Fake Marriage Box Set

Chapter Twenty-Three

Pete

Monday

I was just finishing up my second cup of lukewarm coffee when Emma’s car pulled off the country road and came down the driveway. I couldn’t help the grin that sprang to my lips. Nothing made me as happy as watching that girl arrive in the morning. I had to stop myself from begging her not to leave at the end of the day. After the weekend, maybe she wouldn’t have to go home every night.

She walked over to the house, a small brown bag in one hand. She lifted it as she climbed the steps up to the porch. “I brought breakfast.”

I smiled wider. “That was sweet of you.”

“I cut some biscuits last night before bed and fried an egg and some sausage this morning before I came out here.” She reached into a bag and tossed me a foil-wrapped breakfast sandwich. She only lived a few minutes up the road, so the meal was still warm. I’d never been to her place, come to think of it. Maybe we could break in her bed sometime soon.

“Thanks,” I said. I tore back the aluminum foil and dug in, moaning at how good it was. She’d melted cheese over the egg, too. I wasn’t used to someone cooking for me unless I went to the Texan.

She knelt down to where Riley was lying down. “I even brought something for old Riley.” She took a sausage patty out of the bag, wrapped in a napkin. He actually lifted his head for that. She fed it to him, laughing at how quickly he devoured it. “I think he liked it!”

I laughed, too, covering my mouth to keep from spitting out a chewed up chunk of my breakfast.

She sat in the only other chair on the porch and took out her own sandwich.

“Want some coffee?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, I’m good.”

We sat in companionable silence for a while, each of us working on our sandwiches. It was nice. I liked that we didn’t have to talk to feel comfortable around each other. Lacey and I had that, but it was different. I’d never had it with a girl I dated. Nothing had ever felt this easy and natural.

“We had ourselves one hell of a weekend,” I said as soon as I finished. I crushed the foil in my hand, pressing it into a ball.

“We sure did,” she agreed, smiling over at me. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.”

“I know what you mean. That night in the hotel. Holy shit.”

She giggled prettily, and I wished I could see the exact look in her eyes at that moment. I’d gotten the chance to study them close up, exactly the way I’d wanted to when she’d first started on the farm. That close, you could see flecks of darker green close to the pupils, which explained why it felt so intense when she stared at you.

“That was probably my favorite part,” she said. “After the funnel cakes.”

I slapped my leg, laughing so hard I expected my stomach to split wide open. I’d treated her to a funnel cake at the rodeo, and you’d have thought the girl had never had one before. I swore her pupils dilated and everything. Kissing the powdered sugar from her lips had been better than the funnel cake itself. We’d had to go back for a second one, me laughing so hard I couldn’t help her finish it. Not that she’d needed my help. The girl could eat. It was another thing I liked about her. She didn’t trouble herself over calories or gaining weight.

“I love those damned things,” she said, grinning.

That got me going again, laughing harder than before so I had to lean over and curl my arms around my stomach to keep from falling out of my chair. She watched me, giggling a little herself, but mostly just shaking her head.

“You’re so damned silly, Pete Gains.”

She didn’t know the half of it, but I liked that it didn’t rub her the wrong way. That had happened a lot in the past with other girls. They found me funny at first, but it got old in a hurry.

I tilted my head back, resting it on the chair, just basking in the morning, my girl next to me, and everything feeling right with the world. I hadn’t been this happy in a long time.

It wasn’t to say I hadn’t been happy since Daddy passed, but there’d always been sadness just a few inches behind it, keeping me from really enjoying whatever was going on in my life. Now the only sadness I felt was at knowing Daddy would never get to meet Emma. Or our children. Shit. I kept doing that, jumping way ahead of myself. If I started telling Emma I loved her and couldn’t wait to start a family, raising our kids on this ranch the way I’d been raised, she’d run screaming for the hills and never look back. I knew what I wanted and had for a while now, but I needed to wait for her to get there in her own time.

“Lacey’s gonna start teaching me how to train the horses the way she does,” Emma said. “I can run them around barrels, maybe not as fast as she can, but if I can help her, I’d like to.’

“That’s great,” I said. It warmed my heart to see the two people who meant the most to me in this world getting along. “I’ve got an idea about how to spend the sunrise.”

She turned to glance at me, her dark eyebrows lifted high.

“I’ve never taken you around the property. I know you’ve ridden around with Lace, but I want to give you the grand tour.”