“Wild, shut the fuck up now,” Gunner growled and turned back to me. “I apologize about my stupid idiot of a brother.”
“What?” Wilder exclaimed. “I was talking about having your music loud. It’s you with the dirty mind,brother.”
It did sound quite appealing, though, I had to be honest. I loved this house with it’s fun and noise and general chaos, but alone time in his huge bed out on the outskirts of the land where no one could hear sounded perfect. If we were still a couple by then, of course. Not being a couple was something I didn’t want to consider, so pushed it to one side.
“The point is,” Nash said with a heavy hint of irritation, “you’re the one who will have to look at the factory from your back windows.”
When Gunner turned to me and asked, “What do you think, sweetheart?” I almost choked on the air that rushed from my lungs.
“M-me?”
He gave me a cocky grin, one that told me he knew exactly what he’d said. And knew exactly what my reaction would be. “Yep, you.”
What did I think about it? I mean how often would I be looking out of the back windows of the house? The odd weekend or maybe longer during school break. The idea of me living there permanently flitted around my brain, like it was a possibility. Me and Gunner making a home together? No, it was far too early to be considering that, as beautiful an idea as it was.
“I think you should insist on it,” I finally managed to say. “Maybe ask him to plant some established trees or hedgerow at the very least.” That would be what I’d want to look out on…if it was my home.
Gunner nodded. “I agree. Let’s stipulate that, too.”
“And the wedding venue?” Lily asked. “Are there any stipul—” she stopped talking and looked over Gunner’s shoulder to the doorway. “Bertie, baby, what’s wrong?”
We all turned to see Bertie, mussed from sleep, her little shoulders heaving with tiny sobs.
Nash and Lily were out of their seats and to her within seconds. “What’s wrong, munchkin?” Soft and coaxing he dropped to his knees and brushed his daughter’s hair from her face.
“I had a bad dream,” she said through her cries, rubbing her eyes.
She’d just reached ten years old but standing there it was clear she was still a little girl, no matter how emotionally expressive she was for her age.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Lily added soothingly. “Like you said it was just a dream.”
Bertie’s eyes went to Gunner as she heaved out a tattered breath. “I thought you’d been hurt Uncle Gunner.” She started to run to him and immediately he also dropped to his knees from his chair, his arms open wide.
“I’m fine, Bertie girl. See, I’m all good.” He gathered her up and swallowed her in an embrace, kissing the top of her head and squeezing her tight. “It was just a bad dream.”
I watched his expression transform. The confident, sometimes cocky cowboy melted away, replaced by something so tender it made my throat tight. His large hands, the same ones that could break a wild horse or gently bring it peace, smoothed over her hair with a delicacy that seemed impossible from such a big man.
He moved back onto his chair as Bertie wrapped her arms and legs around him, gradually becoming calmer the more Gunner pacified her. My breath stalled, because it was probably the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and in that moment I could see him with a child of our own, patient, protective and completely devoted. The vision hit me with such clarity and longing that I had to look away, afraid my face would reveal too much.
“Want me to take you back up?” Gunner asked once Bertie had stilled in his arms. “I can read to you until you fall asleep.”
Damn there went my ovaries.
Bertie lifted her head and screwed up her tiny features in a frown. “I can read you know. Probably better than you seeing as you only ever look at horse magazines.”
Nash’s chuckle was filled with relief as he moved back to his chair, his hand moving to stroke Lily’s long, blonde hair as soon as she sat too, making it clear that she washiscornerstone for peace.
“Very true,” Gunner agreed. “But I did go to school, you know. Admittedly my teacher wasn’t as pretty as yours, but I went.” He winked at me and then dropped a kiss to Bertie’s forehead. “How about I make up a story?”
“Oh, he’s real good at that,” Wilder offered, reaching for his bottle of beer. “Hey, that hurt.”
I looked at Gunner who was throwing his brother a dirty stare as he got up, Bertie still in his arms. Already displaying the kind of father that he would be one day.
“I’ll be back.”
As he passed Lily, she ran a hand down Bertie’s calf covered in cotton pink and white stripe pajamas, while Nash stood and gave her a quick kiss to her cheek.
“What’s the betting he falls asleep with her,” Wilder said as the door clicked shut.
