Page 73 of Promised to the Cowboy

She lets out a watery laugh. “I thought…”

“What?”

“I thought he was going to tell me to leave.”

My chest tightens. Instead of answering, I lift our joined hands and press a kiss against her knuckles. “He meant every word.”

She blinks quickly and looks back out of the window. “I’ve spent so much of my life waiting for people to decide I wasn’t worth keeping.”

“You’ve got a whole family now, darlin’.”

She looks at me and smiles—a real smile this time. “I know.”

The porch light is already on when I pull into the yard.

The truck hasn’t even stopped rolling before I spot Maggie. She’s sitting in her favorite rocking chair on the porch with a basket of green beans in her lap, snapping the ends off one by one with the easy rhythm of someone who’s done it her whole life.

She looks up as we climb out of the truck. Her gaze moves from me to Evie to our joined hands.

“Well,” she says, setting the basket aside and standing, “soup’s hot. And there’s fresh bread on the counter.”

She doesn’t ask a single question. No,how did it go?No,what happened?Just… food.

Warmth.

Home.

I see the exact moment it undoes Evie. Her chin trembles, and she ducks her head, trying to hide it.

Maggie notices anyway. She crosses the porch and opens her arms. “Come here, sweetheart.”

Evie hesitates for all of half a second before stepping into the embrace. Maggie wraps her up the way only she can—firm enough to sayI’ve got you, gentle enough to saytake your time.

Evie’s shoulders start shaking almost immediately. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

Maggie strokes a hand over her hair. “What are you apologizing to me for?”

“I just…” The words disappear into another sob.

Maggie simply keeps holding her.

After a long moment, she kisses the top of Evie’s head and says quietly, “Whatever happened over there, you’re home now.”

I lean against the porch post and watch the two women I love most in this world standing in each other’s arms, wondering how a man with a broken heart got so damn lucky.

After we’ve eaten, Evie tugs me into the bedroom by my shirt, her eyes dark with need. The door barely clicks shut before she whispers, “I need you.”

I don’t answer with words; I answer with my hands and mouth.

I pull her close and kiss her like I’ve been starving for the taste of her all day. Slow at first, then deeper, tongues sliding, breaths mingling. She melts against me with a soft, desperate sound that goes straight to my cock. My hands roam down her back, overthe curve of her ass, then slide up under her shirt to feel warm, bare skin.

“Gabe,” she breathes between kisses, already tugging at the hem of my shirt. “I need to feel all of you.”

We undress each other between kisses and whispered touches. Her fingers tremble slightly as she unbuttons my shirt; I steady them with my own before lifting her shirt over her head. When her bra falls away, I groan at the sight of her fuller breasts, nipples already tight. I cup them, thumbs circling the sensitive peaks until she arches into my palms with a shaky moan.

I lower her onto the bed and stretch out beside her, careful to keep my weight off her belly. One of my hands trails down her body—over the soft, rounded swell where our daughter grows, across the flare of her hip, and between her thighs. She’s soaked. I slide two fingers through her slick folds, teasing her clit in slow circles before easing them inside her.

Evie gasps, hips rolling to meet my hand. “Yes… like that.”