Page 52 of Marrying Mr. Majestic

She nodded. “It’s sweet, though. I’m happy for you. Not sure you ever felt that way about Eden.”

Her words caught me off guard. “It’s not the same thing.”

“Of course not. Eden was your high school sweetheart, the kind of young love that’s ten percent candy hearts and ninety percent desperation to rub your number two pencil against their Scantron form. Not exactly the stuff a real relationship is built on.”

Her words hit me hard. Eden and I had always been close. Ours hadn’t been a relationship mostly built on lust at all. Had I wanted her physically? Yes. Hell yes. Especially in the beginning. But we’d also grown incredibly close, relied on each other as confidants and…

I realized much of that part of our relationship had come later. After my father’s death and during the time her parents were fighting so hard to keep her from following her dreams. We’d each needed someone to talk to outside of our families because we’d needed to talk about our families to someone who understood the situation.

“I love Eden,” I said, as if defending a position long after I’d held it.

“Sure. She’s a good person,” Natana said. “But I’m glad you didn’t end up with her.”

“I don’t know why you say that. We would have been happy together.”

She pursed her lips. “You would have been happy. Maybe. She would have been miserable.”

I felt the insult like a kick to the chest. “Wow.”

Her eyes widened. “No. Shit. Sorry. That’s not what I meant.”

I shot her a look, and she sighed before apologizing again. “Way… you were born to live here, and you love every bit of it. Even if you didn’t have roots in this town, you’d have planted some by now. Not Eden. The only things Eden likes about Majestic are the climbing routes at Three Daughters, the big water on the Majestic River in spring, easy access to mountain bike trails she knows like the back of her hands, and you. She was born to run wild across every far edge of this earth. She won’t be happy until she’s climbed every rock face, run every raging river, and raced across as many varied and wondrous trails as her bike tires can find. A romantic would say you’re the tree and she’s the bird. But a realist would be more likely to point out that you’re a solid home and she’s an itinerant traveler.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry, but there it is.”

“I always assumed she’d settle down once she slaked her wanderlust,” I admitted. “I always pictured the two of us together eventually.”

She pressed her lips together in thought. “Maybe. But now you have Silas. And despite clearly being a city guy, he seems to be making an effort for your sake.”

Her words took me by surprise until I realized of course she’d see it that way. That’s what we wanted people to see. He wasn’t actually trying to fit in. He was simply acting like it.

“Yeah,” I said, returning to Bunny so I could unclip her lead and turn her out for the night.

Natana tilted her head at the mare. “Leave her to me. I’ll finish your chores so you can go catch up with your man. It’s the least I can do for bailing on roundup.”

The last thing I wanted was to face Silas right now. “No, thanks. I can do it.”

She stepped in front of me. “Way. Go be with your husband. You’ve been married for all of five minutes.”

I let out a breath. “Tell you what. We’ll do it together so we can finish faster. Deal?”

She grinned at me. “Deal.”

We worked quickly. It wasn’t the first time Natana had helped out around the ranch. She was a hard worker and had exchanged labor for favors with our stock ever since she was a preteen rider in the junior rodeo. It was nice working alongside someone I didn’t need to entertain or train. It left me with time to think through my conversation with Silas and my feelings.

By the time I got home, I knew I owed him an apology.

Another one.

I only hoped he’d accept the kind that came with me on my knees without saying a single word out loud.

EIGHTEEN

SILAS

I forced myself to focus on work until Way came back from his ranch chores, but it was hard to be productive when I was so annoyed. Annoyed with Way for making it so difficult to help him. Annoyed with myself for being annoyed because while I might have been married to the man on paper, in reality, he was a guy I’d known for little over a week, and if he wanted to work himself into the ground, that was his own fucking business.

It took a good hour for my anger to burn off and simmer low enough for me to think it through more clearly. Waylon Fletcher was used to being in charge. As the oldest sibling and current mayor of Majestic, his role was to be the leader and take on all the duties. The man clearly didn’t know how to delegate, but at this point, I definitely couldn’t be the one to point it out to him.

Even though I wanted to very badly.

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