by Em Petrova
He chuckled. “You sound surprised.”
“Not surprised. I know you can do anything you put your mind to.”
“I don’t think singing counts on that list. Some people can’t carry a tune no matter how much they try.”
“That’s true.” She giggled. “Jackson was a horrid singer. Made the dog howl once.”
Her light tone had Theo looking at her harder.
“What? Is it bad that I brought up his name?”
“Not at all. I’m glad you have those good memories, Sadie. I’d like to give you a few new ones too.” On impulse, he whipped the truck off the main route onto a back road. They didn’t bump along very far before she gripped the oh-shit handle above the window.
“Where are we going?”
“Dunno.”
“You don’t know?” She glanced from him to the windshield and back again.
“Nope. I don’t know this road. But what do ya say we explore?”
She bounced in the seat so much that she grabbed his arm too. The feel of her warm touch left a trace that burrowed deep into his heart. Pretty soon, they hit dirt and the truck fishtailed. She started to giggle and then belly laughs rolled from her as they had a little fun…let go of a little control.
When he finally pulled the truck to a stop at a crossroads, he looked to her. “Left or right?”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and crawled over the console to straddle his lap. Eyes glowing, she leaned close. “How ’bout love?”
He cupped her cheek in his palm. “I thought you’d never admit it.”
“What can I say? I’m stubborn.”
“Only one of the things I love about you.”
“Shut up and kiss me, cowboy.” She turned her lips up and closed her eyes.
Chapter Twelve
Sadie stared at the computer screen. What she was seeing couldn’t be right.
Her eyes must be playing tricks on her. She’d spent too much time in the sun with Theo earlier.
The house she had completed only days before for a client couldn’t have sold already—and for twelve thousand dollars above the asking price!
Yet there it was—in bold, blocky letters stamped across the listing on the real estate site. SOLD.
She leaped up and fist-punched the air. Letting out a hoot, she did a little jig in the kitchen too. She’d done it. Her first big online client’s success would fuel more and more business. Not only did her website launch her all over the country, but she’d connected with several other sellers in the neighboring counties to visit in person. On several occasions, she’d stopped to see Jordy on her way to and from the homes, and Theo went along whenever he could.
She braced her hands on the tabletop again, bending to stare at the screen in case the status of the listing changed. It didn’t.
She issued another hoot and bounced on her toes. She couldn’t wait to tell Theo.
When she called him, he didn’t immediately answer. Unable to contain her excitement, she phoned Dom next and got his happy shout of congratulations. Then he put Jada on the phone and she promised they’d go out for drinks—but she’d be drinking ginger ale.
Laughing, Sadie got a second call and ended the conversation quick in order to pick up Theo.
“Where were you?” she burst out.
His labored breaths sounded in her ear. “You don’t wanna know.”
Her stomach twisted a little. “Something dangerous.”
“Not dangerous. But I was working with a horse, and I know you don’t want to hear about everything that goes on, sweetheart.”
She considered the situation. They’d been together for months now—and he proved again and again that he wasn’t only that risk taker, a show-off in spurs. In fact, she’d heard through the grapevine that Theo’d been stepping back and allowing other ranch hands to jump in and do the riskier stuff on the Bellamy.
Bottom line was she trusted him. Loved him. And it was time to show him.
“I’m coming over,” she said.
A beat of silence filled her ear. “What? To the ranch?”
“Yes.”
“But you hate the ranch.”
“I don’t hate the ranch. And I love you. I’ll be there in five.”
In a fluster, she slipped on her cowgirl boots, grabbed her truck keys and headed out to the Bellamy. As soon as she pulled into the parking area, and she didn’t see Theo’s truck, her brows pinched.
She got out and went in search of Theo. Maybe one of the other guys had taken his truck. Or Theo parked it on another part of the ranch.
When she circled the paddock and caught sight of Huxley, she waved and called out to him. He walked up to her, wearing a grin. He tipped his hat. “Miss Sadie.”
“Hi, Huxley. Have you seen Theo?”
“Yeah, he left for a short break. Ran to town for somethin’, he said.”
What? Why would he do that? She’d literally spoken to him minutes before and told him she’d be here in five. What could be so important?
“Should I wait around?” she asked after a moment.
Huxley shrugged. “You’re welcome to.”
She looked beyond him to the horses. They didn’t frighten her as much as they had a few months ago. “No, I guess I’ll head on home. If he shows up soon, tell him I’m looking for him.”
“Will do, Miss Sadie.” He walked off with a cocky swagger that made her smile despite her confusion and darkening mood.
All the way home, she wondered what in the world was going on. Theo was far from flighty, so for him to pick up and run an errand when he knew she was on her way, it must have been pretty important. She should have tracked down Cort and asked him where he went.
In the end, she had some celebrating to do. So she made a detour to the winery and grabbed a few bottles of her favorite. Simply setting foot in the parking lot brought up old memories of seeing Theo for the first time.
How amazing the cowboy looked to her. He still did. Actually, he’d gotten better, in her eyes, because now she knew the depths of his heart too.
With a few bottles in a bag on the passenger seat, she drove home. When she spotted Theo’s truck parked in front of the schoolhouse, her heart gave a hard patter.
What on earth? She jumped out, wine forgotten. Running to the door, she whipped it open, and came to a heel-skidding halt on the hardwood floor.
She squealed at the sight of what must be a hundred balloons filling the space. Looking beyond that, she saw dozens of flowers too. Shifting her gaze again, she found Theo holding a bouquet of red roses, a wide smile on his face.
“Theo Sutton! What have you done?” she cried, picking her way through all the balloons floating around the space and bouncing on the floor.
He held out his arms. “I’ve never hustled so fast in my life, Sadie. I’m not sure how I pulled this off.”
She looked around in amazement. “How did you? You must have had the balloons and flowers already!”
“Oh I did. Hidden in a trailer on the Bellamy since this mornin’.”
“But…how did you know there would be something to celebrate?” She tipped her head to look up at him in awe.
“Kaoz knows somebody who looked at the house and he said they put in an offer on it. I knew it was only a matter of hours before that listing showed up as sold.”
“You’re crazy! And amazing!” She moved to throw her arms around his neck. He hugged her, the bouquet against her spine.
Happy tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. When she withdrew, she swiped at them with her fingertips.
“Aww, sweetheart, you deserve a celebration. In fact, there’s more. I’ve got dinner reservations booked for us at the—”
Heart overflowing, she slowly did what she’d been thinking about doing for weeks.
She sank to one knee.
Theo froze, not even flickering an eyelash as he gaped at her.
“Theo. I love you. I never thought I could feel a love like I had with Jackson a second time
. And then you came along. Well—truth be told, I threw myself at you in the parking lot of the winery. But that’s for our grandbabies to hear when they’re grown.”
His eyes flew wide.
She grasped his free hand and looked into his eyes. “Theo, I love you. You’re my everything. I want a future with you. A family. To grow old with my best…friend.” She choked on her tears now falling freely. She squeezed his fingers hard. “Will you marry me?”
He tossed the flowers aside and hit his knees in front of her. Yanking her roughly against his chest, he buried his nose in her hair. “My God, woman, I don’t know who surprised who more today.”
“I think I surprised you more.” She giggled.
“Christ…you can’t know how much it means to me that you wanted this enough to ask for it.” He crushed his mouth to hers. “I love you. And I want the same. If you’d given me a chance, I would have popped the question soon. I only had one more thing to do first.”
She searched his eyes. “What’s that?”
“I want you to help me set up my own business. I know you hate the ranchin’, and I want to make you happy. Keep you happy forever. I plan to set up in construction. I know I’ll have plenty of work around Crossroads. If it means keeping you, I’ll give up the ranch.”
Her eyes couldn’t grow wider.
She shook her head, her tears flowing again. “Theo, you can’t give up ranchin’. You adore it. It’s part of who you are. And I’ll never ask you to leave something you love behind. Please don’t walk away from the Bellamy for my sake. I know love comes with risks but you’re worth all of them.”
A sound broke from his throat, and he hauled her against his chest again, both of them holding on for what would come next. But whatever it was, Sadie wasn’t afraid.
She was excited.
Epilogue
“Wo-ow,” Jada drawled the word into two syllables. “This is such a great program for the kids!”
Sadie stared at the ranch yard, stunned with disbelief. One small glimmer of an idea for an after-school and summer program for troubled teens to work on the local ranches had morphed into so much more since its inception.
What began as a handful of kids now numbered around thirty. On one hand, having that many kids who needed the support Theo’s program offered was sad. But many were reaching out for other reasons than for bad home lives. A few boys and girls had learning disabilities but were highly functional. One was even a teen dad trying to earn a small amount for his baby daughter.
Tears flooded Sadie’s eyes. “They each have a reason for coming to us, and I’m so proud to be part of this.”
Theo stood off to the side of the kids and local ranchers and their families all gathered here on the Bellamy for a summer picnic.
“It’s insane that you’ve done so much in only two years,” Jada said, shifting her perfectly chubby, cherubic little girl into the other arm.
“Here, I’ll take her. Give your arms a break.”
Jada wagged her head. “You don’t even have a lap to hold her on! Look at you, about to pop.”
Sadie looked down at the very large, round bump that was her and Theo’s soon-to-be son. “Okay, you’re right. My lap is long gone. So are my feet.” She leaned forward and gave a sigh to lament the loss.
Jada giggled and set little Piper in the grass. “She’ll stay here all of two seconds before she realizes she can get up and run,” Jada whispered.
They shared a laugh and Sadie stretched out her feet. “Jada, be honest with me about something.”
Her friend’s blonde brows drew down in concern. “Anything.”
“Are my ankles swollen? Because they feel like two water balloons.”
Jada examined them for a second. “They’re not exactly normal ankles, but they’re not as big as balloons.”
“Yet.” The rough rumbling voice next to her ear made her shiver. She reached up to cup Theo’s angled jaw, and her pregnancy hormones kicked in with the enticing rasp of his five o’clock shadow under her fingertips.
He leaned in and kissed her earlobe in a gentle way that had a profound effect on her heightened libido. “I can see what you’re thinking, sweetheart.”
She arched a brow.
“Later, I promise.” He slipped his tongue into her ear, leaving a trail of wet warmth in more places than her ear. He straightened and looked to Jada. “Piper’s making her escape.”
She groaned and got up to chase her.
Theo circled Sadie’s chair to study her. When he looked at her this way, she knew he was doing an in-depth health check on her and the baby. “You’re okay? Not too much sun here?” He peered up at the flawless blue sky outside of the canopy she sat beneath.
“I’m fine here. Babe, Cort’s waving at you to come pitch horseshoes.”
“Oooh, yeah! Gotta go, sweet thing. Our team’s gotta win to keep our reputation.”
She laughed as she watched her husband jog to the horseshoe pits and gather with his team, which consisted of four men—Cort, Kaoz and Aidan Bellamy with Theo as their fourth. The other team, and gunning for top prize of a half a hog for the winter’s freezer, had Dom and three other ranch hands from the Bellamy.
Sadie groaned as the baby kicked her. He was already big, according to her obstetrician. She was a little more nervous about the labor and delivery than she ever let on in front of Theo. The man would run in circles if he didn’t have something to keep his mind off it. So she did her best to hide her own worries.
Anything could happen. Life was complicated, messy and sometimes had sad endings. But when she placed a palm over her baby boy, she knew this wouldn’t be one of those occasions. In a week, she and Theo would be parents.
They already had plans to bring Jordy to the schoolhouse to stay a few weeks after the birth. He claimed he had to meet his ‘baby brother,’ and that warmed her heart as much as the look of love in Theo’s eyes when he thought she wasn’t paying attention.
All this sitting made her back ache, so she pushed to her swollen feet. A heaviness settled between her thighs. She took one step and water gushed out. It hit the grass and splashed up her feet and calves, wetting the hem of her sundress.
“Oh my God! Sadie!” Joss came running toward her, with Brielle and Aidan’s wife Liberty hot on her heels. Suddenly, everyone wanted to help her. Confusion hit her brain. Was this labor?
Well, she was covered in water and the first band of tightness across her midsection told her as much even if her brain was reluctant to catch up.
“Get Theo!” Joss called.
Someone ran for him, and Sadie watched him turn, send a blank look across the yard to her standing there, immobile and on the way to putting a child in his arms tonight.
All at once, he sprang into action, throwing the horseshoe in his hand and hitting a dead ringer even as he set off at a dead run toward her.
She hardly remembered him putting her in the truck, but the sweet kiss he pressed to her forehead before closing her door would fill her heart for the long hours ahead.
Life had come full circle—and then some. She reached across the console and gripped Theo’s hand. He threaded their fingers together and threw her a smile. She hoped little baby Tripp had his daddy’s smile.
THE END
SNEAK PEEK OF TOUGH AND TAMED, MOON RANCH BOOK 1
The whoop of a siren brought Zayden's gaze to the rearview mirror, and he groaned. He hadn’t been in the county for three minutes and he was already getting nailed by the cops.
Lights flashed in his rearview mirror, and he eased his old Chevy to the side of the road, racking his brain for any laws he may have violated. Speeding? No.
Not a drop of alcohol passed his lips in months either, and his driving had been steady, with his sights set on the big mountain range in the distance.
Annoyed and not minding one bit if he was being an asshole, he didn’t bother to roll down his window for the approaching deputy. When the uniformed man’s body filled the entire window
, Zayden just stared back at him.
He rapped on the glass. “Roll it down.”
With a snort, he did, and a fresh gust of mountain air hit his face, bringing more than clear-headedness—it brought a hell of a lot of memories rushing in. The scents of pine mixed with snow made him think of his father. And damn if he’d give that son-of-a-bitch any more consideration than he deserved.
“License, registration and proof of insurance,” the deputy said.
Zayden leaned across the console and popped the glove compartment. He pulled out his information and passed it to the familiar-looking lawman before digging in his back pocket for his wallet and driver’s license.
“Don’t I remember you from Stokes High?” Zayden asked.
“That’s right, Moon.”
Zayden squinted an eye at him. “Heard you were a deputy. Thought you’d have a better job by now, Dickies.” The old nickname rolled off his tongue.
The high school jock who’d lived to give Zayden and his two younger brothers hell every chance he got leveled a glare at him. For a moment, he just bore the deputy-on-a-power-trip’s scrutiny.
“You’ll never change, will ya, Moon?”
“And you’ll never stop being a dick. Why did you pull me over? Recognize the truck and remembered you hadn’t gotten your quota of intimidation in for the day?”
Dickies stared at his license and back to Zayden’s face as if he handed over a fake ID and was lying about his age. But both he and Dickies sported more lines of age, his maybe more from the life he’d led the past decade since high school.
“You don’t have anything to say, do you? Because I didn’t violate any laws,” he pressed.
“Get outta the truck, Moon.”
Zayden made a little shooing motion for him to step away from the door so he could open it. When he stepped out and unfolded to his full height, a hefty six inches over Dickie’s penis-shaped head, he took a moment to use his size to intimidate instead of a badge.
“Well?” Zayden asked.
“Step to the back. There’s something that requires your attention.” Dickies took off to the rear of the truck and pointed to the mud-and-road-salt-splattered tailgate.
