Page 17 of Booker

Lexi giggled as she motioned to take the horses near a stand of trees.

“I love finding new-to-me authors because I never run out of books, and I can always find one to fit my mood,” Lexi said.

“I agree. Since I became friends with Nat and became one of her cover models, I’ve found a lot of new-to-me authors because her friends share books all the time,” Booker said.

He could just see Cowboy on his horse galloping ahead of them and a cabin in the distance. They were close to not having any privacy again.

“Lexi, you don’t have to answer now. But if we weren’t worried about danger from your brother, what would be your ideal life?” Booker asked.

Lexi guided the horse and slowed them a little. Booker gazed across the rolling prairie, mesmerized by the beauty. As they neared the stream, he saw bushes growing and a tree.

“I love going to signings and helping authors. I enjoy the RV, but ideally, I’d like a home base where I stayed the majority of the time. Then we would only use the RV if we couldn’t get back to our home base. I’d love for our home base to be the ranch because eventually it will be ours, but if you want to settle in Bluff Creek, I’ll do it. I know that I don’t want to travel full time once we have kids. At least, I hope you want kids.”

Her voice quieting at the end broke his heart. He reached for her reins and brought her horse and his to a stop. He wanted to make sure she knew how serious he was.

“Lexi, I love you, and I can’t think of anything that would be more wonderful than having a little one or two with you. Heck, as many as you want. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we live. Where you are is where I’ll be. Home isn’t a place. Home is with you.”

The smile spreading across her face hit him right in the heart. He had no idea how he’d lived all these years without her, but he was going to spend the next forty to fifty years making up for lost time.

Chapter Twelve

Lexi finished frosting the cake. She’d enlisted Twist and Cowboy to get Booker out of the house for a couple of hours. Booker thought she didn’t remember when his birthday was. She wasn’t missing his forty-third birthday. She hadn’t been able to break away from him to go shopping in person. She shopped online for some new motorcycle gloves and a heavier leather jacket. South Dakota got colder than Kansas. She’d also madea cute little coupon book for him, which she hoped he liked. Though if he read them all when they were together, he might blush at some of them.

He'd liked the chocolate miracle whip cake her mom had made back in high school. She’d questioned Twist, but he couldn’t give her any other cake that Booker had ever indicated he loved, so she went with what she knew.

She put the number candles on the cake. She’d gone with a four and a three instead of forty-three actual candles. Her mom and Compass were making the homemade ice cream in the barn, so Booker wouldn’t see it if he returned early.

Her mom was coming back in to help with the meal: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, country gravy, and green beans, along with fresh homemade rolls. The butter was fresh from a farm down the road from theirs.

Luckily, her mom was a planner and always had wrapping paper on hand. She’d heard her mom sewing last night and the night before. She wondered what her mom had been making for Booker. Lexi didn’t remember any holiday that her mom hadn’t given something she’d sewn. Last year for Lexi’s birthday, she’d made her a new crossover purse with quotes from her favorite books on it.

Lexi was excited about the surprise party, but she wished she knew what her brother was planning. She didn’t think she could handle losing her mom or if he hurt Booker or the guys. If she wasn’t so scared of what he might do to her, she’d just go looking for him. But she was too smart to be the stupid girl in the horror movie who split off from everyone to go in the woods alone.

She heard the pickup truck and looked outside. The guys were back and parking the truck. She took off her apron and quickly hung the banner she made. Yep, it was hokey, but she loved the fact that she’d reunited with her Drew.

The door opened, and Twist came in. He covered his mouth, smothering a laugh at the sign, then Booker came in next.

His eyes went to the cake, then flicked to the sign. He grinned and then pulled her into his arms.

“Is that how you really feel?” Booker asked.

“Of course.”

Booker turned her toward her sign.

“Happy Birthday to the man I love who makes all my dreams come true. My high school crush. My cover model. My very own cinnamon roll book boyfriend come to life.”

His lips brushing her ear had a shiver trembling through her.

“I love you so much. Thank you for doing this,” Booker said.

He didn’t realize it, but this was just one of the ways Lexi would spend the rest of her life showing him how much she loved him.

Booker laughed and knew by tomorrow his stomach would ache from tonight. He’d laughed more tonight than he had in months. How they kept the party a surprise from him was amazing.

Twist had given him a gift card for books. Cowboy had given him a coupon for a free tune-up on his computer whenever he needed it. Lexi had even invited the two full-time ranch hands to the party. Booker wasn’t sure what he thought about them. The younger one, Chance, was quiet and a little nervous. Maureen said he’d been hired in the last three months, and she’d been gone two of those months. The older one, Buckles, was in his fifties and seemed to have an opinion about everything. He was a bull riding champion from his younger days who never let anyone forget it. During the party, he’d mentioned two different times how he’d do something different than the way Maureen did. Maureen had shrugged it off, but Booker planned on discussing both guys with the group sometime.

Compass had given him a gift card to an online motorcycle parts store. Maureen’s gift had touched him and come close to being his favorite. She’d made him a robe to wear this winter. But Lexi’s gift had both pleased and embarrassed him when he’d started to read aloud the second gift. She’d bought him new riding gloves and a heavier leather jacket for the weather in South Dakota. But her little notebook of coupons was enough to make him a little hot even with her mom in the room. The first few were tame:One kiss when you’ve had a bad day. Foot rub when you’ve been working. One coupon for me taking your dish duty.But then they’d started getting a little more risqué. He’d been so glad he was sitting down when he got to:Good for one blowjob wherever you want. Was she trying to kill him?

---