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She studies me. “Maybe Wilder Ranch is what we both needed.”

“Yeah.”

I think about fixing fences with Jack, feeding horses with Tucker, and watching the sun rise over Wilder Ranch. How peaceful I’ve felt. How right it feels to be here.

She smiles. “Maybe you just miss belonging somewhere.”

The words hit harder than anything she’s said all night. Because she’s right. I spent years missing a place that wasn’t meant to be.

Maybe what I’ve really been searching for...is home.

11

jenna

Home Isn’t a Place. It’s a Person.

I wake before the sun, cocooned beneath a mountain of quilts and Ty sleeping next to me. We gave up on one of us sleeping on the couch. It seems silly, I know. He was trying to be a gentleman. But I can’t stop what’s happening between us, even if I tried. It’s like a freight train is coming at us, and we have no way to avoid it. It’s happening. And to be honest? I like it.

I turn my head toward the window, and I realize I hear nothing. No traffic. No horns. No neighbors slamming apartment doors. Just complete, beautiful silence. Ultimate peace that I didn’t know I needed.

Ty is still asleep next to me, with one arm thrown over his head. His dark hair sticks up in every direction, and somewhere during the night, he’d kicked his half of the blankets off to my side, which explains my mountain of blankets.

I smile before I can stop myself. For the first time in, I don’t even know how long, I’m not reaching for my phone to check in on work. I’m not rushing to check my calendar or emails. There are no fires to put out or emergencies.

I’m simply here. Enjoying time with this insanely hot man lying next to me who seems to be just as infatuated with me as I am with him.

I quietly climb out of bed, grabbing Ty’s flannel shirt, and pull it on before padding across the cold wood floor toward the kitchen. I start a pot of coffee, wrap both hands around a chipped mug that I’ve claimed as my favorite, and stand at the window watching snow fall in the early morning light.

The floor creaks behind me, and strong arms wrap around me, pulling me toward a warm bare chest. “Morning, Beautiful.”

I smile and glance over my shoulder. “Morning, Handsome.”

Ty’s wearing the sleepiest smile I’ve ever seen. The stubble on his cheeks is dark and sexy.

“I hope you made more coffee than that.”

“I made a whole pot.”

“That’s my girl.”

The words slip out so naturally, I don’t think either of us realizes he’s said them until they’re hanging in the air between us.

My girl.

Neither of us acknowledges it, but my heart definitely does. It gives hard, traitorous thumps against my ribs. I love the sound of that. I’ve never been someone’s girl or claimed like that. Dating in L.A. has not been for the faint of heart. I could start my own reality show just on the stories from my friends and me. Dating has been an experience out there for sure. I’ve dipped my toes in the dating pool, and it feels full of piranhas.

Let’s just say I’ve yet to meet someone like Ty. And the fact that we both ended up in Bridger Falls at the same place? Feels like fate. Something I’m not sure I fully believed in until now.

Ty opens the refrigerator. “What are you hungry for?”

“You don’t have to cook for me,” I say as I reach for a mug to pour him coffee.

“I love to cook.” He shrugs like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

I lean against the counter and watch him work. Within fifteen minutes, he’s managed to dirty just about every pan, bowl, spatula, and wooden spoon in the cabin.

“You cook like you wrestle bulls,” I tease.