Page 37 of Nate Hayes

“I meant it,” she said quietly, fingers tracing lazy circles over my chest. “I love you.”

“I’ll never stop loving you,” I whispered into her hair. “Even if Pancake hates me.”

She laughed, tucked tight against me. “She tolerates you. That’s basically goat love.”

We fell asleep wrapped around each other like we were made that way.

The Next Morning

The light streamed through the curtains in soft golden beams. Willa was still in my arms, her thigh thrown over mine, her breath warm against my neck.

I didn’t move. Wouldn’t dare.

But then we heard it—an angry bleat outside the window. Then another. Then something that sounded like hooves on the porch.

Willa groaned and buried her face in my chest. “Your fans are here.”

“Correction,” I said, rolling her onto her back with a grin. “Ourfans.”

She laughed, but it turned into a moan when I kissed her neck.

“Again?” she asked, breathless.

I didn’t answer. I just slid my hand down her body and showed her.

We made love again—slow and sweet, with the sunrise painting her skin gold and the sound of impatient goats protesting in the background.

And when she whispered, “I still love you,” I kissed her until she forgot everything else.

20

Nate

Icouldn’t remember the last time I woke up this happy.

The kind of happy where your body aches in all the best ways, your heart feels too full for your chest, and the woman lying beside you smells like sleep and sunshine and everything you never knew you needed.

Willa was tucked under my arm, hair a wild halo on the pillow, her hand resting on my stomach like it belonged there.

“Pancake’s going to break down the door,” she murmured, eyes still closed.

“Let her. I’m busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Falling in love with you all over again.”

Her eyes opened—bright and warm and sleepy—and she smiled. “You’re a sap.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s not.” She kissed my shoulder, then groaned and stretched. “But if I don’t feed those goats, they’ll riot.”

“I’ll come with you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You know how to feed goats?”

“Nope,” I said, tossing the covers off. “But I know how to follow you around and pretend I do.”

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