“He hasn’t touched it since his parents died. Everything is exactly the way I remember it. And to be honest, I don’t think his mother did much to it after his grandmother passed.”
“God, so it’s like three generations behind. Do you think he’ll let you renovate?”
I shrug a shoulder, unsure of how Ford feels about this old house. It was his grandparents’, built for their family and passed down since. The man who runs this ranch, lives in this house with his family.
“I hope he does, because it needs some serious work and it’s too gorgeous to be in such disrepair.”
“I agree.” I nod.
We spend the rest of the morning and afternoon exploring the ranch. I show Damion all of my childhood memories on this property. We go to the pond, to the shade trees where Ford and I picnicked more times than I can count.
Then I show him the tiny house. The one Ford remodeled for us, one that I didn’t know existed.
“Oh man, he’ll so let you remodel the farmhouse,” Damion whispers.
Looking over to him, I laugh. “He will, won’t he?”
“He totally will.”
FORD
As my friends start to arrive, I can’t help but well up with pride at the fact that I’m finally having a dinner here, and I won’t be alone, a third wheel, so to speak. I know that everyone was just here the other day, but this feels so much bigger than it was then.
“Ford,” Tulip whispers.
Wrapping my arms around her, I whisper against her ear. “Thanks for helping.”
The only person that I’ve thanked so far, is Channing, but I know that Exeter and Tulip had a hand in it all, too. Without them, last night wouldn’t have happened and this morning, Stephanie moving to the property, it wouldn’t have been possible either.
“You deserve your happily ever after, Ford, and we all know that Stephanie is that for you.”
“Thanks,” I choke before I clear my throat. Taking a step back, I dip my chin, looking down at her growing belly. “You about ready?”
She smiles, placing her hand on her stomach. “This baby is going to be huge. The doctor thinks they may have to induce me early.”
My eyes widen and I shake my head. “It’s not time yet,” I mutter, knowing that she has at least one full month left, if not longer.
“Probably in two weeks,” she sighs.
“You know what it is yet?”
Tulip’s teeth sink into her bottom lip as she shakes her head. “Still not finding out until the day. I want a surprise, a big one.”
Grinning, I reach out and touch her belly. The girl is nothing but baby, the rest of her doesn’t look a bit different. I jump back at the sensation of the baby moving inside of her.
“Holy shit,” I shout.
Tulip giggles, the sound of her laughter floats around me and it must cause some kind of stir because everyone gathers around us. Stephanie sidles up next to me. Lifting my arm, I slide it around her shoulders and tuck her close to my side as she slips her arms around my middle.
“What happened?” Exeter asks, holding her wriggling baby.
“The baby moved, he freaked the hell out.” Tulip laughs.
The men chuckle, but it’s Rylan who speaks. “Weirdest shit ever, right?” he asks.
“Completely,” I agree.
“Also fucking magical,” he adds.
I don’t have anything to add to that. It is magical, it’s just not my fucking magic, but hopefully soon I’ll experience it all with Stephanie.
“C’mon, let’s interrogate Stephanie and Damion in the kitchen while we get everything ready,” Tulip says, laughing softly.
Dipping my chin, I look down into Stephanie’s eyes, unsure of what that means, but knowing that she’ll be just fine. We haven’t seen much of one another today and I’m kind of regretting throwing this right about now, when all I want to do is sink inside of her warm body.
Touching my mouth to hers, her breath catches before she breaks the kiss then takes a step back. My lips curve up into a grin at the sight of her pink tinted cheeks.
“I got plenty of ribs, let’s get the grill going,” I call out to the guys.
“Can I put Brooks down in your room, Ford? She’s on the edge of monster,” Channing calls out from behind me.
Turning to look over my shoulder, I smile at the little girl who has her head laying down on Channing’s shoulder and is already sucking her thumb. “Yeah, you can,” I nod.
She smiles, then turns and swiftly walks away. “You got my fishin’ stuff?” a little voice asks me down at my knees.
Turning around, I shift my gaze to Reese. His eyes are full of excitement and hope. “I do, buddy. It’s all ready to go, but probably after dinner just like last weekend, yeah?”
“Okay,” he says with a shrug.
“You wanna go and check that dirt pile I brought in? It looks way too perfect sittin’ over there,” I say, jerking my chin toward a pile of dirt that I had dropped off. I don’t need any extra dirt right now, but I knew he was coming over and tonight would be a long, probably boring, night for him.
“You do too fuckin’ much,” Rylan grunts.
Laughing, I watch as he climbs the dirt pile, sits on his butt, then slides down. I’m sure Channing will hate him getting so dirty, if she wants, she can hose him off in my shower, but all kids no matter, if they’re boys or girls, should always have a big dirt pile to play in a time or two.
Walking around to the back porch, we all watch him for a few minutes, enjoying the way his laughter fills the otherwise quiet air.
I put some toy cars, tractors, and trucks up there for him to use, they were mine and my cousins when we were kids and they’ve been through hell and back so I know he can’t hurt them.
Then, I start the grill, aware of the men that are watching me and waiting for answers, all but Rylan, because I told him everything last night. Inhaling a deep breath, I start to tell them about everything that happened between me and Stephanie that led to this moment.
Chapter Thirty-Three
FORD
Sending Damion off feels final. Really, really final. We wave as he walks through TSA. I slide my arm around Stephanie’s shoulders and bring her in close.
It’s been a week since the dinner with our friends, a week of her living in the tiny house and a week of me sneaking into that tiny house and back out of it every single night.
“You’re moving into the big house, honey,” I murmur as I watch Damion make his way through the line.
Stephanie doesn’t say anything right away, this has felt like sneaking around, I find that I don’t care for it much. We aren’t kids anymore. We shouldn’t have to. We are adults and even if it’s fast, at this point, who cares?
“Okay,” she exhales.
“Yeah?”
Tilting her head back, she turns to look up into my eyes. “Yes. I want to start our lives together. I feel like we’ve waited long enough and we’ve been with one another every night anyway.” I smile at her words.
Shaking my head once. “Can’t stay away from the best woman I’ve ever had.”
She hums, rising to her toes and touches her mouth to mine. “Can’t stay away from you either, Cowboy,” she breathes against my lips before pulling back slightly and turning to the TSA line again.
Damion is walking through the body scanning machine, and then he turns and waves to us. Lifting my hand, I wave back and watch as he disappears around the corner, heading toward his terminal.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” she mutters.
“You want to go with him?” I ask.
I’m not angry, just curious if she is having second thoughts about the life that she’s chosen with me.
Shaking her head, she twists her neck to look over at me. “Not even slightly. This is where I belong, with you.”
We turn to leave the airport hand-in-hand, and my chest, once again fills with pride that Stephanie has chosen me, that she wants to be here and doesn’t w
ant to run away.
There is that little bit of doubt that she wants to leave me, but I’m trying not to focus on that, if I do, then I’ll drive myself crazy.
I want this to be a new start for us, truly. I want to put aside the pain of the past and begin again. Neither of us turning our backs on the other. Neither of us running away for whatever reasons.
Communication is the only way that we will survive, the only way to thrive.
There is a shout, then a swarm of people surround us. “Oh no,” Stephanie says next to me.
I grab her, pulling her closer to my body as cell phones are shoved in our faces and I hear the name Sterling, being screamed from all directions. Shit. I try to keep my feet shuffling forward, holding her tight to my side and lifting my hand to shield my face from the phones all around us.
“Keep going,” Stephanie softly calls out, or maybe it just sounds soft because there are so many damn people surrounding us.
Thankfully, a guard blows his whistle, he jerks his chin toward a squad car. My feet move faster through the crowd toward the car. He opens the back door and I shove Stephanie inside before I dive after her, slamming the door behind me.
“You should have called us before you came down here,” the guard barks as soon as he sits in the driver’s seat.
Stephanie isn’t shaking or anything next to me, in fact, she looks as cool as a cucumber and I know that this isn’t the first time this has happened to her, which fucking sucks because that shit was scary. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get us all the way back to the parking garage without being trampled by the people around us.
“I didn’t think anyone knew I was even here,” she murmurs.
“Apparently someone did, that crowd was massive,” he grunts before he asks us where we’re parked.
I tell him before slipping my hand in hers, lacing my fingers with her own and squeezing her gently. Stephanie shifts her gaze toward me, tilting her head back to look up into my eyes.
There’s an apology written on her face, and I shake my head once. I don’t need it. This is her life… it was her life and it’s just part of her package. I’m okay with that, especially since she’s chosen to stay with me.
Once the guard has dropped us off at our car, I thank him before I help Stephanie climb up into the passenger seat, then I run around the back to get in the driver’s side. Starting the engine, I inhale a deep breath before I shift my gaze over to the side.
Stephanie is staring out at the dark parking garage, at nothing, with a blank expression on her face.
“You okay?” I ask, breaking the silence.
She hums. “Yeah, I’m just… thinking.”
Shifting the truck into reverse, I back out of the spot, not sure what to say next, but I’m going to ask her what’s on her mind because we decided communication was what we were going to make sure that we worked on this time around.
“About?” I ask as I pull out on to the airport side road and head toward the highway.
She’s quiet for another moment, then clears her throat. “What happened in there? I honestly thought that I would miss it.”
“It?”
“The fans, the attention. I mean, it comes with paparazzi and all of that, but the actual fans can be so wonderful. And I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t an ego boost every time I was noticed.”
“But?”
“I didn’t like it this time. I was worried about you, worried about getting out, just plain worried. It’s not even like any of them were scary, they weren’t. I wasn’t expecting it, but even then, I didn’t want it as they started to surround us.”
Reaching out my hand, she slips her palm in mine across the center console. I kind of wish I would have brought the square body truck, it has a bench seat and she could sit right next to me, it would be a hell of a lot more comfortable than this plastic box between us.
“I guess I can understand that,” I murmur.
She squeezes my fingers, then lifts our hands to her mouth and touches her lips to my knuckles. “I’m happy, Ford. Really happy about the journey we’re getting ready to take. I want everything that it entails and I can’t wait for all of it, every ounce.”
I grunt, unsure of what to say, and wondering if I should even say anything. I don’t have anything to add to her words, just that I love her, but that seems too much too soon. I supposed that I need to know the Stephanie that she is now, but I can’t help that my heart, it still fucking loves her, no matter what.
STEPHANIE
Inhaling a deep breath, I stare at my reflection in the mirror. This whole bathroom needs an update, including the glass of this mirror, but right now I don’t care about any of that. I’m nervous and I don’t know why.
I had sex with Ford last night, so why does this seem gigantic? Maybe because I’m officially living with him. We moved my suitcase into his bedroom after we came back from the airport. He already had space for my things cleared out and ready to go.
Maybe part of the reason is because this is the master bedroom. Not only is the bedroom that his grandparents shared, but also his parents.
It feels forbidden to be in here, like Mrs. Matthews is going to pop around the corner and scold us for being ungodly in her home. Every time we fooled around in Ford’s room as teenagers, I could sense that she knew.
Mrs. Matthews never really liked me much. She was pleasant to my face, but I could sense that I wasn’t the first choice for her perfect boy. My family didn’t go to church nearly enough for her taste, and I wasn’t a cheerleader, something she reminded me of often.
“Honey,” Ford calls out with a soft knock on the bathroom door. “You okay in there?”
I shake my head, with it shaking out thoughts of Mrs. Matthews and her distaste of me. None of it mattered back then, Ford loved me and that was all that mattered—all that still matters.
“I’m coming,” I call out.
Pressing my hand to my belly, I attempt to calm the butterflies that are flittering around. I don’t know why, but I decided to wear something sexy tonight. I bought it in LA, Damion demanded that I had to have it for Ford.
Now that I have it on, in this dainty old-fashioned bathroom, it feels all kinds of wrong. Chewing on my bottom lip, my eyes search my reflection and I shake my head once, deciding to just go for it.
It’s a naughty football jersey and little cotton white panty costume. The only reason I even mentioned it at all, was that the little crop top jersey was Ford’s number in high school.
I kind of made a joke to Damion, and he insisted that it was fate and I needed to buy it, along with knee-high striped socks.
My hair is in pigtails and I feel really stupid and kind of wrong. Maybe I should just take it off and go out into the bedroom naked?
Inhaling a deep breath, I shake myself out of my own consuming thoughts and spin around, reaching for the door handle. I let out an exhale before I tug it open and simultaneously turn the light off.
The bedroom is bathed in soft glowing light coming from the closet. Taking a step into the room, I allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness as I find Ford. He’s sitting straight up in bed, his back facing the headboard, his eyes glued to mine.
“It’s dumb, I’ll take it off,” I rasp when he doesn’t say anything immediately.
He shakes his head slowly, shifting his body and turning so that his legs are thrown over the side of the bed, his head turned and still focused on me.
“You won’t,” he rasps. “Maybe the panties, after you walk over here, the rest stays on.”
“Ford,” I whisper as my feet begin to carry me over to him.
I stop directly in front of him, his gaze slowly drifts up my body, stopping on my chest, taking in the numbers there.
“How?”
“It just happened to have your numbers, it felt right at the time. I feel dumb now.”
He shakes his head, his hands reaching out and grabbing my hips before he spreads his thighs and tugs me betwee
n them. One of his hands slide up my side, the other slides between my legs and he shifts my panties to the side.
“Ford,” I whisper.
He smirks as his finger slips through my folds, swirling around my clit before sliding back and sliding inside of me. Lifting my arms, I grip his shoulders as I widen my stance, giving him more room.
“Sexiest woman on this fuckin’ earth, honey,” he rasps.
“Only for you, Cowboy,” I whisper.
He snorts. “Damn fuckin’ straight.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
FORD
Stephanie comes standing between my thighs, her mouth parted in awe as it rolls throughout her entire body. It’s fucking gorgeous, just like she is. Her nails dig into my shoulders and slowly release their grip as she lifts her head and looks down at me.
I watch as her cheeks tint pink and she licks her lips, wetting them before her teeth sink into her bottom lip. Shifting my hands, I slip my fingers beneath the waistband of her little shorts and tug them down.
Stephanie reaches for the hem of her short shirt and I shake my head. “Keep that and the socks on,” I grunt.
I’m not sure if she realizes that seeing her in the little outfit she’s sporting is the hottest sight I’ve ever seen or not? It’s just plain sexy, not to mention my old number.
When we were young, she’d wear my jersey on game day, but this is different. It’s small, and just a hint of her underboob shows, it’s fucking perfect.
Her lips curve up into a grin as she straddles my thighs. I grunt, feeling her soft, wet pussy against my hard cock. Tipping my head back, her mouth finds mine, brushing her lips across my own as her hips move along the underside of my dick.
Sliding my hands around her hips, I grab a hold of her ass, spreading her cheeks apart. She gasps, her lips parting just enough that my tongue can gain entrance inside of her sweet mouth.
Tasting her, my tongue rolls around hers, and I moan as every part of her consumes me. Without a word, her hand shifts between us, wrapping her fingers around my length. She lifts her hips, aligning her center with the tip of my dick and slowly sinks down, taking all of me inside of her.
COWBOY (Unfit Hero Book 5) Page 23
