Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,85

back into Dallas’s chest.

He kept her close, his hands so big and so warm on her hip and shoulder. “All right, guys,” he called. “I think it worked.” The men in the crowd whooped again, and Dallas laughed. “Let’s get the horses back where Jess wants them, okay? Thanks, everyone.”

Jess looked at him again, marveling at his good heart. “You don’t really play fair,” she said.

“Don’t I?” he asked innocently.

“No,” she said as Ginger grinned at her and led Midnight Madness into the stable. “Using my horses against me. And your kids. Your kids on horses. That’s so not fair.”

“I miss you,” he said, not seeming to care that other people could overhear him. “Do you really think we have a shot at a second chance?”

“Yes,” she said without any hesitation. “I absolutely do, because I kinda fell in love with you too.”

He blinked a couple of times before a smile filled his whole face. “Well, that’s great news.” He laughed, and so did Jess. He gestured for his kids to come over, and both Thomas and Remmy ran toward Jess.

She received them into a double-hug, telling them how much she missed them and loved them.

“So you’ll come see the house, right?” Remmy asked, peering up at her. “It’s so nice, Jess, and I think you’re going to like it. Dad says there’s this—”

“Remmy,” Dallas said only a couple of feet away. “You agreed not to tell her.”

“Oh, right.” Remmy grinned at Jess. “You have to come see it though. Thomas is getting a dog, and it’s got this huge yard, and they’re going to build a big run back there for it. It’s so big that Dad says I can get a cat too, and the dog won’t even be able to find it.”

“Wow,” Jess said, grinning because so much hope and joy had filled her, and that made not smiling impossible to do. She met Dallas’s eyes, and he shook his head.

“We’re still working on how much Remmy talks,” he said, drawing his daughter away from Jess. But Jess loved that Remmy loved to talk. She always had something interesting to say, and she found joy and cheer in the simplest of things.

“You two go take our horses to Rich,” he said, going with them over to Diamond, Marshmallow, and Scalloped Potato. He gave two pairs of reins to Thomas and plucked a few roses from Marshmallow’s mane.

With the kids gone and everyone else scattering with their horses, the world narrowed to just Jess and Dallas in the golden glow of the Texas sun. He fiddled with the roses in his hands, his head ducked down so the brim of his hat concealed his face.

“Everything I said was one-hundred percent true,” he said. “I’m in love with you, and I’m ready to build a family with you.” He looked up, the sincerity in his expression matching that in his voice. He handed her the small bouquet of red roses.

Jess took them, delicately smelling their sweet scent. “What I said was true too.”

“The kinda fell in love part, or the part where you nodded and tried to kiss me.” He smiled at her. “You didn’t do a great job at that, by the way.”

Jess smiled back at him. “I better fix it.” She stretched up to kiss him, thrilled when he met her halfway. She took her time and really tried to tell him that there was no kinda involved in how she felt about him.

She pulled away several seconds later and said, “I love you, Dallas. I love your kids. I want to see the house, and I want to build a family and a future with you.”

There was no kinda about that.

“Great,” he murmured just before he kissed her again.

Jess realized as she kissed him back that she’d been right—today was a really great day.

When they parted this time, she asked, “How long did it take you to dress those horses up?”

“Hours,” he said with a yawn. “So whether it was fair or not, it was definitely worth it.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dallas herded his kids up the steps that went into the Annex, saying, “Don’t do that, Tommy. The wedding is in fifteen minutes, and then you can take the tie off.” His son had been tugging on his collar for the past thirty minutes since Dallas had helped him with it.

The noise inside the Annex hit Dallas like he’d run into a brick wall. All the men participating in Ted and Emma’s wedding were gathering here, and cowboys