Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

44

Rebecca

The fire gave off a spray of embers as the laptop hit the burning logs and slid against the brick interior, half inside the flames and half out.

The three Cassidy brothers looked at me like I was crazy.

“What’d you do that for!” Cody exclaimed.

“I’m proving that I care more about you than the book I was writing.” The fire popped loudly in agreement.

Blake gawked at me, then ran forward. He grabbed the metal poker and used it to pull the laptop out of the flames, grabbing it with his hand and tossing it on the brick exterior. He hissed and shook his hand to cool it off.

“Fuck that,” he said. “I forgive you, because I don’t give a shit why you came here in the first place. I only care about what’s happened since then.”

“Really?” I asked, scarcely believing it. I had expected Blake to be angriest of all.

He cupped my cheek and caressed me with a thumb that was still warm from grabbing the laptop. “I’m glad you had ulterior motives. Without them, you wouldn’t have come here. We’re square, Rebecca. You’re still my girl.”

I smiled up at him, relieved beyond words.

“Besides, if you’re this big-time author… I kind of like the idea of being in a novel.”

Cody nodded. “I’ve never had a story written about me. I wish you would’ve told us sooner, mind you, but I’m not gonna hold a grudge about it. I forgive you too, Becca.”

I turned to Mason. He was leaning forward on the couch, holding his cowboy hat in both hands.

“If Blake can forgive you,” he said slowly, “then I reckon I can too.”

I walked over to him and sat in his lap. “I’ll never lie to you again. I promise, with all my heart.”

His chiseled face twitched with a grin. “Little white lies are all right once in a while. Like when you said Blake’s tattoos are sexy.”

“Hey!” Blake said.

“Just don’t lie about the big stuff,” Mason finished.

I leaned in for a hug, clinging to the man I had very nearly lost. I’ll never lose him again, I told myself.

Terry came walking back inside with a thick stack of papers in her hand. “Is everything sorted out? I have that waiver for you to sign if you’re ready…”

“Kind of killing the moment, Terry,” I said.

“Forget the moment,” Blake said as he approached my agent. “If I get Rebecca and a bunch of cash for letting her write a book? Fuck me, that’s a win-win right there. Tell me where to sign.”

We spent a few minutes going over the waiver. Mason skimmed the documents but said he trusted me. Hearing him say that was better than him saying he forgave me.

I walked Terry out to her car after. “I can’t believe you flew here at the drop of a hat.”

“You’re my favorite client, and you had a problem.” She tossed the documents into her car and turned to me. “I really wish you had told me the truth, Rebecca. It could have saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

“I know,” I admitted. “But it’s tough sometimes. You’re pushy when people disagree with you on something.”

“It’s my job to be pushy! Pushy is how I got you a book deal worth twice as much as Evelyn Marchbank’s deal.” She softened. “But maybe I can be a little less pushy with you. You’re the author, after all.”

“I’m sorry for everything,” I said. “If it makes you feel better, I hated lying to you. I felt guilty every day.”

“That does make me feel a little better. Just don’t ever do it again.”

“I promise.”

We hugged, and then she got into her rental car. She rolled down the window and said, “It really smells out here.”

“That’s what nature smells like,” I replied.

“I don’t know how you stand it.”

She waved, then turned around and drove off the ranch.

I went back inside and examined my laptop. The left half was charred black and melted slightly. It looked like a Picasso painting.

“I really hope I can recover it,” I said.

“You probably had a backup, right?” Mason asked. “In the cloud or whatever the guys at Geek Squad are always trying to sell me?”

I shook my head. “I turned off my automatic backups when Cody was streaming The Bachelor a few weeks ago. Everything before that is backed up, but all the work I’ve done since then…”

“Well shit,” Cody said. “And here I thought throwin’ the laptop into the fire was just an empty gesture!”

Mason took me in his arms. “Now I really understand what you were trying to prove. I can’t imagine suddenly losing weeks of work I’d done on the ranch…”

He lowered his lips to mine, and I kissed him with all the passion of a woman who thought she would never get to do it again.

“We’ve got the windbreak to finish,” I pointed out. “All the supplies are still out there.”

“The windbreak can wait. I have other plans for you right now.”