Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)

by Lyla Sage

We’ve been leaning on each other ever since.

Clementine and Teddy are the ultimate love story here

It was a beautiful thing to watch your best friend be loved in the way you know she deserves.

Men who are that good-looking should not be allowed to be such assholes. It was false advertising.

“Hey, pornstache. Nice of you to join us.” “Fuck off, Theodora,” he said without even glancing my way.

One of the most annoying things about Teddy? She was familiar, even though I didn’t want her to be. Don’t think about it.

I know Teddy is pretty. Beautiful, even. But beautiful like a lion or an elk or any other large and dangerous animal. Beautiful to look at, but you didn’t want to get too close because it’d rip your throat out or trample you or spear you to death with its giant horns.

“You are many things, August Ryder, and some of those things aren’t great, I’ll be honest,” I said. “But a bad father isn’t one of them.”

She didn’t dignify my jab with a response, which annoyed me. Teddy was normally all flames and chaos. Right now, she was cool and stoic. For some reason, I didn’t think I liked it, which was a weird feeling for a man who spent half of our interactions begging her to shut the fuck up. Still, I moved on.

Just because he’s a good dad and sometimes looks at you like you’re the only person in the room does not mean that he isn’t a dick.

She let out a little sigh. She was always making these little noises. All of them had imprinted themselves on my brain—not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way that had me thinking things about Teddy that I shouldn’t.

I wondered whether I could taste the sun on her skin. Jesus, Gus. Do you think you’re a poet? Check yourself.

For the past seven years, I had convinced myself that our first kiss wasn’t as good as I remembered—that it couldn’t have been that good. But it was. And our second one was better. Because I knew Teddy now, and not just the Teddy that everyone else knew. I knew the Teddy that was just as fierce when she was soft and just as fun when she was comfortable. She was loyal and kind and funny. She was so much more than I ever knew. She surprised me—wanting to kiss her again surprised me.

When I curled into his side, I felt his lips in my hair. “You can cry, Teddy,” he said. And so I cried. And cried. And August Ryder held me the whole time.

I liked her. We just…fit. We balanced each other out in a weird way. And the truth was, I’d rather fight with Teddy than be happy with anyone else.

Riley slipped her hand into Teddy’s, and they walked hand in hand up to Teddy’s front door, and I thought I might collapse. I wanted to see that sight over and over again for the rest of my life.

I’d think about the time my daughter and I danced together in Teddy Andersen’s garage.

“What can I do, Teddy baby?” I’d do anything. “Nothing. Telling you helped. Thanks for listening.” “Anytime,” I said. I wanted to listen to Teddy talk forever.

If I wanted this thing with Teddy to go anywhere, I’d have to remember that she was built to shine and glow and shimmer, and I couldn’t take that piece of her only for myself. She didn’t shine just for me. I got a different part of her—the part that was comfortable enough to turn down the brightness when we were alone, the part that wanted me to see past what everyone else was blinded by.

“I know you better than most people, I think,” Cam continued. “And I know what you look like when you’re happy or sad or tired—which is impressive, because to the untrained eye, all of your scowls look the same—but I’ve never known what you look like when you’re in love, until today.” I stopped breathing. “It’s okay to love her, Gus. It’s okay to want her. It’s okay to want. You have so much love to give, Gus. I see it in the way that you love our daughter and in the way you care for your family—me included—and I just want you to have someone who can love you back the same way.” Cam’s voice held so much emotion. “And Teddy—our lion—might be the only person I know who loves as fiercely as you do.”

“Luke is my fiancé, my partner, my everything. But you’re my soulmate, Teddy Andersen, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world because of it.”

I watched my daughter collide with the woman I loved, and I watched the woman I loved catch her. I watched them laugh and smile at each other, and then I watched them clasp hands and start walking toward me—the luckiest man alive.

“Clementine Ryder and Theodora Andersen are written in the stars,”

Gus chuckled. “Have I finally figured out how to get you to shut up?” he said. “Just gotta tell you that I’m madly in love with you, and I’ll get a little peace?”