Absolutely not. Not now. Not after all the shit I learned about the people I was around. I spoke with Anthony after I got back home, and he’s already putting in the paperwork for me to get out of the real estate business. Sell it to the highest bidder. Once all of that’s settled, I’ll be able to move here full-time or maybe it will remain part-time if I’m in New York City with Tessa.
“Boston is my past.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” she says, resting her hand on my arm. “I know you and Nathaniel were close.”
“I thought we were too, but…I’m trying really hard not to think about him at all tonight,” I tell her.
At first, I was in denial. Iknewhim, or at least I thought I did. Nathaniel was like a brother to me, and to know that he was doing this shit behind my back seemed impossible. Then I moved to anger. To find out that someone I trusted could screw me over so badly made me see red. He fucked with my entire life all for his greed? Fuck him.
I’m pretty much still in the anger stage, and I’m completely content staying here for a while.
“All right. Where do you see your future?”
That’s the easiest question she could ask. “With you.”
“Killian,” her voice is full of disbelief.
“I’m serious. You’re who I want to build a future with. Would I love us to build a life together here? Yes. I also know that you have your job in New York, and I will never ask you to give that up, so if it means we split our time, we do that. There’s only one nonnegotiable, angel.”
“What’s that?”
“You. I’ll give up other things, but not you. Never you.”
She leans down and kisses me softly. “You’re my nonnegotiable too.”
“Good, at least we’re on the same page about this.”
“We’re really doing much better this time around with our cuddle talk.”
I chuckle. “I agree.”
I spend the next hour holding her under the stars, imagining what the rest of my life could look like with this woman who changed everything the moment she walked into it.
thirty-two
Tessa
“You don’t have to go,” Killian says as I’m packing up my things.
“I do though.”
He comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle. “Hmm, I think you should stay. I bet I could find a way to convince you.”
Oh, I know he can. In fact, he’s done it about sixteen times since he got home eight days ago.
I laugh and place my hands on his. “I have to go back to New York. I need to figure out what the plan is with my job, and you need to do the things we’ve put in place for yours.”
Yesterday, I laid out a detailed list of things that I think Ivy Thorn Ranch needs to do. An action plan that he can follow to get things back on track.
By some miracle, Killian’s name has largely stayed out of the story that broke. He was mentioned, being Travis’s boss, but it mostly laid out the arrests of the key players of a money laundering scheme that the trainer was simply involved in.
It was a major win for Killian.
His first task is actually to find another trainer to help rebuild the program that he did start and grow into a success.
Regardless of who was buying the horses, they were still winners.
“I think you should go over the plan once again,” he says as he kisses my neck.
