True Love Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan

The doorbell rang, drawing Jon out of the numbers circling his head. He blinked his tired eyes. He’d been staring at his computer screen too long. Emmy, on the couch behind him, was still watching a Disney movie. The gardeners had finished cleaning the yard and trimming the trees and bushes. He thanked God the incessant noise finally ended. He couldn’t wait to see the new plants they’d put in tomorrow.

He wasn’t expecting anyone and figured the landscapers left after they finished for the day. He hoped to God it wasn’t Steph after she made a big show this morning on her video chat with Emmy about how she’d cleaned and organized the apartment. He took the time to watch as she showed Emmy everything. He had to admit, she’d done as he asked. It finally looked like she and Emmy lived there. All the boxes were gone, Steph’s belongings were either displayed or stored away, and everything looked clean. She’d even made a point of showing Emmy all the cats and asked about how she was and what she was doing.

All in all, they had a good call.

Progress, he hoped.

He braced himself when he opened the door, just in case Steph wanted to make an even bigger effort by coming to see Emmy in person.

He never expected the surprise guest standing on his porch with a smile and a casserole dish.

“Hi.”

“Trinity. It’s so good to see you.” Overwhelmed with joy, he couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“I hoped you’d say that.”

He tilted his head and studied her. “Why wouldn’t I be happy to see you? I left you two voice mails and you haven’t called me back.”

“That’s why I’m here. Apology peach cobbler.” She held up the foil-covered dish. “And also, welcome to the neighborhood.”

He couldn’t believe she drove all the way out here to bring him dessert. Though she looked good enough to eat in a gauzy white shirt that dipped low enough for him to get a tempting glimpse at her cleavage, and jeans that molded to her hips and showed off her long legs.

Her lips pressed together. “Did I overstep?”

“What?” He had no idea what she meant.

She tilted her head, her long hair spilling over her shoulder and down her arm. “Showing up unannounced.”

“I dropped in on you. I guess this is our thing.”

She smiled and his belly did that roller coaster flying thing that amped his adrenaline. God, he was happy to see her.

“Then, are you going to invite me in?”

The shock of seeing the woman he most wanted to see finally wore off. “Yes! Come in.” He’d lost his damn mind the second he’d seen her.

She stepped into the entry and came up short right in front of him because he couldn’t move and just wanted her closer. “I love what you’ve done with the yard.”

Truthfully, he’d barely glanced at it when the head of the landscaping crew waved goodbye on his way past the window where Jon had been working at the table for the last couple hours. “It’s not done. They’re coming back tomorrow to plant flowers.”

“It’ll be even prettier then.”

“Nothing looks better than you.”

“Will my good looks get me past the entry? Though I am wondering what is going on with all the boxes.”

“The painters are coming this week, along with the carpet people, and I’m having new countertops put in the kitchen.” He waved his hand out to encompass the large space. “It’s a whole ordeal, but the place will look like new in a couple of weeks. I hope,” he added, because it seemed like his best-laid plans got derailed more often than not.

Emmy ran up and threw her arms around Trinity’s thighs. “Trinity! Come see my room.” Emmy tugged on her hand.

She quickly handed off the cobbler to him and went along with Emmy.

He debated whether to shut off his computer and hide what he’d been doing, or set the cobbler down and go after them. He did the latter because he just couldn’t believe she was here, and he wanted to spend every second of her stay with her, because if he remembered right, she had a family dinner tonight.

He didn’t know why she didn’t call him back after he left messages. He didn’t much care, now that she was here. Still, he’d missed her these last couple days and that was very new for him, considering he’d been extremely busy with work on the house and being with Emmy.

He found them in Emmy’s room. Trinity was lying on the double bed, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars he’d put on the ceiling in a swirling pattern.

“You were right. This is the softest bed ever.”

He’d taken Emmy shopping at the department store to buy new sheets and blankets. If it wasn’t soft as a bunny, she didn’t want it, so her bed was now the softest thing he’d ever felt. She didn’t like to sleep with the sheet, just the blanket he’d bought her. No comforter. She wanted two different colored soft blankies. One blue. One purple.

When the painters came on Tuesday, they’d transform Emmy’s room with a new coat of pale lavender paint and trim out the windows in white. With her dark furniture and the sky blue carpet he’d ordered for her room, it would be as bright and cheerful as his little girl.

Emmy held her arms out. “Like the new furniture?”

“I do. It’s perfect in here. I especially love the silver lamps.”

“I picked them. Daddy helped.”

“They’re perfect.”

One on each side of the bed on the nightstands he’d bought so Emmy could display her favorite egg night-light, books, and assorted plastic gems and tiny toys. The furniture store even had a wood toy chest that matched the bedroom set almost perfectly. Emmy had everything she needed to feel like she was home here.

He wondered if that would become a permanent thing or not.

Steph seemed to be trying. But she was always good in short spurts.

Thoughts about Steph only made him mad, so he focused on the woman who deserved his undivided attention. And all he wanted to do was crawl up on that bed with Trinity and Emmy and hold the both of them in his arms, even if his mind conjured ten other things he’d like to do with Trinity in a bed—not in this room.

Trinity rose and sat on the edge of the mattress. “It turned out great, Jon. I’m so glad the store was able to get the furniture to you so fast.”

“Me too.”

“And you got the letters at the craft store.”

“They spell EMMY. Daddy and I are going to paint them and put them up over my bed.”

“Awesome!” Trinity touched her fingertip to Emmy’s nose, making her giggle.

Jon smiled at both of them. “Once the room is painted, everything will be perfect for her.”

“Daddy says we’re getting horses.”

Trinity looked surprised and properly excited to suit Emmy. “Really?”

“I want to teach her to ride as soon as the stables are repaired and ready.”

“Did you already buy the horses?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. It’s on my list. Along with three dozen other things I need to do.”

She gave him a tell-me-about-it nod. “I’ll have my brother Tate call you. He knows everything about horses. I bet he knows who has a couple for sale that will be good for trail riding and safe for her.”

“Really? That would be fantastic and save me a lot of time.”

“It’s no trouble.” Trinity always seemed to have a solution, never a complaint.

He liked that about her. He liked a lot of things about her.

Jon pulled his phone out of his back pocket, tapped his way to his contact list, and handed it to her. “Put his number in there. I’ll call him as soon as I’m ready.”

“I’ll let him know to expect your call.” She checked her watch. “I can’t stay much longer.”

“Your family dinner, right?” He wished she didn’t have to go.

She seemed surprised he remembered. “Yeah. I think Declan and Skye have finally set a date for their wedding. I hope it’s soon because Adria looks like she’s about to pop and Liz is pregnant, too. I’m sure the happy couple wants everyone to be there, so they better hurry up.”

“Wow. Your family is getting bigger by the day.” He and her brother Drake were only a year apart. Drake was married with twins on the way. Declan was a year younger than him and also getting married. Jon had his little girl, but he hadn’t found love.

Steph—He cut off all the bad thoughts he had about her. She wasn’t the one.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t find someone to share his life with. So far, he really enjoyed spending time with Trinity. So much so, he wanted to spend a lot more time with her.

“I can’t believe it. All my brothers married.” Her bright smile made her even lovelier.

“You look happy for them.”

“I am. They each found the one person who will have their back no matter how hard things get. They’ve all been tested in one way or another and come through it stronger individually and as a couple. I have no doubt they are all in it for the long haul.”

Emmy leaned over Trinity’s back and traced her finger along the scar running down the side of her face at her temple. “Owie. How’d you get that?”

Jon stepped toward the bed to take his daughter’s hand away. “Emmy, it’s not polite to ask things like that.” Though he’d wondered about the scar and how she’d gotten it.

Trinity waved him off, then turned to Emmy. “A very bad man wanted to hurt my brother and his wife. He hit me really hard and left that owie.” A darkness clouded Trinity’s eyes.

Emmy stared intently at Trinity. “Were you scared?”

“Yes, I was.” She brushed her shaking hand along the side of Emmy’s face, her eyes filled with the fear she tried to hide. She stood abruptly, said, “I have to go,” then rushed past him.

He spun and went after her, catching her just before she bolted out the door. He held her arm and felt the tremble rippling through her whole body. “Hey, I’m sorry she upset you.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” The words quickly tumbled out of her mouth.

He sank his fingers into her hair at the side of her head and brushed his thumb over the fading scar. “I can see and feel you’re not okay.”

Her gaze fell to his chest. “It comes back sometimes. I can’t control it. The fear . . . it just overwhelms me.”

It finally dawned on him what had nagged at the back of his mind about the way they met in the driveway when she helped his dad. “The night we met. You thought I meant to hurt you.”

She pointed at her head. “It gets mixed up in there sometimes. The past. The present. Is it real or just my imagination?”

“Or a flashback,” he suggested, reality hitting him like a punch to the chest. It took a moment for the trauma she was dealing with to really settle in his mind. “What happened to you?” He really wanted to know. He wanted to understand her better.

He wanted to chase away the nightmare for good so she never felt this way again.

“Um, I can’t talk about it. It . . . it makes things worse. I thought things were getting better, but then that night with your dad . . . you came out of the dark . . . I try really hard to stay grounded in the here and now. I know he can’t hurt me ever again. Still . . .”

“Okay. I get it.” He wished she’d confide in him and trust him enough to share. But this thing between them, although it felt so strong, it was new.

The pain looked raw in her. She needed time.

He’d give it to her.

“If you really want to know what happened, you can find the story online. Just look up my brother Tate. Most of the story is about what happened between his wife, Liz, and her stalker ex, Clint. I was just one more person he hurt.”

“To get to your brother and his wife,” he finished for her. She didn’t feel like what happened to her mattered compared to whatever happened to them, and he didn’t think that was right.

It did matter. Her fear and anxiety were as real as anything.

“Liz wasn’t his wife yet, but yeah.” She pulled free of his light hold. “I need to go.” She said the words but didn’t back away.

He tried to pull her back another way. “We’re still on for breakfast tomorrow morning, right?”

“Yeah. Sure.” She tried to distance herself now that she’d opened up to him. She didn’t need to.

He had no intention of letting her go because of some perceived weakness she thought she had because she was still processing and dealing with what happened to her. “Trinity, whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re dealing with, it’s not going to stop me from wanting to see you.”

Her gaze fell to his chest again. “I hope not,” she whispered.

He heard Emmy in her room playing tea party with her stuffed friends, so he had no reason not to pull Trinity close until her body touched his and her face was a breath away. “Nothing could stop me from doing this one more time.” He kissed her softly, letting her know he was there and not going anywhere. She leaned into him, her hands sliding along his ribs and up his back. She went up on her toes, taking the kiss deeper, sliding her tongue along his, and setting him on fire.

Both his hands tangled in her mass of long blond hair.

Her nails bit into his back as she held him close.

“Daddy.” Emmy stood right behind them.

He and Trinity jumped apart like two teens who’d been caught making out.

With a sigh of regret, he turned to his daughter. “Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Of course you are.” He glanced at Trinity, the woman he was starving for, who touched her kiss-swollen lips with two fingers and nearly had him on his knees begging, then turned back to his daughter. “I left a snack in the fridge. Go find it.”

Emmy gave Trinity a big smile and said, “Kissing.” She giggled.

Trinity laughed with her. “Yes, we were.” She brushed her hand over Emmy’s head. “Your hair looks amazing.”

“Daddy did it.” She ran into the kitchen to get the grapes, cheese cubes, and turkey slices he’d left for her.

Trinity smiled at him. “I love the braids.”

He’d done one small one coming from each side of her head and tied them together in the back to hold the rest of her long hair out of her face. “I learned from a video on YouTube.”

This time she reached out to him and put her hand on his face. “That’s sweet you’d go through the trouble to learn.”

“I do the best I can.”

Her hand settled on his chest over his thumping heart. “I think she’s a lucky girl.”

He covered her hand with his. “Yeah, well, luck was on my side when I met you.”

She brushed a kiss against his lips. “Yep. Sweet. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Not soon enough,” he said by way of goodbye.

She was out the door far too soon, but before she walked down the path to the driveway, she turned back. “I just thought you should know, the cobbler was just a means to see if you’d kiss me again.”

Damn if he didn’t want to spend the rest of the day and night doing just that. “Stop by anytime. I’m happy to oblige.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun as she backed away, turned, then headed for her SUV.

He reluctantly closed the door instead of going after her for what he really wanted, because he had to check on his daughter.

“What’s this?” Emmy pulled up a corner of the foil on the dessert Trinity dropped off.

“Peach cobbler.” Or Trinity’s means to get him to kiss her again. He hoped she knew now she didn’t need to do anything but show up and he’d want to kiss her over and over again.

“Do I like that?”

“I’m not sure.” But he knew for damn sure he more than liked Trinity.

He grabbed a spoon from the drawer and scooped out a small bite and fed it to Emmy.

“Mmm. That’s good.”

“Eat your snack first, then you can have a little bit now and some after dinner if you eat all of it, too.”

Emmy ran back to her plate at the counter and took it to the table. He stole his own bite of cobbler and nearly groaned with satisfaction from that tiny bite. He wished he could skip dinner and just eat that, but he needed to set a good example for Emmy.

Instead of devouring the brown sugar, cinnamon, and peach concoction, he went back to his computer and pulled up the search engine. He typed in Tate’s name, added Liz and Clint to the search and hit enter. His eyes popped at the number of stories that filled the page. He started with the first one and couldn’t believe all that Clint put Liz, Tate, Trinity, and a string of other women through. Murder, kidnapping, arson, deepfake videos, and harassment that went on for years for some of the victims.

His stomach knotted and his heart ached for her.

He thought of the scar on Trinity’s temple, the ones left on her mind and heart, and he wanted to kill the asshole who terrorized her then and now.

Too bad the bastard was already dead and Jon couldn’t get his hands on him.

God help anyone who tried to hurt her again.

He’d show no mercy when it came to Emmy and Trinity.