by Stacey Lynn
“I love you. You’ll always be the most important, and the best part of me.”
Blush stained her cheeks and before she could say anything, I continued with my plans. “We stay as long as we can and help with clean up. We call your insurance immediately and get that ball rolling. Then, we hire someone to take care of the animals while we’re gone. You said yourself once the fair is done, your work slows down and the fall becomes about maintaining and the calves birthing.”
I waited for her rebuttal and took a bite of my steak, washing it down with iced tea. The sweetness made me cringe, and in my lap, Rebecca laughed. A beautiful, soft sound that went straight to my dick and my heart. “Okay.”
I grabbed her bowl of fruit from across the table and pulled it closer so she could reach it.
She let that one word linger and when she didn’t say more but took a bite of more fruit, I continued. “It’s ten weeks. Whoever we hire can stay in the guesthouse. By the time we leave, electricity will be back up, I’ll make certain of it. Whoever you trust, we’ll find someone.”
“Kelly and Ryan,” she said, nodding once. “She’d do it, I know she would. Plus, they’re close enough to town they can both get to work easily and keep an eye on their own house. And I’d trust them. Or Jordan, but he has the resort. And I’m sure the Whitman’s will be okay with Tomas still doing a lot of work.”
A tight band that had been wrapped around my chest while I came up with this idea loosened. She wasn’t fighting me on it. Instead, she almost looked excited about it.
“We’ll only be gone ten weeks. Twelve at most. And while we’re gone, we can start rebuilding the house.”
Her fingers pressed against her forehead. “God. I hadn’t even thought…it’s so much to think about. I don’t have the money—”
“I do.” And she’d take it even if I had to force her to.
“But—”
“Are you going to someday be my wife? Make a family with me? Love me until we no longer walk this earth?”
She jerked in my lap and tilted her head. One corner of her lips lifted. “Are you proposing?”
“No.” I popped a kiss on her crooked smile. “When I do that you won’t have to ask. Now answer the question. You going to do those things with me?”
Her smile disappeared and something soft took its place, muting all the expression on her face. She looked at me like she’d never been more certain of anything in her life. “Yeah. Yes, of course I am.”
“Then it’s your money. We’ll make the plans together. I pony it up, you need to give it back, we’ll do that once insurance comes in. But this isn’t a difficult decision, Rebecca. It’s just us, moving on with life.”
Her eyes turned dreamy and she pressed her hand to my chest, leaning in so her lips were almost on mine. Whispering, she repeated my words. “It’s us. Moving on with life.”
And this time around, I had no doubt it was going to surpass all the dreams either of us ever had.
Epilogue
REBECCA
“You’re being ridiculous. I know what it looks like, you know.”
Next to me, Cooper laughed and pulled me tighter to his side. We were back in Carlton after an almost three-month absence and while I loved spending the fall in Los Angeles, I could honestly never return and never miss it. I was dying to get to my home. Our home. But approximately two miles down the road, he’d pulled to the side of the road and handed me a blindfold, insisting I put it on.
“You only know it from pictures,” he said and guided me over the now cement slab he’d insisted we do for the drive. Parts of the long drive were still gravel, but closer to the house he’d had cement laid.
We built the house together, every single plan was agreed on by both of us, and if I’d had any doubts, we worked well together, the stress of building a house with a man with very different opinions than mine would have been what broke us apart.
I’d wanted to rebuild the farmhouse exactly as it’d always been, with maybe a few updates, a little bit more space, and definitely a basement.
He’d wanted it built with steel beams, fortified with cement and iron and every other material that would make it impossible to ever be leveled by an F-4 tornado again. My safety was important to him, so I’d compromised once we started sifting through plans from a contractor he’d hired out of Kansas City, Missouri.
I agreed on brick, and from the plans, it was just over four thousand square feet of what I knew would be sheer beauty. The master bedroom was downstairs, where we’d have sweeping views of the land and French doors to walk out to the patio. We’d be able to see both the cattle in the pastures when they were close as well as the goats when they were out in their pen. Cooper had insisted on being able to see what he now called his animals, from the moment he woke up to the moment he closed his eyes. Even the window above our large, corner-soaking tub in the bathroom would allow him that option.
It was safe to say over the last several months I’d fallen deeper and deeper in love with this man, even with the fact he was hiding our home from me.
Everything took longer than we’d planned, from the clean up to the insurance to the building and even his filming. We’d wanted to have everything done by Thanksgiving so we could celebrate with his parents like we’d previously planned. Instead, we ended up flying to Buffalo and celebrating with them there.
I loved his family almost as much as I loved him. His sister was hilarious. His mom and dad even better. They had wrapped me in their arms from the moment they met me and treated me like their daughter before the hugs were finished and we were inside their home. And, since they weren’t able to come to Kansas for Thanksgiving, they were coming for Christmas.
I had two weeks to prepare.
My palms itched to remove the blindfold. The scent of dried grass and home tickled my nose and the chilly late fall air made me curl farther into him.
“Can I peek yet?”
“Almost.” He settled his hands on my shoulders and turned me, just so. His breath skated across my cheeks and I tensed, waiting for his lips to brush against mine. “You know I love you, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you know I can’t wait to walk into this house with you and start our life together, right?”
His voice was thick, trembled a little bit. My excitement flipped to nerves and I touched the blindfold. “What is it?”
He’d been acting strange all day. Fidgety. I thought it was just excitement but the tension in his voice made me second guess myself.
“Answer the question, woman.”
It took me a moment to remember it. “Of course. I can’t wait to start our life together too.”
“Good.” He removed the blindfold and the bright sun in my eyes made me squeeze them closed. I flinched, and when I opened them, I gasped at the house in front of me. Tan, beautiful brick, red door, red shutters. A sweeping front porch along with a swing.
He’d built me my swing. I’d mentioned it once in passing, how I’d wanted a swinging bench on the patio.
Tears immediately swam in my eyes and it took me a moment to realize Cooper wasn’t standing in front of me like he had been.
He was on one knee in front of me. A black box propped open in his palm as he took my hand in his.
“Will you start our life together, in this house, agreeing to be my wife?”
Oh damn. I’d prepared myself for the home and the onslaught of emotions I knew I’d face coming back to Kansas and having everything I knew be different.
I hadn’t prepared myself for this.
My knees wobbled and tears streamed down my cheeks. “What?” The house. Cooper. The ring.
It was all so beautiful. Too much.
So perfect.
“Marry me, Rebecca. Spend the rest of your life with me as Rebecca Hawke, working side by side to create a family. Make me the happiest man in the world and say yes.”
“God. Yes,” I cried and collapsed, unable to stay standing. He
caught me like he always did and we were on the ground, kissing, hands grappling onto each other. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The front door opened and a crowd of people streamed out onto the porch, shouting, “Congratulations!”
“Oh my God.” I buried my face into his chest, my entire body shook. “They’re all here.”
“Every single person you love is here,” he said. “Including my parents. They didn’t want to miss it.”
“Have I mentioned today that I love you, Cooper Hawke?”
He took the ring out of the box, a beautiful, modest diamond wrapped in smaller diamonds and more diamonds covered the entire band. It was obscenely bright, more beautiful than the sun, and perfect. “Have I told you yet today, I love you soon-to-be Mrs. Cooper Hawke?”
A warmth rolled through, spread through my veins and down to the tips of my toes. Inside, there were no longer any missing or broken parts of me.
Cooper swept into my life when I never thought I could trust a man again, much less fall in love with one, but he was everything I needed, taking me by surprise, and filled me with me stability and passion I’d never lose.
“No,” I teased, kissing him. “Actually, you haven’t said that yet today.”
“My mistake.” He kissed me slowly, pulling me to my feet with us still connected and swept me into his arms. Behind us, his family and all of our friends cheered. “I love you, Mrs. soon-to-be Cooper Hawke.”
“I love you too, future husband. Now take me inside and show me our home.”
“With pleasure.”
He carried me up the stairs, through the large grouping of our friends, my friends that had become his, and his family that had become mine. We toasted with champagne and wine and whiskey, and I toured my home, seeing it finished for the very first time, and as we swept through each room, Cooper held my hand, at my side…where he’d stay forever.
Thank You
Thank you so much for purchasing and reading This Time Around.
This series is very special to me and I can’t wait to bring you more books from the gang in Carlton, Kansas. More books in this real life romance series will be coming later this year.
If you’d like to be notified when I have a new release or cover reveal for my upcoming books, please visit my website, http://www.staceylynnbooks.com and subscribe to my newsletter.
Also, join my reader group on Facebook where you can receive exclusive excerpts and be the first to know everything I’m working on by clicking here.
Thank you again, and please don’t forget the value of leaving a review on the retailer you purchased this book from or Goodreads.
Special thank you to Lori and Keith for inviting me to your home and teaching me everything you know! I can’t wait to return and visit my favorite animals.
Huge thank you to my amazing team. Mariah, Hilary, Nina, Petra, Ellie, Virginia, Shannon, Tonya, FTN…I couldn’t do any of this without all of you. Thank you for all your incredible hard work, unending support, and friendship.
About the Author
Stacey Lynn currently lives in Minnesota with her husband and four children. When she’s not conquering mountains of laundry and fighting a war against dust bunnies and cracker crumbs, you can find her playing with her children, curled up on the couch with a good book, or on the boat with her family enjoying Minnesota’s beautiful, yet too short, summer.
She lives off her daily pot of coffee, can only write with a bowlful of Skittles nearby, and has been in love with romance novels since before she could drive herself to the library.
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If you would like to know more about Stacey Lynn, follow her here:
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Website: www.staceylynnbooks.com
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If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on the site where it was purchased.
Other Books by Stacey Lynn
Crazy Love Series
Fake Wife
Knocked Up – releasing June 2018
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The Rough Riders Series
Dirty Player
Filthy Player
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The Luminous Series
Dominate Me
Crave Me
Long For Me
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The Fireside Series
His to Love
His to Protect
His to Cherish
His to Seduce
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Tangled Love Series
Entice
Embrace
Enflame
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Just One Series
Just One Song
Just One Week
Just One Regret
Just One Moment
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The Nordic Lords Series
Point of Return
Point of Redemption
Point of Freedom
Point of Surrender
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Standalones
Captive – The Fidelity Kindle World
Remembering Us
Don’t Lie To Me
Try Me – A Don’t Lie To Me Novella