Page 78 of Claimed By the Cowboys

“Oh,” he says softly.

I snort. Oh. “I want to tell you all something. I love you. And I’m so scared that I’m going to lose you.”

Tate leans forward, but I hold up a hand. “It’s more than just being afraid of losing you, Tate. I’ve learned that good things are hard. Good things don’t come to just anyone. You have to work really hard to make the things around you good. I spend so much time making sure that everything around me is perfect. I like it that way. I’m good at it. But being with you three, it isn’t perfect. It’sgood. I want it to be good. I want it to be the four of us, together, but it’s never going to be perfect, and it’s never going to be set in stone.”

Dalton tilts his head, and I wave my hand.

“Everything in life changes. This baby—” I cradle my hand over my stomach. “—is going to change. Constantly. And that is really, really scary for me. So I did need some time alone to think today. But I was always coming back. And I was always going to tell you that I love you. More than just friends. I’ve loved you for a long time. I dated a whole bunch of losers, but I don’t knowthat I was really trying that hard because…” I breathe in, looking at them. “Because I knew they weren’t you.”

Dalton looks down at me, and Brent squeezes my shoulder. I lean back into Tate’s arms, and I sigh. “I was looking for you. All of you. I never could choose, and I never wanted just one. I wanted all three of you. Always. It never would work with anyone else, because I wanted it… with you.”

There’s a minute where we can hear the crickets loudly chirping. The wind ruffles my hair, and I shiver slightly.

“Piper. All you had to say was that you weren’t leaving and that you were pregnant. We kind of got the rest figured out,” Tate says.

He yelps as Brent smacks him on the shoulder.

I smile. “Do you ever take anything seriously, Tate?”

He steps forward and kisses my forehead. “Yes. You. You’re the center of my world, Piper Cassidy. The center of all of our worlds. You have been since the minute we met you. This baby is going to be one hell of an adventure, and I know for a fact that I can’t wait to go on it with you.”

Brent nods, and Dalton presses a kiss to my cheek.

I look around at them. My men. My guys.

“I think that we have some celebrating to get back to.”

Epilogue

PIPER

One Year Later

August

“If we spend the whole day fighting over who is going to watch the babies, then we’re literally never going to staff the table,” I say to the three men standing in front of me.

Dalton shifts Neha onto his hip and glares at Brent and Tate. “I have Neha today.”

Neha, to her credit, glares at them as well.

“Dalton. You can’t have a monopoly on Neha. First of all,” I say, gently picking up little Blaire, “you have another daughter, and she also will want some time with you.”

Blaire, just like her namesake, gives me a little squeak of attitude before she settles into my arms.

“Second, you need to talk to the trail ride people. Or did you forget about that?”

We’re on the very edge of making a deal with the Wild Spur Ranch, the state’s biggest supplier of trail ride horses. I want everything to go smoothly at this Harvest Bash, because it’s thelast time that we’re going to be able to negotiate anything before we sit down and sign the papers.

It helps that I’ve known one of the owners since college. Not that Nora’s partners are going to screw us over on a deal or anything. Nora is one of my very best friends.

We need to practice for when the deals we make come out of the state of Montana, and we start to get traction with some really big players.

Dalton shuffles, flaring his nostrils. “I’ll be fine.”

“And you’ll delegate childcare abilities as well,” I say, with my eyebrows pinched and my no-nonsense tone on.

Tate grins. “Listen, Pipes. It’s going to be just fine. We’re all gonna show up, and it’s going to be amazing.”

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