Delivery to the Farmhouse (Havenwood Cowboys Romance #4)

Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

L eaving Colton was out of the question. Eventually, at one point, I leaped down from the tailgate only to have him side-rail me, sweeping me into his arms all over again and lead me to his backseat. Making out in the back of his pickup was every bit as delicious as he promised.

“I don’t want to go home,” I told him.

“I don’t want you to, either. You want to test these out?” He gestured to the bikes.

So we did.

We rode our bikes on the back roads. Then we returned to Colton’s house when he got a text from his mom, asking him to help hang up portraits now that she’d gotten fully moved in.

“Let’s go,” I said, slipping my hand into his.

So we did.

We piled into my car this time. We meandered through Bridgewater to the outskirts, passed the townhouses, and followed the dirt road to the back lot where her beautiful brick home was. But another car had beaten us to it.

It was black, dated, and had several sunspots where the paint was either peeled or had been zapped by UV rays .

“Looks like Kyler left ISU,” Colton said as I shifted into park.

I considered telling him what Cambry had confided in me but thought better of it. She needed to know her thoughts and feelings were safe with me. The last thing I needed was for word to somehow spread and make things worse between those two.

Keys in hand, Kyler stepped out of his driver’s side door. He looked awful. Dark circles bagged beneath his eyes, and his hair was matted and greasy. He looked like he hadn’t showered in days.

Not good.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Colton said, pulling his brother into a hug. He made a face and shoved Kyler back again. “Dude, you need a shower.”

“I know,” Kyler said. “I got tired of my apartment.”

“How long are you here for?” Colton peered at his youngest brother’s car.

From the look of things, he was planning on moving back in. Every seat but the driver’s side was crammed with boxes and garbage bags, pillows, and hangers with the clothes still on them. His guitar case was wedged in the back as well.

Kyler scratched the back of his head. “Oh, you know,” he said.

The front door opened, and Debra dashed forward, resting her hands on her hips.

“What are you doing here? And with your stuff? You know you can’t leave that guitar in the heat for too long.”

Colton stayed by his brother’s side as Kyler approached the front step and rested his foot on the first one.

“I need a place to stay for a while,” he said.

Debra’s eyes narrowed. She lifted her face so she could more fully look down on her son. “What happened to school?”

That whole third-wheel notion became a very real concept in that moment. I wasn’t sure if Kyler had told his mom the same things he’d told the two of us when we’d gone to visit him, but something told me he hadn’t.

Come on, Kyler. Say it with me: com-mun-i-ca-tion .

“I’m taking a break,” he said. “I’ve got some things to figure out.”

I envisioned flames shooting out of Debra’s eyes based on the intensity of her glare. “All right,” she said, pointing at her son. “But we’re going to talk about you throwing your life away.”

Without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed inside.

“I’m not throwing my life away,” Kyler said, following after.

“I’m not going in there,” Colton muttered to me, slipping his arm around my waist. Then he raised his voice. “We’ll come back, Mom!”

Either she didn’t hear him or didn’t feel the need to respond because the door closed a little harder than it normally might have under other circumstances.

“That’s not going well,” I said, staring at the house.

“She’s just disappointed,” Colton said. “You know how Kyler said he was the first one of us to go to college?”

“Yeah. She’s mad at him for that?”

Her shrill voice could be heard through the door, and his resounding boom following in answer to her accusations. That must’ve been some argument.

“She was so happy he was going to go,” Colton said, backing up several steps. I joined him in his retreat. “She wanted every one of us to go, but Hoss is the only one who did.”

“And now, it looks like he’s giving up.”

“Yeah,” Colton said.

Turning so we could avoid a collision with the ground, we walked together down the hill, leaving the house behind and giving Debra and Kyler time to battle it out.

“It’s so quiet after hours,” I said, perusing the site and its lack of commotion.

The saw, the boards—everything had been put away for the night. The usual bustle was gone, too. No workers, no screeching noises or loud chatter and laughter .

“It is,” he said.

“Did you ever end up talking to Bryce?” I asked, pausing to sit on the steps of the first finished townhouse we came to.

Even though I hadn’t been gone that long, the crew had made progress. Much of the soffit was done, and the gutters had also been installed.

“I should have told him I was leaving again,” I added.

“Oh, he won’t hold that against you.” Colton sank onto the step beside me.

His shoulder brushed mine. By now, you’d think I’d be used to these seemingly casual touches, but every time his body was in proximity to mine, my bloodstream went berserk.

I loved every second of this.

“He won’t?” I asked, resting my head on his shoulder. “Why not?”

“He’s too happy. I’m buying him out.”

“He went for it?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Colton’s grin was contagious. “It turns out I was worried over nothing. I didn’t need any scheming gimmicks or anything like that. I just took your advice while you were gone and invited him out to dinner. We talked. Man to man.”

“I’m so proud of you,” I told him.

“Thanks. It was all your idea.”

“Not quite,” I said.

“You helped.”

“I gave a suggestion,” I said. “You can’t give me that much credit.”

He faced me, nose-to-nose. I saw the specks of dark blue in his irises.

“Oh, believe me. I’m giving you all the credit.” His mouth nipped mine.

I readied myself for more kissing when he stole my fingers instead.

“Did you decide where we’re going?” he said, flattening his palm against mine.

It took a second for me to switch to this topic change. Was he talking about our trip? The plane tickets he’d already bought?

“Don’t you still have harvest?” I asked.

“I’ll be done in October,” he said. “Then I’m all yours.”

Suddenly, the idea of planning a trip—a full-on TRIP—with him dazzled me. Excitement cascaded over me like a waterfall.

“Wait here.” I dashed up to my car, removed something from the backseat, and came back.

Luckily, he did what I asked. He was still sitting on the same porch.

Wordlessly—and mildly out of breath—I offered the binder to him.

His face lit up, and he took it. “Is this it?”

“This is it,” I said as he folded the front cover open.

“‘Anywhere But Here.’” He flipped through the gazillion pages and whistled. “Wow. You must have really hated your life.”

I laughed. “I’ve had a great life. It was just small up above the post office, that’s all. But I thought maybe we could look through and pick our destination together.”

I sat beside him, resettling the binder so it splayed across both of our laps. Then, I waited and watched him flip from page to page. He took more care than I expected he would, slowly examining the various places I’d mapped out to visit.

“What about Greece?” he said. “That water looks beautiful.”

“It does. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Or Ireland.”

“I’ve always wanted to go there, too.”

He placed his hand on the page and looked at me. “Is there anywhere that’s more forefront than the others?”

“Not really,” I said. “I want them all. That’s why I want you to help me.”

“Natalie.” He closed the book and looked right at me .

A twinge of something like uncertainty shimmered in his expression, and he swallowed, cupping his hand around the binder’s front cover.

He was nervous? Why?

“What’s wrong?”

He peered down at the book. “There are some really cool places here.”

“You sound unsure all of a sudden.”

“Oh, I’m freaking sure about traveling with you. It’s that whole separate hotel rooms thing I have a problem with.”

My pulse kicked into high gear. It went full throttle, like my body knew what he was saying before my mind caught up.

“You—don’t want separate hotel rooms?”

“Do you know how hard it will be to leave you every night? Besides, these aren’t just random places you visit with your friends. And we’re not friends.”

“We’re not?”

“Not just friends,” he amended. “At least, this isn’t a friends-with-benefits situation for me. Is it for you? Please tell me I haven’t been friend-zoned.”

How could I help him understand?

“You’re not. You’re more than that. But… what are you saying?”

He readjusted the binder on his lap and placed both hands on the cover now.

“I’m saying some of these look a lot like honeymoon destinations.”

His gaze was a trap. It held me in its grasp. I couldn’t move.

“Is it too soon to talk about that?” he said.

“You want to get married?”

I was suddenly Macaulay Culkin in that scene in Home Alone where he runs through his house with his arms up, screaming like a frantic psycho. This was…

This was every dream I didn’t know I’d had .

I pictured Colton at Belle’s as he’d held Baby Tate. The feelings swelling there had been too much for me to handle, but I got them now. Because I wanted this. I wanted it at that moment. I wanted it now.

And I knew I’d want it for the rest of my life.

“I know it might just scare you enough to send you off on your own without me again but it’s worth talking about at least?—”

“Yes,” I said.

His brows jumped. “I haven’t even asked.”

“Just so you’re not worried about rejection,” I said. “My answer will be yes this time.”

Yes, from the start.

If that meant I could have this man for the rest of my life? I was all for it.

I didn’t want to take any more trips on my own.

Color patched his cheeks above his stubble. “So…those tickets. We’re making this a honeymoon kind of thing, then?”

“If you want to.”

“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t.”

The feeling between us grew supercharged as if with every new comment, with every fidget and every twitch, every movement, we fed off of one another’s energy.

“We could elope,” I said.

“We could live at my house,” he said.

“We could get the horses you talked about,” I said.

“What, bikes aren’t enough for you?” He quirked a brow.

I smacked his shoulder. “Shut up and ask me already.”

Colton’s hands cradled my face. “I love you, Natalie Brown. Every moment spent with you—and even those spent without you—only cemented that fact that much more. I love you.”

“I…I’ve been so scared,” I told him, trying to breathe through the bottle rocket that was my heart. “Scared. Because I told Jensen I loved him, too. You know, back when we’d been together.”

“Did you? ”

“For a little while, I think I did love him. But I’ve never felt anything like this. I’ve never had anyone like you, and the more we’re together, the more I’m sure that I won’t want anyone else. Ever.”

“You’re the gal for me. Isn’t that a song?”

I grinned. “I think so. Are you going to start singing now?”

Colton tipped his head and shook it, making his hair tumble into his eyes again. “Not on your life. Kissing, though? Don’t mind if I do.” He tilted in, pulling me close, ready to seal the deal. But just before impact, he stopped.

“So…we’re getting married?”

I laughed. “Kiss me already.”

He pulled me to him, and I lost myself in dreams of flights. Of a honeymoon. Of marrying Colton Holden and being more firmly planted in a life I loved than I’d ever been.