SURGE (Kenshaw Ranch #2)

by Piper Frost

  "They ain't stupid, Kinlee. They're pissed at me for what I did, but they forgave me. The Kenshaws are on the road to forgiving me. I know what me and you had is a little different. I abandoned you, our life, our future, but I didn't think I deserved you, a life, or a future anymore. I'm a prideful man and the thought you'd be the one taking care of me like a nurse the rest of my life burned holes in my gut. I couldn't stomach that thought. I was supposed to take care of you, dammit, not the other way around. I didn't think I'd be walking again or moving like I am and I couldn't stand the thought of you having to live like that. How I handled this was all wrong. I'm sorry I hurt you, but I thought I'd be helping. I thought giving you up was what you needed, then when you finally gave up on me, I realized how much of a stupid son of a bitch I was." He chuckles and rubs his jaw. "I’m sorry, darlin'. Nothing I say will ever make this right, but, Kinlee." Moving slowly, he drops to his knee and I reach for him, not sure if his leg gave out. But when he holds up a sparkling ring, I realize he didn't collapse and my heart starts hammering almost out of my damn chest. "Kinlee, you're gonna marry me, darlin', because we belong together. Through all the happiness and all the bullshit, we belong together. Because what if you walk away?"

  "Bo," I whisper, blinking away the tears because this is the Bo I know. This is the Bo I thought died and was never coming back. This was the Bo I wanted to marry a lifetime ago, when everything was different. "You're crazy," I manage through the tears. "You can't walk back in after all this time and...and do this!"

  "I've always been crazy, you know this. And who says I can't? You?" When he winces, he closes his eyes. "I'd like to stay down her until you walk over here and let me put this ring on your finger, but I'm having a hard time." He quietly groans and shifts, moving slowly and awkwardly to get to his feet. "I'm not half the man I was back then, but if you’ll have me I'll fight to the death to take care of you. You know we belong together." Still holding out the ring, we stand in silence a few minutes. "Is there someone else, Kinlee?"

  I blink. I pause, because I'm not the girl he fell in love with either. That girl is gone.

  "It's not that easy, Bo," I manage. My hand drops to my stomach and a tear slips down my cheek. "I told you there'd never be anyone else." I start to cry and he steps closer to me but I put my hand out to stop him. "You don't even know me anymore. How can you be sure you want to marry me still? After two years of hating me!"

  He sighs and drops his head. "I never once hated you. You're not who I hated. Believe me, Kinlee. I loved you more and more every day that passed but I couldn't feel much of anything but hatred toward myself. It wasn't you, baby." He grabs my hand before I can pull away. "And I still know you. These past seven months have been hard knowing you were finally slipping away, but you're still the woman I've loved since sixth grade." He chuckles and slowly lifts his right hand, letting the cane fall to the ground. He holds my wrist so he can push the ring onto my finger. "I'll wait for you to come home to me, longer than two years if I have to. I'll wait a lifetime for you to come home to me." He gets the ring past my knuckle but his right hand drops and he wobbles on his feet.

  I grab onto his arms to steady him. The weight of the ring on my finger is heavy, but when my eyes hit his I know there's no other option here. Bo's been my future from the start. We've got a hell of a road ahead of us, but somewhere deep down I know that hope I once had is still there.

  "You alright, cowboy?" I whisper, noticing the sparkle in his eyes. Last time I really looked into his eyes they were dark. Hollow. Not now though. Maybe he really is back...hell, I know he's back. But can I come back from this?

  "I'm sorry," he breathes and pulls me against him, wrapping his arm around me. "I'll never do anything like this to you again. I promise you that, Kinlee." He starts kissing my head over and over. "I'll never hurt you again. I promise you. Words won't prove it, but we have the rest of our life together for me to prove how sorry I am."

  I take a deep breath and look up at him, steeling my heart for the words that are about to flow from my lips. Words I haven't said to anyone, because I'm not certain I can wrap my head or heart around them yet.

  "Bo... I'm pregnant."

  His grip around me loosens little by little. "But I...we haven't..." He lets me go and reaches over to the workbench to hold himself up. "You're pregnant. With another man's child," he whispers, his eyes casted to the barn floor.

  "I told you I'm not the girl you loved." I feel empty. I knew he'd take it bad. Everyone's gonna take it bad. "I took a trip to Vegas last month. I needed out of here, so I stayed with Chase..."

  "Oh fuck, Kinlee." The sound of him getting choked up makes me flinch, but when he goes down to his knee, I meet him on the barn floor.

  "It's not what you think. It's not Chase's," I whisper, now panicked that the minute I get Bo back he'll really be gone for good. "I...I have no clue who the father is," I say, completely ashamed of myself. "The night got away from me. I woke up to an empty bed... But I'm keeping it, Bo. And it's not fair of me to agree to marry you when you don't know what you're getting yourself in to." I rest my hand on his thigh and wait several long minutes. "I get it. You can have the ring back." I slide it off my finger and my already broken heart breaks a little more.

  He looks up at me with so much anger in his face I shift back a little. "Put the ring on your damn finger, Kinlee." His eyes drop to my stomach and I quickly slide my hands to hide it. "You're my girl." Moving faster than I've seen him yet, he shifts to his feet, holding the bench. "Get my cane," he says, anger emanating from him. "We're going home, Kinlee." He looks at me and there's rage in his eyes but it's nothing compared to what I've gotten used to seeing from him the past two years.

  "Bo you can't ignore this." I hold his cane out to him, fighting the urge to puke.

  "Who knows?" He looks at my stomach again.

  "No one," I whisper. I bring my hand to my stomach and tears well in my eyes. "I haven't told anyone."

  "And you're certain this man won't... He won't come back into your life?" Every angry word that leaves his lips makes me wince.

  "I don't even remember what the guy looked like," I manage through a thick throat. "I'm embarrassed, Bo. I can't tell the people in this town I got knocked up by some stranger in Vegas so I was debating moving out there. Starting over. Getting away from everything." I shrug. "I'm certain the guy has no clue who I even am."

  "You were going to leave your siblings?" he roars as if he hadn't just abandoned us all for the past two years!

  "I hadn't thought that far in advance! I just had the sonogram this week." I wipe at my face. "Welcome back to town. It's a shit show here." I try to laugh but fail miserably and it comes out a sob.

  I lift my hand to give him back the ring and he growls, grabbing my wrist to yank me toward him. His right hand is the much weaker one but right now it feels like anger is in control of his strength and he holds me steady, pushing the ring back onto my finger.

  "I love you, Kinlee, you're not fucking leaving me because of this. You didn't give up when I became a different man, you're not giving up now. And I'll never give up on us again." He lets me go and turns for the door, but abruptly stops. "Shit," he huffs and yanks me toward him, his lips landing on mine for a hard but passionate kiss, full of everything I've been missing these last two years. Then pointing at my stomach he says, "That's my baby. Grab the sandwiches, darlin', we're going home and I'm hungry." He walks out of the barn without looking back, fully knowing I’ll follow him home.

  Home.

  Other books in the Kenshaw Series:

  Addict (Brandt): http://amzn.to/2BqY76e

  Tantrum (Chase): Coming April 27

  Check out our websites to keep up to date with all of our releases:

  www.hqfrost.com

  www.mpiperbooks.com

  About Piper Frost

  Thelma and Louise. Boris and Natasha. Frost and Piper. When these two teamed up, they never knew how amazing it would be working together to creat
e wonderful masterpieces of joy, tears, humor, and heartbreak. Piper’s favorite part about Frost? The fact that she puts up with her. Period. ALSO, the fact that she makes her writing better every damn time. She's friggin' brilliant. Frosts favorite thing about Piper? Frost loves the fact that when they get together to create it becomes a tornado of brilliance that Frost couldn't be more grateful to be caught up in with Piper. Piper’s artistic abilities and mad skillz make Frost so proud to be associated with her (it makes her look good too). Also if Piper didn't adult for the both of them, not much would get done.

  Creating babies together has been the best adventure either of them has ever been on. You should most definitely check them out at www.facebook.com/malpalwrites and check out their books. They would flove you for3ver.