Page 21 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

Now, she couldn’t hold back. The floodgates opened and raw pain and emotion exploded. Beth had missed Conner so much. She had never stopped loving him. Her pain had dulled down from a constant stabbing in her heart and soul to a dull ache. The kiss had brought it all back to the surface again.

Even though it was late, she called Savvy. She was likely just getting off work.

“Hello,” Savvy said. “Why are you up so late?”

Beth wasn’t a night owl. Savvy always teased her about being an old lady who went to bed as soon as the sun went down.

“You’re never going to believe this. I went on a date with Conner tonight.”

Savvy groaned. “I thought that you were going to avoid him.”

“That plan didn’t work out so great,” Beth said. “He asked me to go out with him, and I argued with myself in my head. One of the voices inside my head lost, and I said yes.”

“The voice of reason,” Savvy said. “How did it go?”

“We had a great time,” Beth said. “We talked about Taryn for a while. I did mention that she was stubborn just like her father.”

“What did he say to that?”

“Nothing,” Beth said. “We spent the rest of the night just talking about our lives.” She paused for a minute. “Then, he kissed me.”

“Wow,” Savvy said. “How did that feel?”

“Overwhelming. Incredible. Stirred up everything that I’ve tried to suppress the last several years.”

“You need to be careful. You’ve been hurt enough.”

“I know,” Beth said. “I just need to decide what to do. I can try to avoid him, which would be almost impossible since Taryn is competing at the rodeo. I could also tell him to bugger off and leave me alone.”

“Sensible choice,” Savvy said.

“Or, I could simply spend as much time as I can with him and tuck them into my memories.”

“And get hurt even more,” Savvy said.

“Honestly, I don’t think that I could hurt any more than I already have been.”

“You know that I have your back no matter what you decide,” Savvy said. “I have a feeling I know what you’ve decided.”

“Yep. I can’t resist. More than anything, though, I wish that I could tell him the truth and see if his love for me is still there, buried somewhere deep in his psyche.”

“Who knows, maybe you will find a way. A reverse fairy tale. You will kiss him and your Prince Charming will wake up. Then you can live happily ever after.”

Beth coughed and laughed at the same time. “Doubtful. That is not the storyline that my life follows. Anyway, enough about me. How was your night?”

“Exciting. Some of the cowboys got drunk and commenced beating on each other. The bouncers threw them out into the parking lot and they continued fighting until the cops showed up.”

The two friends talked for a while and then Beth said, “I need sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Taryn was hyper when she came home the next morning. “Mrs. Peters made pancakes and I had lots of syrup.”

“Sugar rush. Great,” Beth groaned jokingly. “You’re going to crash just when you need to be on your game.”

“Nah, I’ll be alright,” Taryn said.

Their conversation was interrupted when Matilda knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for an invitation. Taryn flashed her mother a look and then disappeared into the living room. She avoided her grandmother whenever possible.

“I need to start locking the door,” Beth muttered.

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