Marrying The Cowboy: A BWWM Cowboy Billionaire Romance (2 page)

"Let's move in together." It was worth repeating so that
Bruce knew that she meant what she said.

"You have just made me the happiest man in the world, Kate."

She relaxed in his embrace, knowing that she had made the right
decision. He was the right man for her and there was no reason why
they could not take their relationship one step further.

Bruce planted soft, feathery kisses on her neck, still holding her
close. "This is so right, Kate. We are perfect for each other."

"I know," she replied. "You and I are perfect
together. Thank you for being so patient with me."

"I told you that I would wait forever for you."

Kate heard the words, but she was not sure that in reality, the man
of her dreams would wait an eternity for her to accept his proposals.

"I think you have kept me in bed too long. It's time for me to
get dressed for work."

"Fine. I guess I have to let you go." He leaned in for a
kiss, and she accepted.

"I have money to make today, thank you very much."

"Hmm."

She rolled out of bed, without a stitch of clothing on, knowing that
Bruce's eyes would be glued to her.

The hot shower felt wonderful, and it gave her time to think. Moving
in together would not be such a bad thing. The two of them spent so
much time with one another, that it only made sense. If he was not
staying over at her home, she was staying over at his apartment. They
spent the majority of their free time together and woke up next to
one another every day that they were in town together. In the past
year, they had created a comfortable rhythm that worked.

Making things between them more official was going to be great for
their relationship. The more she thought about it, the better it
felt.

By the time she stepped out of the shower, the scent of bacon and
coffee floated into the bedroom. Bruce was a great cook and he always
made sure she was well fed. It was a great compliment to the fact
that she was no kind of cook at all. The kitchen was not her domain
and she never claimed it to be.

She scanned her closet, never feeling like she had anything to wear.
It was a casual day today; three consultations and she would spend
the rest of the day at the boutique. Kate settled on a pair of
vintage denim pants and a white button down collared shirt.

The smell of breakfast pulled her out into the front room.

"What did you cook for breakfast? It smells amazing."

"Pancakes, bacon, and a little coffee."

She took a seat at the bar counter. "I was not even aware that I
had any ingredients to make pancakes."

"That, my love, is why I am the cook. Sit down. Eat."

He pointed to the seat where a fully made plate of breakfast sat
waiting for her.

"What is this?"

A small black box sat next to the plate.

"Open it," he urged her.

Kate could not wait to unwrap the package. She pulled the ribbon and
took the top off of the box.

"Bruce, you spoil me." A pair of princess cut diamond
earrings shined brightly.

"I saw them and they just called out for a new home."

"Where would you have been that you would have happened to see a
pair of diamond earrings?" she teased.

"My little secret." He flipped the last pancake and turned
off the stove.

Before digging in to the breakfast, she put the earrings on.

"Bruce, you always make me feel like a princess."

He popped a piece of bacon in his mouth, smiling. His expression made
him look like a young mischievous boy.

"Those look amazing on you. Next, I have to convince you to wear
some good old cowboy boots. You have on my uniform today."

Kate looked down and noticed that she did have on what Bruce called
his uniform: a crisp, white button down shirt and a pair of jeans. He
always paired the outfit with cowboy boots and usually a ten gallon
hat. Despite the fact that they lived in Los Angeles, Bruce was the
requisite cowboy. Raised on a rather large ranch in a more rural part
of the state, Bruce had not let go of his roots despite living in the
metropolitan city.

"I guess I do. But I think I do it so much better. Especially
with these gorgeous earrings." She finished her breakfast and
poured her coffee in her thermos to go.

"I've really got to go, Bruce."

He leaned over the bar counter and kissed her on the lips, leaving
her thinking briefly about whether she wanted to stay home with her
beau.

"I know. I'll clean up here and we will catch up later."

He smiled softly as he turned back to start cleaning up the dishes in
the sink as she walked out into the sunshine.

It was a warm, clear day, full of possibilities. Kate made her way to
the boutique, all the while trying to get her mind focused on work.
Spending the morning with Bruce always got her a little off kilter.
Her mind would replay the way his hands felt against the small of her
back, and how his lips felt against hers. They were still in the
honeymoon phase of their relationship, and she could not get enough
of the man.

That was exactly what worried her so much because she knew she needed
to demonstrate some of that focus on her career. It was always a
delicate balancing act to figure out how to spend time with the man
she loved and continuing to move forward in her career.

Over the last year, she had the pleasure of going from a freelance
fashion consultant to owning her boutique to gaining notoriety as a
now fashion stylist to celebrities. A recent gig with a well known
pop star resulted in her name being mentioned in all of the fashion
blogs and media outlets, creating an explosion of work that came out
of nowhere overnight.

Fortunately, she had a team that she trusted and they all were riding
the wave of success together. By no means did Kate feel like she hit
the big time. She knew that there was so much more to do to get to
the point where she would be in any position to slow down or scale
back. After all of this time, she was finally getting to where she
envisioned herself in her career, and there was no way that she
wanted to stop and trade all of that in.

She heard so many women who spoke of how they balanced work and home,
and it all sounded so difficult. When Kate envisioned herself having
the husband, the kids, and the house behind the white picket fence,
she thought that it would be best to be able to fully commit to being
a wife and a mother. Her mother had done so. Having her mother around
full time was something that Kate appreciated. She wanted to do the
same for her children. And besides, she was only in her late
twenties, so she had plenty of time to get started with a family of
her own. Bruce did not have any children and had never been married,
so they would embark on the journey together. But with him being in
his early forties, she knew that at some point soon, he would want to
have children.

As she pulled up to the boutique, she inhaled deeply, closed her
eyes, and repeated a soothing mantra to ready herself for work. Her
assistant, Amelia had already sent an email with her schedule and it
was loaded with follow up phone calls and Skype video calls with
potential clients.

"Hello, ladies!"

"There she is," Linda replied.

"Oh, goodness, it looks so busy in here." Business had
picked up so much, Kate had to hire a few sales consultants for the
boutique.

Linda followed her back to the office. She was such a Godsend. Linda
had proven to be a great business partner and an even better friend
along the way.

"It is. I'm telling you, after going to Paris, the inventory is
flying off of the shelf. We still need to sit down and do this blog
so that we can reach more potential clients."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You and this blog. I will take a look at
it. If it does what you say it will, we will have to hire more
employees."

Linda smiled. "Not a bad problem to have if I do say so myself."

The two women set about starting their work day, and before she knew
it, the early evening was before her.

"Oh my goodness, I have about thirty minutes to get out of here.
I have a dinner date with Bruce and I'm trying my hardest to make
sure that I am on time for everything."

Linda laughed and shook her head. "Please be on time. That man
adores you and I would hate to see you push him away because you have
tunnel vision."

"Tunnel vision?"

"Yes. I get that we have this business to run, but you have to
have a little balance too, Kate."

"Oh, no. Not you too. On that note, I'm leaving." She tried
to respond playfully, but there was tinge of seriousness to what she
was saying.

Linda meant well and had Kate's best interest at heart, but it was
always a bit irritating to constantly be reminded that she had to
figure out a way to juggle her career and her love life. She had not
gotten to the point where she could manage it all, and hated the fact
that everyone else made it all sound so easy.

Kate waved goodbye to her team, and set out for the restaurant where
she would meet Bruce.

She was halfway there, proud of herself for being on time, when he
sent a text that they would be meeting for dinner out at his parents'
ranch.

Slightly agitated that she had plowed through the traffic already,
Kate made her detour to the freeway that would take her out to the
ranch. Once she hit the open road, she did not have a care in the
world. Besides, Bruce's mother was a great cook and it would be nice
to have a small escape from reality of life in the city.

The Stanger family ranch was a cozy place. It was the kind of home
that looked like the ones in the Christmas catalogs that made you
remember what it meant to be a family. Mr. and Mrs. Stanger had been
together for decades and reminded Kate of her own parents.

It was nice to see that Bruce came from such a loving home. Kate was
sure he would model his own home after all of the love and affection
it seemed that he grew up with.

Mrs. Stanger was the consummate hostess as she always served
wonderful food and drinks whenever Bruce brought Kate to the ranch.
It was also wonderful to see Bruce's face light up when he was around
his parents. He was completely in his element when he was there with
them. Seeing him on the ranch, Kate was able to view Bruce in a
different way. His laugh was more hearty and he was way more relaxed.
It was as if when he was at the ranch, he gave in to the side of him
that liked to take things slow.

In the city, he was accomplished, a strong businessman who knew the
boardroom and how to work a client. At the ranch, he was a family man
who worked the land. Seeing him with his boots and his jeans as he
cleaned the pens and groomed horses helped Kate to learn more about
who Bruce really was as a man.

She loved both sides of him. After all, no one was one dimensional.
It was rare that one got the opportunity to learn everything about
the person he or she loved. And here was Kate, able to see Bruce for
who he truly was. A simple man that loved nature and loved his
family.

Kate made a mental note to call her own parents and plan a time when
she and Bruce could go and visit. They knew that she was dating
someone seriously, but she had not yet brought him around to meet her
parents, she wanted to make sure that when she introduced Bruce to
her parents, that everything was right in her relationship with Bruce
and they were committed.

That time would definitely be now.

Bruce had brought her to the ranch several times. He was completely
comfortable with her being around his family and she wanted him to
experience the same.

She barely knocked at the door before Mrs. Stanger swung the door
open.

"Kate, darling, there you are. We were just talking about you."
Mrs. Stanger met Kate with a warm embrace. The woman smelled like
freshly baked cookies.

"All good I hope," Kate replied.

"Most definitely," Mr. Stanger commented as he approached
the foyer. "We were just saying that we wondered how Bruce
lucked out and found such a wonderful woman like you."

Mrs. Stanger gave her husband a light pat on his arm. "He's just
joking," she said in reference to her other half.

"Come on in, Kate. Dinner is ready."

Whatever was for dinner smelled divine and just that moment, Kate's
stomach began growling.

Mr. Stanger led her in to the living room. "Bruce is outside at
the stables. I should go and get him."

"Maybe I could go and get him."

Bruce's parents looked confused about Kate's offer.

"Well now, you can't go out there in those shoes." Mrs.
Stanger pointed to Kate's designer pumps.

Kate had not thought about that when she offered to go and get Bruce
from the stables for dinner.

"I have a little something you can wear outside. You look to be
about a size seven like myself." Mrs. Stanger smiled.

"Actually I am. Thank you."

Bruce's mother disappeared down the hallway and came back shortly
with a pair of what looked like rain boots.

"These are what you need to walk out to the stables."

"Thank you. I will remember to bring some out here the next
time."

Mrs. Stanger smiled. "Let him know that dinner is ready and we
will be ready to eat within the next thirty minutes."

She pointed Kate in the direction of the stables. The hike down hill
made her appreciate the fact that Mrs. Stanger gave her the boots to
wear. The soft soil under her feet would not have been the place for
her to wear six inch heels.

In the distance, she could see Bruce walking one of the horses around
the corral.

"What a great surprise." He tipped his hat to her as she
approached.

Kate tried to walk on her tip toes to make sure she was treading
lightly to her destination.

"I thought that I would not let you corner the market on
surprises. This city girl can get down and dirty with the best of
them."