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He'd felt the heat in his cheeks from blushing. Who knew a forty-three-year-old man could blush but darned if he didn’t do that. And she’d made him hard as steel in front of her mother. The final one that he hadn’t read but Cowboy had triedto grab had been:Outdoor sex when it’s warmer. Who knew little Lexi had grown into a woman who didn’t mind taking a chance outside? Once things warmed up, he prayed stuff would be settled because he couldn’t think of a prettier place to have his way with his woman than the stream they’d ridden by on horseback.

They’d all dug into the cake and ice cream. It had been years since he’d had that cake, and it was still his favorite. He’d never asked anyone to make it because it brought back memories of Lexi.

He’d finished the presents and the food. He stood up to take his plate to the kitchen.

“I’ve got this. Lexi has something else for you to do,” Compass said, taking the plate and heading toward the kitchen.

He smiled and walked toward Lexi. “What’s next?”

She grabbed his hand and a blanket off the back of the couch. She led him out the door onto the front porch. She fiddled with her phone a little, then placed it on the glider as music started playing. She unfurled the blanket and put it around his shoulders, then came up close and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Grasp the blanket and then you can hold me too but keep us warm,” Lexi whispered.

He followed her directions and listened to the music, dancing with her around the porch. He’d planned on doing this, but she’d beat him to it. He recognized the song from one Lexi listened to: John Legend’sUnder The Stars.

Even though he was twitchy and worried about Lexi’s brother, this was the best birthday he’d ever had, and it was all because of the woman in his arms.

“Lexi, this has been a perfect birthday, but I want you to know, the days that are just the regular days of fixing meals, working, and washing dishes are just as special. With you,everything becomes extraordinary. Life with you is more than I ever dreamed of.”

Lexi sniffed against him. He hadn’t meant to make her cry.

“Lexi?” he asked, kissing her cheek.

“I’m okay. I’d given up hope of finding someone, but reconnecting with you has made me dream again.”

He touched his lips to hers, tracing the seam with his tongue. When she opened her mouth, he dove in, showing her with each touch and taste how much she meant to him. The faint hint of the chocolate frosting flavored her kiss. Lexi rubbed against him, and he knew the signs of her wanting more. She was going to be disappointed because he was going to kiss the daylights out of his woman right now and enjoy dancing. After she’d gone to all this trouble, he wasn’t cutting their dancing short.

He reluctantly pulled his mouth away and swayed with Lexi. The song switched, and he pulled her closer. A cool breeze blew across the porch, but he was warm with Lexi by his side. He could wait until tomorrow to figure out what to do next.

He needed this finished with her brother because he found himself excited about planning their life. Lexi and her mom had mentioned how the ranch was ideal for hunting, but her dad had died before he had started advertising to bring in hunters.

One of the things he wanted to help with was seeing what could be done to make sure the ranch stayed profitable enough to not need to sell off land. It was the home Lexi wanted, and he’d do what needed to be done to make sure she had it.

Chapter Thirteen

Lexi walked out to the area her dad had built as an outdoor shooting range. They’d been at the house a week, and she was on guard. The cameras had caught someone; at least it looked like a person dressed in dark clothing skulking around the barn and the larger building that housed her RV.

Cowboy had even added some alarms to guarantee no one messed with her RV. Booker, Twist, and Compass all believedshe and her mom needed to brush up on their shooting. Instead of rolling her eyes at the guys, she just decided to show them how well she could shoot. Her dad had trained her and her mom, and they’d kept up the practice. She was sure she couldn’t beat any of the former military guys, but she could hold her own and hit the target.

As she walked up behind Booker to listen to Twist, she slid her arms around his waist, breathing in the scent she’d come to associate with home. Her home was with Booker, wherever it ended up. He turned so he could slide his arm around her and kiss her cheek. Although the snow had melted, it was chilly outside with the wind blowing. She was all for getting this done and going back inside by the warm fire and sitting down to read. After Booker had recommended Cleo, she’d started the first book and loved it. Now she was ready for the next book in the series. She was caught up on all her author assistant stuff until she took care of some newsletters tomorrow, which was great because she felt like day-old dog crap.

“Lexi, did you hear that?” her mom asked.

“Hear what?”

“Booker and Twist were discussing the next steps,” Maureen replied.

“I thought we were out here to shoot. If we’re discussing next steps, I want to be inside with a hot drink.”

“I thought the ranch girl liked the outdoors,” Twist teased.

“The ranch girl knows it’s stupid to have a conversation outside in the cold when we could have it inside. Let’s get this shooting over with.”

Lexi knew she sounded gripey, but she couldn’t stop herself. She was tired, and, of course, she’d started her period. Men sucked. They got all the fun of sex and none of the pain of periods and childbirth.

Warm fire, hot drink, a book, and maybe her heating pad. She was old enough if the guys couldn’t handle knowing that she had a period, then they shouldn’t ask.

“Okay, targets are set up. Everyone shoots their gun of choice. Twist, you go first,” Booker said.

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