He laughed out loud. “And you love me. That’s the starting point. Yes.”
“Fuck, yeah.” It was incredible, and yet there was so much rushing her brain right now. “I’m going to hate being away from you for the entire summer.”
Joel nodded. “I’ll miss you too, but you’re right. Karen needs you to keep your commitment. So I’ll come visit you on your days off.”
She sat in shock. “You’ll drive seven hours to visit me?”
“Hell, I’d drive farther than that. You’re worth it. And when the job is over, you can move back here, move in with me.”
A sliver of icy cold snuck into her happiness.
Jesse.
She stroked Joel’s cheek. “I know I’ve said this before, but I need to say it again. I’m sorry I came between you and your brother.”
Joel’s gaze traced her face. “And I’ll say it again as well—it wasn’t your fault. He and I had come to a crossroads. A place in our lives where things had to change, and if it hadn’t been you, it would have been something else. I still care about the jerk, but I don’t like what he’s become. I don’t think we should close the door on him if he wants to make things right. But he’s picked his path, and if I want him to respect our decisions, I have to respect his. As wrong and stupid and as bullheaded as he’s being.”
He was right, but the guilt remained. Doubts rushed in as she wondered how they’d deal with everything. “This is a dream…”
He pulled her closer, their torsos tight together until his warmth poured over her. “No, it’s one hundred percent real. And it’s still your choice, but hell if I could let you walk out of my life without telling you how I feel.”
Vicki followed the outline of the heart with a fingertip. “This is more than just telling me.”
“Okay, fine, I’m claiming you.” He smiled, stroking her arms as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her. “You can go away for a while, but you’d better enjoy your freedom because it’s the last time you get to be without me for the rest of your life.”
Everything was still a blur. “I keep thinking I’m going to wake up back at the empty apartment, and the past hour will have been nothing but my wishful imagination.”
“It’s real.” He tweaked her nose. “Darling, we’ve got so much to talk about, but we need to start with this. I want to be with you, but I’m tied up tight to the ranch for the next five years. I owe my parents that long at least to pay them back for college and everything else they’ve given me. Please tell me you can handle living in Rocky for a short while?”
Her stomach rolled, not from the idea of returning to the Coleman spread, but from him suggesting he would leave. “You don’t want to ranch?”
“I want to be with you.” His gaze drifted over the fields. She twisted to take it in, the land spreading toward the horizon in colours of golden brown and fading green, all topped by the cloudless blue sky. His fingers, firm yet gentle, turned her face to him, sincerity shining in his eyes as he spoke. “I love the land, Vicki, but I love you more. If Rocky is too full of bad memories and hurtful family for you to be happy here, we’ll move. It’ll be tough, but we’ll find a way to make a living somewhere else if that’s what we decide is best.”
That announcement was what broke through her final lingering disbelief. It was one thing for him to say I love you, but for him to be willing to sacrifice everything?
God.
Vicki swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I would never, ever want you to give up your home for me. Ranching is part of who you are, and part of why I love you.”
His grin flashed out. “It’s still a possibility, if we need it. Because this is about you and me now. Making a family together. And Lynn. I want to get to meet her again. Want her to be able to visit us wherever we settle.”
Vicki was going to break into a million pieces of happiness and start sparkling like a fucking rainbow or something. “You’re incredible, Joel Coleman. I love you so damn much.”
“Finally she says it like she means it. Now I can give you this…” He tugged her hand up and slipped something hard on her finger. “We can buy a different ring down the road, but since you’re leaving in a few days I hope you’ll wear it as a promise. And in terms of getting married—”
“Married?” Her heart was doing back flips.
Joel paused. “Did I freak you out? I guess I’m more old-fashioned than I realized. We can live together for as long as you want, but I mean this forever, Vicki. Not a whim, not something we’re doing because we’re trying to achieve a goal. Well, other than the goal of being in love.”
Vicki shook herself out of shock, lifted her hand and stared at what he’d put on her. “Your school ring. Wow, I never figured I’d get one.”
Joel raised his brows. “That’s another thing on the talk about list. You could finish your high school through correspondence, maybe even head to college for some classes if you’d like. I hear the local college has a decent cooking program.”
This was all happening too fast. “You serious?”
“If it’s important to you, we’ll find a way to make it happen.” He snuck a kiss, and she held on tight, loving the joy shining in his eyes. “We’ll have to stick to the basics for a while to be able to afford things, but together, we can do anything we put our minds to. You know that. Look at how well we dealt with the stinky, scary beasts.”
She tapped him with her fist, more in play than in earnest. “You stop that. They’re not so scary anymore.”
“But still stinky?”
“Hell, yeah.” She settled in tight, working her way under his arms so she could believe this was forever. That he never was going to let her go. “I love you, Joel. I really, really do. Thank you for everything you’ve done to make me a part of your family, and a part of your life.”
He squeezed her tight. “Think you kinda did a bit of it yourself, but you’re welcome.”
She rested, his heart beating steadily under her ear. The rhythm reminded her of the horse’s footfalls when Joel led Trigger in easy circles in the arena.
Having that kind of comparison come to mind was pretty amazing.
Something else came to mind. They might have a long time in front of them, but right now, the moments they had before she left were passing far too quickly. “You know, I love the flowers and the carving, but I think you owe me a few other lessons as well… Stuff you missed during our teaching sessions.”
Joel hummed lightly as he stroked her hair, the spring breeze playing over them as they admired the countryside rolled out below them. “What you figure we’re still missing?”
“Well, we ain’t never had sex in the back of your truck, for one—”
“Hell, yeah.” Suddenly, she wasn’t sitting comfortably. Nope, she was in mid-air, her gut landing on his shoulder as Joel shot to his feet.
“Joel,” Vicki gasped as he jogged around the corner toward his truck. She laughed as he jerked down the tailgate then lowered her to the bed. “You goof.”
“Time’s a wasting.” He reached behind her into the truck carry box and yanked out a thick horse blanket. “Strip, darling.”
She did, he did, clothes flying everywhere with the enthusiasm of youth and the ticking of a deadline. He had her calling his name faster than she’d imagined possible, his hands and tongue and cock driving her past the point of no return.
He hung over her, both of them breathing hard, bodies still connected. “That’s a fine lesson. What to do with a naked woman in the back of your pickup.”
Vicki lifted her hand and wiggled her finger in his face. “I’m not naked. Not anymore. Always going to have something on.”