A Cowboy in the Streets (Lodestar Ranch #1)

by Elizabeth Bright

“What am I, James?”

“Tell me.”

“M...

“Prov...

“Mine,”

“Yes. Fuck. Take what belongs to you.”

“Please…goddamn it, James. Suck me—”

“All you had to do was ask. I take care of what’s mine.”

“That’s sex. I’m talking about you and me, buttercup. I want us to work. Out in the open, no hiding. I want to be yours everywhere, all the time. What do you need to make us real?”

“I don’t know what this is between us. I don’t know where it will go,”

“I don’t even know if I have anything to offer you worth having. Maybe I’m too used up to have anything good left to give.”

“What I do know is that tomorrow night, I want to pick you up in my truck and take you on a date. A real date. Not coffee or errands or something we can hide behind. I want to kiss you good night. And then the next night, I want you to come over for dinner. And most of all, I want you to be around so much that Ben doesn’t even blink when I make you both pancakes in the morning.”

“That sounds like something worth having to me,”

“You need to set the bar higher, buttercup. You deserve more.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it you think I deserve, Adam?”

“Tell...

“Everyt...

“You deserve everything, James. So much more than f...

“Then give it...

“What I have to give isn’t anywhere near good enough. I don’t believe in happily ever after anymore. But I’ll do everything I can to make you happy today. No more sneaking around. No more hiding. I...

“I’ll tak...

“I’m serious, James. You and me, out in the open. You

really want to do this with me?”

“Are you trying to talk me out of it? You just talked me into it, for heaven’s sake. You ...

“Baby, I’m fucking te...

“What if I wake up one day and you’re gone? You realize I’m not enough and someone out there is better. I’m terrified that I won’t see it coming and I won’t be abl...

“Adam, I promise you this. If I leave, it won’t be for another man. And you will know exactly why because I’ll tell you every damn day. I...

Suffering in silence is not...

Asking for more was exactly how you ended up with nothing.

Begin as you mean to go on, as my mom always said. I meant to go on kissing her every chance I could get.

My favorite beer was here, after all.

My boy, my woman, my ranch.

Anyway, he said it often feels like everything sucks, but when things don’t suck, we should remember to look around and say, if this isn’t nice, what is?”

She wasn’t his babysitter or his nanny. She wasn’t his mom. But somehow, she had become a person he needed.

“I fucking need you, James.”

“James deserves everything. Whatever she wants, she should have. She’s loyal and strong and kind, and my god, the mouth on that woman. She always says what's on her mind, what she thinks. Do you know how rare that is? She deserves everything, you hear me? And I’m not going to let anything stand in the way of that, not even me.”

“I’m not scared of James dying. And I’m not exactly scared of her leaving, either. I’m scared because I don’t know how to keep her. I don’t know how to make her happy. I’m scared I don’t know how to make anyone happy. Because I tried, Dad. I thought I was doing everything right, but it turned out I was all wrong. And I still don’t know why.”

Don’t let him hurt you like your dad hurt you.

“But you were right. I’m not the same person I was then. I’m a man now and that’s how I love you. I’ll fight for you, for us, for as long as I’m on this earth breathing. You got that?”

“Got it,”

“So if you want another minute to think about your dad’s offer, that’s fine. Nothing has to be decid...

I’m yours. Everything else is ...

“Yesterday, I wished my parents had never shown up here, because it hurt so much when you told me to go. But right now, I’m glad I have a choice. Because it’s an opportunity to choose you. Over and over again, every day, I will always choose you. I’m glad you were a footnote in someone else’s happily-ever-after, because that’s what made you who you are today.”

“Yeah? And who is that?”

“My fairy tale.”

“If this isn’t nice, what is?”