through my mind. I pulled in a deep breath and faced him.
“Buying a house together is a huge leap in any relationship. But buying a house that sits on your family’s land is altogether insane. Tanner, as much as I want a future with you, what if things don’t work out? Then what would I do? I’d have all of my money invested into a house and land that was sitting on your family’s property. I can’t do that. It’s not that I don’t trust you or trust us, but we’re still so new in this relationship. I just now got control over my future, Tanner. I don’t want to risk losing it again.”
After a few moments of thinking, he nodded his head. “I can understand your worry. There’s about two-hundred acres that separate the cabin…”
I raised a brow.
“Fine, the lake house from the next ranch. The Peterson’s own it.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“When Brock and his first wife got married, my folks gifted him the house my granddaddy had built. It sat on the edge of the ranch’s perimeter, so it was easy for them to simply cut off a small portion of the ranch and give it to Brock and Kaci. Well, Kaylee and Ty now own it. There’s a couple hundred acres of land with it. Then Brock had a house he built on the ranch. Again, my folks carved out a piece of the ranch and gave it to him. What if I talked to the Peterson family and asked them if they‘d be interested in selling you some of the land that butts up to the land that I’m going to buy from my folks?”
My heart started to beat a little faster in my chest. “Do you think they’d be willing to sell some land? And do it privately?”
“We could ask them. Or the other option is, you hang onto your money and start your business now on the land I buy. Plus, you’ll have full use of the entire ranch. If things work out, then we make it all legal with your name on it.”
I chewed on my lip and thought about what he was saying. “Will you give me some time to think about it?”
Tanner smiled. “Of course, but I’m still buying the cabin, er, lake house. So even if you didn’t want to buy it with me—and I totally understand why you would have reservations about it—you could still move in with me. You said so yourself. You could see yourself living there.”
I laughed. “It is a beautiful spot.”
He nodded. “I wanted it before you came into my life. And us making love in that house for the first time only sealed the deal for me. Brock and Ty are fully on board and happy to see someone’s actually going to move into the place.”
“So, no matter what, you’re buying it?”
He nodded. “And you can move in with me.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“If you think for one minute I don’t intend on falling asleep next to you every night and waking up every morning with you in my arms, then you are crazy,” he said.
“That’s moving supersonic fast.”
He smiled and his dimples were on full display. “Sweetheart, have you never seen me rope a calf before? Supersonic is the only speed I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
TANNER
The most beautiful smile appeared on Timberlynn’s face before she laughed. “You’re serious. You’re really going to buy the house on the lake? And you want me to move in with you?”
I cupped her face in my hands. “I wasn’t just talking out of my ass when I said I was falling in love with you, Timber. I want to be a part of your life in every single way. And I want you to be a part of mine.”
“So, what you’re saying is, I’m your new partner?”
With a chuckle, I nodded, then pulled her face to mine and kissed her. Her fingers laced into my hair, and she let out a moan so sexy it shot a bolt of electricity straight to my cock.
I walked her back slowly until she was pressed against the door.
“Tanner,” she whispered against my mouth as she pulled on my hair gently. “We already desecrated your daddy’s office once.”
With a quick look around, I laughed. “Good point. So you’ll think about everything I said?”
She nodded. “I will. I promise.”
“We better get back out there, or someone will come looking for us.”
“Okay.”
As we headed out the door, Timberlynn