Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

“I’ve had either blue coconut or coconut cream for twenty years. They remind me of you,” she admitted.

“This is my first snow cone since I left home, and, honey, everything reminded me of you,” he said. “They used to serve them in cone shapes. I wonder when they started using paper cups?”

“They haven’t used those cone things in years,” she said. “What I wonder is why did we waste all those years?”

“Nothing is wasted life,” he answered. “Everything we’ve been through has brought us to this day. I like the adults we’ve become even better than the kids we were.”

“When you put it that way, it makes sense. God or Fate or Destiny was preparing us for something better on down the road.” Addy did a quick look back over the years and realized in that moment that she and Jesse might not have made a relationship work when they were young, but now they just might do so.

* * *



“The barn is gone,” Jesse groaned when he drove up to the spot where the old building had been. “I thought that thing was so old, it had petrified and would be here for another hundred years.”

“I was looking forward to climbing up in the loft and watching the stars while we finished these snow cones,” Addy said.

Jesse opened the truck door to find there was a nice breeze blowing. “The stars are still there even if the barn has been torn down. We’ll get a much better view from the bed of my truck. I’ve got an emergency quilt we can lay on under the backseat. Maybe we’ll see a falling star, and we can make a wish on it.”

Addy didn’t wait on him to help her out of the vehicle but met him at the backside of the truck with a snow cone in each hand. “You always travel with a quilt?”

“Yep, but it’s been washed after the baby event.” He spread it out in the bed of the truck, took the snow cones from her and set them on the tailgate, then helped her up.

They sat with their backs against the cab, and just as Jesse took his last bite of snow cone, he pointed up at the sky. “There goes one. What are we going to wish for?”

“You saw it first, so you get to wish,” Addy told him.

“I wish for years and years of happiness right here in Honey Grove,” he said.

“You stole my thunder,” she replied.

Jesse wasn’t at all surprised that they would want the same thing.

Knowing her as well as you do, the voice inside his head said, sounding a lot like Frankie’s, are you going to get bored with her and wish you were back in the life with me and the boys? If she really loves you, she would be willing to come to Miami with you.

Jesse slowly shook his head. She’s not the problem, my friend. I don’t want to go back to that life, and even if I did, my family, and that includes Addy and Mia, are more important to me than the thrill that dangerous adventures would bring.

He slid over closer to Addy and wrapped her up in his arms and breathed in the sweet coconut fragrance of her hair. “It’s your hair,” he blurted out.

“What’s my hair?” she asked.

“You’ve always used shampoo that smells like coconut. The snow cones leave a taste in my mouth like the scent of your hair leaves in my nose. That’s what I like about that flavor,” he said.

“That may be the most romantic thing a guy has ever said to me,” she said.

Jesse tipped up her chin with his fist and kissed her—long, lingering, and passionately. “I’ve wanted to do that all evening,” he said when the kiss ended.

She drew his mouth down to hers for another kiss, and when that one ended, they were both panting. “I’ve wanted to do that all evening, too. Matter of fact, I wanted to kiss you like that a lot of the times when we were out here as kids.” She shifted her weight until she was sitting in his lap, and her lips were on his again.

Jesse had never wanted a woman so much that his whole body ached with desire, or that his heart had pounded so hard. His hands found their way up under her shirt, and her skin was like silk to his touch. He massaged her back while she undid the buttons on his shirt, one at a time, stopping to run her hands over his chest after she unfastened each one.

“You’re killin’ me,” he gasped.

“What do you think you’re doing to me?” she whispered in his ear.

“Are we going to do this right here in the bed of my truck?” he asked.

“What’s wrong with this place? The stars are above us, and there goes another shooting one.” Her lips found his again.

When that round of kisses ended, he said, “I’d thought of something far more romantic than this for our first time.”

“This is our second time, and there’s no place more romantic than this.” She smiled.

Jesse didn’t argue but simply enjoyed every minute of having Addy back in his arms, of feeling her naked body next to his, of the complete satisfaction of making love to her with his whole body, heart and soul. Then he wrapped the quilt around them, sealing them inside as if they were in a cocoon and all the world had disappeared.

“I like the idea of it being just us under the stars,” he whispered.

Addy’s soft breathing said volumes. She had drifted off to sleep in his arms, trusting him out there in the wide-open spaces to protect her. He buried his face in her hair and closed his eyes, planning to rest them for only a few minutes.