responded by pulling Jill tight to his chest. In that room and the two thousand acres that surrounded it, he had everything he’d never known he’d always wanted. Damn, was he one lucky cowboy.

The End