by Liz Isaacson
“So kids?” he asked, swaying with her right there in the kitchen.
“What do you think?” she asked. “I’m forty-six years old, Colton. I don’t know if you want biological children, and that might be a huge issue for you.”
“I can’t imagine you want to have another baby,” he said.
“No,” Annie said. “I don’t. Not really. But if you wanted a baby, Colton, I would…I would do it. If I could. If I can. I would.” She hated how rambly she sounded, and she was glad she had Colton to hang onto.
“Let me give it some more thought,” he said, stepping back. “So the house?” He picked up another cupcake and went over to the kitchen table. “Come sit by me.”
“Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
Annie brought over mugs, sugar, and cream before she filled two coffee cups and sat at the table with him. “I’d sell this house,” she said. “And move to a new place with you.” She had a lot of memories in this house, but she’d learned that she took her memories with her. They existed inside her own mind. She didn’t have to be physically in this house to remember the good times she’d had with Ryan. Or the victories she’d won with the girls. Or the birthday parties, the Christmases, the muddy paw prints.
Colton grinned at her. “Well, that’s my list. What else have you got?”
“What else have I got? What do you mean?”
“To talk about before we get engaged.”
The breath left Annie’s lungs. “What?”
Colton simply took another bite of his cupcake, chewed, swallowed, and reached for his coffee cup.
“Money,” she blurted out. “I think we should talk about money.”
“What about it?” He put two spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee and stirred.
“Are we going to share? Stay separate? Do I need to sign one of those prenuptial agreements? What are you thinking?”
“I guess I better talk to Gray,” Colton said. “I’m sure he’ll advise me to have you sign a prenuptial agreement, yes. But Annie, I’m not worried about it. I’ll buy the house. What’s mine is yours.” He sipped his coffee as if life really worked out this easily.
Annie couldn’t quite keep up with the conversation, and her thoughts kept deviating back to the word engaged. He’d spoken it. Was he going to ask her today? This weekend? When?
She needed to know when.
She didn’t want to be wearing a chocolate-smeared apron when he got down on one knee.
“All right?” he asked.
Annie could only nod.
“Okay.” He got up and cleared his throat. He rummaged around in his coat pocket for a moment, pulling out a little black box.
“Colton,” she said, her voice made of air. “This doesn’t have to happen this weekend.”
“Yes,” he said. “It does.”
Annie wasn’t sure if her eyes grew hot from tears of joy or tears of desperation. She hadn’t wanted to push him into anything he didn’t want to do. He’d literally said that to her just under two weeks ago.
“It does,” Colton said, dropping to both knees right there in front of her, in her dirty, old kitchen, while she wore that chocolate-covered apron. “Because I’m in love with you, Annie Pruitt. And I don’t need more time.”
He cracked the lid on the box to reveal the most beautiful diamond Annie had ever seen. She gasped from the size of it, and looked back into Colton’s eyes.
He was in love with her.
He’d said it, and she could see that love shining in his pretty, dark eyes.
“Will you marry me?” he asked, his words catching a little bit on his scratchy throat. He didn’t clear it again though, and Annie found her mind had gone blank.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, or when her daughters had come into the kitchen.
“You say yes, Mom,” Eden said, and Annie’s eyes flew to her daughter’s.
“Y-e-s,” Emily said, spelling it out as she swiped at her eyes.
Annie’s tears fell then, and she focused back on Colton. He was absolutely everything she wanted in her life, and she felt sure she’d fallen into a dream the day she’d met him. She could hardly wait to come home to him after a day of cleaning, and go to bed with him, and share her life with him.
“I’m old, sweetheart,” he said, reaching for the chair. He got off his knees and sat back in the chair beside her. “I thought this would be an easy question for you.”
“It is,” Annie said, still crying. “It’s yes, Colton. Absolutely yes.”
He grinned, slipped the ring on her finger, and kissed her while her daughters clapped. “I love you,” he said against her lips, and Annie said it back to him too, realizing in that moment that her birthday wish had come true.
She’d gotten her cowboy billionaire.
And she couldn’t wait to start the next chapter of her life with him.
He pulled away, his smile still in place. “Now, let’s talk about the really important stuff.” He stepped over to the counter and picked up another cupcake. “I would like to have these at our wedding. Doable?”
Annie tipped her head back and laughed, embracing her daughters as they came over to hug and congratulate her and Colton.
“Yes,” she said when the excitement had died down. “We can have those cupcakes at our wedding.”
“Perfect,” Colton said, starting on his third one.
Annie thought that word summed him up about right, and she smiled while silently thanking the Lord for His creation of cupcakes…and Colton.
Read on for a sneak peek of HER COWBOY BILLIONAIRE BUTLER featuring Wes Hammond and Bree Richards. Preorder now!
I’m thrilled Colton and Annie were able to find the same place to be, so they could take that next step together! If you liked this book, please leave a review for it now.
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Sneak Peek! Her Cowboy Billionaire Butler Chapter One
Wesley Hammond refused to be a former CEO who walked out of his corner office, with two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, carrying a brown box with his belongings in it. He’d already carted out the sad plants, the family pictures, the toiletries he kept in his desk drawers, his clothes, and all the menus of the downtown Denver establishments that delivered until midnight.
He’d done that by taking a few things every day over the course of the past few weeks, after the board had approved the transfer of power from Wes to Laura. She’d been in his office every day too, six days a week, and Wes found himself getting along well with her. Better than he ever had before.
Laura had the passion for HMC that Wes had started with, and he knew in his heart that this transition was good for him, and good for the company. It didn’t make leaving for the last time any easier, though.
His heart beat down two paths, and he could hardly determine which one to go with. Excitement that tomorrow, he didn’t have to get up, shower, shave, and put on a suit. He didn’t have a schedule to stick to. He didn’t have a call at six a.m. to accommodate the branch manager in London. He’d have to be in charge of his own schedule now, and he’d sorely miss Myra, who kept him looking knowledgeable, and Matthew, who always made sure Wes arrived in the appropriate place on time.
Or trepidation that he had no schedule to stick to. No phone calls to make. No one in charge of him, except for him.
“Are you ready?”
He turned at the voice he’d worked with for so long to find Myra standing in his office doorway. “Yes,” he said, picking up his briefcase. “Is Matthew done?” His secretary had been on the phone with a regional manager out of Pittsburgh fifteen minutes ago, talking fast and trying to get something taken care of before the weekend started.
“He just hung up,” Myra said. She entered the office fully now, walking toward him with a smile on her face. “What are you going to do tomorrow?”
Wes took a deep breath, smiled, and blew it out. “Well, tomorrow’s Saturday, and I’d love to s
leep in and then find somewhere to play golf.”
Myra gestured to the windows behind him. “You’ve looked outside, right?”
Wes turned and looked, though he’d seen the snow falling earlier. It hadn’t stopped all day, and it had a certain magic about it. “Yeah,” he said. “No golf. Maybe I’ll go skiing.”
“I didn’t know you skied.”
“I don’t.” He faced her again. “Never had the time, but I will now.”
Myra laughed lightly with him, and she turned to go back out the door. “I’m going to miss you, Wes. You’re the best boss I’ve ever had.”
“That’s because I’m not your boss,” he said.
“You always acted that way,” she said, nodding. “And I appreciated that.”
“Laura’s good,” Wes said. He’d told Myra this many times. “You can leave anytime too. It’s only her that can’t fire you for the first twelve months.”
“No, Laura is great,” Myra said. “I’m hoping things will just continue on as they are, and that if we work well together, that I can stay. I’ve loved working for a family company.”
“Our benefits are excellent,” Wes joked as they left the office. He didn’t stop and look back. He’d never go inside again, loosening his tie after a stressful meeting and asking Matthew to screen all his calls.
“Even if I left now,” Myra said. “I have an excellent retirement, because you allow employees to invest in the company too.”
“What do you own?” Wes asked.
“I’m almost to two percent,” she said.
“That’s amazing,” Wes said, truly surprised. “You cash those out, that’s what? Two million?”
“Three and a half,” she said. “At the employee rate.”
“Good for you, Myra,” he said, stopping at Matthew’s desk while the man scurried around, putting files away. He never left for the day until his desk sat clean and pristine. He claimed that then, when he got in the next day, he knew right where everything was.
Wes looked at Myra, with her honey-colored hair and dark brown eyes. She’d been an excellent assistant—and a good friend. “How’s Janey doing?” he asked.
A smile lit Myra’s face at the mention of her daughter. “Great,” she said. “She sent me a picture of the palm trees this morning, just to rub it in.”
Wes chuckled, wishing he were in Florida, on the beach along the Gulf of Mexico. He’d even go back to school to do it, as Janey was. The fact was, Wes could go to the beach now. Any beach. Anywhere. Any time. He had plenty of money. The truth was, the cold had never bothered Wes, and sometimes he actually craved it. So he wouldn’t go to the beach.
His mind moved automatically to Wyoming, and the woman he hadn’t spoken to in five weeks now. His last conversation with Bree Richards hadn’t ended well for him, and every time he tried to hear her voice again, he couldn’t.
That particular aspect of Bree had fled his memory, and he hated that. He hated that she’d broken up with him too, though he could admit that they hadn’t actually been dating. A better way to say it was that she’d cut off their conversation. He’d asked her if she was sure she didn’t even want to talk to him anymore.
She’d said she’d met someone else—up there in Coral Canyon. Up where Wes didn’t live. He couldn’t tell her then that he’d been planning to come meet her in person come February seventh—which was tomorrow. He’d erased her voicemail, and she’d apologized a bunch of times.
Wes had too, because he was sorry things between them hadn’t really been able to take off. He felt completely stalled, stuck on the ground, reaching for the stars that seemed so far above him that he’d never touch them.
He stifled the sigh threatening to come out of his mouth and looked at Matthew when he said, “Ready. And I’m buying tonight, so pick your poison.” He grinned, and Wes had the sudden urge to grab the man in a hug.
So he did, ignoring the grunt of surprise that came from Matthew. Wes clapped him on the back a couple of times, stepped back, and gave Myra a quick hug too. “You guys have been amazing,” he said, his emotion stuck way down deep in his stomach. That was one thing this job had taught him—how to contain emotions until he was alone and could deal with them.
“Thanks for putting up with my moods, and my wild changes, and well, my everything.” He nodded, glad to have that out of the way. “And I want to go to Rothburg’s, so you better bring the platinum card.”
Matthew grinned and held it up. “Right here, Wes.” He glanced at Myra. “And you’ve literally been the best boss—and friend—I’ve ever had.”
“Same,” Myra said.
Wes looked at them, the bond between them fourteen years in the making. “All right, then. I wish you guys could come with me.”
“Where are you going?” Matthew asked, picking up his own briefcase. The three of them started toward the elevator.
“I’m going to take a little cross-country trip,” Wes said, deciding on the spot. “I think I’m going to fly to Maine, rent a truck, and visit every state in the country.” And if he started back east, he wouldn’t get to Wyoming any time soon.
He couldn’t believe he even wanted to go to Wyoming. He wouldn’t even recognize Bree if he saw her, as he’d never seen a picture of her. Colton had gone back to Coral Canyon several times over the past five weeks, as his fiancée lived there. His brother was preparing to make the move permanent in the next couple of days, and Wes would’ve volunteered to help had Colton not hired a moving company.
“Sounds amazing,” Myra said. “I can’t wait to see your pictures.”
“Yeah,” Wes said, stepping onto the elevator. “Because I only post on social media when I travel.” The three of them laughed, because that was true, and Wes knew it. He wished he knew what to do with his life now, and all he could do was trust that God would lead him where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there.
Maybe something would come up in Vermont. Or Georgia. Or South Dakota. The possibilities were wide open, and Wes’s excitement finally outweighed his fear of the unknown.
The months passed, and Wes decided he’d need to go back to New England when it wasn’t winter time. That had been a mistake. He’d hit Florida during baseball season’s spring training, and that had been fun. He’d watched the cherry orchards bloom in Michigan, and he’d dug his toes into the white sand along those beaches bordering the Gulf of Mexico.
He experienced the spring thunderstorms in Texas, where the thunder could roll through the sky for a full minute before it clapped. Where the rain could douse a man in under ten seconds. Where he finally found all those cowboy roots he’d come from.
His great-great-grandfather had owned a ranch in Texas, and Wes had visited it and met the people who ran it now. The Stokes were great people—a big family like the Hammonds. Lots of boys, all of whom still worked the ranch where they lived.
He’d experienced summer arriving in the Rocky Mountains, and as he crossed the border from his home state of Colorado to Wyoming, his throat only hitched a little bit.
The past six months had taken him to thirty-nine states, and Wyoming was number forty. He only had ten to go, and plenty of time and money to get to them. He’d heard Alaska was beautiful in August, and his plans included hiking in the Tetons in Wyoming, visiting Yellowstone National Park in Montana, hitting something in the Idaho panhandle—maybe the quaint town of Coeur d’Alene—as he headed toward Seattle.
He then planned to get on a ship that would take him to Alaska, where he wanted to see as much wildlife as he could, hike any trails he was fit for, and simply be outside, where he felt closer to God than he did anywhere else.
The trip had been good for Wes’s soul, that was for certain. He spoke to his parents often, as well as all of his brothers. The family party at New Year’s had been good for them, bringing them closer as a family unit. Ames and Cy had started to stray, and if Wes were being honest, so had he.
He sent them pictures of his day and told them the ra
ndom museums he’d visited. Cy had told everyone that he’d met a woman in San Luis Obispo, and he wanted to bring her home to meet everyone. The plans for that were still being made, and Wes figured he could fly to Denver from almost any city in the world. If his quest to visit all fifty states got interrupted for a few days, he wouldn’t die.
He hadn’t had any revelations about what he should do once he’d visited the last ten states on his list. He didn’t have to do anything, he’d told himself a thousand times. He could go out to the family farm and help his parents with it. Ames and Gray had both been doing that more and more, and it was actually good for them to have that purpose in their lives.
Wes simply wanted a purpose too.
He didn’t set his GPS specifically for Coral Canyon, though he certainly knew the town’s name. He drove into the beautiful mountain town just before the Fourth of July, and he admired their Main Street that had red, white, and blue flags, banners, and streamers everywhere.
People seemed to be everywhere, and he decided to find somewhere to park and then something to eat. It wasn’t nearly as hot here as it had been in Denver, and he sure did like the higher elevations. The magnificent Teton Mountain Range sat in the distance, towering up and piercing the cloudless blue sky.
A measure of joy and peace filtered through him, and Wes had the distinct impression that he’d like to live in a town like this. He pushed the thought away, because it sounded crazy. He couldn’t live here, though his brain immediately started questioning him. Why not?
Colton lived in Coral Canyon, and Wes had always been close to his brother. He pulled out his phone and called Colton, always preferring to call over text. He supposed he was old-school that way.
“Hey,” Colton said. “Are you in town?”
“Just finding somewhere to park,” he said.
“Downtown?”
“Yep.”
“It’s crazy downtown right now,” Colton said. “You should’ve come here. We can take the ATV’s over.”
