Page 20 of Taming the Billionaire Cowboy (The Billionaire’s Bidding #3)

OLIVER

W histling, I locate another chicken egg that’s been deposited in the grass. “You can hatch some of these,” I tell the red hen I suspect is responsible. “But let’s get it somewhere safe.”

She cocks her head and makes an irritated noise before running off. I chuckle and head back to the house. Carly should be here any minute, and my heart is already singing at her approach.

I’m in the kitchen when I hear the car pull up, and by the time she walks through the front door, I’m already waiting with a glass of iced coffee.

“Hey,” I call out, my voice joyful.

“Hi.” She slides her boots off by the door and then zeroes in on me, her eyes squinting in scrutiny. “What are you so happy about?”

“You’re here,” I say straightforwardly. “Isn’t that reason enough?”

She chuckles as she takes the coffee from my hand. “Thanks. It’s so hot out.”

“Summer in Texas.” I wink at her.

She nods but doesn’t drink the coffee or respond. Instead, she puts the glass on the table and rubs her palms against her pants.

“Hey. Everything okay?” I touch her shoulders, my breath hitching in my chest.

It’s there in her eyes. It’s in the way she moves, slower than yesterday and the day before. It’s in the uncertainty, in the stillness and the dust she’s kicking up in my chest. It feels familiar. It feels like me, weeks ago, running to this ranch to escape.

“We need to talk, Oliver,” she says. “Can we… go sit down? On the porch?”

“Of course. Is Bradley okay?”

“He’s fine. It’s okay. Um, I just…” She walks out to the porch, where she takes a seat on the swinging bench.

I sit next to her, my heart slamming against my chest. “What’s up?” I ask, afraid to hear the answer.

“We have to talk about us,” she says, crossing her arms like she’s the only thing she can hold onto.

The ranch swirls around us, horses in the field, animals needing to be fed, my heart working like mad. But I don’t care if the world stops turning right now, not if I’m losing her.

“Is it the animals?” I ask, even though I know it’s more. “If you’re worried about things not getting done?—”

“I’m not worried about that,” she stops me. “It’s you, Oliver.”

The words make me blink. “Me?”

“Yeah,” she says. Her voice is low, as if she doesn’t want to wake me. Or herself. “Everything is good with work, but this thing that’s evolved between us… it’s moving so fast.”

I thought fast was what she needed, what we both needed, but now I wonder if I was wrong. I’m not usually wrong, and maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’m too sure of myself. Of us. Maybe I pushed her, made her say yes when she should have said no.

“I’m your employee,” she says. “You’re my boss.” She lets it hang there like a brick, like a wall I can’t get through.

“Right,” I say on an exhale. “If you’re worried about our personal relationship impacting work?—”

“We should end this now, before it gets complicated. Before Bradley gets even more attached. Before…” She trails off, not wanting to say the last part.

I understand it, though. I can read it in her eyes. Before you leave. Before we both get hurt. Before I fall apart again.

“Is that what you want?” I can’t keep the desperation from my voice, and I hate it. I hate that she’s making me feel so much.

She hesitates, and it’s the only thing I need to keep hoping. “It’s what makes the most sense,” she says.

Sense. It’s always been what I do, what I know. But I didn’t come here for that. I came to get away from it. I didn’t expect this, didn’t expect her, and now the thought of losing it all, of losing her… it’s too much.

“I meant what I said, Carly,” I tell her. “I want to spend most of my time here, in Miralena.” I pause, then dive in. “With you.”

She shakes her head, more uncertain than I’ve ever seen her. “But?—”

“I know what it looks like,” I cut in. “You think I’ll run back to Houston, back to my old life, and forget about you.” I run my hands through my hair. “You think I’ll bail.”

“Can you blame me for thinking that?” she asks.

“No. But you can trust me.” I slide closer on the bench, closing the space between us. “This isn’t just a fling for me.”

“It’s not?” Her voice is a thread. A whisper. A knot that ties me up.

“It’s not,” I say. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”

She pulls her arms tighter around herself, like she’s only just keeping it together. “I haven’t been in a relationship since Bradley’s dad left,” she says, and her voice is trembling, open and raw. “I haven’t done this in years, Oliver. I’m scared.”

“I am, too,” I admit because there’s nothing else I can say. Nothing but the truth.

“I don’t want to risk it,” she says, her eyes full of fear and longing. “I don’t want to get close just to lose you.”

“You won’t.” I reach for her, touching her cheek, feeling how real this is. How much I want it. How much I want her to want it. “I’m not going anywhere, Carly.”

She looks at me, a question in her eyes, a hope I didn’t expect to see.

“I’ve never been serious about anyone before,” I tell her. “But you… You’re different.”

The words hang between us, as solid and certain as anything I’ve ever built, and I can almost feel her heart melting, feel the hesitation fading.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“Yes,” I say. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

She smiles, and it’s like a burst of light, a sunrise, a warmth I can’t believe is mine. “Then… yes,” she says finally, “I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

It’s more than I expected, more than I dared to hope. I’m dizzy with relief, with amazement that she’s not pulling away. That she’s holding on as tight as I am.

I wrap my arms around her, pull her close, feeling the solidness of her, the surety that’s as wild as the wind, yet as stable as the ground.

We stay that way for a long time, tangled up in each other, letting the promise of it all fill the spaces between us. I feel the steadiness in her heart, the tremor in her breath, and it’s like the whole ranch belongs to us, like it’s our world and our chance.

A horse neighs, breaking the moment, and the rest of the animals join in, baaing, mooing, meowing. Everyone wants to be fed, and they want it right now.

Carly pulls out of our embrace, laughing. “Okay, guys, we’re coming. Hold on.”

“I don’t know if I can concentrate today,” I say, though it feels like nothing is impossible now. Like the whole universe has turned in my favor.

“Guess that means I’ll have to pick up the slack,” she says, already standing. But she’s still holding my hand, still as solid as the land around us.

We head to the stable together, and it’s easy now. Easy like it should be. Like it always should have been, but I never knew until now.

She’s mine. She’s mine, and I’m hers, and I can’t believe it took me this long to get here.