built Griffin into the man that he was.
The husband he was. The father he was.
She wasn’t afraid of it anymore. She saw it as a testament to his strength.
The man that loved her. Loved their son. And didn’t hold anything back.
He put their little boy down in his crib, and then looked up at her and she felt...
Beautiful.
Loved.
Whole.
She felt more than good enough. She no longer felt like she didn’t fit her name. And it wasn’t because she suddenly thought she was more like a flower than she’d ever been before.
It was all in the way he said it. Like an Iris was the most beautiful, cherished thing in all of creation.
And he said it, just then, and took her in his arms, kissing her deep and long.
Iris was Griffin’s.
And that was more than enough.
* * *
Solid Gold Cowboy
To my Gold Valley readers, thank you for loving these books
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
LAZ JENKINS WAS in the business of giving out advice. Okay, technically he owned a bar, and was in the business of selling booze. But that job came with a certain responsibility. He took the position of armchair psychologist very seriously. He had been part and parcel of more happy endings in Gold Valley, Oregon than he could even count at this point. He had wondered—often—if he should start some sort of matchmaking service. Though in fairness, he wasn’t the person who matched people up, he just told them when to quit being dumbasses and work it out with each other. His choose love speech was so well-worn, so tried-and-true, that he could freely mix it up whenever he wanted to.
But when the door to the bar opened after last call and he looked up to see the silhouette of a woman wearing a voluminous dress standing in the doorway, he had a feeling that there wasn’t going to be a choose love speech that would fit this moment.
“You’re closed, aren’t you?”
He would recognize the voice of his best friend anywhere. But his best friend was not supposed to be here today. She was supposed to be getting married. Technically, she was supposed to already be married, and off on her honeymoon with the pointless asshole that she called a fiancé, having that fabled, sparkling wedding night in a fancy hotel in San Francisco, like she had been so looking forward to.
Of course, she appeared to not be there. Something he might have picked up on sooner had he actually gone to the wedding earlier.
He hadn’t.
But he had hoped he wouldn’t have to have that conversation with Jordan so soon after. And he had sort of been hoping that after she’d gone on her honeymoon she might not really care. They’d been planning on going to Hawaii.
“Since when has it mattered to you if I’m closed?”
He pressed both hands on the bar and waited. And he thought back to that first time she’d walked in his bar.
“You’re closed? Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, last call was a full half hour ago, princess.” But he looked at what she was wearing—a light sweater and what looked like pajama pants and he was...well, concerned and curious. “Why don’t you come in and sit for a minute. I’ll make you a cup of hot tea.”
She stood there, just staring for a moment, as if she were stunned by the offer. Then she mobilized. Crossing the wide, empty room and making her way to the bar. “Oh you don’t have to do that.” Even as she sat down.
“I insist.”
He wasn’t about to send her off at two thirty in the morning looking that vulnerable. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her.
She walked closer and he could see she looked familiar.
“I should have gotten dressed,” she said. “I have to be at work in like...an hour and a half. But I just live down the street.”
“Sugar Cup,” he said, suddenly putting her face into context. “You work at the coffeehouse.”
He didn’t recognize her without her guard up, that was the only way he could describe it. He’d gotten coffee from her a couple of times and she was...sullen. But not now. Now she just looked soft, vulnerable and a little sad.
“Yeah, so this bout of insomnia is getting intense.”
“Insomnia, huh?” He poured some hot water into a mug and added a tea bag—he only had one kind, this was a bar, after all—and slid it toward her.
“Yeah, I’ve always had trouble sleeping but it’s gotten worse lately.