Page 48 of My First and Only Crush

“It’s all yours now, if you like it,” I say. “You want to come inside?”

She blushes. “Yes.”

The front door opens into a mudroom space, because this is a working ranch and it often looks well-used when I’m here. It’s sparklingly clean now though, a couple of pairs of boots tucked into nooks, and one of my older cowboy hats hanging on a hook.

I put the hat I brought back from Florida on the hook next to it. “Do you want the whole tour now, or are you tired?”

“Tour. Now.” Her eyes are as big as dinner plates. I set our bags inside the door, because the stairs to the upper level are right in front of us, and we’ll circle back around.

The whole house is built around that central staircase. To the left is a living room with a fireplace on the outside wall, and oversized, well-loved leather couches. The walls are covered in bookcases I’ve only started to put things on.

“The empty shelves could use some text books or something,” I say gruffly.

She giggles. “How about my rom com collection?”

“Even better.” I point to the doorway leading to the back. “The kitchen is through there.”

It’s as nice as any kitchen she grew up with, I’m sure. A big butcher block island and an extra-large sink are my favorite features. Two dishwashers are great, too.

She opens the fridge. “Who played the food fairy?”

“Inez, the housekeeper. She’s Raul’s wife.”

“Not your brothers?”

“They don’t know I’m here. Unless they happened to be looking out the window as we drove up, but they might assume it’s Raul. He’s the only one I told.” I wrap my arms around Sinclaire’s middle from behind. “I want a little bit of time with you here, just the two of us, so we can be on the same page about if you like it, and what our plans will be next, before the tidal wave of people hits us.”

She twists her face sideways, her breath softly brushing my cheek. “I’m going to like it here.”

I fucking hope so.

“What’s through there?”

“Dining room. A den. Another mud room for heading out the back, and laundry.” I take her all the way around the circle of the main floor, finishing in the small front room on the opposite side of the stairs from the living room. “And this is…I don’t know. A bonus space for now. Maybe you might like it as an office?”

CHAPTER20

SINCLAIRE

Chapter Twenty: Sinclaire

An office. I don’t know what that’s the piece that finally makes all of this feel so very, very real, but…it is.

I’m going to live here. We’re an hour away from the nearest street light. There are horses outside my front door, even though I can’t see them right now.

But I heard them as Trick was getting the bags from the truck.

The love of my life, my first and only crush, has brought me tohis ranchand offered me hisbookshelvesand a whole, emptyoffice.

I can’t even.

“Sin?” Trick gathers me in against his chest, hugging me fiercely. “Hey, if this is too much, that’s okay. We’ll just visit for a few days and then we can go to California, or?—”

“I’m never leaving,” I manage to get out. “I mean, just kidding, we can go visit my dad sometimes. Can you afford to have that plane come back and pick us up for Christmas?”

He starts laughing, and he doesn’t stop. “Yeah,” he groans in between chuckles. “I can afford that.”

“We can fly commercial, too.”

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