A Texas-Sized Secret (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 6)
Her hair twisted wildly in the wind blasting through her open window. The Texas summer sky was a brassy blue with only a few stray clouds drifting aimlessly, looking lost and alone in that vast expanse. There was no traffic on the road, so she pushed the car as f
ast as she dared. The baby was moving around excitedly, almost as if he or she knew they were headed home. Naomi smiled fiercely and caught her own eye in the rearview mirror.
She was going to make Toby listen. Make him believe. Make him love her as much as she loved him. Naomi had waited for love her whole life, and she wasn’t going to settle for less.
Gravel flew up from behind her tires as she took the long drive to the ranch. Her gaze swept the familiar, looking for Toby, and then she spotted him, getting into his truck.
“Oh, no,” she murmured, “you’re not leaving yet.” She pulled to a stop directly in front of the truck, blocking him from leaving. Then she threw the gear into Park, jumped out and walked toward him with long, determined strides.
* * *
Toby’s breath caught in his throat. When he saw her car flying down the drive, he thought he’d never seen anything that beautiful. She was coming home on her own. But now, watching the woman who held his heart, he had to admit that she looked both gorgeous...and dangerous. There was fire in her eye, and what did it say about him that he found that damned sexy?
It was so good to see her. To catch her scent on the wind. He wanted to tangle his hands in that thick hair of hers, slant his mouth over hers and feel that rush of rightness that always went through him when they were together.
Since she walked out the door yesterday, he’d felt only half-alive. Through his anger and pain, there was a constant ache for her. In spite of distrusting her, he wanted her. In spite of everything, he’d missed her.
And after talking to Scarlett today, he’d realized that he’d handled that talk with Naomi all wrong. He hadn’t even listened to her, because he’d been so wrapped up in the surety that he’d been right to keep his heart locked away.
But he was wrong. About all of it. And it was long past time she heard everything he’d been keeping inside.
“You’re not leaving, Toby,” she said when she was close enough.
“No need to now,” he said affably, one corner of his mouth lifting as her eyes spit fire at him.
“Not until we get a few things straight,” she said, then asked, “What did you say?”
“I was coming to you, Naomi, so, no,” he said, “I’m not going anywhere now.”
Some of that temper that had been driving her melted away. He could see it in the way her shoulders relaxed some. “You were really coming to me?”
“Couldn’t take the silence here, Naomi. The emptiness. I needed you to come home. And you have.”
He grabbed hold of her, yanked her in close and kissed her, letting his body tell her everything that was so hard to say in words. She leaned into him, and he felt whole for the first time in hours. This was where he belonged. Right here, with her. The world righted itself, and every last, lingering doubt hiding in the shadows of his mind dissolved in the realization of what he had—what he had almost lost.
When he finally lifted his head, he looked down into her eyes and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Excuse me? You’re sorry?”
He grinned a little. “Is it so surprising?”
“Well,” she admitted, “yes. I didn’t expect you to say that. I thought we’d finish our argument and that I’d have to hold you down to make you listen to me. An apology wasn’t in the game plan.”
“I was wrong, Naomi. Expected or not, I am sorry. I never should have let Maverick get to me.” He released her, jammed his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and admitted, “I reacted just the way he wanted me to. I shut you down. Wouldn’t listen. Hell, I didn’t even listen to myself, because of course I trust you, Naomi.”
She blew out a breath, then pressed her lips together in an attempt to steady herself. Toby knew her even better than he knew himself, and that was just one more reason why he’d been the idiot his sister had called him.
Naomi didn’t cheat. Naomi would never hurt him.
“Thanks for that,” she said and gave him a tremulous smile.
“I saw that picture and I lost it,” he admitted, jerking his hands free and tossing them in the air helplessly. “I didn’t think. Didn’t remember that the bastard’s whole point is to create chaos and tear people apart.”
“It wouldn’t have done anything to us if I had just told you about Gio wanting to meet with me in the first place, Toby.” Her eyes were shining as she looked up at him. “I should have asked you to go with me.”
Watching her, he asked what he should have the day before. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I wanted to handle it myself.” She laid both hands on the curve of the baby and rubbed, as if soothing the child within. “I wanted to kick him out of my life, our lives. Once I was there, I was wishing for you, though, if that helps.”