Jogging down the stairs, Calvin greets me with my coffee and a white bakery bag from Buckles and Brews.
“Gimme, gimme, gimme.” Taking the bag, I rip it open and inhale the heavenly scent of a fresh baked donut. “Mmmm. I love you.”
A grin splits his face. “If I knew all I needed to do was buy chocolate donuts…”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, I was promised horses.”
He brought me a french vanilla toffee latte and I take a tentative sip to test the heat level. Jess never misses with her flavor combos and I don’t think I could ever have ausual,because I just want to try them all.
“This issogood,” I moan.
“It’s one of her best flavors yet, I think.”
“You got something other than a black coffee?” I look at him in shock.
“No. I just took a sip of yours, because I couldn’t resist the smell filling my truck.” He pinches my side on the way out.
“You drankmycoffee?” I feign being mad.
“Wasn’t yours yet. I hadn’t delivered it.” He pulls open my door, letting me slide into the seat like I’ve done so many times over the years.
The usually neat truck is a disaster. There are clothes all over the backseat, to-go mugs of coffee litter the floor at my feet and fast food wrappers fill the floor behind me.
“I know. Don’t judge me. If I leave dirty clothes in the bunkhouse they get mixed up, and there’s always a sink full of dishes so I can’t even do mine, and well… there’s no working stove so I’ve been visiting Ms. Patti for a lot of sandwiches.” He slips into the driver’s side.
“Calvin.” My heart breaks for him. Maybe I should be letting him back into the house. We can share a roof, right? “Maybe you could stay in the guest room?”
“I don’t want you to feel guilted into letting me move back in. This is on your timeline, Jules. No pressure from me, at all.”
The truck bumps down the dirt road over to the stables. I stay quiet for a bit, thinking about the implications of letting him move home and stay in the guest room. We would barely be home at the same time. And if he makes a mess, I could just ignore it. We’d be like roommates, not a couple. So basically howwe’ve been living, only his stuff would be his responsibility, not mine.
Yeah, I can do this.
“You can move back. But this isn’t us back together. This is us being roommates. I stand by everything I’ve said.” I give him my best glare, trying to show how serious I am about this.
“Only if you want me to.”
“I do. But only if you don’t stop fighting for me.” My voice cracks with a little too much vulnerability for my liking.
“I promise I won’t.” We pull to a stop at the fences and all the horses come running. They know they’re about to be fed. “Come on, come meet our new horse. He’s beautiful.”
The grin, the closeness, the old habits, and now letting him move back in… this is a recipe for disaster.I need to stand strong.
The bar is packed tonight. A night when the Houston Havoc plays on a weekend always brings in the crowd to watch the hometown hero, Sanders. While I usually appreciate the business and the crowd, I am over it all right now. We had an issue with delivery so I don’t have a lot of food that are crowd favorites, pissing off a lot of the older cowboys who like their routine. Dakota had to leave early, because her son got sick. And I’m anticipating Cal to come in with the guys when they’re done working.
Jess walks through the door, saving my life.
“Oh my God, thank you so much!” I rush out from behind the bar to hug her. She fills in for us when either Dakota or I need a night off, but I know I pulled her out of bed tonight with the lastminute ask. I just couldn’t handle the crowd on my own. I might need to hire someone part time. At least for the weekends.
“Of course.” She looks around the full space. “Didn't realize it was a Havoc game night.”
“It is. I promise that’s the only reason I pulled you out of bed.”
Calvin and Murray walk in with the guys.
“No other reason? Like back up with your sexy-as-sin husband?”
I let my eyes wash over him. His now shaggy hair looks perfectly styled, the navy blue henley is stretched over his muscular chest, the jeans that I love so much… well they accent his perfectly sculpted ass and thighs.
