Julie brushed by me with a little pat to my arm. “Don’t mind her, honey. Some folks never learned when to keep quiet.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. My throat felt tight, my voice small. Gratitude and mortification tangled inside me until I wasn’t sure which was stronger.
Phil gave Linc a pointed nod, like he was handing over responsibility for my pride. Linc’s jaw unclenched, but I could still feel the storm in him, the way he simmered quietly instead of speaking it out loud.
“You okay?” he asked once it was just the two of us.
I forced a smile. “Yeah. Just maybe next time we don’t walk in together.”
His mouth curved slow, dangerous. “Not a chance.” He lowered his head and kissed me right there in Kipp’s kitchen with Julie and Phil looking at us.
Despite myself, I laughed, leaning into him for just a second before pulling away. “You’re annoying.”
“And you like it,” he said easily, squeezing my hip.
I rolled my eyes, but he wasn’t wrong. The warmth of his lips and hand lingered long after he let me go.
The long dining table was already crowded, the smell of bacon and coffee thick in the air. I grabbed a plate, tried to keep my head down, but it was useless. Every whispered laugh, every not-so-subtle glance in our direction made the tips of my ears burn. The air hummed with unspoken amusement, a quiet rhythm of clinking cutlery and smothered laughter that chased me all the way to my seat.
Nora slid me a coffee with a smile a little too sweet. Fallon asked Lincoln if he’d “slept well.” Elle muttered something about “newlyweds,” and Ryder actually had the nerve to wink at me across the table. I wanted to sink through the floorboards, disappear into the smell of frying bacon, anything but sit there under their grins.
Before Lincoln could snap, Phil cleared his throat. “Eat your food before it gets cold.” His tone carried enough weight to silence half the table. He might not have been the patriarch of this ranch, but words from his still held weight. The sound of forks and plates took over again, though the energy didn’t fade. Julie piled my plate higher than I could ever eat, humming like she hadn’t just saved me from total humiliation.
Lincoln stayed pressed close to my side, his shoulder brushing mine, his knee against mine under the table. Protective. Possessive. Silent, but seething. His presence filled the small space between us, warm and steady, like he was daring anyone to push their luck. Every time his hand brushed mineby accident, my pulse jumped, the memory of the night before echoing in my chest.
I tried to act normal, stabbing my fork into scrambled eggs like nothing had happened, like my entire body didn’t still hum with the memory of him. The scent of coffee was sharp and grounding. It felt almost impossible to pretend that nothing had changed. Here I was, sitting beside him, pretending to be calm while my heartbeat drummed in my throat.
It was ridiculous. Here I was, eating breakfast like a regular person, while every single soul at this ranch seemed determined to make sure, I remembered exactly what I’d done last night. I caught Fallon’s grin, Nora’s raised brow, the tiny smirk that tugged at Griff’s mouth, and I wanted to laugh just to break the tension.
When the table finally broke apart and everyone scattered toward chores, I exhaled hard. My shoulders dropped. “Well. That wasn’t humiliating at all.”
Lincoln’s hand slid over mine, warm and steady. The calluses on his palm brushed the soft skin between my fingers. “Ignore them. Let them talk. You’re with me, and that’s all that matters.”
I looked at him, at the heat in his eyes, at the corner of his mouth that hinted at a smirk. And despite the embarrassment, the teasing, the whispers, I believed him. He said it like a promise, and somehow, it felt like one.
Maybe it wouldn’t be easy. Perhaps the whole ranch would have their opinions. But as his fingers laced with mine under the table, I knew one thing for sure. I wasn’t ashamed. Not even a little.
When the laughter and voices had drifted out of the room, I stood, my hands trembling just enough to betray how hard I’d worked to keep my composure. I threw myself into cleaning up the kitchen like it was my armor. The rhythm of work always had a way of calming me down. By the time things weredone, my cheeks hurt from forcing smiles, and my back ached from holding myself straight under all the sideways looks and whispered jokes.
So, I slipped out. No one argued when I headed for the barn, probably because everyone else was glad to have me out of sight for a while. The snow crunched beneath my boots, the morning air cold enough to sting my nose. The smell of hay and horses pulled me the rest of the way to the barn.
The horses never judged. They didn’t care who I’d slept with, or whether I was walking funny this morning, or that Lexie had called me out in front of God and everyone. They just wanted hay, water, and maybe a good scratch on their necks. Their quiet steadiness wrapped around me like balm. The barn was a place that never asked questions.
I was halfway through brushing down Pepper when I felt him. It wasn’t the sound of his boots or his voice at first, but the shift in the air. The soft hum that always accompanied Lincoln’s presence, like the space around me, suddenly remembered what it meant to breathe.
Lincoln leaned against the stall door, arms folded, hat tipped just enough to shadow his eyes. Just watching me. The golden light from the open doors caught the dust in the air, turning everything soft around the edges.
The brush stuttered in my hand. “You know you’re creepy when you do that, right?”
“Creepy?” His voice was pure gravel. “That’s what I get after last night?”
Heat flared in my cheeks, and I went back to brushing like the mare’s coat was suddenly the most important thing on earth. “I’m just saying. You don’t announce yourself. You lurk.”
“I don’t lurk. I wait.”
I snorted. “Same thing.”
He pushed off the door, crossing the stall in three slow steps until he was close enough that the warmth of him pressed against my side. His shadow stretched over me, the smell of cedar and soap filling the small space. “Are you done hiding from them yet?”
