A shiver rolls down my spine. “When you asked me before—not now, but when you brought up marriage the first time—did you know? That you wanted something real?”
A genuine, soft smile replaces the smirk. “Maybe,” he replies. “I do know that I’ll do anything to prove to you that I meant it—both times.”
I sigh, though my belly flutters with joy. “Then let’s plan a wedding.”
The smile turns into a grin. “First things first, I’m moving in.” He holds up a hand before I can tell himabsolutely not. “You aren’t safe here anymore, and I don’t like the idea of you being here alone. But I know you won’t move in with me at the ranch—yet.” Calder grins, capturing my chin between his fingers. “Let me move in and protect you. Like a good future husband should.”
“What about the ranch and your work?” I point out. “Staying here?—”
“Easy.” He steals a quick kiss, pulling back when I’m quiet. My heart flutters from the ease in which he can just…claim me. Kiss me without hesitation, hold me without feeling like it’s wrong.
There is something so right about being in his arms. I imagine the Imogen of a week ago would have fought her way free and ran for the hills. Packed everything up into her crapped out car and disappeared again. The Imogen of last week would have never entertained the idea of a promise ceremony to a man she’s known for three days.
But then again, the Imogen of last week barely felt…anything. She’d moved through the world, trapped in a numb iciness that no one had ever been able to break through. Last week, I’d given up on a lot of things because it’d felt like the world was against me. Losing the one person I loved most, feeling abandoned by him, and then realising he—and I—meant nothing to Petunia, really broke something within me.
Yet somehow, by some miracle, Calder had mended part of it.
“So, you want to move in? Really move in with me?” I ask, brows furrowing. “In here?” I motion to the cabin, which really is falling apart.
Calder bows his head in a nod. “Yeah, trouble. I’m moving in. I’ll take you to work in the mornings and go straight to the ranch, then pick you up after work with real food in hand. I’ll see you to and from every day, safely.”
“I don’t know if I deserve that.” After pushing him away this morning, it’s hard to believe that he still wants anything to do with me, let alone moving into my shitty little cabin.
His lips brush mine in the promise of a kiss. “I don’t think I deserveyou,” he says quietly. “But I’m sure as hell going to show you I do.”
I came to Willow Ridge looking for a new start. I wanted to escape the grief of losing my grandfather and the feeling of being forgotten after his death. And here, I found exactly what I needed.
I found Calder.
ELEVEN
CALDER
“Moving in with her is a risky move,” Casper says, keeping his voice low as he helps me load the few bags and boxes of shit I have into the back of the truck. “You sure you’re doing the right thing?”
I look from him towards the other end of the ranch where the wedding venue is being set up for ourcommitment ceremony.
I think everyone laughed when I announced that was our plan, but Iris had been delighted. Not the wedding she’d envisioned, but it meant seeing Imogen walk down the aisle in white to me at an altar, in the brand new wedding venue with our family watching.
Close enough to real deal for her.
And it also meant being proven right about her match making abilities.
I glance back at Casper and shrug. “It means keeping her safe against anyone trying to break into her house again,” I reply. “And making sure she gets to and from work safely. I really care about her, Cas.”
My twin grunts as he drops the last of my crap into the back of the truck. “I just hope you know what you’re doing,” he replies. “If you don’t, you aren’t just hurting yourself.”
I clap him on the shoulder. “I know you wish you had the luck of the family, finding your one true love, but the bigger grouch you are, the less likely you are to find her—or him, no judgement.”
Casper shrugs my hand off with a disgusted look. “Not interested. Either way.”
Sure, I think, shaking my head. “I’m going to pick my girl up from work, and then I’m going home with her. I’ll see you in the morning, asshole.”
Casper doesn’t say anything as I slide into the truck. He won’t admit it, but I know he wishes he were like the rest of us. Able to find love. Granted, I never thought that would be me, either. Watching my older brothers find it never really made me curious. And my youngest brother has been pining after the same girl for years, so it never made me feel like I was missing out on anything.
Sure, Ma and Dad have a legendary love story. How many people can claim they fell in love being snowed in, after being rescued in said storm, then giving birth only days away from Christmas?
Not many.
