Lost Love (Cowboys & Angels 1)

“Mr. Hines, this is…” Paxton paused, her cheeks turning pink as she glanced down at her ring.

“Paxton’s fiancé. Steed Parker,” I said.

He grimaced, and then anger shot across his face.

Oh, yeah. It was safe to say he remembered who I was.

“Steed Parker. Kill any turtles lately?”

Paxton’s smile dropped and a look of utter horror replaced it.

I let out a nervous chuckle. “No, sir. I put those days behind me years ago.”

He huffed, then focused back on Paxton. “Enjoy your time off, Paxton.”

“Um, you too, sir.”

He walked away…right into the drugstore.

Paxton hit my chest, hard. “Shit! He went into the drugstore, Steed.”

“So?” I asked as I grabbed her hand and headed to the door.

“We can’t buy a pregnancy test with my boss in there.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Then we’ll mingle until he leaves.”

Paxton stopped walking. “Mingle? Steed, we’re not at a party!”

“You know what I mean.”

We walked into the store and sure enough, the old goat was right there asking the young girl behind the counter where the orange flavored Metamucil would be. Leaning down to Paxton, I uttered, “I could have gone my whole life without hearing that.”

Covering her mouth, she pulled me deeper into the drugstore. After walking up and down each aisle and grabbing random things, we found ourselves in that aisle. The aisle you paid your older brother and sister to go down and buy condoms.

“I’m nervous,” she said.

“He left!” I yelled, making my way to the pregnancy tests. I stopped dead in my tracks. Paxton’s parents walked by the aisle and then stopped.

“Hey kids! What are you doing here?”

Paxton hit me on the back. More like punched me. Here we were, standing in the middle of the aisle that just happened to contain not only the pregnancy tests, but an array of condoms. A thought hit me. If Paxton was pregnant, that meant no…more…condoms.

“We’re not buying condoms I can tell you that!” I shot out. Why I said it, I had no fucking clue.

Paxton glared at me, wearing a horrified expression. “Oh my God. You didn’t,” she whispered harshly before hitting me in the back again.

From the look on her father’s face, I realized I had some serious ass kissing to do.

Always quick on her feet, Paxton turned back to her parents. “Hey Mom and Dad, we were going to get something for Steed’s allergies.”

When I glanced past the Monroes, I saw the display of allergy medicine.

April, Paxton’s mom, smiled while David, her father, continued to glare.

“Oh my! Oh my goodness! Paxton!” her mother cried out.

Jumping back in surprise, Paxton shouted, “What?”

April rushed up to her daughter and grabbed her hand. “He did it!”

My eyes drifted down to the engagement ring.

“Oh, Steed, when you came over the other day to ask for Paxton’s hand in marriage I had no idea you were going to ask so soon!” April said, tears building in her eyes.

David’s glare turned into a slow smile. “Congratulations, son! Did you do it like you planned? In the plane?”

“Wait, y’all knew?” Paxton asked.

Both of her parents laughed. “Yes! Of course. Steed has always been such a gentleman.”

David grunted under his breath, and I gave him a weak grin.

“He took us out to lunch a few weeks back to ask for your hand in marriage. Then he told us how he planned to ask.”

Trying to smile and ignore the fact that we were standing in front of the condoms and pregnancy tests, my eyes caught Paxton’s. She was struggling to hold back her tears, and I wondered if she would be successful in doing so.

I winked, and she let out a nervous giggle. “Well, I see y’all are good secret keepers.”

Her mother and father wrapped her up in a loving embrace.

“Well, we only came in to grab aspirin. Your father had a headache from helping me prepare all the pies for tomorrow. It was so sweet of your parents to invite us over, Steed.”

“Mom’s excited and so is Dad. He keeps going on about showing you his new fishing rod, David.”

Paxton’s father let out a roar of laughter. It seemed like the whole condom thing was slowly disappearing. “John always did love his fishing.”

“I’m excited to see Chloe again. Paxton mentioned bringing her over to play with our cat.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Yes. Little stinker has been begging for one.”

Both April and David chuckled before April took her husband by the arm and gave him a tug. “We need to get going. We’ll see you kids tomorrow. Steed let your mother know if she needs anything to give me a call.”

“I will, April. Thank you.”

As I watched them wander off, we slowly walked to the allergy display. I picked up box after box and pretended to read them while Paxton stretched up on her toes to watch her parents.

“They’re gone! Come on!”