Page 32 of Promise You Forever

I wasn’t worthy of her three years ago, but I’m not letting that stop me now.

She’s still laying stiffly in bed when I emerge from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. Her cheeks are flushed, as is her neck. It’s the tell-tale sign of her orgasm. I cross the short distance to the bed and grab her left hand to bring it to my nose. Her sweet, earthy scent sends fire through my veins.

I open my mouth and slide her fingers between my lips, desperate for her flavor. Her engagement ring sparkles in thedull lamp light like a challenge. I lick her fingers clean, wishing I could bury my face between her legs instead.

Her pupils flare as I stare into the stormy gray of her irises. I see everything she’s feeling swirling inside them. Her righteous anger. The feral desire she still has for me. Most importantly, I see her resolve wavering. She’s close, so close, to giving into temptation with me.

I release her fingers with a pop. “I’m going to make it so good when you finally give into me. You’ll be begging for me.”

“I willneverbeg for you.” She pulls her hand away and brushes past me into the bathroom.

I grab my jeans and drop the towel wrapped around my waist. “Thanks for the refreshed fantasies, Sunbeam,” I say before she closes the door behind her.

Eli disappears as soon as we get back to the ranch, barely even giving me time to put the truck in park before darting out and running into the house. The ride was as frosty as you would imagine, given the circumstances surrounding this morning. Her furtive glances my way ease my worries, though.

We look to have gotten about ten inches of snow, so I go into the house and grab my coveralls and snow boots. Either Colt or Sam cleared the main drive, but I’ll want to plow around all the buildings and the paths out to the pastures for the horses.

There’s nothing as beautiful as freshly fallen snow on the ranch. Soon it’ll be muddy and gray from vehicles and animals, but today it sparkles in the fading sunlight. I love the peace of days like this.

Snow used to make me think of Amy, a quiet reminder of everything I lost. Now it feels like a clean start. Like I get to choose my path forward from unlimited options.

Deep down I know I could walk away from the ranch, start over somewhere else. I could build my own home and ranch wherever I wanted. But there’s only one place I want to be and only one person I need with me. I’ll wait her out, as long as it takes.

I can’t stop thinking about the taste of her. Exactly how I remember. She was obviously dreaming about me this morning. I heard my name come from her lips clear as day.

She’s going to fight against us, I can feel it deep in my bones. I get it. I deserve it, but I’m going to do everything in my power to show her that I’m different. That I’ve grown and healed and changed for the better.

Not so much better that I’ll let her marry Benny though. Nope. I’ll break that engagement right up with no regrets. She doesn’t belong with him, she belongs with me. I’ll just have to figure out how to prove it to her.

Thirteen

ELI

For the better part of the past week, I’ve been able to avoid Luke, even though he has yet to move out of the main house and back into his cabin. The rational half of me realizes I should tell him he can move out, that he should move out. Yet, for some reason, I don’t.

I’ve seen him in passing in the mornings, and I hear him puttering around in the evenings while I stayed locked away in the den working. We’re basically two ships passing in the night most of the time. I tell myself I’d like it to stay that way, but I’m not delusional enough to believe my lie.

Today I have no choice but to see him, though. I got a call from the vet asking if I wanted him to come out and check the goats. Apparently, Grams had them bred right before she passed away, and he wants to check them out. He told me he had tried to get ahold of Luke first, but they hadn’t connected. The call tome was more out of courtesy than anything else. I do appreciate it, though.

So I pull on a pair of rubber boots and bundle up to go track Luke down. He’s not in either of the barns or with the cattle. I don’t see him with goats or pigs, but I guess he could be in the goat shed. I decide to check his office first and then do a walkthrough of the stable.

I finally find him in the arena lunging one of the mares. He stands in the middle as she trots around him in a circle. I tuck myself out of his line of sight to watch him work. He’s so confident and calm as he gives commands and cues to her. It’s not fair how effortlessly attractive he is right now. Between his self-assured stance, his backwards baseball cap, and the low pitch of his voice, I start to forget that I can’t trust him.

“Like what you see?” He looks over in my direction.

I guess my hiding spot wasn’t as covert as I thought. I step out of the shadows and let myself into the arena. Clover, the mare, is still prancing around, so I stay back toward the gate. If it was Sky, I wouldn’t be nervous, but I just don’t know this horse well enough yet.

“She’s a beautiful horse.” No way in hell am I acknowledging his dig.

“That she is. What brings you out here in the middle of the day?”

“The vet just called. He wants to check the goats.”

“Right. I completely forgot they were bred.” He pulls a biscuit out of his pocket and feeds it to Clover. “I’ll call him later and work out a time.”

“Sounds good.” I turn to leave.

“Are you going to avoid me forever?”

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