Bet The Farm - Staci Hart Page 0,104
trying because you believe in me. And I called you faithless when it was me who had no faith. I didn’t deserve your grace, Olivia.”
“Jake, I …”
“But you gave it to me anyway. Because you loved me despite it all. And I was so afraid you’d leave me, I ran you off myself. I love you. Do you … do you have any idea how much I love you?”
He searched my eyes, swallowed hard.
And my heart stopped.
He loves me.
“And I almost let you go without telling you.” He stroked my cheek. “Stay. I don’t know who I am here without you, not anymore. And I don’t want to know. You’ve changed everything for the better, me most of all. Without you, this farm has no heart or soul. And neither do I.”
I wasn’t sure when I’d started crying—probably somewhere near the love part—but my tears drew streaks of cold down my face. He thumbed the trail of one.
After a second, he said, “I don’t think you’ve ever been quiet this long.”
A laugh bubbled out of me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him to my upturned face, our lips connecting with the sweet familiarity of home. When we were breathless, I leaned back, my arms still around his neck.
“Well, if you love me, how could I leave? Like you said, everything I love is here.”
“If I love you?” he said on a chuckle. “If I loved you any more, I might have a heart attack. I don’t know how much more it can take.”
“Then I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he said against my lips.
And then he took them for his own.
I’d never been kissed before that moment. I’d never known surrender until he gave himself to me.
I’d never known the truth of love until I loved him.
We went up like a flame in a twist of bodies in perfect accord, and I’d have happily burned forever there in his arms.
I might have, if it wasn’t for Kit.
We broke apart at her squeal of surprise, laughing as she dove between us.
“You two,” she said through a sob. “You nearly put me in an early grave. Tell me it means you’re staying, Livi.”
“I’m staying,” I promised, my eyes on Jake’s.
“Forever, if I have anything to do with it,” he answered.
To which Kit broke out into fresh happy tears. “That’s it,” she blubbered. “We’re having a party tonight, and I’m gonna have Mack put meat on the smoker this minute. If I’m gonna have dessert ready, I’d better quit my sniveling and get busy.”
“Cook when you’re happy, cook when you’re sad?” Jake teased.
“Cooking happens to be the right answer for any occasion, I’ve found. Now get your ass in the house with Livi’s bags, Jake. Unpack them once and for all.”
“Gladly,” he said, pulling me back into his chest once Kit was free.
She simpered at the sight of us, hands over her lips before she waved us off and hoofed it into the house. A second later, I heard her out the back door calling for Mack and shouting that I was staying like the town crier.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Think she’s happy?” Jake asked.
“I think if she were any happier, she might explode in a cloud of glitter and confetti.”
“Then that makes two of us.”
I turned in his arms to smile up at him. “Make it three.”
“Goddamn, I’m glad I caught you before you left.”
“When did you do that?” I asked, nodding to the tractor.
He glanced back at it like he’d forgotten it was there. “We’ve been working on it since last week. I was gonna surprise you with it but then …”
“It’s pink. You gave me a pink tractor.” I beamed up at him. “You hate pink.”
“Not as much as I love you. So much in fact, I was prepared to get on a plane, if that’s what it took.”
“Painted me a pink tractor and you would have gotten on a plane for the first time for me?”
“And gone to New York. It’d be a host of firsts. But there was no way I was letting you leave here forever, not without making sure you knew that I’m an idiot and that I love you.”
“Say it again,” I cooed.
With that tilted smile of his, he slipped his hand into my hair. “I’m an idiot. World’s biggest asshole.”
“No, the other part.”
His smile widened. “Oh, the part where I love you?”
“Mhmm,” I hummed.
“I’m sorry, Livi. For everything. I don’t know how to make it right, what I did, what I