Saving Her Billionaire Cowboy Hero - April Murdock Page 0,48
and met her eyes.
She’d come around the corner the second she’d heard him speak Annie’s name. He paled visibly. “I have to go, Annie.” He put the phone down and crossed the floor in five large strides. “Dakota—”
She took a step back and shook her head. “This is too much, too fast, Brady.”
His outstretched arm dropped to his side and his features fell. “Not for me.”
Dakota rubbed her arms. “I’m sorry, Brady, but I think you experienced a great deal of stress and pain over the last couple of days and it’s affecting your judgment. It’d be irresponsible of me to enable this kind of behavior.”
Brady scowled. “Irresponsible? Enable? I know what’s in my heart, Dakota. I don’t care how long it takes, but you will see I’m telling the truth.”
She closed her eyes. “You’re right.”
“I am? I mean, of course I am.”
Dakota opened her eyes, her hands shaking. “You misunderstand. You’re right that there’s something between us. I can’t deny that. And you may very well be telling the truth that you want to pursue whatever this is and stick with it. But you’re also right in the fact that all of this—with you—terrifies me.”
The hurt in his face was like a knife to the gut. She’d hit him below the belt with her honesty.
“Dakota,” he whispered as he reached out to her.
Bam, bam, bam! Dakota jumped. Her head whipped around in the direction of the pounding on the door and back to Brady. She shook her head again and mouthed the words, I’m sorry. She escaped the kitchen and the sudden claustrophobia she felt being in the same room as him.
Dakota flung the door open and was met with a shocked man she’d recognized from last weekend. “You’re still here?” he asked.
She nodded and took a shaky breath. “Does this mean the road is cleared?”
The man grinned. “Yeah. It took us longer than we expected, but we got everything cleared.”
Dakota glanced behind her as Brady made an appearance in the kitchen doorway. She turned back to the man. “Can you help me load up my trailer? I think I’ve been here long enough.” She pushed past him and put much needed distance between Brady and herself.
“Of course.”
She heard his footsteps follow her and refused to look back. If she saw Brady’s hurt expression, she might give in to what could be the biggest mistake of her life.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Six weeks later
The frown Brady sported hadn’t left his face since the night Dakota left. His motivation to work on the new barn, exercise the horses, and even run the ranch was entirely depleted. He’d lost his zest for life and it was all because of his own big mouth. He should have gotten off the phone with Annie the moment she gave him the recipe.
He sat perched on the porch as the ranch hands came in from their evening chores. They joked and laughed with each other. It was nice to see happiness was still alive somewhere.
“Will you wipe that sour look off your face and stop feeling sorry for yourself?”
Brady glanced up to see Annie standing in front of him. He clambered to his feet. “Annie? What are you doing here?”
Her hands were on her hips as she stared him down. “Robert was worried enough about you to call me. Have you seriously been moping around for the past month and a half?”
He scowled back at her. “So what if I have?”
“So what? You’re dragging everyone down. You used to be the life of the party.” She came closer and took a seat on the porch step. He settled down beside her.
“Well, I’ve lost it and it ain’t coming back.”
Annie sighed. “I get it.”
Brady snorted. “No, you don’t, you have Chad.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “I thought I lost him once too. I ran away from everything and shut everyone out. I was ready to quit my job too.”
“So?”
“So? So I know what you’re feeling to an extent. We Shipleys fall and fall hard. We wear our hearts on our sleeves and when they break, they crumble into a thousand pieces. I never could understand how you could date so many women and not get attached, but I guess you were never in love.”
He scoffed. “Love? What makes you think it was love?”
“Why do I think it is love? Because for the past six weeks, you’ve done nothing but muddle through. Robert has told me all about it, Brady. Something has to change.”
Brady choked back the emotion