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He rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. “You know damn well what I mean. I’m saying that I want more than a week.”

Her eyes grew wide. “I’d love that, but we have to be realistic, Tanner.”

“I know. I feel like I am being realistic, because this? You and me? It’s real. We just have to figure out what we’re going to do about it.”

She stared up at him for a long moment. “There’s nothing we can do.”

His heart sank. “Nothing we can do or nothing you want to do?”

“Want to? I’d love to. But …” She shook her head. “You don’t even know me. You don’t know what my life …”

“That’s what I’m saying. I want to get to know you. I already know you well enough that I want to give this a shot. It’s not impossible, Everly. Not if we want to give it a try.” He stared into her eyes, willing her to agree.

“But there’s something – a big thing – that you don’t know about me yet. If you still want to try after I tell you, then I’d love to. But Tanner, I…”

They both jumped when his phone started to ring. He wanted to ignore it but, on the ranch, that was never an option.

“Hold that thought,” he told her as he reached for his phone. “What’s up, Brooks?” He wanted to say that this was a bad time. But when was six-thirty on a Sunday morning ever a good time? Brooks wouldn’t be calling him if there wasn’t a problem.

“Sorry to call you so early, Tan. I think you’ll want to come down here.”

Tanner scowled. Going down to the barn was the last thing he wanted to do this morning. “Why? What’s going on?”

“That new mare; I’m worried about her. I kept an eye on her overnight, and she seems worse this morning. She’s breathing hard, and she’s antsy.”

Tanner was already reaching for his jeans from the floor. “Have you been walking her?”

“Yep. I figured it might be colic.”

“I’ll be out there as soon as I can. I’ll call Janey.”

Everly sat up in bed, clutching the sheet to her chest as she watched him get dressed. “What’s wrong?” she asked in a small voice.

“One of the horses. I need to go and take a look at her.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Shit, I’m sorry, darlin’. Are you okay to stay here for a while? I shouldn’t be too long. You could maybe get some more sleep?”

She considered it for a moment before she nodded. “I’ll be fine. You go and do what you need to do. Do you think Ford will mind if he finds me in the kitchen? I could really use some coffee.”

“Ford won’t mind, but I’ll make you some before I go and bring it up if you’d be more comfortable with that.”

“No! Just go. It sounds like it’s an emergency. No way do I want to hold you up.”

He went and perched on the edge of the bed and held his arms out to her. She felt so warm and soft as she hugged him. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m sorry. Have I told you just how amazing you are?”

She laughed against his neck. “You’ve said it so many times now that I’m starting to believe you might actually mean it.”

He kissed her and leaned back with a stern look. “You can bet your ass I mean it.”

“You’re pretty awesome yourself, but we can talk about that later. Go on. Get going.”

He pressed one last kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry about it. Take all the time you need.”

~ ~ ~

After Tanner had gone, Everly looked around his room. It felt like him. It was warm and inviting. It’d be all too easy to get comfortable here – she already was – just like she was already too comfortable with Tanner.

She bit down on her bottom lip. What he’d been saying about wanting to figure out a way that they could spend more time together had made her heart soar. But she’d come crashing back down to reality in a hurry. She’d love to think that it might be possible, but she didn’t even know if he’d still want to when she told him about Ashton. She was starting to feel a little uneasy about that. She genuinely wasn’t trying to hold out on him, it just seemed that every time she was about to tell him, something else came up.