Page 9

9

DYLAN

“Aw, honey. You didn’t take my advice, did you?” Jolene’s face was sympathetic. “Which idiot cowboy hurt you, huh? Give me his name and I’ll skin him alive, maybe mount his head on the wall.”

“Is it that obvious?” I sniffled over my breakfast. “Shit. I really need to get it together. I have a meeting with a potential partner in like thirty minutes.”

I took in a deep breath, doing my best to steel my thoughts. I’d hardly gotten any sleep last night, tossing and turning as I remembered the way Cole had been all over me… until he wasn’t. It had felt so natural with him, like puzzle pieces snapping into place. Even though I didn’t think it was going to be a forever kind of something with him, I still thought I at least mattered to him.

But I didn’t. I was just a mistake.

Like pouring a cup of coffee into the wrong glass. Like printing two copies of the same file.

And soon, he’d forget all about me.

“They’re assholes, all of them.” Jolene sighed. “But they sure know how to draw us in, don’t they?”

“They sure do.”

“You want to go steal some of his stuff? If you take his hats and boots, we can burn them in a pile out back. I won’t tell a soul.”

“That sounds amazing.” I half-laughed, half-sniffled. “But… could we maybe do pancakes instead? A cartoonish stack of them if that’s okay.”

“Oh, honey. It’s more than okay.” Jolene gently patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll even throw in some chocolate chips. On the house.”

I mouthed the words thank you before pulling out my phone?—

There were so many missed calls from Cole.

So many texts too.

I grimaced at the sight of it, setting my phone down at my side. If he didn’t want to be friends and he didn’t want to touch me, I had a feeling that he wanted to shut me up. Maybe he was worried about Stratton Ranch’s valuation going down if they found out their next CEO had a crush on a male wedding planner?—

Had a crush?

I let out a pained laugh. I needed to get it through my head that I didn’t mean anything to Cole Stratton. I was the equivalent of a drunken hookup at 3AM. A last call kind of hookup.

Cole probably just wanted me to sign an NDA about my time on the ranch. If he were smart, he’d put it under the guise of keeping the details of Amber’s wedding a secret, but the NDA itself would encompass everything I saw and did during my time there.

Because Cole couldn’t have dirty hands.

I felt tears pricking behind my eyes at the realization, briefly wondering if any of Amber’s assistants would’ve had to sign an NDA if they’d hooked up with Cole instead. I knew the answer was no , which was probably why everything hurt so much?—

“Dylan? Are you okay?” Alex took a seat across from me, his eyes filled with concern. “What’s going on?”

“Just personal stuff.” I shook my head. “Nothing that has anything to do with us today.”

Just then, Jolene returned, setting down the huge stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. Alex looked at the plate before he looked back at me with a warm smile. “Nothing to do with us, huh? Because I’m not gonna lie, I could definitely go for a shit ton of pancakes right now.”

“You want to help me eat ‘em?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“So, would 15% work? As sort of a referral fee?” Alex asked, before taking another bite of pancake. “We could also do it on a wedding-by-wedding basis.”

“I think 15% sounds good for now. Especially breaking into a new market. I never thought about going international before.”

“You’d be amazing at it. Trust me.” Alex beamed. “I already have a few people who’d love to work with you, but they didn’t know how much time you’d be willing to spend overseas.”

I casually shrugged. “It’s not like I have anything keeping me tied down.”

Alex quirked an eyebrow. “Ah. Is that why you turned me down for that date? Because you didn’t want any… complications?”

“I turned you down for that date because I… thought I was sort of seeing someone.”

“You thought?”

“Yep. And I think I liked him more than I originally thought I did. But he absolutely did not feel the same way.” I let out another pained laugh. “Isn’t that so embarrassing?”

“You still like him, don’t you?”

“I—” I started and stopped my response, noticing someone coming over to our table. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell they were a cowboy, with the stupid hat and the stupid boots?—

Wait.

Was that my cowboy?

I sank even further into my seat. I didn’t think I could handle this right now. I closed my eyes and hoped against hope that Cole was just here as a coincidence and not to force my hand to sign the NDA in front of Alex.

“Can you give us a sec, Alex?” Cole’s voice was stern, the question barely a question. Alex nodded with his usual smile before he stepped away from the table. As soon as he did, Cole slid into his spot across from me, his eyes burning with fire.

“Are you trying to make me jealous?”

“What?”

“Going on a date with Alex and ignoring me?” Cole pressed. “I didn’t think you were into playing games like this, Dylan?—”

“I didn’t—this wasn’t—” I shook my head. “Cole, this wasn’t a date . Alex was pitching me a potential partnership. He’s going international with his business and thought it could be worthwhile to team up.”

“Oh.” Cole seemed to cool down immediately. “Fuck. Sorry.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “Did you bring the NDA with you or what?”

“NDA?”

“That’s what all this is, right? You want me to sign an NDA so I can’t talk about anything that happened between us on the ranch while I was here.”

“I would never make you do something like that, Dylan. I’m not… I’m not ashamed of you… I’m not ashamed of us…” Cole looked away for me for a moment. “Did you say going international ?”

“Cole—”

Before I could say anything else, Cole’s hand was on top of mine, giving it a tender squeeze. “I’ve been awful to you, Dylan. I’m so, so sorry. I’ve been so hot and cold and…”

He took in a deep breath before he went on.

“I’ve never… felt this way about anyone before, Dylan. You drive me crazy. You call me out on my shit. You don’t give a damn about my last name or who my father is. And I’m... I think I might be… scared. About what that means. I’ve never been with a man before, Dylan. And I’ve never felt like this so… does that make me…”

“It means whatever you want it to mean, Cole.”

“Right.” Cole brought my hand up to his mouth, softly kissing my knuckles. “Can you forgive me? For being so incredibly stupid about all of this?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Cole stared over at me, as he began to kiss each of my fingertips. “You want me to make it up to you, baby?”

“You are so evil,” I whimpered, already putty in his hands. I managed to regain my composure enough to pull my palm away from his mouth. “What does all this mean, anyway? You’re just going to consistently be nice to me from here on out?”

“I don’t know what it means yet,” he murmured. “But I do know that I don’t want anyone else touching you, Dylan.”

“Because I’m… yours?”

“Because you’re mine.” Cole reached for my hand again. “As long as you’re here, you’re all mine .”