I lean across the island to reach out and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. My fingertips graze her skin, and she stills, her breath catching while I cup her cheek softly.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “And I don’t want to put words in your mouth, thoughts in your head, or feelings in your heart that you didn’t feel at the time and can’t remember. But it felt real to me.”
Her lips part slightly, and she nods, her big, blue eyes staring so deep into me it feels like she’s peeling me apart from the inside out.
“I’ll regret for the rest of my life sending you away,” I tell her, my voice thick. “When all you wanted was to be here for me when I was hurting. I swear, I’ll never do it again. I’m not that guy anymore. I’ll never push you away and I won’t cover up my feelings and pain with alcohol.”
She worries her bottom lip between her teeth, nodding again. And fuck it, I want to kiss her. I want to lean forward, close the space between us, press my lips to hers and pour every single unspoken word into her, but a knock on the screen door breaks the moment like a slap to the face.
Regan jerks back, out of my touch, like I just caught fire. At the same time that she moves away from me, her sister-in-law Rae steps inside the kitchen.
“Oh… hey, guys,” she says, her tone as amused as the smirk across her face. She’s in her usual all-black-on-black outfit, dark eyeliner sharp as hell, eyes flicking between us like she knows what she just walked in on.Which doesn’t bother me in the least. I haven’t been hiding shit about how I feel about Regan, how badly I want her, and I never will.
“I was just coming to pick up Regan,” Rae continues, that smirk deepening. “Figured we’d head to the egg farm together and catch up.”
Regan clears her throat, practically jumping out of her seat. “Yeah. Thanks, Rae. That sounds good. I just need to change. I’ll be right down.”
She rushes upstairs without so much as a glance in my direction, her face flushed.
I move to clean up the dishes, load the dishwasher and wipe down the countertop while Rae watches me, her arms crossed, looking entirely too smug.
“So…” she drags out.
I don’t bite because I’d never betray my wife’s trust. “You can ask Regan yourself.”
I turn on the dishwasher, fully prepared to ignore whatever bullshit she’s about to say. I know the Marshall family isn’t fond of me, but I also don’t give a fuck anymore.
“Hm…” Rae hums, tilting her head, before I finally turn to her.
“She’s my wife,” I say simply. “And I love her. I intend to keep it that way. Forever.”
Her brows jump. “You love her?”
“I do.”
Her expression softens a tick. “She deserves the world.”
“I know and I’ll give it to her.”
She doesn’t say anything else, just offers a small nod before Regan appears again, now dressed in a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a simple white tank top that makes her skin practically glow in the morning light.
“You ready?” she asks, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Mhm,” Rae murmurs, still watching me like she knows something I don’t.
Regan motions toward me. “Oh, and Hayes is coming today too.”
“Oh, I bet Cash and Colt will lovethat,” Rae says dryly.
And I could not give a single fuck if they do.
Chapter 42: Hayes
Three hours later, I’m finally stepping outside of the chicken facility for a drink of water and to catch my breath. I lean against one of the white fence posts, my gaze locked on Regan like it has been for most of the morning.
The moment we got to the egg farm, she and Rae were pulled away to help Cash with the new baby chicks while I got stuck hauling heavy-ass bags of feed with Colt. To say I’d rather have been anywhere else in the world would have been an understatement. But I get it. I know why Colt’s pissed at me. He thinks I married his sister just for the property and not because I love her. And, hell, at first that was true. That’s the only reason she married me too at the beginning.
Then, when we both started developing feelings, I pushed her away, and the night she was nearly killed, I wasn’t there. It was my fault. I’d be pissed if it were my sister.
