Redeemed Cowboy (Whiskey Valley Bryant Brothers)

He gets in front of me and stops me from going by. He's staring at me. I can feel his gaze burning a hole in me. I lift my eyes to look up to him, and I know that he can tell I've been crying. "Why are you leaving me?" he asks.

"Look, Ryan, just let me go."

He puts his hands on my shoulders, but I can't stand to have him touch me right now, and I jerk back.

He looks at me, and it’s obvious how mad he is right now. He asks me again, “Why are you leaving me, Mia?”

I put the strap of my bag over my head so it crosses over my body, and I turn around to walk back into the house. He follows behind me. "Mia, talk to me," he says. "Stop."

And the tears are already rolling down my face. "I can't do this, Ryan. I thought I could, but I can't."

He grabs on to me, and this time I don't pull away. "Do what? What are you talking about?"

I brush the tears off my cheek. "I can't watch you with other women. I thought I could handle it. I thought that one time being with you would give me memories to last, but I know that I can't stay here and see all of this. I'm going to find another job."

His hold tightens on me. "You're not leaving me."

I shake my head sadly. "I'll make sure that I train my replacement.” I sniff, loudly. “You won’t even know I’m gone."

"Is that what you think? You think I care about losing an assistant? I don't care about that. I'm talking about me and you. I'm not letting you leave me."

His hands are gripping me tightly, and for just a second, hope flares in my chest, but I tamp it down. "Please don't make this harder than it already is, Ryan."

I pull from his arms and start to walk away.

"I love you," he says.

I stop, but I don't turn around. Did I really just hear him say that?

He comes up behind me and pulls me against his chest. His voice is right against my ear. "I love you, Mia. I think I have for a long time, but I've tried to stop it. I was a fool and told myself over and over that I didn't want to settle down. My brothers warned me to stay away from you, and I stupidly listened. I love you, Mia. I've been a fool, but I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

I turn in his arms and look up at him. “Ryan...”

He shakes his head. “I have so much to make up to you. For three years, I’ve been a damn fool. I don’t know why I didn’t see it. I didn’t want to settle down, but now, looking at you, seeing the way you look at me, I don’t want anything else. I want you, Mia.”

I want to believe him more than anything. “If you change your mind...”

He puts a hand on each side of my face. “There’s no changing my mind. You were right there with me last night, Mia. That was love. I made love to you.”

I blink, trying not to cry. “It was for me.”

He smiles then. Big and wide. “Me too, baby. Me too.”

I grab on to the front of his shirt. “This morning... you were so quiet... I thought...”

He’s walking me backward toward my room. “This morning I woke up and realized we didn’t use anything. I was thinking about you being pregnant.”

My eyes get big. “Oh my God, no wonder you freaked out. I should have told you that I was on the pill.”

He keeps walking, and once we’re in my room, he kicks the bedroom door shut with his boot and starts undressing me. “I wasn’t freaking out because of that. I was thinking about building us a house and everything that needs to be done. I won’t be able to sleep apart from you. You’re mine now, Mia.”

I gape at him. “A house?”

He slides my jeans down my legs and then my underwear follows. He’s holding me with one hand while pulling his pants down with the other. “Yeah, honey. We’re getting married. You’re going to be my wife, and we’re going to need our own house. This one’s getting full.”

I lean up. “Wait, you want to marry me?”

He laughs then, rolling onto his back and pulling me over top of him. My knees slide to each side of his waist. “Yes, baby. We’re going to need to get married before the babies come.”