Home on the Ranch

by Tanya Michaels

  He gave a short laugh. “What, you aren’t on the Pill?” he teased.

  After all these years of keeping the truth about her pregnancy from him, she couldn’t believe they’d reached a place where they could joke about it. “Actually, I am. But I’d like to make extra sure. Just in case.”

  He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, and she helped tug off his jeans. It was much easier to shimmy out of her shorts. She recalled how nervous she’d been last time they were in this position, but now there was only urgent joy. And an intimacy she wouldn’t know how to put into words. This was the man who had given her the greatest gift she’d ever known, the person who had helped create their daughter. Whether Jace knew it or not, he’d been a part of her life every day since then. Feeling him slide into her now was like coming home. Or revisiting a miracle.

  Her breath caught as he moved inside her, and she lifted her hips to his, arching to meet each thrust. He braced himself above her, his blue eyes intense with need.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. For once, the word didn’t sound like a casual habit. It sounded solemn. Reverent.

  She met his gaze as long as she could, loving the connection. But then her muscles began to tighten, ripples of pleasure spreading through her. Her back bowed, and starbursts danced behind her eyelids. She cried out his name, hearing it echo through the barn as her body trembled. His own cries were nearly incoherent as he drove into her and found his own release.

  When he collapsed above her, the barn fell silent, except for their harsh breathing. They sounded like two marathon runners who’d just made it past the finish line. This is way more fun than running. A giggle erupted, and Jace poked her lightly in the ribs.

  “This is no time to laugh at a guy.” He rolled onto his side. “You’ll give me a complex.”

  “I was just thinking that if all exercise was this fun, everyone would be in shape.”

  “Fun, huh?” He gave her a lazy smile. “Guess that’s one word for what we just did.”

  She ran a hand through his hair, snuggling closer. “What would you have called it?”

  “Perfect. The word I’d use is perfect.”

  * * *

  “Wow.” Gena’s voice on the other end of the phone was both impressed and worried. “So you’re really doing this?”

  Layla flopped back on the guest room bed, second-guessing her decision. “You yourself said Addie needed to hear it from us before it was too late.” After the day she’d spent badgering her stubborn father and brother to make peace with each other, telling them that this had gone on far too long, she’d been painfully reminded of her own situation. The time for Addie to know who her dad was had long passed. Tonight, she and Jace were going to fix that.

  “Good luck.”

  “Thank you. I’m sorry that after all you’ve done for me, I’m repaying you by driving you out of your own home.”

  “I’m seeing a movie with a cute coworker. I’ll survive.”

  “Have fun.” At least one of us should. Layla would be spending her evening tense and nauseated.

  After ending the call, Layla went to the kitchen where Addie was doing the homework packet her teacher had emailed. “How’s it going?”

  Addie scowled. “I broke my green crayon.”

  “This might cheer you up. What if Jace brings over a pizza tonight?”

  “Can it be pineapple and olives?”

  “Yep. I already told him that was your favorite.”

  Her face lit up. “And we can watch that twisted movie!”

  “Twister. But I don’t think—”

  “Can he teach me how to make a tornado machine?”

  “Not tonight, honey. He has to buy special parts to make another one of those. But I know he’s looking forward to making one with you. You can be patient, right?”

  Her daughter groaned melodramatically.

  Privately, Layla shared her daughter’s opinion of waiting. The hour between telling Addie that Jace was coming for dinner and his arrival was excruciating. Layla didn’t have any cooking to keep her busy, and although she could be working on the calendar, looking at the photos of Jace just made her more restless. She and Addie were on their third consecutive viewing of Dorothy’s life in Kansas when the doorbell rang.

  Layla shot to her feet. This is it. Tonight, she would tell her daughter the truth. She didn’t just have a few butterflies in her stomach, she had an entire monarch migration.

  When she opened the door, Jace smiled nervously, his expression a mirror of what she was feeling. Despite her trepidation, the sight of him sent happiness curling through her. “Hi,” she said softly. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Pizza!” Addie skidded into the foyer in her sock-clad feet.

  “Slow down before you plow into a wall,” Layla warned.

  “Or at least wear a crash helmet,” Jace said.

  Addie giggled, running over to hug Jace around the waist. Layla hoped her daughter was still willing to voluntarily dispense hugs by the end of the evening. Would she be angry? Shocked? Would she still trust her mom after this?

  By unspoken agreement, neither Jace nor Layla brought up any heavy topics during dinner. They shared more stories about their adolescence with Chris and told Addie about the many town festivals in Cupid’s Bow. The mayor had once jokingly called the town the Festival Capital of the Southwest. Addie happily chowed down on pizza, not seeming to notice that neither adult was hungry. Finally, though, Addie ran out of steam, picking a piece of pineapple off the half-eaten slice on her plate.

  “Full?” Layla asked.

  Addie nodded.

  “You go wash your hands, and I’ll clean up in here.”

  “Then we can watch Twister,” her daughter suggested.

  Layla almost chuckled. She supposed Addie’s persistence was an inherited trait. After all, she had two stubborn parents. “Not tonight.”

  “Ooohkay.” Addie stretched the first syllable out in protest, shuffling down the hallway in a pointedly dejected posture.

  The minute Addie was out of sight, Jace grabbed Layla for a brief but heartfelt kiss. “I’ve been wanting to do that since you opened the door,” he said.

  She wished she could lose herself in his kisses long enough to block out her growing anxiety, but it was time to face her past. She drew a shaky breath, trying to steady her nerves.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Hell, no.” She conjured a smile.

  “You’ve got this. We’ve got this.”

  How was the man still single? He was sympathetic and thoughtful and probably the best kisser in the Lone Star State. “I thought we should go in the living room where it’s more comfortable. I don’t want you to feel excluded, but it might be best if you let me do most of the talking.”

  He nodded. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”

  “I practiced three different versions this afternoon. But they all suck.”

  Addie came around the corner, rubbing her hands on her shirt. “What sucks?”

  “Ah...that’s probably not a word you should use,” Layla said, imagining what the kindergarten teacher would think of her parenting skills. “It’s more of a grown-up word.”

  “Like damn?” Addie asked.

  Jace snorted with laughter. “Did you hear that from your mom, too?”

  “No, Grandpa.”

  “How ’bout we go into the other room?” Layla suggested, trying to head off further conversation about interesting words Addie had overheard her grandfather use.

  The three of them sat on the couch with Addie in the middle, and Layla thought fondly of the other night, when her daughter had fallen asleep against Jace. Watching father and daughter together, it was unthinkable that she’d ever planned to leave town again without him knowing the truth. T
hank God he’d figured it out. She was on her way to finally being free of the guilt. She just had to share the truth with her loved ones. Starting with Addie.

  She kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Honey, you know how I told you that you had a daddy I cared very much about a long time ago, but that he lived far away from us?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well.” She swallowed. “This may be hard for you to understand, but Jace... We used to be best friends.”

  “Like me and Meredith.”

  “Um, sort of. The point is, he was very important to me. Then he moved away to go to college, and then I moved away and I didn’t know he’d moved back to Cupid’s Bow and I haven’t seen him in a long time. And—”

  “I’m your dad, Addie.”

  Layla’s gaze jerked upward. She couldn’t believe he’d blurted that out, but it wasn’t as if she’d been doing such a stellar job with her explanation.

  Addie frowned. “Mama, is he being silly?”

  “No. Jace really is your father, but he didn’t know for a long time, so please don’t be mad at him for not visiting you or—”

  “I’m sorry I missed your birthdays,” Jace said. “I will buy you a present for every one of them I missed.”

  “Meredith’s big sister says babies come from sex. Did you do sex to my mommy?”

  “Uh...” He shot Layla a panicked look.

  “It was a long time ago,” Layla deflected. And a couple of times yesterday.

  Addie looked mildly repulsed. “Did you two see each other naked? Is Jace going to live with us?”

  “What? No, honey, but he is free to visit you as much as he—”

  “Are you a policeman?”

  Jace blinked.

  “Meredith’s dad is a policeman,” Layla supplied, figuring that was Addie’s closest frame of reference.

  “I work at a store that sells cowboy gear,” he told Addie.

  “Some of the daddies come to my class and tell us about their jobs. Are you coming to my class? What’s cowboy gear? Does your store have the stuff to make my tornado machine? How do you do sex? Can we watch Twister?”

  “Yes,” both adults chorused with varying degrees of desperation and relief.

  Jace shot to his feet. “I’ll go get the movie out of my truck.”

  While he left the room, Layla reached out to hug her daughter—slowly in case Addie wanted to pull away. “Are you okay, honey?”

  “I’m hungry. Can we have popcorn?”

  “Sure. But do you want to talk about Jace being your dad?”

  “Are we a family now?”

  A family. The word burned in Layla’s chest. “Yes, but there are lots of different kinds of families. Not all of them live together.”

  “Can I have chocolate milk with my popcorn?” She’d definitely inherited Layla’s taste for sweet-and-salty combinations.

  “I’ll be right back with it.”

  Jace came through the kitchen as Layla was making the popcorn. “How’s she doing?”

  “She seems to be taking it in stride? I’ve seen plenty of Addie meltdowns. When she’s upset, she’s not usually shy about expressing it. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet, but I let her know that I’m available if she wants to talk and that we are both here for her.”

  “Which somehow translated to popcorn and chocolate?” he asked, grinning at the bottle of chocolate syrup on the kitchen counter.

  She found herself grinning back. “Plus a movie I already said no to twice today. We may have been outsmarted by a six-year-old.”

  His face shone with fatherly pride. “That’s my girl.”

  “You say that now, but the stakes are going to get a lot higher than a PG-13 movie and chocolate milk as she gets older.”

  “Then you and I better stick together. It’s our only shot.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Welcome to the team.”

  Chapter 12

  The only other time Jace had tucked his daughter into bed, she’d been asleep already. It turned out that the process wasn’t as quick and easy when she was awake.

  “Just one more story?” Addie begged, her eyes big.

  He had so much lost time to make up for that it was on the tip of his tongue to say yes, but Layla cut him off. “That last story was your one more, remember?”

  “But I—” Addie cocked her head, listening as the front door opened and closed. “Cousin Gena! I have to tell her good-night.” Without giving either of them a chance to object, she scampered down off the bed, her voice echoing as she rushed down the hall.

  “Cousin Gena, guess what? I saw a tornado movie with a bunch of tornados and a flying cow, but not really flying, and Jace is my dad.”

  His laugh was rueful. “At least I rate in the same sentence as the cow.”

  “Sounds like you three had an eventful night,” Gena said as she walked Addie back to her room. She paused in the doorway, her expression questioning, asking without words if everything was okay.

  Layla nodded almost imperceptibly.

  Jace felt a rush of gratitude for the way the evening had gone. It was funny, how jealous he’d been of his brothers in recent weeks, because until tonight, he hadn’t even understood how truly blessed they were. Something as simple as pizza and a movie with Layla and their daughter made him happy on a profound, soul-deep level. Had there really been a time when he’d balked at commitment? Trying to remember why was like trying to unimagine what colors looked like.

  “Tonight was great,” he told Gena. “Better than great.”

  “Can we do it again tomorrow?” Addie asked.

  He beamed at her. “Y—”

  Layla cleared her throat.

  “You’ll have to ask your mom,” he amended.

  “Please.”

  “I don’t think so,” Layla said. “I have a pretty busy day tomorrow. But another time.”

  “Maybe next time, we can have dinner at my house,” Jace offered. “If you’re interested in seeing where I live.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Layla agreed. “We’ll do that soon.”

  “Promise?” Addie persisted.

  Layla booped her daughter on the nose. “Only if you promise to hurry up and go to sleep.”

  Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Addie yanked the blankets up to her chin and began to loudly “snore.”

  Jace stifled a laugh, trying not to encourage further antics—even if he did find them adorable.

  “‘Night, Addie Rose.” Layla kissed the girl’s forehead and left the room. Jace followed suit.

  Gena had already made herself scarce. Jace grinned inwardly. Layla’s cousin was a pro at silently disappearing. She could teach stealth to CIA operatives.

  Alone with Layla in the hallway, he asked softly, “So, your schedule’s pretty busy tomorrow?”

  “Well, I’m meeting Quincy in the morn—”

  He made an involuntary noise in his throat.

  “What?” Layla frowned at him. “I thought you and Quincy were friends.”

  “Uh-huh. Hey, do you want me to come with you? Maybe I could help carry cameras or hold one of those light thingies or—”

  “Jace Trent. Are you jealous?”

  “Yup.” He knew he didn’t technically have any claim on Layla’s affections, but he didn’t care. Logical or not, he felt more possessive of her now than when she’d been a freshman and he’d wanted to deck any guy who looked at her the wrong way. He held his breath, wondering if she would angrily remind him that she was an independent woman who didn’t answer to him.

  Instead, she gave him a lopsided grin.

  “You aren’t mad?”

  “No. I mean, I think you’re ridiculous, obviously. But you’re also...kind of sweet.”

  He could feel the answering grin on his face, knew he probably l
ooked like a sappy fool. “Only kind of? Because I can try harder.”

  She giggled, a soft, musical sound that made his body tighten. She looked so purely happy, and knowing it was a reaction to him made him feel ten feet tall, like he could command the stars to twinkle brighter and stop a stampede with no more than a stern look.

  “Walk me out to my truck?” he asked, his voice low with intent.

  Her lips parted, her gaze shifting from amused to aroused.

  “Damn, beautiful, it shouldn’t be legal to look at a man like that.”

  She gave him a wicked grin. “Sorry, not sorry.”

  “Mama! Can I have a glass of water?”

  Jace groaned.

  Layla laughed, but there was frustration in her expression, too. “Parenting 101—expect interruptions at the worst possible times.”

  “I’m amazed my parents managed to have three of us.”

  “They must have really liked each other,” she teased.

  I like you. He didn’t say it out loud because it was a ludicrous, seventh-grade declaration. But it was also the truth. Yesterday afternoon had proven that their sexual attraction was as strong as ever, but it was a lot more than that. He enjoyed her company, admired her, loved seeing her smile.

  “Mama?”

  “Coming,” Layla called. To Jace, she said, “I’d better get that water. I’ll see you out.”

  He followed her to the kitchen. “If your pictures with Quincy are in the morning, is there any chance of meeting you for a late lunch?”

  “I’m not sure I could squeeze it in.” She stood on tiptoe to get one of the kid-friendly plastic cups in the top of Gena’s cabinet. Her shirt slid up over her stomach, and the glimpse of soft, creamy skin left him itching to touch her. “Tomorrow, Chris has an appointment with Sierra. My mom is driving him there, but she has a meeting in the afternoon, so I’m picking him up and taking him home.”

  “Another time?” He took the cup from her, tracing his thumb over the delicate skin of her wrist before moving away to the water dispenser. “I want to see you again.” Soon.

  She ducked her gaze, her cheeks rosy. “Well, obviously you’ll see me again. You see me all the time.”