I wanted her to know I was always hers. No need to cling to me. I wasn’t going anywhere. I trailed my fingertips over her bare thighs, thinking about all we’d been through and how far she’d come.

She had grown so much, and I would never forgive myself if my stupid actions took that away from her. She was mine, but I was just as much hers. No one else would have me this way.

“I love you,” I whispered into her hair.

“I love you, too,” she replied, and traced a heart on my chest with her finger.

“I won’t leave you again,” I told her. I needed her to believe me.

She didn’t reply. Instead, she continued tracing that heart on my chest over and over.

“You own me, Reese. Know that, baby. Know that I’m yours.”

She stopped tracing on my chest and tilted her face up to look at me. “What if, one day, you’re not mine anymore and you can’t help it?”

What did she mean by that? “I can swear to you that you will always be it for me. No one fits me like you. No one makes me feel whole. No one else ever will.”

She smiled and pressed a kiss to my chest. “I want to believe that.”

Well, fuck me. I wanted her to believe that, too. I thought she did. Had my one stupid mess-up last night made her doubt that? Doubt me?

I cupped her face and held her so that she was looking directly into my eyes. “Do you see me? This man in front of you will love you until the day he dies. You’re my one, Reese. My one.”

She relaxed in my arms and leaned into me. “OK.”

OK? Ha! That was all she was going to say? OK?

“Does that ‘OK’ mean you believe me?”

She nodded. “I believe you. I always believe you.”

Pulling her tight against my chest, I held on to her. This was my home. She was where my home would always be. It was time I took the next step and proved to her that I was all in. Forever.

Reese was talking to her father on the phone this morning. She didn’t have to go to work until nine, so she had called her dad to catch him up on things. Checking in with family wasn’t something Reese was used to doing. I expected him to want her to come visit again soon, and I needed to prepare the ranch for my absence. She wasn’t going without me again.

“Yes, I love it there. Piper, my boss, is really great. And I learned to brush down the horses,” she said, chatting away happily.

Just hearing her made me smile. I hadn’t been sure how I felt about him walking into her life like he had at first. I’d been afraid he was out for something. But he hadn’t been. He’d honestly wanted to know his daughter. Reese had needed that more than I even realized. The horror from her past seemed to be fading away for her, though I knew it would always be a part of her in some way. She just wasn’t letting it define her life. She didn’t use her mother and her stepfather as excuses not to achieve more. Reese believed in herself.

After I dropped Reese off at work, I went to Momma’s. I hadn’t talked to her since the Aida thing. I knew Aida’s truck was gone, but I didn’t ask about it. Seeing her gone was more of a relief.

Major’s truck was still there, though. He’d been gone all day yesterday, but apparently, he hadn’t left town. I parked my truck and headed inside.

Major was drinking a cup of coffee and eating again. “What do you think this is? A bed-and-breakfast?” I grumbled, walking inside to go kiss my momma and get myself a cup of coffee.

“Don’t be hating. There’s plenty for you, too,” he said with a mouth full of food.

“Good morning, son,” Momma said.

“Morning, Momma.”

“Reese at work?” she asked.

I nodded and took a sip of the hot liquid.

“Did you tell her your cousin has the hots for you?” Major asked.

If we hadn’t been in Momma’s kitchen, I’d have put my fist in his face.

“Major,” Momma warned.

He held up both hands. “Just asking.”

“Aida went back to her parents’ house. She took off from college this semester, and they’re going to force her to make it up this summer. Her daddy is not happy that she took off to come here,” Momma explained. “But she’s young, and she’ll learn. Let’s just put this behind us.”

“So you didn’t tell Reese, did you?” Major asked, grinning.

I glared at him over my coffee cup.

“I wouldn’t have told her, either. It’s creepy, if you really think about it.”

“Would you shut up?” I growled.

He stood up with his empty plate and headed to the sink. “Sure. I’ll shut up. I got a job to get to.”

“Job?” I asked, surprised.

“Yep. I’m working on building the addition to Stouts and Hawkins. His new guy overseeing the project, River Kipling, hired me. If this one is as successful as the one in Key West, then Arthur is sending him to Rosemary Beach to build another, and I’ll be going, too. Find me one of those hotties I’ve heard so much about.”

The idea of River Kipling moving to Florida, far away from Dallas, was very appealing.

Reese

Piper walked into the office an hour after I had arrived, carrying two cups of coffee. “Good morning,” she said brightly.

As weird as it was to imagine her married to Arthur, a man who could be her father, I really liked Piper. She was down-to-earth, and I’d watched her with the kids she trained. She was kind. I felt guilty now for thinking Arthur had married her for her beauty and youth while she’d married him for his money. I didn’t get that vibe from Piper.

“Good morning,” I replied, taking the coffee cup she handed to me. “Thank you. I need this.”

“Everyone always needs a good cup of coffee.” She took one of the leather seats across from the desk. “So, tell me, how are you liking this job?”

I loved working here. I felt I was being productive. “I’m enjoying it very much.”

Piper sipped from her cup and smiled at me over the rim. “Good,” she said. “I’m very happy with your work. Everything you’ve done you’ve given one hundred percent. You work like you own it and it means something to you. That’s hard to find in an employee. I hope I can keep you around for a while.”

“Thank you,” I replied, feeling my chest swell with pride. I had been so worried I wouldn’t be able to do this job correctly, but here she was telling me she was impressed with my work. I could do this. Mase was right. He believed in me, and I needed to start believing in me, too.

“Now that you’ve shown me you can handle the daily tasks, I need to add one more thing to your list. My husband has a guy working on building and expanding the menu to include seafood at his steakhouse here in Dallas, which he has already done successfully in Key West. River Kipling. He’s asked for some help filing his receipts and bills. Until the expansion is complete, Arthur needs to use my extra filing cabinet to organize all of that. We’ll need you to file the paperwork that River brings in, and he’ll occasionally ask you to make phone calls on his behalf while he’s on-site.”

Oh, no. How could I tell her I didn’t want to work with River? She’d just said I was doing a great job and wanted me around for a while. I couldn’t refuse to do this. Besides, he would just be dropping stuff off every once in a while. Not a big deal. I was making more out of this than I needed to.

“OK, sure,” I replied, not feeling sure at all.

She gave me an approving smile and took one last drink of her coffee before standing up. “He should be by sometime before lunch to go over things with you. I told him you’d be expecting him.”

Today? Already? I needed more time. I nodded. It was all I could do.

“Great. Well, back to work. I have a student arriving in about five. Enjoy your morning, Reese.”

I think I muttered something about her enjoying her morning, too, but I wasn’t sure. My mind was on dealing with River . . . or Captain. I needed to tell Mase about this. He needed to know that I’d be seeing River more often—but then what? He would be furious, and I’d probably lose this job.