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“Tell me how to make you feel better.” My heart accelerates in my chest, like a car going from zero to sixty. It’s his voice. It’s his hands. His nearness. It’s the open-ended question he just asked.
I’m going to speak up. I’m going to get comfortable disappointing other people to avoid disappointing myself. I won’t apologize for doing things the way I want to do them.
Jasper is nothing like the men I grew up around. He’s raw and dirty and loves so hard he hurts himself in the process.
I get a full view of the tiny ballerina inked on his skin.
“It took me a while to figure that out. Years, in fact, to sort through my feelings, to make sense of them, figure out where they came from and where they were going. I thought you were just a friend. But him telling me to stay away? Him telling me I couldn’t have you? It broke something inside me. Telling me I wasn’t good enough for you? All that did was make me want to be good enough for you.” I groan. “You have always been good enough for me.” He grips my chin and regards me carefully under the bright lights. “I never felt like I was. But I do now.”
“See, Sloane? You can wear someone else’s ring, but we both know you’ve always been mine.”
“He’s okay,” she says again. I nod, feeling my throat go thick and the bridge of my nose sting. She reaches for me at the same time I reach for her. All the tension between us washed away by how desperately we need each other. One of her hands grips my shirt while her right one slides inside my jacket and flattens over the tattoo. I squeeze her tight, and when her forehead presses to my chest, I drop my lips to the crown of her hair. Like always. “We’re all okay,” I reply roughly against her hair.
Sloane: Give your boys hugs from me. And yourselves. I can’t believe it. <3 Summer: I can’t stop crying. I’m so relieved. We’re sending hugs back to you. Willa: I’ll hug Cade for you if you bang Jasper for me. Sloane: When I bang Jasper, I’m banging him for myself. Summer: Ooooooo! Willa: Possessive. I like it. Willa: Wait. Did you say WHEN?!
“I feel like I could crumble under the weight of not wanting to disappoint you. I’m paralyzed by my fear of losing you.”
“The thought of needing you this badly and letting you down.” He drops my gaze, shaking his head. “It fucking kills me.”
“I almost did lose you.” He takes a couple of steps forward, and I think he’s going to come to me. But he places the glass of water on the marble island before propping his hands there, like that island is the only thing keeping him from moving across the room toward me again. As though he’s fighting to keep himself away from me. “On that mountain runaway lane. To your dad’s maneuvering. To him,” he adds, eyes dropping to the ring on my finger, the one that clearly did not prevent me from crossing that line with Jasper at all. “Then fucking take me back already! I’ve been dreaming of you for
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“That’s what I want. That’s what I get off on. Telling you what to do and having you listen. Control.”
I’m not a trophy. You aren’t telling me to do anything! I’m telling you I want you to take me, and you’re sitting here, patting my head like I’m stupid, telling me I don’t know what I want. If I don’t like something, I will fucking tell you. But for the love of god, stop deciding what I like or don’t like. What I can or cannot endure. What feels good or doesn’t. Stop holding back with me.”
“How many times do I need to tell you for you to believe me? Before I get to hear it back?” I shake my head in disbelief at this man I know so damn well, yet not at all. “It’s always been you, Jasper. It will always be you.”
“Did you like crawling for me?” I ask. She smiles, but there’s a flash of sadness in her eyes. An instant shot to my chest. “Jasper, it feels like I’ve been crawling after you for years. This is nothing new for me.”
“I’ve spent a long time thinking I don’t deserve you,” he whispers. Bending further, his lips move to the top of my hand that’s still clasped over my knee. “That you’re too good for someone like me.”
“I don’t think I suffer from that way of thinking anymore. Suddenly I don’t really care about deserving you when it’s so damn clear you belong to me and always have.”
But when Jasper slides himself inside me and murmurs with a playful smile, “Such a polite girl,” all I know is that it’s right. We’re right. My lashes flutter down as I struggle to accommodate his size. My legs shake as they wrap around his waist and latch together over his firm ass. His hands start on my thighs and slide sensually up over every curve while he’s seated inside of me. Fingers pulse over my breasts, and his hips shove forward even though he’s as far in as he can get. His arms wrap around my rib cage, and he pulls me up to him, hands splaying possessively over my back as the
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He glances down at my left hand before hitting me with that intense eye contact of his again. “Tell me you’re mine, Sloane.” His thrusts slow, and the look he gives me shows a flash of insecurity. One that doesn’t need to be there.
I much prefer this version of Disneyland. No waiting in line. The ride is all mine.”
He bends down and kisses me, tugging my wet hair to angle my head. This kiss isn’t soft or searching—it’s claiming. When he decides it’s done, he pulls away and growls in my ear, “You’re the only one, Sloane. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“The real question is, do any of those other people matter when I only ever see you? When I only ever think about you? When I’ve done nothing but become more and more obsessed with you since I was told to stay away from you?”
The first thing I did when we got back to the big empty house at Wishing Well Ranch was drag Sloane up to my teenage bedroom and fuck her while she wore my jersey.
haunted. “Missed you too.” Sloane glances over her shoulder at my face, like what she sees reflected on the screen just isn’t enough. Our eyes catch for a moment. She smiles at what she sees there, and just as she turns back to the phone screen, Harvey lets out a loud whistle. “Well, I’ll be . . .” His head shakes. Beau snorts.
“Y’all went and made that kissing cousins saying a real-life thing.”
Sloane gasps. “We’re not cousins!” Beau elbows his dad, playing off of him like he always does. “I think they might be doing more than kissing. Look how red she is.”
Cade: Want to come over for a delicious home-cooked meal tonight? Would love to see you! Jasper: Why are you talking all weird like that? Cade: Like what? Jasper: Nevermind. I’ll ask Sloane. Cade: Are you guys banging yet? Jasper: Jesus, Willa. Give Cade his phone back.
But it feels good to be chosen all the same. It also feels good when I slide my hand down and take a big handful of her Levi’s-clad ass while winking over my shoulder at that red blinking light. Because I know Sterling Woodcock will check these tapes.
Jasper: How’s my girl? I’ll be back tonight. Meet you at the ranch? Sloane: Yes. Really good. Especially when you call me that. Jasper: My girl? Sloane: Yeah. Haha. Never thought I’d hear that. Jasper: Sunny, you’ve always been my girl.
“I hear that if you want your ass ridden, a small dick is the way to go. So maybe I’m your guy.”
Winter holds up her left hand and cocks a hip. “I’m married, you fucking pig. Now leave.” Theo shrugs and smiles. “Married for now, maybe.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, Winter. We’re definitely gonna free you from that husband and bury him in the back field. It’ll be like that Dixie Chicks song. Rob is the new Earl.”
Winter, meet my protégé Theo Silva. Theo, meet Doctor Winter Hamilton, my future sister-in-la—” “Winter Valentine,” she corrects stiffly. “For now,” Theo reiterates and winks at her.
“Call your dog off, Eaton,” she mutters as she passes Rhett and enters the log ranch house. “Woof!” Theo makes a deep barking sound into the snowy night air, and Rhett laughs at him as Winter disappears. “You’re an idiot, Theo.” “Dude. I think I’m in love with your sister-in-law. She’s so fiery.”
As I brush against Sterling’s arm on my way past, he grabs my bicep. “Where’s the ring? I want it back.” I circle my arm abruptly, tugging away from him right as Jasper steps in close, looking like he’s ready to murder Sterling for daring to put a hand on me. “I lost it.” I laugh again and wonder what is wrong with me. Why I have to laugh at the most inappropriate times. Right now I am truly unhinged. But it’s Jasper who really gets the last laugh when he leans in against my ex’s ear and says, “I fucked that ring right off her finger.”
I take a deep swig, and my nerves settle as I watch my man skate onto the ice from the bench. He glances up in our direction, and Beau waves the giant poster board sign he and Rhett made in his direction. I watched them make it. Like the children they are, they giggled while sprinkling sparkles over the glue they used to spell out the words. It reads: Jasper Gervais is my #1 stud! Jasper tugs his helmet on, probably rolling his eyes from behind the cage. Rhett yells, “Marry me, Jasper!”
“Do you know what I don’t like?” His eyes staring up at mine are so clear, so bright, so unapologetically joyful. I’m still confused, still having a hard time catching up with what’s happening right now, even though it’s so damn obvious. “What?” I whisper, and I wouldn’t think he could hear me, but he must. Because he responds with, “Your last name, Sunny. I really don’t like your last name.” And with that, he flips the little box open to show me a ring. A ring I like. A ring I told him about while chugging trashy beer in the passenger seat of his SUV
“Sloane Gervais sounds right, don’t you think?”
“Jasper! You should be celebrating right now!” I blurt. “Sunny, I will.” He laughs, shaking his head at me like I’m amusing to him. “But I want to celebrate with my fiancée.
“It’s hereditary. I mean, look at you.” He gestures at my wedding attire—brown corduroy blazer, bolo tie, hair only lightly styled, and boots rather than dress shoes. “Harvey, I’m not so sure about your understanding of the word hereditary.” “Been raising cattle my entire life. I know the meaning. I know there’s nature. And that there’s nurture.”
“Don’t much care if I had a role in making you. I know in my heart I had a role in making you who you are today. And I’m damn proud of you, Jasper. Not sure I’ve told you that enough over the years.”
“It’s a deed,” he says. “I can see that.” “To your own quarter section. Over on the east side. Nice sunrises. I know you two like to sit on the roof talking until the sun comes up. Thought you’d build there eventually. Stay close. I don’t know. Give your tail-babies lots of space to roam.” He wipes at his eyes, clearly trying to cover his emotion with the most overused joke he has. “All my kids got a quarter. And I feel like a real shmuck for not giving you one until now.” “Harvey, this is too much.” He waves a hand again before propping them both on his hips and peering out over the horizon.
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“Yeah. I saw you, Sloane. I noticed you too. Didn’t know what made me look up there that day. Had no clue what it all meant.” “What did it mean?” “That when it comes to you, I’m powerless.”
