Page 34 of Take Me Please, Cowboy (The Calhouns & Campbells of Cold Canyon Ranch #1)

For a moment, they sat in silence. Ansley had cried the first half hour of her drive out of Eureka, thinking it was over, telling herself she was glad it was over.

But with Rye across from her, she knew she didn’t want the relationship to end, just those huge, horrible drops that made her feel as if she was falling.

She was tired of falling. She needed something firm beneath her feet. She needed something solid and safe.

She held her cup between her hands, letting it warm her.

“I owe you an apology as well,” she said lowly, glancing up at Rye before looking back at her cup.

“What I said to my mom had to have been hurtful, and I feel terrible you heard. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you, or embarrass you, and I did both.”

“My situation in Eureka isn’t easy. I recognize that.”

“But you do an amazing job of taking care of everyone.” She met his gaze.

“You told me the night of the cocktail reception that you were proud of me. Well, I’m proud of you.

You work really hard, and you never complain.

I wish I was as giving and selfless as you.

I wish I’d been more supportive of you. Instead, I was only thinking of myself, and I wasn’t kind, and I’m ashamed of myself—”

“I’d rather know how you truly felt. I’d rather have us confront the problem together than pretend there’s no issue.”

Her eyes stung again, fresh tears filling them. “Do you really feel that way?”

He took her hand in his. “I love you, Ansley. I want you in my life. I want to figure out how to make this work and we can, and will, if that’s what you want, too.”

She blinked. “It’s what I want.”

“Good.” He squeezed her fingers. “But there are obstacles.”

She nodded. “I had a hard time with Eureka.”

“It wasn’t an easy visit, no.”

“I didn’t just struggle with your family.

I think it was also the town. I think I arrived prejudiced as I love Marietta so much.

Marietta is a special place for me. We met there during the rodeo, and I fell for you there.

I’ve imagined opening a gallery of my own there, and I didn’t realize how attached I’ve become to my Marietta dream until I was in your town, trying to imagine myself there, and it wasn’t easy. ”

“I thought it was my family.”

She needed a moment to figure out how to say what she needed to say without offending him all over again.

“Your family has different dynamics than mine, and perhaps as the youngest in my family I’ve been sheltered more than my older brothers.

I was rather overwhelmed, and to be honest, the part that was hardest for me was seeing your mom in your home. ”

Rye’s eyes narrowed. “Why my mom?”

“Because she reminds me so much of Josie, and I could picture your mom being Josie when she was younger…” Ansley searched Rye’s eyes, trying to make him understand.

“Your mom is beautiful, and kind, and yet she’s had a hard life, and there isn’t a break coming for her.

Even if she stops working, she still has your dad and brother to take care of. ”

“Did Mom say something to make you feel bad? I’ve never known her to complain—”

“ No. ” Ansley pulled her hand away from Rye’s. “She’s lovely, sweet, kind. She welcomed me with open arms, but I kept comparing her life to my mom’s. I kept thinking what a difficult life she’s had, and it made me feel sad. It doesn’t seem fair that I’ve had so much, and she hasn’t.”

“Things weren’t always this hard. When dad worked it was better. We weren’t rich, but it wasn’t such a struggle.”

Ansley exhaled, unsettled. “Want to go outside, just walk a bit?”

He nodded and tossed his coffee cup, but she kept hers.

Outside the cool, fresh autumn air helped calm her. They walked a couple blocks before Ansley spoke again. “I have an idea,” she said, glancing at Rye.

“I love ideas,” he said, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Well, hopefully this is a good one.”

“Good ideas are the best kind.”

She smiled, relaxing a little. Even if this wasn’t a good idea, at least he wasn’t making her more nervous.

“What if we were to come up with a plan? What if we didn’t try to come up with a permanent solution today, but discussed what we could do today so that we could be together more, and then sometime in the future, after we see how it’s going, we consider other options? ”

He lifted a brow. “In theory, it sounds good. But how does that work?”

She took a last sip of her coffee and then tossed the cup away as they neared a trash can. “Maybe we start out in Eureka—”

“When you say we, do you mean you’d move there?”

She nodded. “And when your sisters finish school and enter the job market, we could look at moving somewhere else. Perhaps toward Marietta, or maybe even here, to Whitefish. It’s a really cute town. Reminds me a little of Marietta.”

“Lots of tourists and lots of money,” he agreed.

“I just think we don’t have to decide what we want or need in five years. We just need to figure out what we need now. And what I need now is more time with you. Or full-time with you. You’re what I want, Rye, and the rest… it can wait.”

“But you don’t love Eureka, and my family home wasn’t comfortable for you.”

“I shouldn’t say I dislike Eureka. The truth is, I don’t know Eureka. It might really grow on me. I might realize that it’s the perfect place for me. And if you were there, I would be happy there.”

“And my family home?”

“It was a hard day to visit, Rye. The curtains were drawn. It was dark. Your dad wasn’t in the best mood. It was a little claustrophobic. But, you don’t live in the house, you have your place—”

“I can’t put you in the trailer.”

“We can spruce it up. Get some new furniture, hang some paintings on the wall.” She gave him a sly smile. “It would mean moving some of your ribbons and awards, but if you don’t mind me beautifying, it could be really cute.”

“Now you’re overreaching. That trailer will never be cute.”

She shrugged. “I follow Tiny Houses on Instagram. I have some ideas, and I bet Josie does, too.”

He stopped walking and faced her. “You don’t have to make all the sacrifices, Ansley.”

“I’m not making all of the sacrifices. I’m saying…

let’s try to figure this out together.” She clasped her hands, her expression hopeful.

“You know, we could be a proper team. I could be a good team member, too. Maybe I can’t ride in rodeo events, but I can compromise, and I don’t know why we couldn’t find a happy medium because, Rye, I love you.

It was love at first sight and I know it seems fast, but I don’t want anyone but you. ”

He said nothing and her insides flip-flopped, somersaulting with hope and fear, love and anxiety and she needed him to say something . “Rye? Did you hear anything that I just said?”

“Every word,” he said, pulling her into a dark doorway and pressing her against the brick wall. “But right now, I don’t want to talk. I just want to kiss you.”

His head dropped and his mouth covered hers, and the kiss was absolutely consuming. It was impossible to know how long the kiss lasted. All she knew was that she’d turned boneless, and she was melting into him. Thank goodness he was holding her up because her legs were useless at the moment.

*

Rye kissed his beautiful Ansley until he was done for.

He kissed her until the fight was gone, and there was no resisting her, and no resisting his heart.

He loved her completely. He’d loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her, and he was one who didn’t believe love could happen like that.

He didn’t believe that love could sweep one completely off one’s feet.

He’d never believed that love could change one from the inside out, but he’d been changed—transformed by her love and light, her warmth and bright, fierce, inspiring spirit.

It was as if God knew he needed someone exactly like Ansley, someone with backbone, someone with passion, someone just as deeply loyal, and foolishly stubborn, as he was. There was even a good chance that she was more stubborn, but then, she might need to be, considering how hardheaded he was.

At last, when Rye lifted his head, he clasped Ansley’s lovely face in the palm of his hand. “You won,” he said, smiling faintly. “You’ve won my heart, you’ve proved me wrong, you are everything I ever wanted and didn’t dare to dream I’d ever have.”

“I didn’t win,” she said huskily, leaning into him.

“I just found you, and I wasn’t going to let go.

You are the one for me. I knew it immediately, felt it all the way through me.

Having grown up in a family of strong men, I needed a strong man, a man with integrity, a man willing to put his family first, a man who’d always do the right thing.

Rye Calhoun, you always do the right thing, even if it’s not the right thing for you.

You do it for others. You do it because you put those you love first. I love that about you, but you have to be a little bit selfish.

You have to protect your dreams. They matter just as much as everyone else. ”

“I always believed I’d have my chance. I believed one day it would be my turn. And now it is.”

“Now it is,” she agreed, kissing him on the mouth and then smiling mischievously into his eyes. “I adore you, you know. I’d do anything for you. And I mean that. I think I’d be happy in Eureka. I think I’d be happy—”

“No. No not this again, Ansley.”

She reached up, placed a finger against his lips. “Hear me out. It doesn’t have to be forever. It could be for three years, five years, just keep your mind open and solutions will come. We’ll figure this out together.”

“What about your uncle?”

“My mom is lining up a full-time caregiver who will be live-in. There’s also a possibility one of my brothers might be heading to Montana and decide what to do with the ranch, so he’d be on the property, too.”

“You’ve just made friends in Marietta. You’ve been happy there.”

“I have,” she agreed, lightly tracing his cheekbone and then down along his jaw, “but I can be happy here, too. I’ll just need some time to adjust, and Josie is still living at home until January, and she’ll be a big help. I’ve never had a sister—”

Rye stopped her flow of words with another fierce, hungry kiss. He loved this mad, beautiful woman, and she was saying all the right things but in his heart he knew it wouldn’t be an easy move, or a painless adjustment.

He lifted his head to look into her intensely blue eyes. “I do want to marry you. We just have to figure out the logistics.”

“They’re not that complicated. We marry, I move, and I join the Calhouns.”

“You’re being awfully optimistic.”

She pressed her finger to his lips. “There will be problems, but as Team Calhoun we can overcome them.”

“Last night you weren’t so certain.”

“Last night, I wasn’t looking at the big picture and today I am. I want a life with you, and a future with you, and I know if we talk to each other, and we take time to listen to each other, we can have a wonderful life together.”

He looked deep into her eyes, seeing her fire and strength, and it reassured him. He didn’t want anyone else on his team. “Will you marry me, Ansley Campbell?”

She laughed, a joyous bubble of sound. “Yes, Rye Calhoun.”