Page 128 of The Heartbreaker

She put her hands on her hips. “I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to save the horses.”

Her sass made me chuckle. “How are you going to save them?”

“I’m going to let them run free so they’re not in barns anymore. I want every horsey in the world to be able to go wherever they want, and I want one outside our kitchen, so when I wake up for school and come down for breakfast, I can feed it carrots outside the window.”

“Do me a favor, pumpkin. Don’t attempt that when we’re at the barn tomorrow. I’m afraid the owner won’t be very happy with us.” Ridge rubbed his hand over his forearm, drawing my attention to the veins that popped under his skin and the muscle that tightened and the dark hair that covered it.

But what stole my attention right back was Daisy’s giggle that turned into a snort.

“Oopsie-daisy,” she sang.

I looked back at Ridge, no longer able to contain myself, and I burst out laughing.

“Oopsie-daisy—hands down my favorite thing you’ve ever said.” I hugged her against me.

“Mommy used to say it when I was learning how to walk and kept falling. Now, I say it every time I snort—I don’t mean to do it, it just comes out sometimes, and it tickles.”

“It was perfect,” I told her.

She resumed the cutting, adding each of the flowers to the vase until the only things left were the fallen leaves.

I lifted the glass off the counter and held it in front of her. “What do you think?”

“It’ssooopretty.”

“I think so too,” I replied.

“Where do you want to keep your flowers, Daisy?” Ridge asked. “Do you want them in the kitchen or your bedroom?”

“Hmm.” She was touching the petals. “I want them next to my bed, so I see them when I go to sleep and wake up.”

“Why don’t you take them up to your room, then?” Ridge said.

She took the glass from my hands. “Be right back. I’ll be super fast.”

“No running,” Ridge reminded her as soon as she took off.

His eyes then moved to me—I could feel them, sense them—and I turned my head, locking our stares.

“I like this. I like this a whole fucking lot.” His eyelids narrowed. “Get over here.”

I assumed I had a little bit of time before Daisy returned, so I walked over to where he was sitting and wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged my body against his. “Me too.”

“You’re so good with her.” He gripped my ass, grazing his lips over my cheek. “Which doesn’t surprise me at all. You understand kids better than anyone. It comes so naturally to you.”

My eyes closed, the sensation of his hand and mouth completely taking over my body. “She makes it easy. She’s a good kid, Ridge. In the classroom, at home—overall. You and Jana have done a wonderful job with her.”

He turned my face toward him and held it. “I want to ask you something, and I want you to really think about it.”

The seriousness of his tone made me say, “Is this about Daisy?”

“No.” His stare intensified, shifting from my right eye to my left and back. “Brady and Lily’s wedding is in a few weeks. I’d like you to come to Scotland with me and be my date.”

It took me a moment before I said, “I?—”

“Before you say anything, I know it’s not easy for you to take time off during the school year, so I was thinking we could go for just a long weekend. Everyone would already be there, including Jana and Daisy. We’d fly in alone on one of our jets and meet them on Thursday.” His other hand rose up my side and rested on the base of my neck. “We’d come back on Sunday. We probably wouldn’t get in until late, but there’s a bedroom on the plane. You could sleep the whole way back if you needed to.”

Brady and Lily’s wedding wasn’t something I’d even considered going to since, up until the hot tub incident, I’d had no idea when Ridge planned to tell Jana about us. But given that things were still so fresh in Jana’s mind, before I even considered, I needed to know her thoughts on this.