Page 14 of My Cowboy Bodyguard

He stops when she sees me. Gives me a cautious once over before he glances at Flint. “Is this the new ranch manager?”

“Put a shirt on, River, and no, this is Leo’s angel.”

River plucks an apron from a hanger and puts it on. “Shit. Leo’s angel?” He sits across from me. “He’s been looking for you. Where have you been?”

“Enough,” Leo says, and the brothers trade stares. He motions toward the pancakes. “Eat and then find your damn rooster and put him up while I fix the barn.”

“I did that last night.” River is still staring at me. “Are you sure you’re his angel? I don’t remember seeing you at the Home.”

“You were there?”

River nods. “All of us brothers were. Dad and Mom adopted as many of us as they could.”

“She’s younger than you and was kept in a different dormitory,” Flint says setting the bottle of maple syrup down hard in front of his brother. It’s clear he doesn’t like talking about the place.

“Didn’t stop Leo from befriending her,” River says.

Leo gives his brother another hard look, takes a sip of coffee, and makes a face. “Tastes like cow shit.”

“Jude made it before he went to town,” Flint says.

Then they all start talking about how someone else needs to get their ass up earlier so Jude won’t be the one to make the coffee.

Finally, Flint starts outlining what needs to get done on the ranch.

I take it all in, the ebb and flow of their conversation. Their obvious love for this ranch and for each other. I’m glad that Leo has this. I’m glad he’s been loved.

Once breakfast is finished, I stand to help River clear the table.

“We take turns and today is his. Let him finish that,” Leo says, taking my hand.

He leads the way to a shed where he collects a toolbox and a couple of pieces of wood.

I follow him into the barn and look around while he nails the boards up over a hole at the rear of a stall.

When I spot a wooden ladder, I stop at the end of it and look, getting on my tiptoes to see as far as I can.

“It’s a loft. Go on up if you want. I’ll be right there.”

I climb the ladder and step off onto the loft, heading straight for a chair. I’m determined to talk about the past with Leo, to show him I don’t need him treating me like I’m made of glass.

He takes the chair across from me, removes his Stetson to set it on the sleeping bag, and runs his fingers through his hair.

“You said you wouldn’t add to my pain,” I begin. When he nods, I continue, “I told you, you were never part of my pain. You were always my hope and my healing.”

He blinks at that.

I smile at him, my heart overwhelmed with the joy of finding him again.

“If I wouldn’t have snuck off to the woods, that day, I would have been there. I could have?—”

“I was adopted then, Leo. There was nothing you could have done to stop it.”

His throat works as he swallows. “I missed you every day.”

I blink away the tears. “I missed you, too.” I love him so much. I want our bodies to be as close as my heart feels to his.

I glance around the loft, my mind going a hundred miles an hour. It’s private here. We wouldn’t be overheard.

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