Page 19 of Marrying the Billboard Cowboy

“Mr. Zeke?” Stetson said again, and a tugging on his blazer brought his eyes downward.

“Yeah, buddy?” he said, clearing the gravel in his throat.

“Are you my daddy now?”

Zeke’s eyes flew back to Kaitlyn’s. Her expression was unreadable, the thin column of her neck tightening with a swallow.

Carefully, he lowered to a knee in front of Stetson. “What would you think about that?” he asked the small boy.

Stetson shrugged, but a smile spread across his lightly freckled cheeks. “I guess it’d be okay.”

The tension exploded out of him at Stetson’s nonchalant answer, and Zeke let out a huge laugh as he ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Yeah. I think that’d be okay too.”

10

Zeke jogged up the steps of the small house. From what she could see, Wrangler Row, as he’d introduced it, held at least half a dozen similar cabins.

Kaitlyn glanced at the man beside her, trying not to read too much into the deliberate way he closed the distance between them and the threshold of their new life. She was married. That was something she thought she would never say. But here she was, living in Redemption Ridge and married to the most devastatingly handsome cowboy she’d ever laid eyes on.

It went beyond his looks, though. In just a day, Zeke had proven to be kind and thoughtful. She had to admit, the man wasn’t easy to read. She was tempted to pour out her entire life story to him, but she was ninety percent sure he would respond to her twenty-minute spiel with a two-word reply. It seemed his gruff words always left more to be desired.

But she wanted to believe he was as good as he seemed. Otherwise, she’d made a huge mistake. One that not just she would pay for. Stetson was already enthralled with his new father figure.

She grabbed Stetson’s hand and followed Zeke into his house. Their house? She chewed the inside of her cheek. She wasn’t entirely sure how this was all going to work. Was it really hers?

Her eyes slid to the bedroom, where she’d fallen into a restless sleep the night before, Stetson comfortably in her arms. A pang of nervousness gripped her as she imagined the logistics of their sleeping arrangements. Zeke couldn’t sleep at his parents’ house now.

His giant frame would never fit on the couch. She could sleep on the couch. But where did that leave Stetson? Maybe Stetson could sleep on the couch and she and Zeke… Her heart raced at the thought, her mind skirting around the edges of what being a wife entailed. She folded her arms, a subconscious barrier against her own racing thoughts.

“Kaitlyn?” Zeke’s brow furrowed, concern etching lines across his forehead. “You all right?”

She nodded, feeling the chill from outside still clinging to her clothes. “Just thinking about how we’re going to make this work...with just the one bedroom.”

Zeke’s eyes softened as he followed her gaze to the partially open bedroom door. He released her hand and stepped closer, his shadow merging with hers on the wooden floor.

“We’ll figure it out,” he assured her, leaving unspoken the mutual understanding that their marriage was one of necessity, not passion. “Nothing has to change. I’d like…” He paused, shaking his head slightly before exhaling. “We’ll share the bedroom,” he said in a rush.

He cleared his throat, a faint blush creeping up his neck, unseen but felt, a testament to his own discomfort. The very idea of being with her made him uncomfortable, she realized with a pang of insecurity.

“I want you to know, I don’t expect anything… like that. It’s just too hard to explain otherwise. I don’t want…” He trailed off, glancing away.

Kaitlyn’s cheeks were on fire. She’d been with a man before, obviously. Stetson existed, after all. But it had been a lifetime since then. The idea of being with Zeke had her entire body in flames. He was her husband, after all.

But he didn’t want her. He’d made that much clear.

Which was exactly what she wanted. So why did she feel like her eyes were burning?

She nodded. “That’s great. Thank you,” she choked out, her voice barely louder than the whispering wind outside. It should be a relief, hearing his words, feeling the truth in them. But it didn’t abate the gnawing need inside her to stand on her own two feet, to not be a burden. To offer himsomethingin return for all he was giving her.

“Is there anything you need?” Zeke interjected into the silence that had stretched out between them. “Anything to help you get settled in?” Zeke asked, his voice casual, but the words hit Kaitlyn like a judgment.

“Settled in?” she echoed, her voice sharper than she intended. “With what, exactly? We don’t exactly come with trunks of heirlooms or anything.” The sting of shame at her situation, at the stark truth of their arrival with nothing more than a duffel bag each, welled up inside her, pressing against her ribcage.

Zeke’s gaze held steady, neither flinching nor patronizing. “I didn’t mean—”

“All we have is the clothes on our backs and a few necessities.” She could feel the heat in her cheeks, the defensive wall rising brick by brick around her heart. She gestured toward the ranch outside the windows. “All this? I could never give Stetson this without you.”

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