Page 44

Fane

Four Months After That

“Is this a sex thing?” Cali asked when I helped her out of the car, a scarf tied around her eyes.

“This isn’t a sex thing.” I smiled against her temple, leaving a kiss there before taking her hand.

“Because if this is a sex thing, I am totally on board.” The hand that wasn’t clutched in mine was flopping all over the place, the only real sign that she was nervous.

“Don’t be nervous, baby,” I whispered against the shell of her ear. Her body shivered from head to toe, and that peachy hue I constantly craved the sight of spread across her cheeks.

Our boots crunched on the freshly fallen snow as I led her forward. She mumbled the whole way about how nerves were for toddlers and free climbers.

When we reached the perfect spot, I stopped. She stood there, oblivious and rambling, and I took a moment just to look at her. God, I was so in love with her.

The last four months had both flown by and also traveled at a snail’s pace.

In that time, Cali had made the executive decision to expand the café to offer actual breakfast until ten a.m.

“I want you to be my chef,” she’d announced, storming out of the bedroom and straight into the living room. A furrow of determination on her brow that was always in place whenever she had her mind set on something. When she spoke, she was also miming flipping something in a frying pan.

“Your chef?” I’d asked, amused.

“You are, by far, the most talented cook I’ve ever met, though if you tell my mom, I will deny it. I have essentially turned into a pancake since you came home, and now…well, I think we should work together.”

Came home . It ricocheted off the walls of my mind, true and clear.

“I’ll pay you, obviously.” She threw her hands up, punctuating her words. “I’m not expecting free labor just because you’re my boyfriend, and we’re sleeping together.” Her eyes widened. “I’m not saying that us having sex equates to you providing me with free labor…”

I grinned at her rambling. Whenever she got like this, it was entertaining as hell.

“I’d both pay you and have sex with you if you worked at Sunshine,” she stammered. Her hand flew to her throat, flustered. “I mean, they’re separate things! I’d pay you as an employer and sleep with you as…a person.”

“What if I wanted to fuck you on our lunch break?”

That peach flush of hers started on her chest and moved up to her neck and face. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water before the only thing that came out was a squeaked, “Okay!”

By then, I’d been laughing so hard I had to tilt my head back against the couch. She stood in front of me, still flustered, giving me an awkward double thumbs-up.

“Come here.” I held out a hand, waiting until she finally settled on top of me, straddling my hips while her fingers fiddled with the hem of my shirt.

“I would love to work together. I think it’s a really great idea, but I’d want to go into it as partners. To invest in the café with you.”

“Oh.” She shook her head with a small smile. “I don’t own the space, I just rent it.”

I lifted her off me effortlessly, setting her down on the couch. Then, without a word, I disappeared into the bedroom. When I came back, I handed her a folded piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

I didn’t say anything, just watched as she unfolded it. Her eyes skimmed the words, and when she looked back at me—glassiness in her gaze, cheeks flushed—she whispered, “The building is in my name.”

“It is.”

“The building on Main Street—the one Sunshine is in—it’s in my name. Why is it in my name?” She gestured with her hands, outlining what I assumed was meant to be a building.

“When I got to town, I wasn’t sure if I could stop Mackenzie Co . ,” I told her honestly. “I had a rough plan, but when I saw that you had a business right where the company wanted to obtain property, I bought the building under your name.”

“You…what?”

“I didn’t want you to worry, and if the development did go through, I wanted Sunshine to be okay. I wanted you to be okay—”

Cali jumped off the couch and threw herself at me, arms and legs wrapping around me like a vise. The commotion stirred Jerry from his slumber to the point he dragged his body off the couch and started nudging my ass with his nose.

She pulled back just enough to press her forehead to mine. “What did I do to deserve you?” she whispered.

“Everything,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her jaw. Without another word, I carried her to the bedroom and showed her exactly how willing I was to accept her business proposition.

For the last month and a half, we’d woken up together, headed to work together, and when the breakfast shift ended, I stayed to bake cookies and clean tables.

I used to think success was an overpriced suit and an office in a high-rise. But this— this was success. Doing what I loved, something I hadn’t even realized I loved, with the person I loved. That’s what it meant to truly have it all.

“Fane?” Cali’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. She was standing where I’d left her, hands waving in front of her face like she was trying to find me through the blindfold. “Are you gone?”

“I’m here,” I murmured, stepping closer. “You can take off the blindfold.”

Her hands tentatively reached up to pull off the scarf, eyes squinting while they adjusted to the gentle purple hue that settled around this property as the sun was going down.

Her eyes bulged. “We’re at Primrose Ranch.”

“We are.”

“Why are we here? This is private property , Fane!” she whispered, clutching to the scarf with tight fists, like someone would hear us.

“I don’t think we’re going to get into trouble.” I smiled at her, stuffing my hands into the front pockets of my jeans.

“This isn’t your ranch!” She did a small, little gallop like she was riding a horse, and I snorted so aggressively I almost blew the whole thing, catching myself from bending over and smothering my laughter.

“No, it’s not my ranch.” I stepped to the side, revealing the sign I’d been standing in front of. “But it is yours.”

Her gaze landed on the freshly painted sign: Rosie’s Ranch .

“That’s my name.” She pointed to it, her eyes flicking to mine, and then back to the sign.

“Yes, it is.”

“My name is on that sign.” She looked like she might pass out, so I walked up to her and stopped just a foot away.

“Can I ask you something?” I murmured.

She nodded, eyes glued to mine.

“I’m obsessed with you,” I said, giving her a bright smile to which she just rolled her eyes, both her hands landing on my chest.

“You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up, and the last thing I think of before we go to sleep.”

“ Fane .” She gave me a knowing look that said she definitely thought this was still a sex thing.

I brought the back of her hand up to my lips, brushing a kiss over her knuckles. “I want to give you everything you’ve ever wanted, Cali. I want to make you laugh, give you things that make you hum when you remember them. I want to cook you food and watch your face change when you eat it. I want to run behind you every single day, even though you run too fast, because I get to look at your ass.”

Cali snorted a snotty laugh, wiping her face on her shoulder.

“I want to give you a peaceful life. Where you can be steady, or soft, or both, or neither.”

“I love you,” she said softly, and in those three words, she gave me everything I’d ever wanted.

“The thing is, when I picture life now, it feels almost peaceful.” I continued. “But when I picture life here , it feels perfect. I picture you on the porch, our blankets laid out right here, Jerry between us. Maybe, when we’re ready, a couple extra heartbeats.”

She nodded, eyes glassy, hands gripping mine tightly.

“This house is not a shit box,” she croaked, shaking her head.

“No.” I laughed. “It’s not.”

“Fane, did you buy us a ranch?” Her voice cracked as she clutched the sides of my coat.

“This was where I was when you were flying back to Artington. I was meeting with Sammy and a lawyer here so that we could flesh out all the details of a change in ownership.”

“I was coming to find you,” she whispered, and it made my chest tighten—the realization that I had this person, who was made up of all the best things, willing to always run straight for me. Even when she thought I was heading the other way.

“I know.” I nodded, leaning in to drop a kiss to her jaw.

“Fane?”

“Mmm?”

“You haven’t asked me anything yet.”

My face nearly split in two with my smile, and it stayed that way as I sank to one knee and pulled a ring from my pocket.

“Holy fuck,” she muttered, her voice pitching higher with each word. “Holy fucking fuck.”

“Cali…”

“Sweet fuck !” she yelled and started bouncing from foot to foot, pointing right at the ring I held. “Is that a ring?”

“Yes—”

“Oh my god, that’s a—he has a ring. He has a ring! ” She started shaking her hands, glancing around like she needed someone to scream at about it.

“Fane, that’s a diamond. That’s a big fucking diamond! ”

“Baby—”

“That’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen,” she cried, covering her mouth while still pointing at the ring.

“Calista?”

“Yes?” she squeaked and then dropped to her knees in front of me, cold hands gripping my wrists and tear-filled eyes on my face.

“Will you marry me?”

She started nodding frantically. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes, holy shit, yes!” Her voice got louder with every word, and when I slipped the ring onto her shaking hand, her body crashed into mine.

I didn’t care when the cold snow soaked into my jacket. My eyes stayed on her, like they always had.

Like they always would.

“Does this mean I might finally get you into a cowboy hat?” she asked, her eyes still house behind us.

“You might,” I said, still absorbed by the wonder on her face, watching bit by bit as something mischievous started to bloom in her eyes.

“You know,” she said, wiggling off me and dusting the snow from her hands as she came to standing. “This feels like an opportune time to try number five from the sex list.”

Then, she was off. Her laughter bounced off the trees around us, loud and unrestrained. Pouring out of her in the way laughter does when you give yourself over to it completely.

And so I got up, dusted the snow off my own hands, and followed.

The end