Once the waitress nodded and left them in peace, Piper dove right in. “I guess the big question in front of us is how to divide custody. I want visiting privileges, of course.”
“Visiting?” Brady furrowed his brow. “That sounds kind of...distant.” A chill snuck into his heart, and he narrowed his eyes on Piper. “Unless I’ve misread things. What sort of arrangements are you thinking of?”
“A lot depends on whether I move back here to be part of my brothers’ new company.”
“Our new company,” he amended. “You have an equal stake in it, just like I do.” He folded his arms over his chest and regarded her with a quizzical stare. “Do you mean you still haven’t decided whether to move back home and take the job they offered?”
“Um...not really.” She fiddled with her fork and flashed a sheepish grin. “And my home has been in Boston for the last few years.”
He shook his head. “No. Your home is here, and it will always be. Boyd Valley is where your family is. The Double M. Your heritage and legacy.” He wanted to add Where I am. Your soul mate. But he swallowed the words. He may have believed they belonged together, but Piper clearly still hadn’t reached the same conclusion. That stung. A lot.
“Whether or not I move back here doesn’t change the question of how we divide custody of our son.”
His hackles rose a bit. “Divide custody?” He gave a short, harsh laugh. “That sounds rather...well, divisive. I thought the idea was to work together. I’m not interested in a plan that would mean Connor got shuttled back and forth. He needs roots. Permanence. He needs us to be a team.”
“Um...right. Semantics.”
“Is it?” Brady’s heart beat faster, a growing concern for the direction this conservation would go.
“It would be helpful if I made a decision about where I was going to live, if I want to move back here and...” She waved her hand, letting him fill in the rest. Her eyes shifted away briefly, her gaze distant and thoughtful. “If I’m honest, there’s never really been a question about accepting. Being part of something like this, helping rescue the ranch, playing a part in my brothers’ business and being included is what I’ve always wanted.”
“Then, you’ll accept?” Brady’s spirits, which had been growing heavier by the minute, now lifted. “Are you saying you’re going to move back and be the CFO for McCall Adventures?”
Chapter 11
The ranch grounds were quiet. Ken scanned the yard carefully, watching for any activity. He’d seen a truck leave by the front drive just as he was settling into his lookout spot near the hill where Piper had been groping the cowboy. The image still filled him with rage. But the cowboy was gonna pay. Tonight.
Zipping up his black coat and raising the hood to cover his ears and light brown hair, he eased out from his hiding place behind a scrub brush. He moved quickly down the hill, stopping occasionally behind a tree or outbuilding to check for activity. At night, with the autumn chill bearing down from the mountains, the ranch stayed pretty quiet. Ranchers, he’d discovered, were of the early-to-bed, early-to-rise community. Which suited him fine. He hit his stride about 11:00 p.m.
With a last look for anyone leaving the stable or visible through a window, Ken made his final approach to the smaller house that sat at the edge of the ranch yard. The house he’d determined was the cowboy’s.
He eased close to the outside wall that faced away from the main house, staying in the shadows. Ken silently cursed when he stepped on the small fallen limbs and dry leaves cluttering the yard, sending a cracking sound skittering through the still night. From behind the house he heard a clinking, like dog tags, followed by the unmistakable rumble of a dog’s growl.
Freezing in his tracks, he waited to see if the dog appeared. He’d brought his handgun with the silencer in case of emergency, and he placed a hand on it now, ready should he need it. His goal was to move in fast, do his work and be gone just as quickly. He didn’t want anything that could draw extra attention to him or his handiwork. Shooting the dog would be a last resort, since a bullet in the mutt’s head was a loose end he didn’t want to leave for the cops to find. He had to cover his tracks, stay under the radar.
When all was quiet again, he snuck closer to the house, the rattle of leaves under his feet unavoidable...damn it!
Again the dog tags jingled in the dark, and a light-colored dog, probably the yellow Lab he’d seen so many times in the ranch yard, appeared at the back corner of the house. The dog spotted him and launched into a full-out warning bark. Ken grumbled a foul word and pulled the gun and silencer from the holster at his thigh.
He aimed and—
“Kip!” Door hinges squeaked, and a back light flicked on. “Kip! What are you barking at, you dumb mutt?”
Ken shrank back against the side of the house, staying in the shadows, and held his breath.
The dog turned and gave a softer yip, her tail wagging.
“Either come in or be quiet!”
Ken lowered the gun and even that much movement attracted the dog’s attention again. Another series of harsh barks followed.
Ken gritted his teeth. If that damn dog blew his cover...
“Kip! Shut it, dog. You’re going to wake the whole ranch!” the man at the back door, out of Ken’s line of vision, shouted. Then he whistled, calling, “Just come inside. C’mere. Kip, come!”
With a last ruff toward Ken, the dog trotted away. A door slammed. The back light went out.
Ken exhaled and flexed his hands to loosen the tension that had him strung tight as a noose. Then he set to work.
* * *
Piper met Brady’s anxious stare, her pulse pounding in her ears. She blinked twice slowly, and a smile tugged the corner of her mouth. “I think...yes. I will accept the job.” She heaved a deep sigh as if relieved to have made her decision. “I’ll give my two-week notice when I go back to Boston.”
Having made her decision, Piper felt as if the bull that had been standing on her chest had finally been corralled. She could breathe again, and the niggling disquiet that had plagued her since she’d first heard her brothers’ proposal disappeared. Fear, she realized, had held her back. The fear of returning to a position in her family where she felt she was on the outside looking in. But her brothers wanted her skill set. Needed her. Included her in something that was important and exciting for the family.
She’d also been afraid of being back in Brady’s vicinity and how it would break her heart. But her worst fears, having her secret discovered, having to face the past and dissecting all the elements of their relationship...well, that had all happened already. Too late to close the barn door on that count.
Now, in addition to the new job and promising venture with Zane and Josh, she had a new perspective on her past, new insights...and a new reason to want to be in Boyd Valley. Connor.
“So,” she said, exhaling and letting the tensions that had wound her in knots go in the breath, “that makes things simpler in terms of our decisions regarding Connor, huh?”
She gave Brady a broad smile, savoring the release of the needless worry she’d been carrying. She was coming back to Boyd Valley. Back to the Double M. Back to her family.
Brady was right. Maybe she did belong at the ranch. The choice to return certainly felt right. Predestined.
A weightless laugh bubbled up from her core, and she felt the smile she gave Brady shine through every pore, warm and invigorating. His answering grin stole her breath. Had she needed any confirmation she’d made the right decision, Brady’s confident nod and glowing expression cinched the deal.
She couldn’t wait to tell Zane and Josh she was on board. She started to dig for her phone to text them but balked. This was news she wanted to give them in person.
Their appetizer arrived, followed soon after by their dinner, and Piper tucked in, savoring every bite.
“If I’m going
to be here, living just steps from you and Connor, then shared custody makes sense,” she said.
He nodded, but his expression was guarded.
“What?”
He took a measured breath. “Shared custody requires a commitment from both of us.”
She gave him a leery look. “Riiiight. What’s your point?”
“The boy’s been hurt enough, Piper. If I allow you to share custody of him, I need to know you’re committed.”
She sat straighter in her chair. “And you doubt my commitment because I put him up for adoption before?”
She saw his throat work as he swallowed and his eye dimmed with hurt. “No, I’m speaking from personal experience. I thought you were committed to me, once. And you left me.”
His words hit her like a shard to her heart. “Brady—”
“Losing you was the hardest thing I ever had to face. So if you’re not ready to see this through, not ready to give one hundred percent to Connor, then you should call it quits now, before he forms a bond with you.”
Pain stabbed her and stole the breath from her lungs. “Brady, I—”
“But...” he squeezed her wrist “...I’m willing to give you a chance, give us a second chance for the sake of our son.”
She blinked rapidly to fight back the sting of tears. “I will not let Connor down. I promise. I want to be a good mother to him.”
Brady chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before he said, “And another thing... I’m of the opinion that he’s still too young to be told the truth about us being his parents. Scott and Pam were his parents, for all intents and purposes, until last January. Telling Connor he was adopted—” Brady screwed his mouth up in displeasure. “It feels too much like taking his parents away again.”
“Oh.” Piper took a sip of her wine and pondered his point. “I can see that. But...someday he deserves to know the truth.”
Brady nodded. “Someday. It will be easier on him when the pain of losing Scott and Pam isn’t still so raw. When he knows both of us better, has a bond with us. Knows deep down that we love him as much as Scott and Pam did.”
“Okay. Agreed. We’ll wait and tell Connor we are his real parents...later. When we think he’s old enough to understand.” She cleared her throat and angled her head. “It’s...weird, this discussion about waiting for him to know us better when I realize I don’t really know him.”
Setting his fork on his plate, Brady leaned back in his seat with a measured look in his eyes. Her heart wrenched with guilt, and she braced herself for the you’re-the-only-one-to-blame-for-that remark.
Instead, Brady said quietly, “Let’s see... He’s a good kid. Smart. Inquisitive. He loves to ask questions about what we’re doing around the ranch and why.” He grunted a laugh and shook his head. “Always wants to know the why. I usually have to answer with, ‘I don’t know why. That’s just the way it’s done.’ Or ‘Because I’m the adult, and I said so.’”
She scrunched her nose and laughed. “Oh, no! You’ve become my mother!”
“Your mother? Ouch! Fathers can say trite parentisms, too, you know.”
“Have you used We’ll see yet?”
He screwed his face into a sheepish frown, and she laughed harder.
“Yeah, you’re laughing now, but just wait. You’ll say those things, too. I guarantee.” Grinning, he shook his head at her as she continued chuckling at him. When she finally got herself under control, he continued, “As you may have noticed, he has a powerful sweet tooth. He loves all the typical little boy stuff. Dinosaurs, Legos, getting dirty.”
“Well, there is plenty of opportunity to get dirty on a ranch.” She sipped her wine, soaking up all the details she could about the little boy. Her little boy. Her breath snagged in her lungs every time she thought about it. Connor was her son with Brady. A permanent, wonderful link between them. A few weeks ago the notion would have terrified her. Now? Well, she had to admit it still caused a stir of angst in her gut, but it also filled her with a warmth unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.
Brady told her all he could remember of Connor’s early years, admitting he hadn’t paid as close attention as he might have had he known Connor was his son. “He started walking...hmm, I think it was around Easter, so he was maybe fourteen or fifteen months old?”
“Hmm. A late bloomer,” she muttered more to herself than to Brady.
“Was he? When do kids usually walk?”
“Closer to twelve months, I think. Go on. Do you remember his first words?”
Brady shrugged. “Not specifically, but I do remember no was a favorite word of his early on.” He sent her a wry grin. “He’s always been quite stubborn.”
“Really? Where could he have gotten that?” she said, chuckling.
Brady returned a comically puzzled expression and joined her laughter. A lightness and joy filled Piper, and she took a moment to cherish the moment. Teasing with Brady again, sharing a meal and constructive conversation boosted her optimism for the future. She was on a better path now than just two weeks earlier. All the changes and revelations in her life were a bit daunting, but exciting, as well. Invigorating. A dark veil of guilt and sadness had been peeled away from her life, and the fresh air that infused her made her giddy. And she had to admit that a great deal of her giddiness had to do with her revived relationship with Brady.
She lifted her wineglass and sipped, studying Brady over the rim. The past several years had only made him more handsome, honing boyish softness into rough-hewn angles. His shoulders had grown broader, and his stubble-dusted face more weathered by sun and wind. But his eyes were still the deep green of a Colorado lake and full of a warmth that melted her bones.
She’d told him this wasn’t a date, and she’d meant it. But that didn’t stop her heart from softening each time she met his eyes or keep her pulse from galloping when his hand touched hers.
From the speakers above their table, music played. Soft rock tunes from past decades. She seized an impulse and pushed her chair back from the table. “Do you want to dance?”
His expression reflected his surprise. “Um...you’ve seen me dance. At prom?” His gaze sparkled with humor. “Remember? I think you called my moves random flailing?”
“No flailing required.” She pointed through the window to the dance floor where another couple slow-danced. “If you’re worried about your moves, I’ll lead.”
His eyebrows lifted in challenge. “No need. I can manage a slow dance.” He stood and held out his hand to her. “But if I step on your toes, remember that this was your idea.”
She accepted his hand, and a thrill spun through her as his warm fingers wrapped around hers.
As he led her inside to the dance floor, a whisper in the recesses of her brain nagged at her, telling her not to let the intimacy of the evening confuse her. She couldn’t recapture what was lost, and she’d only get hurt if she pretended everything between her and Brady was like it used to be.
Worse yet, she could hurt Brady again by giving him false hope about what she wanted going forward. Because while she’d made several important decisions in the past few days about being a mother to Connor and moving back to Boyd Valley to work with her brothers, she had no idea how to proceed on a personal level with Brady. She’d spent the last seven years trying to expel him from her heart. Reversing the progress she’d made, when their relationship going forward was still so full of unknowns, would be foolish.
Even as they stepped onto the dance floor and he nestled her against his chest with his hand splayed securely at the base of her spine, her brain shrieked its warnings. But Brady’s body was familiar and enticing. Pressing close to him was a welcome homecoming. The October chill that had nipped at her while they ate vanished when he wrapped her in his arms. She swayed with him as Justin Timberlake and his *NSYNC bandmates crooned a ballad from her and Brady’s junior
high school days. Brady hummed along, slightly off-key.
And the rest of the room faded away.
With her eyes closed, Piper could pretend she was thirteen again, falling in love for the first time. Or sixteen, holding on to her date for the Sadie Hawkins dance. Or seventeen, savoring the embrace of the boy who’d given her a turquoise promise ring after prom. The central figure of all of these memories was Brady. The only man she’d ever loved.
Her chest contracted when she thought of him in those terms. Love. They’d told each other I love you many times. The meaning and truth behind the declaration had changed over the years. No longer bright and shiny, love bore the patina of time and pain now. Maturity. Perspective. Wisdom. But the framework was still solid, the foundation strong. She and Brady could rebuild what they’d once had. If they dared.
A shiver chased through her, and she snuggled closer to him. *NSYNC yielded to Snow Patrol, asking her to forget the world. He stroked a hand along her hair and pressed a kiss to her temple. The gentle brush of his lips on her skin set her body thrumming. Her fingers reflexively curled into his back, and a raspy sound purred from her throat. It took a moment for Piper to notice they weren’t dancing anymore.
Heart pounding, she tipped her chin up. Brady’s lips were right there. So close. So tempting. She wasn’t sure who moved first, but by her next breath, their mouths were sealed, slanted across each other in a blissful reunion of taste and sensation and pure emotion that reverberated to her core.
Brady framed her face with his hands, cradling her cheeks as he deepened the kiss. Piper canted toward him, shutting out the clamor of the voice in her head that said too much was still unsettled between them. She viciously stamped down the nagging sense that rushing into an affair with Brady would lead to another heartache.
Instead, she dragged her fingers through the hair at his nape and swept her tongue along the seam of his lips. When he moaned and met her tongue with his, a flash of heat rolled through her. His hands roamed down to cup her bottom and tug her hips closer, to stroke the length of her spine and leave a trail of tingles sparking her nerves. She’d missed this. Good God, how she’d missed this! Not just the sex, but the feeling—no, the certainty—that Brady cherished her. The connection they shared was so much more than physical, and yet the bond was most profound when they kissed. When they made love. When they shed pretenses, allowed themselves to be vulnerable and real, sharing raw emotion as well as unrestrained passion.
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