Page 68 of Cowboys Can't Kiss

I don’t answer with words. Instead, I grab his hips and pull him against me, smashing my lips to his. Jackson remains gentle, but firm. It’s a kiss, not just with attraction. It’s an unspoken promise. He won’t let me down and he’s here for me in every way. There’s probably more he wants to tell me, but I won’t let my mind go there. Not yet.

Pulling away, I stay close enough that my lips brush his when I speak.

“You sure can kiss for a cowboy.”

“You don’t think cowboys can kiss?”

“Not with feeling. Not like you.” I kiss him again, with a tenderness I can’t hold back for this man who I’m falling for so hard that it might hurt once the words leave my mouth. “You make me feel like I can have a happily ever after.”

His smile is so big I laugh. It’s adorable and real. So fucking real it makes my heart ache for what I might have let slip away if I hadn’t gone to him to take a chance.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me off the ground before spinning us in a circle with a celebratory whoop.

“Stick with me, sweetheart, and you’ll get your fairy tale. I promise.”

Gabe returns with damp hair and is now more casually dressed.

“Save sex for later. Like when I’m out of the condo, okay? We have a lot to do today.” Gabe’s words may be snarky, but the tone of his voice is kind as he looks at me.

“He’s right Riley. Get in the shower and get dressed. I’ll make you breakfast and we have to get to the hospital if you want to see Agnes before her surgery.”

The mention of my aunt has all the sadness and anxiety rushing back. But only briefly, as Jackson kisses me once before turning me back towards my bedroom. With a smack on my ass, he leans in close. “I’m not letting you out of my sight today. Or tonight.”

I shiver as I practically run to the shower.

“So your aunt raised you then?” Jackson asks as he parks us in the visitor lot at the hospital. I’d filled him in on how my parents weren’t really all that accepting of their gay son.

“Yeah. She stepped in when I was fourteen and my parents wanted to send me to some fancy private school in the States. It wasn’t really a school, you know? It was more like we can pray the gay away kind of thing and Aunt Agnes immediately said no and took me. She even had a lawyer do up legal guardian stuff and my parents were like, oh well, that saves us the financial trouble all around.”

Parents who view children only as a financial liability are a low I can’t wrap my head around. I thought being gay disappointed them enough, but to also not want me because they had to feed and clothe me? Yeah, that was kind of the last straw for me. And, thankfully, Aunt Agnes.

“I’m so sorry Riley. It’s their loss.”

“I know. Don’t worry. It’s why I’m out of sorts with Auntie falling and all this stuff. She’s all I have, you know?” My eyes well up, thinking of losing her, and he stretches his hand over the console to grab mine.

“I know. But now you have me. My family will love you.”

After unbuckling, he takes my hand as we walk to the hospital. So many people know him and nod to say hello. He greets them all by name and doesn’t once let go of my hand.

“So, um, where is your family, anyway?”

Our shoes squeak on the shiny hospital floor as we head to Aunt Agnes’s room.

“Well, they moved to Arizona because of the winters here about ten years ago now. It’s just my mom and dad. I’m an only child. But they come every year to the Kissing Ridge rodeo to watch me.”

“So they’ll be here soon?”

Jackson looks at his phone. “In less than 24 hours, yep.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. Don’t let me take you from—”

In the middle of the hospital hallway, Jackson stops and pushes me up against the wall before laying the most toe-curling kiss on my lips. “You aren’t taking anything from me. Don’t assume you’re not my priority, Riley. Understand?”

My fingertips touch my still-tingling lips. “Y-yeah. Okay.”

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