“Thank you for your time, Ms. Gentry,” Monty DuBois says gently, sighing as he sticks his small notepad in back pocket. “I think this’ll be a cut and dry case. I hope it’ll help matters that we’ll be taking those boys right to jail.”

Uncle Daniel claps the sheriff’s shoulder and begins guiding him from the dining room, sharing a look with Cord as he quietly enters the door.

“They’re in the stable,” Cord announces, stepping to the side to allow the other two to pass. “If you don’t mind, Monty, I’ll come into the station tomorrow to give my statement. It’s been a real long night.”

I know Cord well enough to know that he’s biting back some choice words for the sheriff regarding his family’s innocence in the matter and the accusations that have been flying around. When the sheriff nods in agreement, Cord turns back to me, his eyes so fiery and raw that my stomach twists up inside of me. I have no idea what’s going on in his head, but it’s something intense.

Steam curling around his face, Jameson looks on curiously from over the top of his coffee mug.

“Come with me,” Cord whispers hoarsely. “Sloane, come to my cabin.”

He outstretches one of his tan, calloused hands. The same hand that’s seen so much hard work and so much struggle and so much pain in just twenty-six years.

Setting my own mug aside, I stand slowly and slide my palm against his, memorizing the feel of his hand under my own. It feels different every time that he touches me, depending on how much and what kind of work he’s done that day, but each time is equally lovely. It’s like his warm hold reaches deeper than just my fingers; it’s like he reaches my heart.

“Is everything okay?” I ask once we’re alone and walking across the yard.

“Every—everything is fine,” he mumbles clumsily. “I hope.”

We reach his front porch, where the flood light turns on at our approach. I stop right before the steps, tugging the rugged man to a halt beside me.

“Cord, tell me what you’re thinking,” I say. “Please.”

He clears his throat, running a nervous hand through his hair.

I bite my lip, one arm slowly wrapping around myself in a slow hug. “Is it . . . Do you look at me differently now . . . because of what that man—”

“God, Sloane, no!” he cries instantly, whirling around, pressing his palms to my cheeks and lowering his forehead to my own so that his breath washes across my face. “No, no, no. Nothing like that.”

“Then what, Cord?” I whisper, fighting the tears welling up. “What’s going on? I can tell something is on your mind, and I just don’t know what it could be!”

His warm and sweet breath continues to breeze over my face.

“Sloane . . .” he murmurs, eyes closing then opening again as he gazes so intensely at me that I feel like he can see all the way down inside of my soul. “Dammit, I’ve never said this to anyone before, and I just . . . Sloane, I love you. I love every damn inch of you. I love everything about you. The way that you’re so recklessly stubborn, heartily tender. How could anyone not?”

“I don’t care if anyone loves me,” I whisper back in a daze, blinking my eyes hard once then twice, expecting myself to wake up from this beautiful dream.

Is this really happening?

“I don’t care if anyone loves me,” I repeat clumsily when my alarm doesn’t go off, and I don’t wake up, and Cord’s beautiful green eyes don’t melt away like a phantom’s. “I only care if you love me, Cord, because I love you. I’ve been trying so hard not to say it.”

Laughter bubbles up inside of me, a delirious giggle of pure happiness that I almost don’t even recognize.

He sweeps me up into his arms, mouth capturing my own, his eager tongue sweeping over my lower lip as I all too gladly welcome him in.

“Sloane, while we’re talking crazy . . . there’s been this one other thing that I’ve wanted to say to you—”

“You hate that Crumpet loves me so much?” I tease, nuzzling my nose against his, refusing to let any inch of space come between us. “Miranda told me Crumpet usually gives new riders trouble.”

Cord laughs a hearty, deep, rumbling laugh that makes my heart throb with joy and love.

“Yes, that, but . . . Sloane, I want you to think about staying here past the summer. With me. And Crumpet. I know you’re a busy woman, you’ve got a life to get back to, but you’ve become such a part of our family here that to think of you leaving . . . it just damn near breaks my heart.”

“Yes,” I say simply, and it’s possibly the easiest decision I have ever made. “Yes. Yes. Yes. I would love to stay here, Cord. This ranch . . . it feels like it’s the place that I’m supposed to be. Today, tomorrow, next year . . . I never want to go anywhere else.”

In one easy movement, Cord slips his arms around me and scoops me up against his chest. I let out a startled giggle, my arms tangling around his sturdy neck.

He strides forward to the door of his cabin, kicking it open and collapsing on the bed with me still in his arms.

His mouth takes mine, our bodies twisting and writhing against one another, arms and legs tangling tight. Our clothes practically dissolve between one another as they’re dragged free of our desperate bodies, our mouths never parting for longer than we need to rip shirts over his head or mine. There’s the sound of fabric ripping as Cord pulls off my panties, but neither one of us pays it any mind.

He slips one hand behind my back, arching my naked chest to his as his fingers glide over me, reveling in the curves of my body.

His tongue sweeps against mine, sweet and rich as chocolate.

Kissing him makes my head hazy and warm. He makes my body feel electric, like I’m a cloud filled with lightning and nothing can relieve me but the sensation of him filling me completely.

Just when I think I’m going to have to beg him to enter me, I feel the swollen, throbbing head of his cock press greedily against my folds. I twist, rocking my hips up toward his as he chuckles against my mouth.

Finally, he thrusts himself deep into me, so wonderfully gentle and complete that it makes my entire body spasm with ecstasy.

“I love you, Sloane,” he growls against my lips, our bodies rolling over his mattress, the sheets coiling around us like a snake. “God, I love you so much, I’ve been waiting so long to say that to you . . .”

I inhale his words, deepening the kiss as we rock tighter, our fingers interlacing.

“I love you, Cord,” I whisper back, my voice pitching with pleasure from his thrusts.

Cord buries himself inside of me in one final, hard thrust, a moan of raw bliss vibrating against my lips as my own explosion of pleasure rocks through me. We move lazily still, quivering with the aftershocks of our ecstasy.

He peppers my face with tired, tender kisses as I bask in the affection.

This is truly where I’m meant to be: wrapped up in the arms of the one I love so deeply.