Chapter Thirty-Eight

Hannah…

Roarke and I order room service, and we get ready for its delivery by dressing. I grab a robe as he pulls out a pair of sweats from a suitcase. “Your suitcase is here?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all. Just wondering how you pulled all of this off.”

“I arranged the room and the party yesterday. I wanted to call you, but I knew I’d tell you I was leaving my father in charge of the problem in Houston and coming back.”

“Really? Well, how are the horses and your dad?”

“His friend found the toxin, and he’s tending to the horses and doing a damn good job.” We sit down on the couch in the corner, and he opens the champagne I didn’t notice for all the flowers, filling two glasses. “I really think he needed me gone. He needed to know something went well because of him.”

“I think that was the perfect thing to do. Tell me about the toxin and the horses.”

He’s about halfway through his story when the food comes, and we barely miss a beat when he grabs the food. We keep talking, with so much to talk about and catch up on, that we eventually move to the bed, while I tell him all about my life in the fashion industry. I don’t even remember falling asleep. I do, however, remember waking up because I’m on my stomach, and Roarke is kissing a line down my spine. I moan with the pleasure of it and look up at him. “You can’t do what you’re thinking about doing. I have to pee.”

He smacks my backside. “Then go pee. I’ll meet you in the shower.”

And so he does. For the first time in years, we shower together, and it’s not a quick shower. I end up in the corner, with him inside me, his mouth on my mouth, and it’s truly the best way to wake up. I’m in the shower with Roarke. I’m starting a new day and a new life with Roarke.

A good hour later, after a call from Jessica and Jason, we’re dressed to meet them for breakfast. Roarke is in jeans and a stallion T-shirt, and since I just happen to have my own stallion T-shirt, I pull mine on as well. I paint my lips pink, slide my purse over my shoulder, and exit the bathroom to find him sitting on the couch, on a call. “We’ll be down in ten,” he says, standing up and giving me a once-over, his gaze landing on my shirt. “You found your things under the bed.”

“Yeah,” I say. “I did.” I think of the boots and the ring, wondering if he’ll ever dare propose again.

He closes the space between us, his hands settling on my waist. “Move in with me. Let’s do what we need to do while we’re here to get you moved. If you want to keep your apartment until you’re sure, I’ll pay for it, but come home with me. Be home with me. I want—”

“Me, too. Yes. Yes. I don’t care about the apartment. I just want to be back home with you.”

He smiles, this brilliant smile that lights me up inside, and then he kisses me. “Home it is, then.” He brushes my hair behind my ear, an intimate and familiar move that I missed beyond words. “What do you need here? Can I just have someone pack you up?”

“I can get a few more things now and do the rest later. I need to focus on the festival.”

“You can let a mover do the rest. Call me impatient, but I want our lives back together fully.”

“I do, too.”

He cups my head and rests his forehead against mine. “We adopt.” He pulls back to look at me. “Or we just get more horses.”

“You have a lot of horses.”

“We have a lot of horses.”

I smile. “We. We sounds good.”

“Let’s go eat with Jason and Jessica, and after, we’ll swing by your apartment.”

“Actually, I need to buy a car. A rental isn’t cost-effective.”

“Do you know what you want?”

“I have no idea.”

“We have an extra vehicle. You want to drive it while you decide?”

We. I will never get tired of that word. “Yes. That sounds perfect.”

He laces the fingers of one of my hands with his and kisses my knuckles. “Then, that’s what we’ll do.”

We share a smile, and a few minutes later, when we walk into the restaurant downstairs hand in hand to a table filled with Jessica, Jason, Ruth, and Martha, they stand up and clap, and I blush, but it’s one heck of a happy blush.

…

Roarke…

Breakfast wraps up, and Jason motions for me to join him in the hotel lobby. We walk underneath the winding stairs leading to the second level and claim two chairs against the wall. “The party was good. You two okay?”

“Better when I get this family stuff out.” I scrub my jaw. “You’re sure we can make this happen? Because I’m not waiting to tell her to have it blow up in my face.”

“How can buying the property from the government and returning it to her family blow up in your face?”

Here is a man who gave up his baseball career when his parents died to take over his family’s struggling ranch and to protect the families depending on it, rather than filing for bankruptcy. He barely blinked when I told him that his father was willing to sell it off and put them all out on the street and our horses with them. Instead of dwelling on his father’s part in the family feud, he was all about “How do we fix this for you and Hannah?”

“Seriously, man,” he says. “This is going to work out.”

“I’ve tried to buy that property for Hannah. For years.”

“And now you’ve told me, and I’m in the unique position of knowing a lot of powerful people. The team owner is on this. He’ll make it happen.”

“Have you told Jessica about this? Does she think waiting to tell Hannah when I can hand her the property deed is the right move?”

“I haven’t told her, but talk to her when we get back. If she disagrees with our plan, then weigh your own feelings, and do what’s right.”

“What I want is to put a ring on Hannah’s finger and marry her before this explodes in my face, but that’s selfish and wrong. I need to open this wound and throw medicine on it, and this feels like the way, but she brought up me not going after her again. It’s killing me not to explain why.” I shake my head. “Maybe I just won’t tell her that her parents sent the video.”

“It will always be there between you and her if you don’t. I think she needs to know. Not only that, but one of the reasons you didn’t go after her was because you knew how it would affect her with her parents.”

“Which is why I still don’t want to say more than I have to,” I argue.

He leans in closer. “Why didn’t you go after her? How do you make that right?”

I don’t try to explain to him how betrayed I felt in the days after what happened. I don’t try to explain that right when I would have gone after her, this shit with our parents exploded. When I did call, when I got drunk enough to say screw our parents, her number was already changed. But I have to say it all to Jessica.

“Hell,” Jason adds. “I think you need a female’s opinion. Talk to Jessica.”

“And propose before or after I give her the property?”

“Oh yeah.” He slaps his knees. “You need Jessica. In the meantime, I’m going to get that property.” He pats my shoulder, and we stand up, walking together back to the lobby, where we find Jessica and Hannah standing together. The two fast friends are in deep conversation, but I only see one of them. The beautiful brunette I want to be my wife. She must feel my attention because her gaze lifts and turns, colliding with mine.

She smiles this stunning smile and rushes toward me, pushing to her toes to kiss me. “The hotel’s delivering the flowers to the children’s hospital. See? You did something special twice with those flowers.”

I cup her head and kiss her firmly on the mouth before I say, “You’re something special. I’m not letting you get away.”

“Stop saying that. It makes it seem like I’m trying to leave again. I’m not going anywhere.”

No. She’s not. I’m going to find a way to heal our families. I’m going to be the damn Sweetwater Whisperer if it kills me. Because I have to. I love her too damn much to accept any other answer.