Page 21

They’d found the cows, and they’d put the little pen where Amelia’s minis lived back together, and moved them out of the garage.

Not bad for a morning’s work, even if it felt way cooler out here than it had before.

Fox took a swig from the water bottle Trent had just given him and squinted at what was left of the barns.

It wasn’t much.

“I need to learn to ride.” He turned to Trent and grinned. “Horses, I mean.”

“Sure. You want to start with the tiny ones?” Oh, that was mean.

Fox snorted and crossed his arms. “And to think I was so good to you last night.”

“You were amazing last night. Amazing.” Trent looked great in his long-sleeved T-shirt, strong and sure as he came over to steal a kiss.

The compliment made him feel taller, confident, things he’d had a hard time holding onto until recently. Things that seemed to come more naturally after last night. “Mmm. Thank you. Things just keep getting better between us, don’t they?”

He really thought so. It made things like losing a barn feel less like a disaster. They had everything. They could build a barn.

Trent beamed like he’d been lit up from within. “They do. And we’re fixin’ to have our holiday season—I can’t wait to have a reason to decorate. I got my guy and my Ames.”

“Are we having your family for Thanksgiving? Your sister, right? Your parents?”

“We’ll all eat at Rope’s. His kitchen’s bigger, but yeah. We’ll have a houseful.”

“Wow. I’m not used to big holiday things with family and everything. I’m looking forward to it. Mostly.” He gave Trent a wink. Trent understood he had to kind of ease into crowds these days. But he could do it. He wanted to learn about that surrounded-by-family feeling.

“Well, we have Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, and Amelia says she’s been invited to go shopping at the crack of dawn by Jennifer and her kids…”

Cash for Amelia, got it.

“That’s a lot of celebrating. Is Christmas like that too?” He should have known, given the size of the Halloween crowd, that Rope and Jude’s house was celebration central.

He grinned and rolled his eyes. “Oh, lord. I don’t know about the school and stuff, but there are parties, and plays, and get-togethers for the whole damn season. We do love our holidays, and we’ll ride in the Christmas parade in town.”

“Ride, huh?” He leaned close to his man. “I don’t think the minis will hold me for a whole parade.”

“You can ride in the wagon with the kiddos if you want. Be in charge of them with Jude.” Trent rolled his eyes. “They stand up a lot.”

“I am going to learn to ride, damn it.” He snorted. “I am not Jude. You’re going to make me a cowboy.”

“You’ll be doing that, all by yourself.” Trent kissed his nose. “But we’ll get you on a horse. No worries.”

“Good. That’s what I want. I want to ride. And I’m going to learn about building barns too.” This was his home now, and he was going to be useful, learn, and know what he was talking about.

He was going to help Trent make this place a successful thing, and he was going to have a ball doing this and being a dad.

“Speaking of barns, do you have someone coming out soon? I’d love to talk with them when they get here.”

Trent nodded, a curious expression flitting across his face. “I got the Johnsons coming out this afternoon. They do reasonable work, but it’s quality.”

“Cool. I can sit in on your talk with them?”

“Darlin’, you’re financing the barns. I reckon we’re meeting them together.”

Okay, that felt amazing. Not only that Trent accepted his help, but that his cowboy tucked him into the family, into the ranch.

“ We are financing the barns, but yes, that would be great.” Everything that was his was his family’s now. “And I, uh. I have something for you.” He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to Trent. “That’s the surrogate service I used for Amelia.”

Trent’s eyebrow went up, and his head tilted. “Yeah?”

“Mhm. I was thinking maybe you should give them a call.” He winked at Trent, enjoying the curious look in Trent’s eyes.

“I might think about that, but I have to tell you, Mr. Fox. I’m a traditional type of guy.”

“All right, Mr. James.” He smiled, knowing exactly what Trent meant, and it wasn’t about having a baby the traditional way because that was impossible. “I was thinking champagne and candles and a crackling fire or something, but I don’t need any of that. We can do this right here with the mini horses and the chickens.”

He didn’t have a ring, but he felt like the moment mattered more than the hardware. “You’re already my family and Amelia’s family. I seem to suddenly own yaks, and I’m all in on building a barn, so there’s really only one thing left that I don’t have. It’s pretty important to me too so, Trent James,” he said, going down on one knee. “Will you be my husband?”

He wasn’t nervous or anxious at all until the words were out of his mouth. He was sure Trent was going to say yes, of course he was, but now that the question was out there, he worried that he should have waited. What if Trent would rather he had a ring? Maybe this wasn’t romantic enough? The “what-ifs” were suddenly making his heart pound and all he could do was hope.

Please say yes.

Trent grinned at him, those warm eyes searching his before the grin turned into a huge, sunny smile. “There’s nothing I want more, darlin’. Not a thing.”

“Yes!” He popped right up, smiling so hard it hurt, and caught Trent in a tight hug. “I love you. Thank you.”

“I love you.” Trent held him close, humming deep in his chest. “I can’t wait to tell Ames that you asked.”

He felt a little studly if he was honest. Strong and tall, like he was Superman. And he loved that Trent wanted to be the one to break the news. “Me either.”

“Kiss me again, darlin’. We got work to do.”

“I can do that.” Fox made just enough room between them for that kiss, and it was full of love and the future.

He and his fiancé were going to buy a barn.