Page 4 of Owned By The Cowboy
This is the life I built. My construction company pulls in more money than I ever dreamed of having. I’ve got a seven-figure bank account, an investment portfolio my financial advisor keeps trying to complicate, and enough steady contracts to keep us busy for the next two years.
But I still wear the same dusty jeans, hat, and work boots. Still get my hands dirty on job sites. Still eat at Rosie’s diner instead of whatever fancy restaurant just opened in the next larger town over.
Money doesn’t change who you are. It just gives you more options.
The question is, does it give me enough options to be worthy of someone like Reggie Mason?
Her ex-husband was some corporate asshole with a corner office. Private schools for their kids, country club memberships, vacations in Europe. I could match that now. But I’m still the same guy who learned to read properly in the army. The guy who grew up in the system, then spent his twentieth birthday in combat. The man who showed up in this town with nothing but a duffel bag and forty dollars in his wallet.
The money’s nice. It’s security. Proof that I made something of myself despite everything. But it doesn’t erase where I came from.
* * *
I’ve been half in love with Regina Mason since the first time I saw her, back when I was just some punk kid Mel took pity on. She was home from college for a school break, wearing a fitting sweater and laughing at something her sister said, and I knew right then that I was gone for.
But I also knew my place. I was nobody. A charity case. A guy who’d already seen more shit than most people do in a lifetime.
She was everything I wasn’t. Educated, classy, from a good family. She belonged in a world I’d never be part of, with a man who could give her things I couldn’t even imagine.
So I stayed away. When she came home for visits, I found reasons to be somewhere else. Then she brought home a rich fiancé, ending up marrying him. I made sure I kept myself busy with work. When they had kids and all came together, I kept my distance.
It was easier that way. Safer.
But now she’s back, she’s single, and she looked at me today like… Like she might be interested? Like years of keeping myself in check might have all been for nothing?
I’m getting ahead of myself. Way ahead. She just got divorced. She’s got three kids to think about. The last thing she needs is some rough cowboy complicating her life. Even if I can afford to complicate it now.
I finish my drink and head inside, but I know I won’t be able to relax. Not with Reggie Mason living two miles away and years of wanting her about to become a hell of a lot harder to ignore.So, I grab my keys and head out for a store run I absolutely don’t need.
Three
Reggie
Moving into the cottage with three kids is like trying to herd cats while juggling flaming torches. Annalise has claimed the smaller bedroom and is already arranging her stuffed animals in what she calls “the perfect pattern.” Nia has barricaded herself in the other bedroom with her earbuds and a stack of books, sending out occasional death glares when anyone dares to knock. And Jaylen is acting like the couch is his personal kingdom, sprawled across it with his phone.
“Mom, where’s my purple suitcase?” Annalise calls from her room.
“In the car, baby,” I call back, trying to figure out why the kitchen faucet is making a weird whistling sound.
“Can you get it?”
“Can you get it yourself?”
“But it’s heavy!”
“It’s not that heavy, sweetie.”
“But…”
“Annalise Marie, go get your suitcase.”
She huffs dramatically, but I hear her little feet stomping toward the front door. Drama queen. I swear, she gets that from her father’s side of the family.
* * *
The cottage is perfect. Better than perfect. Every detail has been thought through. New appliances, fresh paint, hardwood floors that gleam in the afternoon sunlight. And all the rooms have been updated.
Someone put a lot of work into this place. Someone who wanted it to feel right.
