Hard-Riding Cowboy (Kinky Spurs 3)

He caught Megan’s sniff before he spotted her tears. Yeah, he got that too. Things were good. So damn good. He kissed her forehead, this woman who changed his life in ways he never would have thought possible.

Megan began updating the doctor about how she’d been feeling. Nash could only stare down at her and at his hand on her belly. After the accident he’d lost everything. Or so he thought. But he realized now that he’d lost one life, but he gained another entirely. Both lives had made Nash who he was, and he knew he wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. But he also knew if Megan had been in his life back then, he wouldn’t have been so reckless or taken so many risks.

He once thought fate screwed up. Turned out, fate got things right.

“What’s wrong?” Megan asked, dragging him from his thoughts.

Nash glanced up into her pretty, unique eyes, realizing the doctor had left and it was just the two of them. He cupped her face. “I love you, Freckles.”

Her eyes widened before she gave him a sweet smile that was the realest thing he’d ever known. “I love you too.” She reached for his shirt and tugged him closer. “Now get over here and kiss me.”

“So bossy.” He kissed her anyway.

Ten minutes later, they were back outside and striding down Main Street, since Nash had left his truck near Harper’s restaurant. He drew in the warm fresh air, taking in the fresh bread scents coming from the bakery across the road. Since the accident, he never planned a damn thing. It was easier that way. When he didn’t hope for something, he couldn’t taste failure again.

T

hat life once worked for him.

It didn’t anymore.

When they finally reached the truck, Megan stepped forward to open the door, when Nash tugged her back close to him. “Can we walk a bit?”

“Sure.” She smiled.

They passed all the local shops that Nash had spent his childhood visiting while he led her down the road until they reached the entrance to the park. Farther down was the playground, but he took her to a quieter spot that overlooked the pond, where ducks floated on the murky, lily pad–covered water.

When they reached a bench, he gestured there. Once she sat, he joined her and stared out at the water. She smiled, her hands on her belly. His mind was on their baby too, but his thoughts had also been somewhere else this morning. He had made mistakes. It was time to make sure he didn’t make any more.

Nash had no clue how to start, so he began with the truth. “For a long time, I didn’t want to care,” he told her.

Megan glanced at him with her soft eyes.

He focused on the water, not sure he could get through this staring at her. “I didn’t want to think or feel because I felt pathetic when I did. For my entire life, pain made me fight harder. Push on. It reminded me to keep reaching for my dreams. But after the accident, pain weakened me. And I hated that. I was ashamed of how weak I had become.”

Sudden warmth carried over him as she slid her fingers around his and squeezed tight. “Nash . . .”

He dropped his head, looking at their held hands, telling her his truth. A truth that he hadn’t told a single person. A truth that Megan needed to know, because she had found her way into a place inside of him where he didn’t need to hide. “I gave up after the accident because I didn’t want to face that my career was over. I had nothing if I didn’t have that. I was nothing without being Nash Blackshaw, the champion bull rider.”

“That’s not true.”

He glanced sideways at her and saw the tenderness in her eyes. “Now, I see that, but back then, that was a harder truth to find.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, caressing her soft cheek with his thumb. “Being with you, Megan . . . you make me believe in things that I thought I could never believe in again. And because of that . . .” He let her hand go to reach into his pocket and grabbed the warm metal. “I did this.”

When he opened his hand, she gasped. “How did you . . . ?”

He moved his hand closer, offering the ring from her grandmother that she’d pawned. “Harper and Emma told me”—he paused and chuckled—“while glaring at me, as a matter of fact, and explained that you sold the ring to get the down payment for the house.”

Megan frowned. “They shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah, actually they should have.” He put the ring in her hand then closed her palm. “This ring is yours. It belongs to you. I know how much it means to you.”

Her chin quivered. “How did you pay for this?”

“That’s not important,” he told her.

“Nash,” she said firmly.

That fire in her eyes told him she’d never let this go, needing to understand. “Ma lent me the money.”