Page 75 of Owned By The Cowboy

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Later, after we’ve moved to my bedroom, I lie in his arms listening to him breathe and thinking about everything that’s changed.

A year ago, I was married to a man who made me feel small and unimportant. Now I’m lying next to an amazing cowboy who makes me feel like I’m his fucking queen.

My kids were struggling to adjust to a new life. Now they’re happy, settled and have a man in their lives who treats them the way they deserve.

I thought love was supposed to be hard, complicated, full of conditions and expectations.

Now I know it can be simple. It can be a man who shows up when you need him, who makes your kids laugh, who holds your hand during mini golf and tells waitresses you’re married because it feels right.

It can be coming home.

And that’s exactly what being with Blayne Madison feels like. Home.

Twenty One

Reggie

“Can I have syrup, Mama?” Annalise asks, attacking her pancakes like she hasn’t eaten in days.

“Say please, baby.”

“Can I have syrup, please, most beautiful, amazing mother in the whole world?”

“Better,” I laugh, handing her the syrup bottle.

It’s Saturday morning, and we’re all gathered around the kitchen table for what’s become our usual weekend breakfast chaos. Blayne’s at the stove flipping another batch of pancakes. The easy way he moves around my kitchen makes my heart and nether regions all warm and tingly.

“These are really good,” Nia mumbles around a bite, which is high praise coming from my eternally skeptical teenager.

“Secret ingredient,” Blayne replies, winking.

“What secret ingredient?” I ask.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be secret, babe.”

“That’s not how relationships work. We don’t keep secrets.”

“Since when?” Jaylen jumps in like he’s just been waiting for an opportunity to ambush us. “You two have been keeping the biggest secret of all.” Uh-oh.

“What secret?” Annalise wants to know. Adorably wide-eyed, with syrup all around her mouth.

“That they’re in love,” Nia singsongs. Wow. “It’s pretty obvious,” she adds with assurance. What is happening right now?!

I nearly choke on my coffee. “We haven’t been keeping it a secret.”

“You kind of have,” Jaylen points out. “All the sneaking around, pretending like Blayne just happens to be here every morning.”

“We weren’t sneaking around.”

“Mama,” Nia gives me a look. “I caught you tiptoeing back inside the house after walking Blayne to his truck at two in the morning the other night. That’s literally the definition of sneaking around.”

“Okay, fine. Maybe we were being a little… discreet.”

“Why?” Annalise asks. “Are you embarrassed about Blayne?”