Page 41 of Bouquets and Buckles

When he turns the phone around, with a quirk tugging at the corner of his lips, the screen is filled with both Brad and Flinn’s faces, who are both grinning like fools.

I peek back at them from behind my hands.

“Alreadywearing the hat, I see.” He clicks his tongue, and I turn beetroot red. “If I’d known you were aiming to be my stepmother, I might have put in a good word for you with the old man years ago.” Brad cackles, his face lit up with mirth.

Groans come from both me and Luke.

“Do you loathe me? You absolutely do, don’t you?” I’m bracing myself for the worst.

“Skylar Addams, believe it or not, I want my best friend to be happy… besides, you don’t know therealstory of how Flinn and I got together.” The two faces on screen exchange a knowing and entirely besotted with each other glance before Brad turns his attention back to me. “Anyway, I can’t blame you for choosing a Rhodes man; we are superior after all. Even if you got stuck with the second best option.”

“Hey.” Luke protests, his voice a deep rumble I’ve missed so damn much.

My best friend looks far too pleased with himself, like he masterminded this entire situation.

“Ok, so enjoy your date, don’t rush back tomorrow, and please for the love of all things holy donottell me any details.” Brad scrunches his face up, and after blowing air kisses and suggestive winks my way, they hang up.

“Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow? I blink at Luke.

“The guys are gonna take care of the ranch, said I wasn’t allowed to come home unless you came with me.” He sets the phone down and cups my face in two hands, brushing the apple of my cheeks with his thumbs. Giving me a tiny smile when he touches the smear of clay facemask.

“What if I didn’t come with you?” I bite my lip, teasing him.

“I’m pretty sure the plan was more or less for me to keep showing up on your doorstep with food every night.”

“Trying to lure me like a stray cat?”

Luke brushes over my bottom lip with a thumb, pressing down slightly and sending sparks through my blood with that move he does oh, so well.

“Trying to take care of you… to show you how much I want to take care of you.”

I swallow back the thick wall of emotion threatening to rise.

“Just so you know,tomorrowis only because they want to see you. Brad’s got this whole plan to cook you dinner and hang out. This isn’t about dragging you back to Crimson Ridge, I know your life is here, and your business. I don’t have the answers to all that just yet, but I think we’re both smart enough to take it one step at a time and make it work.”

God. I love this man beyond all reason.

“I’ve got one question for you…” My fingers tentatively roam up the front of his shirt.

“Anything you want, sweetheart.” His words are a deep, velvety timbre.

“Would you like to see my bedroom, Mr. Rhodes?”

A wicked glint in his eyes is the only warning I get as he scoops beneath my ass and hauls me against his chest.

“If it involves you falling apart while screaming my name, then I want to thoroughly explore every inch of this place. Repeatedly.”

His lips seek my own as he walks us the short distance to my bedroom, and I direct him where to go between tugging on his hair and his clothes.

Tumbling us down onto the bed, the weight of him—pinning me down and covering my body—ignites my bloodstream. I’m panting for more, ready to beg if I need to.

“Luke…” I thread my fingers into his hair, whimpering his name. “Please.I missed you so much. I’m so fucking in love with you. Don’t make me wait.”

His dark eyes glitter at me in the soft glow of light spilling from the hallway.

“You’ve been my dream for so long, this time I’m not waking up… I love you, sweetheart.” He drops his mouth to cover mine, letting me drag him down to line our bodies up perfectly, then murmurs softly against my mouth.

“Turns out, wishes really do come true.”