Chapter Twenty-Three

As we made our way back to the house hours later, both of us were grinning from ear to ear. I never knew I could gain that much pleasure from a man. Yes, I had my share of experience, but something about Jase pulled me to realms I had never known existed. He made sure to express to me all of his thoughts and we shared our passion deeply. 

As we approached the barn and I saw Canyon was there, my slight blush turned crimson red.

"If you don't lose that look, babe, he's gonna kill me before we ever get the chance to do that again."

I knew he was right and forced myself to calm down. This felt much worse than being caught by my mother, though. Canyon was always the man in my life that would crush anyone or anything that hurt me. 

"I'm trying but—"

"Hey, you two, how was it?"

We had just gotten to the gate of the corral and both Jase and I were doing our best not to burst out in laughter. I couldn't answer him without giving it away so instead I left it up to Jase and began climbing down from Nyah. 

"Hey! What did I say before about getting off of her?"

Jase jumped out of his saddle, forgetting all about Canyon, and was lifting me off of her and down to the ground seconds later. 

"I didn't mean to yell at you. I just don't want to see you hurt yourself again." He placed a loose curl behind my ear with a tender touch. Looking back into his eyes, I did everything in my power not to act on the need I felt to kiss him.

"Well, it looks like you two had more fun than I care to know about. Jase, why don't you go find my son? He's been waiting a while."

I stepped back from Jase quickly, startled by Canyon's voice. Jase, however, didn't move. His eyes were telling me something that my mind couldn't decipher. Before I got the chance to figure it out, though, he stepped away from me, turned, and walked away. My head shook back and forth trying to clear the confusion bearing down on me.

"Shelby, can we talk?"

Canyon was standing to my right when I looked up.

"Yeah, sure."

I folded my arms across my chest and waited for him to come down on me.

"I love you like you're my own. You know that, right?"

"Of course I do."

"Good. Then me saying this won't sound so strange. I … Well … I just want to make sure you're being safe."

"Canyon, Jase would never hurt me. He is the most loving, sweet—"

"No, hun, I mean, protection. You know, for when you—"

"Please stop."

If I thought I was embarrassed before, I had now moved on to mortification, and looking at Canyon, he felt the same way. 

"I can help you out here and tell you I learned all about this, years ago, from your wife. You have nothing to worry about."

It was as if a thousand pounds were lifted off both of our shoulders. 

"Okay then, we can be done with this." 

He all but ran away, and the tightness of my lips weren't the best at working to contain my laughter. When I knew he was out of ear shot, I let it go. There's nothing like laughing—it's the only thing the body can do to let you know happiness excels all.

After I collected myself, I went in search of answers from Jase. Walking through the barn, I found him coming toward me with a smiling Gabriel as he taunted Jase, "Are you ready to lose? You are going down!"

It was adorable watching as Jase rubbed the hair on Gabriel's head, letting him feel as if he could do anything he put his mind to. When he looked back and saw me, though, his expression completely changed. 

"Hey, Gabe, why don't you go saddle up your horse and I'll be there in a second?"

Gabriel didn't hesitate to run into the barn, but screamed behind him, “You better hurry."

Jase didn't respond to him as he made his way across the lawn to me. In fact, he didn't say a word when he stopped in front of me, either. He simply stared into my eyes shaking his head back and forth.

"Jase? What happened?"

I reached my hand out to touch his face and let the back of it skim across his cheek.

"Talk to me. Did I do something wrong?"

He had been leaning his face into my hand until I finished that question. Then his eyes opened wide with shock.

"Did you just ask me if you did anything? God no, Red, you didn't do shit wrong."

"Then what happened back there?"

"I could feel how nervous and scared you were, and I had no choice but to leave you to deal with it. I don't like him worrying you like that."

Shock was written all over my face.

"What? Canyon is like a father to me. I will never fear him."

"I know, but it doesn't take away from the fact I felt your— You know what? Never mind."

Feeling the anger pooling within him, I rushed to grab him and force him to see I was okay. 

"Look me in the eyes, Jase."

When his eyes met mine, I poured my heart out.

"The fact your instinct is to protect me makes me feel more loved and secure than I have ever known. But this time, it's not being used for any reason. Canyon isn't a threat to me. You, on the other hand, pulling away from me is what's hurting. Please don't do this."

His hands cupped my face, but his eyes never let me go.

"I'm in love with you, Red. I don't know how to do anything other than love you."

"Then kiss me and prove it."

His lips came crashing down on mine, bringing me back to a place where I knew comfort. I lifted my hands and brought them to his back, pulling him closer to me. Wanting and wishing for him to take me to the heights only he could. 

"Hey! I thought we were gonna race?"

Jase jerked back from me, panting, trying to regain composure before he even dared to look at Gabriel. I stared at the ground, embarrassed that my nephew had just caught me practically humping my boyfriend's leg.

"Yeah, we are. Um, let's go do this."

He began to walk away but turned at the last minute and lifted my chin, encouraging me to look at him. The smile he sported was contagious, and instantly, I wore one to match.

"There's my girl."

All too soon, he let his hand fall and I watched him walk away with Gabriel through the barn. The smile never left my face.

That night, we shared ourselves with each other along with every day and night after, for the following three weeks. Nothing could come between us. I went with him to my sister's every day and helped him with his work. After, we would spend time with my family, go out on our own, or simply rent a movie and relax at his house. It didn't matter what we were doing as long as it meant we were together. We had grown inseparable.

My physical therapy sessions were grueling but paid off when the doctor allowed me to kick the boot early and advance to a medical shoe. It wasn't glorious by any means but I was one step away from being back to my old self.

My mother finally came clean with Arianna about the whole boyfriend thing when Mr. Franklin surprised her with an engagement ring and forced her to make a choice. We were all shocked when she said yes. Since, she had moved him in, with my permission, of course. 

It was a Friday night when Jase had asked me to go into the house and grab him a bottle of water. He had just taken care of all the horses, and with the amount of work he had put out, I was wondering why. We had all weekend to get it done, but instead of questioning him, I went to grab the water anyway. Walking into the house, I saw my sister and Canyon standing in the hallway talking. 

"Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just came in to grab Jase a water."

Both got quiet which only gave me the distinct feeling they were talking about me. Not letting that one go, I put my hands on my hips and said, "Spill it."

Arianna walked toward me smiling while Canyon went into the family room.

"There's nothing to spill. We were just talking about the baby."

"You big fat liar."

"Who are you calling big and fat?"

"Oh, don't try to spin this around on me. You know full well you guys were talking about me. What's up? And why don't you want to tell me?"

"Because it's not my place, so stop bugging me about it and go bring your man his water."

What sounded snooty was nothing but the opposite. She was smiling when she grabbed a bottle from the fridge and handed it to me.

"You suck."

"I know and Canyon loves it."

"Ew."

"Gotcha. Now go."

She shuffled me out the door, and what I found at the bottom of the steps stole my breath away.

Standing there holding a bouquet of fresh flowers was the man that stole my heart.

"Red, would you stop staring at me and come here?"

I made my way down each step wondering what in the world was going on. When my feet landed on solid ground, he let his arm fall and wrapped me in them both.

"Come away with me for the weekend."

"What? Where?"

"I rented a cabin up north. I want forty-eight uninterrupted hours with you."

My insides screamed along with my outsides, "Hell yes!" as I jumped in his arms and kissed the ever-loving daylights out of him.

"All right then, let's go get packed. We have a drive ahead of us."