Page 85 of Piece Of Me

She yanked her head back. “Jet?” she asked in disbelief.

“Courtesy of Temple Holdings.”

“You’re definitely not just any cowboy.”

“No,” he replied, “but this cowboy wants to know if I’m taking you back to the Triple B or if you’re coming back to my place.”

And here they were. Crunch time.

“We’ve got some things to talk about,” she replied.

“Yeah. We do.”

“Your place it is.”

CHAPTER 27

Life could be tough. It could be lonely and painful and unforgiving. Especially when love was involved. But it could also be amazing. Thrilling. Taz knew this. His sister had had the kind of love most folks dreamed of. Yet she and her husband were taken so young.

And even though he had a good read on the situation at hand, life had taught him never get too comfortable. And more importantly, always expect the unexpected.

The flight back to Bozeman took just over four hours. A good tailwind cut down their time, but still, it was a long ass day. After they landed, he’d driven over to his mom’s and got the girls. She hadn’t asked questions, just smiled when she spied Scarlett in the passenger seat. The girls, however, were a different story.

They’d squealed like a bunch of stuck pigs, their laughter and happiness contagious, and the ride back to the ranch had been full of giggles, questions (most he and Scarlett deflected) and of course, singing.

While Scarlett decompressed, he managed to make a meal, then there’d been an extended story time. When that was over and done with, they tucked the girls in and Scarlett put Hank down in the spare room, where he’d put together one of the girls’ cribs over a week ago.

Taz was in the kitchen doing some cleanup when Scarlett appeared.

“Hey,” she said softly, walking over to him. She licked her bottom lip, a nervous gesture, and he grabbed her hand.

“We should talk,” he said.

She followed him into the living room and perched on the edge of the sofa. “I can’t thank you enough. For what you did for me and Hank.”

Taz wasn’t working up to a slow build. He was coming in fast and hot. “I love you.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Just listen. Let me do the talking.”

She cracked a small smile. “You’re good at that.”

“Always been a strong point.” He blew out a breath and rolled his shoulders. He was really doing this. Laying everything on the line. “It might sound corny, but I think I’ve loved you ever since I saw you in the post office, standing there so fierce and righteous in your nightie. You have something that I was missing. You are someone I never knew I needed. Until I did. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and the girls and Hank.”

He took a moment, his throat tight. “Scarlett, you’re all I need. All I want. And though we haven’t known each other for years, I think it’s been long enough for you to know I don’t waste time on things that have no meaning for me. I love you and I think that you?—”

“I do,” she said, jumping to her feet. Her eyes were shiny. Her hair a wild mess of waves he was dying to sink his hands into. And her feelings, her heart, were there for him to see. “I love you, Taz. I never dreamed I’d get the chance to meet a man who is everything to me. Who is the best kind of man I want to have in Hank’s life, but you’ve got to know that I’m not perfect. In fact, most of the time I’m the opposite of perfect.”

She took a step away. “I’m stubborn.” She shrugged. “Even when I know I’m wrong I won’t admit it half the time. I leave globs of toothpaste in the sink and my hair clogs the shower drain. I eat too much chocolate and I like to have dance parties when no one is looking.”

“I know,” Taz said softly, thinking back to a day when he caught her in the rain.

“Sometimes I go quiet. Usually when I’m sad. When I remember things about my mom. About what it felt like to love someone who left me behind.”

“I get that.”

“I know. But I don’t know if I can survive that again.” She turned back to him. “You have to be sure. I need you to know that you own every piece of me. All of it. The good. The bad. The spaces between the good and the bad. That means that you own my heart. My soul.”

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