Page 128 of Samuel

“Well, over the next few days, I spent time sketching.”

“Sketching…”

“Our house.”

Her eyes lit up. “Our house?”

“The one I’m getting ready to build you. I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible right away, but with the money we’ll have coming in from the oil, it’ll be more than possible.”

Sam opened his laptop and found the folder where he kept the plans.

“This is the layout and the plan I submitted to the county for permits. I should be hearing back from them this week.”

“Five bedrooms? That seems like too many!”

“Maybe right now.” His hand reached over and covered her belly. “But I plan to fill up all of those rooms over the next few years.”

“Oh you do, do you? I thought you’d want to enjoy time with me not being the size of a hot air balloon.”

“Bluebell, don’t take this the wrong way, okay? But right now, knowing you’re carrying our girl, I honestly don’t think I could be more attracted to you. I’ll love you through every stage of our lives together. But this…” Sam rubbed over the curve of her belly. “This is so fucking sexy to me.”

“You’re going to need to turn the AC up if you keep talking to me like that.”

Sam laughed as he sneaked a playful nip of her earlobe. “I’m okay with that.”

“Normally, I would be too, but you can’t just drop a whole house in my lap and not tell me how we are going to get everything done with the baby coming and planning a wedding while trying to figure out the future of the ranch and what drilling means for it.”

“Shit. This wasn’t meant to stress you out.”

“It’s not.” She sighed. “Okay, maybe it is.”

“Let’s make a deal. Your only project for right now is to focus on you and Jellybean, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“That’s not fair, Sam.”

“Give and take, isn’t that what you told me? Right now,the finish line with the baby is all you need to be thinking about. After that, we can reevaluate.”

“Fine. But let me see what you’ve drawn for the kitchen, at least. I need to know if you’ll have enough room to cook up all of my weird cravings while I’m busy growing all those babies you want.”

Sam laughed. “Let me show you what I’m thinking…”

Thirty-Six

“Zeke!” Sam motioned across the corral to his ranch hand.

“Yeah, Boss?”

“We got a big storm coming in. I want you to make sure the horses are all back in the barn and everything is locked up tight, okay? Then meet me at my truck with a new roll of wire. We need to go to the south field and fix that hole in the fence. Might lose a few cattle to their wandering ways if we don’t.”

“Sure thing. I’ll let Derrick know the plan. You know Evie is still in the office, though, don’t ya?”

Sam shook his head. She needed to be up in the apartment, resting. But try to tell that to her. She’d jumped into overdrive trying to feel settled before the baby came.

“She’s so damn stubborn. I’ll make sure she’s done before we head out.”

Stepping into the office, Sam furrowed his brow. Evie was standing looking through the filing cabinet, but her hands weren’t flipping through files. They were resting on her back, massaging tiny circles into hermuscles.

“Is your back bothering you?” he asked more gruffly than he meant to.

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